Rome and I meandered around. He followed me as I turned corner after corner to see the dark sections of the club and witness all the aspects of it. There were orgies and roleplay and sex toys and pure uninhibited freedom. The bass vibrated through you with slow, melodic music or fast up-tempo beats.
Every beat had me thinking of something else.
Had Vladimir acted alone? Who was on his side and who was on mine?
Did I call Ivan and tell him that I’d taken a man’s life in front of the bratva? The leadership of it all was foreign to me. I knew it was my place now. I knew I’d taken the role, but when someone goes for so long without ownership of even themselves and then without true equality, it’s normal to falter. It’s normal to feel like you may not be able to handle it, that you’re not fully equipped.
Yet I’d been through it all for a reason.
I’d learned to dissociate, I’d learned to survive, and I’d learned to control my mind in even the most horrific situations.
Now, I stood in one of the most surreal ones, next to a man who was willing to do whatever it took, with a baby in my belly who would bring innocence to families without a trace of it, in a club that allowed us to explore our most sinful thoughts.
“This is like a dream, Rome. I don’t know how it can all be real, how any of you can get away with having all this happening under one of the biggest buildings in the city,” I said to him at one point.
He nodded like he understood how one would think that. “We’ve got the best lawyers as you know. And obviously some of the most influential people in the state are here. Everyone signed NDAs and contracts with us. We hold all the cards and none of the responsibility. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The funny thing was, I knew this was how it worked. Deals were made by leaders of the world in back alleys and in the basements of the biggest buildings in town.
“Guess it’s a good thing I’m here to start making all the necessary connections,” I said, rolling my eyes. My mind was numb to it all, my body tired from the fight to become a leader. I needed a drink but couldn’t have one. I needed a bed but couldn’t rest in one. I needed a break, but leaders didn’t get one.
The strobe lights morphed to a red light pulsing to the beat of a hypnotic song. I didn’t see the sexual aspect of it. Just the red.
Red that spilled everywhere when I’d taken Vladimir’s life. So much blood since I walked away from the Armanellis. So much death. And still, they didn’t understand. This partnership was supposed to help everyone. We’d brought in more companies that wanted legal business partnerships than ever before. They would have more money in their pockets soon.
I’d keep striving. I’d keep pushing until everyone saw the benefit. “Who do I need to chum up to while I’m here?”
“Chum up to?” Rome’s brow crinkled in confusion.
“Yes. I doubt Ivan will show up. I know some of the bratva will attend later. Most of them probably will if Maksim has anything to do with it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I told him to get on board or be ready to sink. I expect him to share the message with others. I’ll confirm their alliances at some point, but who else is a necessity here? I see the chief of police walked in and there’s a few business owners. Anyone else?”
Rome stared at me for a minute, his gaze penetrating my soul and pulling me to him like a gravitational force. He didn’t say a word, but his hand came up and rubbed my cheekbone. “No one, Katalina. You don’t have to do anything for anyone.”
I turned around the club, took in everything. My eyes landed on the waterfall, at the stage that was at the very top. “I want to go up there.”
His jaw ticked before he turned away from me to head where I pointed. We were building to something I knew he wouldn’t like. It was the only way though.
Would he desert me here? Would he let me go through with it?
When I didn’t immediately follow him, he looked back at me and waved me forward. “Let’s go, woman. Time to give them all the show you want.”
“You know?” I asked as I walked toward him.
“I think I know that we’re going to crown you tonight. No one will question where you belong after that.” He said the words softly, like he’d resigned himself to them.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “The monster going to be okay with this?”
“We’ll have you any way we can, Cleo.” He tilted his head toward the stairs.
As we headed up the polished staircase, I gripped the railing a little harder than necessary. I felt the smooth material at my fingertips, the way the gloss filled in all the rough edges.
I swung my gaze to the top and saw that Maksim had arrived. Others within the bratva were behind him. They’d all met Cade, Bastian, and Dante. Rome left me behind, my ascent too slow for him, or maybe he wanted to give me a view of the bratva and the mafia standing there together.
All their eyes were on me.
