Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
“Of course she can’t,” Luca laughs at him. “She didn’t choose to come here, did she? You brought her here because it was the right thing to do. You saw how wild and untamed she was, how badly she needs a firm hand. She’s not safe on her own. Not for herself, or for anyone. So now I will take her home, where she will learn to be a good and dutiful bride. We will consummate our marriage, and she will learn to obey. You two have taught her a great deal in a short time, and thanks to you, she now knows there truly is no escaping me.”
“I am really sorry, Luca,” Soren says.
“Don’t be sorry, be…” Luca never gets to finish that sentence, as Soren grabs him and puts him in a chokehold. It is the most satisfying thing I have ever seen, Luca Vitori squirming in another man’s arms like a moth with its wings trapped. He has no idea how to break the hold, and though he tries a few desperate kicks and elbows, they do nothing to Soren who is used to taking damage.
Luca’s boys are all downstairs. He’s alone up here. He doesn’t want anybody to know what I’ve been doing, or who I have been doing it with. He wanted to take me home and pretend the last couple months never happened. And now, because of that pride, Luca is vulnerable in Soren’s arms, not because he’s weak, or small, but because Soren has spent a lifetime practicing the art of subduing those who do not want to be subdued, and Luca has never been in a fight he hadn’t already won.
Soren has him out like a light in under a minute. He eases Luca’s insensate body down to the ground and kneels beside him, checking his pulse. What a gentleman. I just finished getting laid, and yet here I am being turned on all over again. There’s just something sexy as hell about someone who does a whole lot of damage and then follows it up with tender loving care.
“Alright,” Soren says, slipping a small zip up case out of his pocket. It looks like what a tidy junkie might use to store a handy dose of something fun. But of course, it’s not. It’s a sedative, and he brought it with Luca in mind. He has everything all ready, including the tourniquet. I’m starting to wonder if there’s more about Soren I don’t know. Did he used to use? Is he a nurse in his spare time? How long has he been carrying around a sedative?
Soren flicks the tip of the needle before putting it neatly into a vein. Luca doesn’t feel it. Doesn’t even flinch while unconscious. We could do anything to him. We could get the kind of revenge my family has only dreamed of.
“That’ll give us an hour,” he says. “Plane is half an hour away on the runway, gassed and ready to go.”
“What?”
“Let’s go, Aslin.”
Soren says the words firmly. I don’t know if I’m being rescued or kidnapped at this point. I do know that I’m curious.
“You should have told us about the history between your family and his,” Soren says reproachfully as he ushers me out the freight elevator. Obviously, we’re taking the surreptitious way out of the building. “It would have made your story a lot more sympathetic.”
“I didn’t know that you’d care. Besides, I did marry him. He thought he was forcing me into marriage, but I was letting him make me. I wanted access to his accounts, and I got it. I’m not the good girl in this story, and I’m no victim.”
14
Soren
Aslin is definitely no damsel in distress. She’s a wicked, vengeful, sweet, disastrous little minx, and like I told her when I put the collar on her the very first time: she’s mine.
Her marriage to Luca does nothing to change that. If the man hasn’t gotten an annulment, given the marriage was never consummated, then I have to wonder if he’s not also obsessed with her. There’s something about Aslin, an addictive quality. Once you get a taste of her, she’s almost impossible to forget.
Jason nudges me on our way to the airport. “Just to recap, we’re running off with the wife of another man, a mob boss, and we’ve got millions of dollars of his money in anonymously numbered accounts,” he says.
“I know.”
“I’m fucking loving this,” he grins. “This is going to be a hell of an adventure.”
“Luca might try to kill all of us,” Aslin adds. “He won’t take that lightly.”
“Maybe,” Jason says. “I don’t think so. I think he’s going to come for you, though. I think this is going to be an international game of high stakes keep-away that we enjoy while we spend his money.”
“You two have really mellowed on… well, a lot of things,” Aslin observes. “Look how much I’ve corrupted you. Or maybe I didn’t. Maybe you were just as bored sitting out there in that jungle with your legs crossed as I was.”