I‘d lied to her in the car just now. We could’ve had this conversation anywhere. I’d gone to the club to get answers, not to get under her ruffled skirt. But the moment I saw her in that baby doll dress, my plans had changed. I couldn’t even bring myself to leave and come back when she got off, not when every fucking perv in the fucking place couldn’t take their eyes off of her.
And I counted myself among them. This need I had to get Sera back up to my room overrode any common sense I had.
So I sat at her table all fucking night, waiting for someone to be stupid enough to lay so much as a finger on her ruffled ass as she served them and give me an excuse to take out some of these pent-up emotions on their face.
What the fuck was it with this woman? She was driving me utterly insane. And there was no reason for it. I’d fucked many women in my life. Women who were prettier, more worldly, and who did whatever the fuck I told them without arguing with me. I didn’t need this…distraction in my life.
And yet, now that I had her all to myself, I didn’t want to let her leave.
I locked the door and unbuttoned my jacket, leaving her standing just inside as she looked around with wide eyes. Leaving my jacket lying on the couch in the sitting area as I walked past, I took off my watch and laid it on the nightstand by the bed, then unbuttoned and rolled up my sleeves. I left my gun holstered to my side. I was more comfortable with it on me in case something happened. Unless I was fucking or sleeping. Then I kept it on the nightstand within easy reach. Leaving my sunglasses on, I went to the small bar and poured myself another whiskey. ‘Drink?’ I asked her.
She was still in her coat, standing by the door. ‘Do you have any wine?’
‘I have whiskey,’ I told her.
‘That’ll work,’ she said.
I poured her a glass and added a large cube of ice, as she didn’t seem the type to drink it straight. Indicating for her to join me in the sitting room, I waited for her to sit down before handing her the drink and took a seat in the corner, angling my body toward hers and resting one arm on the back of the couch. She sat as far away from me as she could on the edge of the cushion, her knees pressed together like a virgin on her first date. She wouldn’t look at me. Instead, she stared down at the coffee table. Her hand shook as she lifted the glass to her lips and took a cautious sip, coughing a little as the alcohol burned a trail down her throat. I allowed her two more sips, and then I demanded answers.
‘You are Serafina Cordaro, daughter of Ciro Cordaro, correct?’
She gave me a quick glance, taking another sip of her drink to bolster her courage before she answered me. ‘I am.’
I was impressed. She didn’t even try to lie her way out of it. ‘Your father is looking for you.’
‘I assumed he would be.’
‘Why did you run away from home?’
At first, I thought she wasn’t going to answer. But then she turned to look at me, curiosity in her eyes as she said, ‘Would you enjoy spending your life locked up in your room waiting for your father to marry you off to some old, crusty Italian so you can live a life no better than livestock, there to breed his offspring and take whatever he gives you while being expected to smile and laugh and act like you have a wonderful life when he deigns to take you somewhere?’ She stopped and took a breath. ‘Because I don’t.’
‘I think you’re exaggerating.’
‘I’m not.’ She took another drink.
I got up to refill her glass. ‘From what I understand, you were allowed to go to college. That leads me to believe you led a somewhat normal life.’
‘I was only allowed to get my degree because I managed to convince my father it would make me more of an asset as a wife if I had a head for business. And it took me three years to talk him into it.’
That didn’t surprise me. I’d only met her father in person once before. He had an over bloated ego and a penchant for underage girls. Not a very paternal man. ‘What about your mother? She must miss you.’ I handed her refilled glass back to her and resumed my seat.
‘My mother is dead.’ Her voice was flat as she imparted that news, and she didn’t give me any other details. But something about the way she said it…
I put that away for later.
‘Are you going to call him?’ Wide blue-gray eyes clashed with mine, still hidden behind my glasses. ‘Have you already?’
I shook my head and twirled the liquid in my glass, watching as the light played off the amber hues. ‘I haven’t called anyone. Nor have I told anyone that I saw you.’
She seemed surprised. ‘Why not?’
‘Why should I?’ I countered. ‘What will I get out of sending you back to your father?’ I paused, an idea forming in my head. Although if I were to be honest with myself, it’d been forming since the moment Luca handed me her photo. ‘Whereas I think I could get something much more valuable by agreeing to stay silent.’
Her spine stiffened. ‘What do you want?’
Ah, so she was intelligent. Something I already knew.
‘I don’t have any money,’ she told me. ‘I left there with nothing.’
‘I have no use for your money.’
Her eyes darkened knowingly as she stared at me, and she spoke her next question as though she already knew the answer. ‘Then what do you want?’
‘I want you.’
‘I’m not for sale,’ she answered immediately.