I held their attention, grasped it in the palm of my hand, felt the power I possessed. Didn’t they all feel it too? How we’d woven ourselves together and made an omnipotent entity, assigning ourselves the responsibility to do good with it? For the city, for the people, and for us.
Rome motioned to someone and suddenly the whole club dimmed and the waterfall glowed red from the spotlight focused on it.
The men at the top of the staircase had the center stage, and I knew I would too as I walked toward them. Chairs lined the balcony, but there in the center, close to the waterfall, stood a throne. Completely made of crystal, it sparkled, the centerpiece of the scene. I realized as I took my last step that the railing post was topped with a small crown that was the exact replica of the one on the back of the throne’s frame. It glittered, beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.
Bastian stood behind it, just out of the water’s reach, and stared at me. “May I sit?” I asked him as I walked up.
He didn’t answer at first. Instead, his eyes dragged up and down my body. I held myself more languidly, sashayed toward him.
It’d been a long time since I’d seen that look of hunger in Bastian’s eyes. He’d leashed it and packed it away for other women. He’d moved on from me, I knew that. I wasn’t ever really sure he’d totally and completely lusted over me the way Rome thought he had. Yet the look was back, like he knew he’d have me if offered.
I smiled at him. This was my time now. I did what I wanted without anyone having control over me.
I’d come to make an impression, come to feed my rage. What that meant, I wasn’t sure, but these men would be a part of it.
I glanced at Rome, at Maksim, then at Cade and Dante.
I heard Rome’s low voice as his eyes bore into mine. “You said there was no better way to celebrate. She had two, and you can have all the men you want. Is it what you want?”
We had a silent argument then. He was goading me, I knew that. I was making a show of my power, he knew that. We just weren’t quite sure which was more important. He sucked on his teeth and then a small smile crept across his face. “I’ll prove you wrong in the end, Katalina. I’m all you want.”
I smiled back and quirked a brow at him, taunting the beast. “Maybe we need to show everyone then.”
Rome stalked toward me, like he was ready to dominate me and make me his. “I should punish you for acting like I’m not enough,” He murmured the words so only I could hear.
“Punish me here? I’m taking my pleasure, not punishment.”
He hummed low, “I’ll punish you at some point for all this and it’ll be the most pleasure you’ll receive in a long time.”
I felt my nipples tighten at his words. “I’m not even sure this will help them see how we’ll be bound forever, Rome.”
“It’ll help you in one way or another.” He looked me up and down. “Or is this a line you won’t cross?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He wanted a fight. Or he wanted to dare me, to push me out of my comfort zone. I didn’t know his end game but I knew mine. I was showing this city that no one overstepped my rules. I made them and I was bound to the one I loved. Rome had my heart and I had his.
It pushed me over the edge. “Cross the line,” I commanded.
No other command was needed, but everyone heard me say it, knew I was the one in control here. His hand shot out and grabbed my arm to yank me the rest of the way to him. He devoured my mouth, branded me with a searing kiss that had people gasping. The audience was growing. I heard murmurs from the floor below us and the bratva behind us talking amongst themselves.
The music pumped through my veins as I surrendered to his mouth. Rome always took control here and I let him because I knew he wasn’t like any other man I’d been with.
I pulled away from him and glanced around at the men before me. They weren’t like others either. Somehow, they’d all stepped up. Maksim had risked his spot in the bratva for me, Dante still trained me, even though I was the enemy, Cade protected my location, and Bastian had signed on to a partnership with me.
I’d made them all a family. I’d put them in front of bullets, put them in harm’s way, and they’d risked their lives and families for me.
“No turning back when the bomb goes off, Rome,” I murmured in his ear.
“I’m about to detonate it, honey. I’ll be in the explosion along with you. No turning back.”
I took a step away from him, my heart suddenly in my throat as I walked around him toward the throne. This wasn’t something I’d ever done.
I twisted to take everything in and saw that almost every single person in the club had turned our way. Some had drinks in their hands, some were set up to watch the show and pleasure themselves, and most were already mesmerized, small smiles on their faces.
Bastian’s heavy hand went to my shoulder to shove me down. He leaned forward and I felt his hot breath at my ear. “Do I get a taste of you after all?”
