A reception has never felt like a prison party until the day I got married.
Everyone is huddled in their own corner in the De Vos mansion, clutching their champagne glasses while eerily staring at the opposite side of the room where the other side of the family is standing. It’s a sullen, bleak party with no semblance of festivities whatsoever.
Lights are flickering all around us as the music blasts through the speakers, but no one is dancing. It’s like they’re all waiting for something … or someone to start.
I stare down at the drink in front of me and all the delicious food that’s going untouched. My stomach can’t handle a single bite. All I can think about is running away through the door in the back leading out into the forest beyond.
Maybe if I run hard, I’ll make it out.
But then I look at my family and at Jasmine, who’s standing in the corner, watching me every other second to see what I’ll do. And it reminds me of the reason I came here.
If I go, he’ll take her instead.
I can’t let that happen.
The De Vos family has a vendetta against mine, and they won’t rest until the debt is repaid, whether it’s with a ring or by blood.
I jolt up and down when a hand suddenly lands on my shoulder. “Jill. Or should I say Mrs. De Vos.” It’s Lex, Luca’s father. “Come walk with me. I’d like to show you something.”
I swallow and put down my champagne to follow him into a hallway and out of that snore-fest. But the longer I walk with him, the more the silence begins to overwhelm me. There’s a clear tension between us, especially when he stops to gaze at me.
“I wanted to show you something,” he says, opening a door. “In here.”
A staircase leads downstairs into the dark basement.
The mere thought of going down there gives me the creeps.
Why does he want me to go down there?
Is he planning to do something to me?
I look back at the party, where Luca is standing with a champagne glass in his hands.
“Don’t worry. My son knows,” he says. “I’ll go first.”
He goes down the stairs and looks back up at me until I finally decide to make the first step. I follow him down into the grimy-looking basement. It’s too dark to see anything.
Until he switches on the light.
Revealing a cage right in front of me.
There’s a giant, muscular, half-naked man hiding in the corner behind the bars.
“What … What is this?” I mutter, unable to look away because of all the scars on his body.
Lex grabs an iron poke and stuffs it through the bars, prodding the man.
Lunging up from the ground, he growls like a beast, fisting the bars while shaking the cage. I jump back at the size of him so close to me, wild eyes penetrating my soul as my heart races.
“That,” Lex says as he fishes something from a mini fridge, “is the Beast.”
The beast?
What in the actual fuck?
“He works for me and me alone,” Lex says, putting actual raw meat on the iron poke and shoving it inside.
The man snatches the raw meat off and stuffs it into his mouth like it’s nothing, and the mere sight makes bile rise in my throat.
But then Lex turns to look at me. “And when I tell him to catch someone, he will do it.”
Chills run up and down my spine.
He steps closer. “Do you understand what I mean, girl?”
I shudder in place. “Yes.”
He leans in to tuck a hair behind my ear. “Good.”
And then he passes me and goes back upstairs, leaving me with the Beast.
I’m too stunned to move.
Who would do this to a fellow human being?
Then again, the De Vos family is vile enough to do just this.
When the Beast looks up at me, my pupils dilate, and I make a run for it up the stairs.
Lex laughs as he turns off the light from upstairs. “C’mon, let’s go back to the party.”
And when he places a hand on my back, I try hard to fight back the tears.
Because that wasn’t just a warning … it was a threat.
I go back to the main hallway where the party is while Lex disappears into the bathroom. I don’t want to be anywhere near him for the rest of the night.
I grab my champagne glass and chug it back in one go.
Luca approaches me from the side, his hand barely grazing my shoulder. He leans in, his bristly shaven beard prickling against my neck as he whispers, “Dance with me.”
I close my eyes and put my resolve away as he tugs me toward the middle of the floor. My gown barely allows for movement, but he guides me through every step, one hand firmly clutching my hand while the other rests on my waist. There is not an inch of a smile on either of our faces.
Why are we doing this?
He twirls me around and pulls me back into his arms so hard I almost fall, but he catches me and leaves me dangling on one foot. With a simple push, he has me back on my feet, drawing circles on the floor in slow-motion. One misstep, and my heel lands on his toes. His face scrunches up, and he drags me in and whispers, “I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work.”