‘You were the other night.’
‘That was before I knew who you were.’
Never taking my eyes from hers, I took a long drink, then balanced my glass on my thigh, one finger rubbing along the rim, my other arm along the back of the couch. ‘I’ll pay you well for the pleasure of your company, Sera. Enough so you can keep running if you want. Once I’m done with you, of course. And in return, I promise to keep my mouth shut about your whereabouts. No one will know you’re here in Austin or that I’d ever laid eyes on you.’
She studied me with a puzzled expression, her bright eyes searching my face, searching for an ulterior motive. ‘Why the hell would you do that?’
‘I think it’s a fair exchange.’
‘No. I mean, why do you pay for sex? I would think you could have any woman—or man—you wanted just by walking into a room with your’—she waved a hand in the air, encompassing me in my entirety—’aura of looks, money, and danger. Why go through all of this?’ She waved that same hand back and forth between us.
‘Because I don’t want someone I could pick up in a bar. I want you.’
She smirked. ‘Well, technically, you just picked me up in a bar.’
I chuckled, surprising both of us. ‘Again, touché.’
Suddenly serious again, she asked, ‘And if I refuse your offer?’
‘Then I’ll put you back in the car and hand deliver you to your father’s men right now.’ It was a lie. I would do no such thing. But I wasn’t above telling her whatever I needed to in order to get her to agree to my offer. I didn’t stop and rationalize why I was doing this. I didn’t want to know the answer.
She stood up and walked over to the bar to refill her drink. I noticed her wince, and I tensed, wondering if something had happened to her tonight that I’d somehow missed before I realized it was from her shoes. I relaxed back against the couch cushions and watched her as she thought about my offer.
After a few moments, she turned back to me. ‘I’m sorry. I’m going to have to refuse your generous offer.’ Her tone led me to believe she thought it was anything but generous. But her eyes…her eyes showed me how horrified she was at the thought of going back to her father.
‘I meant what I said,’ I told her. ‘You’ll be back home locked in your room by sunup.’
‘I understand,’ she told me.
I wasn’t expecting her to refuse me. Fucking again.
This wasn’t acceptable.
Finishing her drink, she put her empty glass on the bar and walked over to the door, where she stood demurely and waited for me.
I studied her, noticing the tension in her jaw and the way she laced her fingers together in front of her to hide their trembling. She wouldn’t look at me, but I could see the tight way she held her mouth. Was she bluffing? Or was she more afraid of me than her father?
Slamming my glass down on the table so hard it shattered, I stalked over to her, ignoring the blood running down my fingers and the way my heart wanted to pound out of my chest. She wasn’t leaving me tonight. I wouldn’t allow it.
She backed up fast when she saw me coming, almost tripping when one of her heels snagged the expensive carpet. When she hit the door, she twisted around and grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it was locked. I was on her before she could unlock it and get it open, spinning her back around and shoving her shoulders back against the door. I blocked her in with a hand on either side of her head. I didn’t touch her, but I could feel her fear vibrating the air between us. ‘Where the fuck do you think you’re going?’
‘To the car,’ she squeaked.
‘No,’ I told her. ‘You’re staying here. With me.’
‘I don’t want to,’ she whispered.
‘Why the fuck not?’
‘Because you scare me!’ The words fell over themselves as they rushed out of her mouth.
They didn’t turn me off.
They made my fucking cock hard as a goddamned rock.
I stared down at her. Her eyes were wide and lined with false eyelashes and glitter. Her lips were pink and glossy. And the silver hoop in her left nostril glinted in the light. With her pink hair and porcelain skin, she looked as sweet and innocent as the lollipop she was sucking on earlier. I wanted to taste her. I wanted those bright eyes on mine as I shoved my cock down her throat. I wanted to hurt her. To break her. To make her beg. I wanted to make her mine. My very own little doll to do with what I would.
‘I scare you?’ I asked.
She kept her face turned away and wouldn’t look at me. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘More than your father?’
She didn’t even hesitate. ‘Yes.’
Cupping the side of her face in one hand, I turned her head until she was forced to look at me, leaving streaks of blood on her skin. ‘You should be scared of me, Sera. You should be fucking terrified.’ Not because I would hurt her, not like her father would. But because once she was mine, I knew I wouldn’t be able to give her up. It was the real reason I paid for the company of whores. They were something I borrowed, like a library book. They were not to be owned. But Sera…
She stared at me with pleading eyes. ‘Enzo, please. Just let me go.’
‘It’s way too late for that, baby girl.’ Her soft lips beckoned, and I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her plump lower lip, smearing my blood into the gloss until it darkened it to red. I watched with something akin to fascination as tears filled her eyes, and I saw myself swimming in their depths.