I glanced up at him and fluttered my eyelashes. “Bastian,” I tsked. “You’re only here to do what I ask, nothing more and nothing less.”
The crowd whispered at my controlling these men. It was a testament, a show of who really ruled this city.
Cade swung a chair around and I pointed to him, “Cade, get video.”
He squinted at me before he nodded. I heard the sound of the record button and knew that would be his way of participating. He’d have the footage, he’d maybe enjoy it, and he’d put it out there for whomever needed to see it.
Rome’s face didn’t hold a smile or any real emotion when he leaned in to whisper something to Cade. His black suit and tattoos peeking out at his neck and wrists reminded me of what a hot devil would look like, someone you’d sell your soul to even though you knew you’d be banned from heaven forever.
He walked forward slowly, eyeing Dante, Maksim, and Bastian. “Who thinks they deserve to see how demanding Katalina can be?”
I turned to see them all smiling, wolves in the night sharpening their teeth.
“Katalina.” Rome reached my knees. They were closed as if no one deserved access. He pushed his pant leg in between, spreading them and causing my skirt to inch up. “I wonder if you’re ready for me yet.”
He knelt down in front of me, and his hand slid up my thigh. My breath caught in my throat as he held my gaze. “I’m not going to enjoy this, Kate-Bait. It’s going to kill me to have anyone watch you, to share this.”
“I know,” I murmured to him. “The monster in you doesn’t do that well.”
His jaw popped up and down like he was holding back saying a million things.
Rome knew just as I did, this was the place where real deals were taking place. This was the stage that would solidify how connected we all were in front of everyone. Contracts and paperwork be damned.
“I love you and you’re mine,” he said. “This is one time.”
I nodded and smoothed my hand over his cheek. “Never again after this.”
He yanked me forward on the chair and my skirt rose high enough to bare me to most of them. He lowered that dark head of hair and sucked hard on my bundle of nerves. I immediately grabbed hold of his skull, my legs opening further for him.
My body didn’t care who watched; my mind turned off at the touch of his mouth. My monster ravaged me like only he knew how. His tongue lapped at my entrance where he could taste how wet I already was.
I held on tight, trying my best not to orgasm too fast. And when I didn’t, he raised his head and made eye contact with Bastian behind me. “Guess she’s going to be stubborn. If we can’t show everyone how much pleasure I give you, Katalina, they’ll most likely think we don’t deserve you, right?”
I nodded without responding, trying to follow what the hell he was talking about, but he’d slid one of his fingers up my pussy and was pumping it so slow to just the right beat that I could barely see straight.
“What next, Katalina?”
I scrambled, trying to gather my thoughts. I stared into the eyes that I trusted more than anything in this world. I gave him trust, that’s what he deserved and I would show everyone that trust tonight. “Dante, have someone bring a table and lubricant.” I said loudly, not breaking eye contact with Rome. Then, I bit down on my lip when he moved his fingers in me back and forth. I continued commanding the room. “Bastian, untie my top.”
I felt Bastian’s hands at my back and Rome’s mouth was on my clit again, sucking while he slid yet another finger into my pussy.
I gasped when Bastian’s breath hit my ear suddenly. “You’re beautiful, love. This city belongs to us now,” he whispered. Then I heard his feet retreat.
My eyes fell shut as I rubbed my own hands over my breasts. I heard a few moans in the crowd, knew people were starting to really enjoy watching. Rome heard it too. I felt it in the shift of his tongue, how the pace had quickened and become rougher, how his hands on my thighs dug in like he wanted to make sure I knew his monster wasn’t happy with other eyes on me.
I got lost in the beat of the music, in my own euphoria One of the most powerful men that I’d ever known, one that could snuff out a life in a heartbeat, was publicly deifying me.
Cade’s voice broke through my fog as he said, “Come for the camera, love. Show the world how you own us.”
My eyes shot open.
Dante was moving a black leather table near to me. Maksim’s jaw had dropped along with those of other bratva members.
This was what no one would ever forget.
I wouldn’t either. I’d been delivered to another world where the men put me higher than themselves, got on their knees for me, worried about my comfort rather than theirs. I owned what they would do and maybe I had for a long time. I just hadn’t seen it.
