Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
There were politicians.
Actors.
Musicians.
There were people of influence and power who no longer knew or understood their own need for dominance until my company offered it to them—for a price.
If I was going to hell, I might as well get rich on my way there.
I gave them life.
And I was in control of it all.
Me and Troy.
Though Troy was starting to worry me, the way he looked at me, the way he saw through even what I refused to understand or process. He’d always been a shrewd businessman, but now he was something else entirely.
Troy was jealous.
And jealousy was a game we never truly played with one another until now.
I watched his face contort into something sinister while I led my pet, her chain wrapped around my wrist as we went to our table, with our expensive wine, our steak, our company for the evening.
“New one.” A man whose name I couldn’t remember nor would I, added, “She’s pretty.”
“She is,” I agreed. Wrapping the gold chain harder around my fist, I jerked her closer to me and jutted my chin toward the ground by my feet.
She didn’t have to be told. Instantly she sat on the floor and bowed her head, waiting for my next command.
I beamed, leaning down toward her ear. “You’re such a good girl,” I whispered, making her hide back a smile.
“Pity,” Troy stated with his pet at his feet. “That you took her before any one of us could even offer.”
Pity my ass.
“Yes,” I agreed again. “Isn’t it, though?”
“Where’d you find her again?” Troy baited me, but I was too smart for him. He was just like my father, always trying to stay one step ahead, and now I knew better.
I would always force him to be one step behind me.
He knew who she was, and pretending he didn’t only pissed me off.
“Does it matter?” I shrugged.
Troy laughed, taking a sip of his whiskey. “How about a test, then?”
I wanted to hurt him.
Hard.
Slow.
“You and your tests and theories. What do you need proven? She’s mine. I own her, and I can do whatever I want with her.”
“Let me borrow her then.”
I grit my teeth, and his blue eyes seemed to darken, looking around at the powerful people sitting next to us. Investors, people who could attempt to destroy what I’d built.
“What for?”
“Since when do you deny me one of your pets, Donovan? I thought we shared everything? I mean, unless she’s different.”
He was testing my patience and my restraint. If I didn’t let him have her, he would know how much she truly meant to me, which would only put her in danger when it came to him.
I had no choice but to respond with, “Fine. You don’t fuck her, understood?”
“Oh wow, Donovan, so crass. Of course, I just want to see what she can do with her precious hands and maybe, just maybe … how bright her blood is when I make her bleed for me.”
Her eyes widened, hearing him announce his last remark.
Anywhere I went, I always had the attention of the room, especially at my events. All eyes landed on Juliet, and the room grew quiet almost immediately, waiting for my next command.
I knew right then and there, this was what Troy wanted. To catch me stumbling when it came to her. He still didn’t know who he was fucking with. If he wanted a show, I’d give him an Academy Award performance. You could feel the tension in the ballroom amidst the music, people staring in fascination at Juliet.
With its slits up her thighs, nearly exposing every perfect inch of her.
With her pretty makeup shining for all to see.
Her perfect nails glowing in the candlelight.
Her mask was arranged to hide what I didn’t want others to see.
I nearly growled when Troy smiled at her like she was his to smile at. By the time I composed myself, her eyes filled with fuming tears, and I wanted to lean over and lick them as they fell, tell her that in every fantasy I had, it involved those tears of outrage, the blood, the pain.
Let her cry.
Let her bleed.
It only meant more for me to have as her master.
Her chin lifted as I gripped the chain and pulled her closer to my leg. Troy was drawing more attention toward what was mine. He looked around our table, at all the eager faces grinning in excitement for what was to come.
“There’s a piano. Let her play, Donovan.”
With a confident smile I didn’t feel, I tugged on the leash, pulling Juliet’s hateful and embarrassed expression toward my face.
“Go play, pet. I’ll be right behind you.”
I could tell she wanted to yell at me. She wanted to bite, to scratch, to make me bleed the way I’d made her bleed and in front of everyone. For some reason, it turned me the fuck on, seeing the swirling blues of her eyes, knowing the only object of both her hate and attention was me.