Reaching up, I removed my sunglasses.
Sera froze as she stared into my eyes for the first time. I knew what she was seeing. Anger. Determination. Lust. Desperation. Fear. Things I wished I could hide because knowing she could see these things within me made me feel vulnerable. Exposed. With a growl of frustration and need, I lowered my head and took her mouth with mine, tasting the salty copper of my blood on my tongue as I forced it between her lips. Moving my hand from her face to her throat, I held her against the door as I took what I needed from her, swallowing the little noises of protest she made. I’d offered her a way to come to me of her own free will as she’d done once before, but she chose to refuse me.
That was her choice.
And this was mine.
She tried to push me off, and I slowly tightened my grip, cutting off her air supply until she stopped fighting me. I moaned when she went still beneath me, taking my time as I tasted her, the tip of my tongue curling to play with the gap between her teeth before I filled her sweet mouth again, just like I would fill her pussy that I knew would be just as sweet.
Her teeth bit into my lower lip and I tasted more blood as I jerked back in surprise with a curse, losing my grip on her. Sera suddenly dropped down in front of me and I automatically took a step back, giving her room to bolt to the side and run into the room. As she did, she grabbed my gun from its holster. By the time I turned around, she was in the middle of the room with her feet braced apart and my gun pointed at the center of my chest. ‘What the fuck are you doing, Sera?’
‘You need to let me leave,’ she said. Her voice was hoarse from the grip I’d had on her throat. ‘I want to leave.’
Hands low on my hips, I watched her, taking in all of her tells. Her throat was red from my hand and her chest and cheeks were flushed. From anger? Adrenaline? Or lust? ‘What are you going to do if I don’t? Are you going to shoot me?’
‘Yes,’ she told me. But the tremor in her voice and the unsteady hold she had on the weapon told me a different story.
‘No. You won’t.’
‘I will,’ she insisted. ‘Let me leave, Enzo.’
A little girl in pigtails was threatening me with my own weapon. I smiled, enjoying the way her eyes widened when she saw it. Slowly, I advanced on her. ‘Put the gun down, Sera.’
‘No.’
I tilted my head to one side and saw that she had, indeed, taken the safety off. And her finger was on the trigger. Perhaps she wasn’t as new at this as I first thought. It made sense if she was the daughter of a man in the mafia. ‘Did your father teach you to shoot?’ I asked as I paced slowly back and forth in front of her so she would have to keep adjusting her aim. While I walked, I unrolled my sleeves, inching my way closer.
She barked out a laugh, but it was an ugly sound. ‘No,’ she said.
I waited for more information, but she didn’t seem willing to give it to me. ‘Who taught you to shoot?’
‘No one you would know,’ was her only answer.
‘So I guess your father wasn’t quite as strict as you let on.’ I wanted to keep her talking. Keep her distracted. Until I could get close enough to get the gun away from her.
‘I didn’t get locked down until I got to childbearing age,’ she clarified.
Which told me she hadn’t handled a weapon for quite a few years. It explained how she seemed to know what she was doing and yet lacked the confidence needed to actually pull the trigger. I was only about two feet from the weapon now. All I had to do was wait for the exact moment her arms were a second behind my movements and I could grab her wrists and pull her forward while I twisted around until my back was to her. Then I could get the weapon away from her without getting shot.
‘Sera.’ I picked up my pace just slightly.
‘What?’ she gritted out.
‘Don’t make me hurt you.’ Those were my last words before I rushed her. Two seconds later, the gun was in my hands, and she was backing toward the bedroom with her hands held out in front of her.
‘I’m sorry,’ she told me. Her voice was thick with tears. ‘I just want to leave. Do what you think you need to, Enzo. But please, just give me a head start. That’s all I ask.’
‘I’ve already told you. It’s too late for that. The choice I gave you was just me being nice.’ She’d been mine since the moment I first opened the door and saw her standing on the other side. She was always meant to be mine.
Alessandra’s face floated before me, her eyes accusing. I shook my head, chasing it away. This wasn’t the same. I’d loved Alessandra with everything in me. And that love had cost me the lives of my wife and son. Sera was just a passing fascination. I’d tire of her just like I’d tired of every other woman I’d been with. Nothing would happen to her. She’d go back to her father and live the life of a mafia wife with someone else.
I emptied the clip and set both that and the gun on the table behind me beside my watch, not taking my eyes from her the entire time. The backs of her knees hit the bed, and she glanced over her shoulder to see what had stopped her retreat.
Perfect.
Just where I wanted her.