Men and women surrounded us, some pleasuring themselves while they watched us, others pleasuring each other.
The spotlight remained on me. On us. On my pleasure. On the fact that we’d all made this decision together. My boys stood there ready and willing to show the world just what we were made of.
This was a team now, a unit that most would never be able to penetrate. These boys were mine and I was theirs in a way that everyone was about to truly see.
“Katalina, don’t make us wait for you,” Cade commanded yet again.
This time, with Rome’s masterful hands twisting in me with the rhythm he knew I liked most had me flying over the edge into a straight free fall.
I didn’t see stars. I saw darkness down below and I dove straight in.
I belonged here, I ruled here, and I knew that I would be worshipped here always. In darkness lay my light. It would be where I had equal footing and where my baby and I would thrive.
A few members clapped at my release, like they really thought we were putting on a show for them. Yet they’d faded away, they weren’t important anymore. Rome and I had gotten lost. I was doing this for my own power now, my own pleasure, and in celebration of finally finding a place where I’d always be an equal.
They were moving as a hungry wolf pack. These men were somehow my givers. They’d found their place with me, a place to seek out my comfort, my security, my strengths and weaknesses, and indulge all of them.
“Give me your eyes, Kate-Bait?” Rome murmured into my thigh. I stared into his onyx eyes, so full of need that I almost told him to take me away from everyone else.
“This isn’t what I planned—”
“It’s what was bound to happen. We’ve all wanted your pleasure and everyone needs to see.” Rome looked at the others. “You want to get on that table? Maybe we shouldn’t cross that line here.”
“Rome.” My lazy gaze fell on him. “I determine my own lines, no?”
He leaned over me, his hands on each arm of the throne, and glared at me. “The baby in you is ours. That makes this body of yours just as much mine. You’ll always be mine. I don’t dip my dick anywhere else.”
I raised an eyebrow. Rome’s dirty talk was authoritative, and my pussy clenched as I pushed him further, seeing that possessive animal in him come to life. “I didn’t tell you that you couldn’t. I make my own lines.”
I started to stand up, but Rome shoved me down. Then he dove down to suck on my neck. Hard. He bit and scraped his teeth on me. He left marks, painful ones, before he dragged his tongue across them all.
He gripped my chin and jerked my head toward him. “Mine. Say it.”
“I think you’ll have to prove that,” I whispered to him.
Dante spoke up from the side. “Prove it here, right?”
He patted the table and I walked over, nodding. “Right here.”
Rome shook his head. “You haven’t had enough in front of everyone? Just say you’re mine and I’ll take you out of here.”
He smiled at me like he enjoyed daring me. He knew I wouldn’t concede and people watched as we stared one another down.
“I belong to me,” I said. “I say when I’m done, Rome. And you listen.”
Just a foot away, the table of dark wood waited, unforgiving. The first board was slanted diagonally so that I would be upright but at a good angle to have someone hit me doggy style with a lot of force. Dante directed me to put a leg on either side of the two boards attached to the bottom of the slanted board. The dark leather padding on them pushed against the back of my knees and lower thigh, keeping my legs from closing.
My ass and pussy were bare underneath my skirt. If someone lifted it or put their hand a little ways up the skirt, they’d know, I was open to be fucked. Ravaged and taken advantage of.
Dante asked, “Are you comfortable?”
I winked at him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He hummed low. “Some days I wonder how much your body can take.”
“Guess we’re about to test that out.”
Rome motioned to a hostess and she delivered tools on a silver tray. I turned to see Rome picking up a paddle.
He chuckled when my eyes widened. “I’ll use it on you one day, huh?”
I was panting just thinking about it. Still, I taunted him. “Or maybe not. I don’t think you deserve to punish me that way.”
He took his time lifting my skirt high enough for my ass to show to everyone. He smacked me hard with his open palm.
“Jesus,” I yelped.
Rome then dipped his finger inside me and rolled it. My ass moved immediately with the motion. Rome chuckled, “Damn, you’re always so wet and ready for me, aren’t you?”
“Shut up,” I ground out, wanting his finger to just keep going, to keep hitting me in all the right spots.
He didn’t continue though. Suddenly he pulled out and leaned forward to whisper into my ear. “Should we show everyone who you belong to now? Forever?”
I eyed the tray. I looked at him. I wondered if I’d ever want anything more than him in this moment. He was doing what I wanted, putting on the show in front of everyone, showing them all how we were bound together. “You better make this so good for me and for our city to see.”
He chuckled like he enjoyed the challenge. That same finger was at my ass, probing my one virgin hole with a firm motion.
His finger was wet from my slickness and I gasped when he shoved it in.
My face was toward the damn balcony; I could see everyone watching me. They looked on as I took that finger. I bit down on my lip and tried not to cry out immediately. Rome’s other hand expertly rubbed my clit and I tried not to orgasm right away too.
My body was tight though, not ready for this new place to be touched.
“Trust, Katalina,” he murmured in my ear as he grabbed the lubricant from the tray. “You either have it or you don’t.”
I turned to glare at him and I felt his finger leave me only to be replaced by a cold sensation. “Oh, my God,” I moaned as Rome pinched my clit and probed me over and over again as if he really did want all my trust.
I felt my body opening, but when he stuck two fingers in, I clenched.
He smacked my ass. “Katalina, relax.”
I breathed out and let the pleasure and pain zing through me. I closed my eyes and focused on it, focused on this city watching us, at me showing everyone who we were, at Rome being by my side for it all.
Another ass smack.
I cried out. All the stimulation, just the right amount of pain, my body unexpectedly took over and I climaxed, even though I’d thought there wasn’t much left in me.
I rode Rome’s hand and pushed my ass harder into his fingers.
“She’s ready for me,” he murmured. I didn’t know if it was to himself or to the crowd or to me.
I felt such a sense of loss when he pulled his fingers from me that I practically whimpered. Then his dick was up against my asshole and I felt the cool lubricant on it, nudging into me.
His hand worked my pussy and just as Rome started penetration, his fingers thrust in and out of me. The rhythm had me rocking back and forth on Rome’s dick while he nudged further and further in. My sensitive breasts rocked with the rhythm too and my hands went to them, squeezing them for more pleasure.
I felt more of the cool lubricant being added to my entrance. He was taking his time, making sure he didn’t fuck me raw.
He slid two extra fingers in my pussy and curled them. I moaned and rolled my whole body. It gave Rome a moment where I was open enough for him.
He thrust in further and I sucked in a breath. “Oh, fuck.”
“That’s right. Bigger than you expected when I screw you here, huh? Remember I own you. You own me, baby.”
I was gripping the edge of the table, so close to screaming in pain but also in ecstasy. He’d hit a place I couldn’t describe to anyone in the world. I’d never felt it before. I was empowered and completely helpless all at the same time.
“Say you’re mine,” he commanded.
I didn’t hesitate. I wanted him all and I wanted him now. “I’m yours. And you’re mine.”
“That’s”—he shoved the last inch of himself into me—“right.”
The initial shock of him filling me pushed me over the edge, and he pumped into me over and over as I thrashed and took the high I needed from him in front of everyone.
I felt his cum shoot into me with one last thrust and knew this solidified the bond we all had on another level.
The crowd was clapping around me, like somehow we’d won them over from this show.
I knew we had. Deals were made in the basements of sex clubs by the rich and the famous. This was how.
I relaxed onto the table as Rome pulled out of me and barely lifted my head when he murmured for the guys to take me to the back to clean up and recoup.
Rome said he’d be back in minutes, that he had to check something, that no other man better touch me in that time.
The monster was now back full force, ready to rip apart anyone who wanted a piece of me.
He’d done the show. He was over it now.
He bent down and looked at me before they took me to the back of the club. “I’m in love with your crazy and I’m in love with your ass. I’ll see you back there in a minute, huh?”
I smiled at him. It was one of those smiles I felt deep in my bones, like we’d done what we set out to do. That things would be right now. That we’d move forward instead of back.
Rome didn’t meet me in the next minute. Or the next hour. No one saw where he’d gone after he’d said a few words to Bastian.
My monster had vanished.