“What am I trying to do?” I respond, raising a petty brow.
He continues to pull me around the dance floor like he intends to keep people around us fooled. “You can’t hurt me. But if you try, I will make sure you get it back twice as painful.”
I shudder from the threat. “Of course you would. You enjoy seeing me in agony, you sadistic bastard. You’re just like your father.”
He smirks. “Your insults are like music to my ears.” He leans in so close I can feel his breath on my skin. “But I’m nothing like my father, and I’ll be claiming far more from your filthy mouth once we get out of here.”
My body heats like he just lit a fire with a match, but I want none of it.
He’s always had a way with words, and I know he’s only trying to set me off so I’ll do something reckless.
“Would you believe me if I said I didn’t step on your foot on purpose?” I say, hoping to ease the tension.
“Would you believe me if I said I hope you did?” he whispers back. “Lie to me even once and your punishment will be painful.”
“It’s not a lie,” I hiss back.
The smirk on his face deepens. “Then we should work on your dancing skills.”
He twirls me around some more, and some of my female cousins and others from the Baas family are literally swooning over him like he’s some goddamn Casanova, and it makes me want to slap them.
Luca notices them too, and there’s a wicked smile on his face as he raises his brows at me. “Jealous?”
I laugh, maybe a little too loud. “You wish.”
Suddenly, he drops me, and I’m bending over backward with nothing but his arm around my waist to stop me from falling. He leans over me, his finger tracing a line from my neck down to my belly until I shiver from the electrical current going straight toward that spot between my legs.
“I’m not the only one who’s been craving something wicked,” he muses, gazing at me with those sinfully dark eyes of his and all the desire hiding behind them.
“All those years spent running away from me … only to land right back where you belong,” he says, licking his lips.
“Not because of you,” I spit. “I came back to save my sister.”
“Of course … You don’t mind stepping in for her,” he says, pulling me in so close I can barely breathe. “But you know being my wife comes at a price.”
I can almost taste the liquor on his tongue and feel his dark eyes roaming my skin like he wants nothing more than to rip off my dress and lick me in front of everyone.
And when he pulls me back up, his lips instantly land on mine.
I’m dazed and confused from the feel of his warm, sultry lips claiming me so hard they force every thought out of my mind. And it takes me three seconds to realize what’s happening and just how much his kiss has captured my soul.
So I bite him.
He retracts his mouth, his hand lifting to touch his bleeding lip. The vicious smile is gone from his face. “After all this time, you still won’t kiss me.”
Luca
Twenty minutes before Liam’s death
Lying on the hood of my car, I take a deep drag from my smoke as I look up at the stormy night sky. I don’t even fucking care that my clothes are getting soaked as hell in the rain. I’d almost say it’s beautiful out here, all serene and shit.
But I know damn well this night will end in chaos.
Chaos born from a flame I ignited with my own damn fingers.
I bring them to my nose and take a whiff. They still smell like Jill’s wet, aching pussy.
I groan out loud. The scent still makes me hard as fuck.
Not to mention, the memory of giving her an orgasm as sweet as sin will forever be engraved in my brain.
I may regret toying with her one day, but not tonight. Climbing into her window was the best decision I ever fucking made.
And I definitely won’t be the only one who remembers.
Because I drew a fucking bloody heart on her chest with my goddamn knife and then gave her the best fucking orgasm of her life.
I know damn well it will never fucking happen again. But at least I can savor the moment.
Because after tonight … she’ll belong to my brother. He’ll be the one to marry her and call her his wife.
Fuck.
“Don’t tell anyone about this. Ever.”
That’s what I told her. Because I want her to take our little secret to the fucking grave.
But I also want her to remember me.
To know that I was the fucking first.
I ruined her before anyone else ever could.
A filthy smirk forms on my lips.
Despite my parents choosing him to be the one to marry her, I got the first fucking taste and touch. And no one will ever know before Liam puts his ring around her finger.
I jump off the hood and sigh out loud as I get back in the car and start the engine, working the wheels until they spin fast. I’m high as fuck, but I don’t care as I race off the dirt track and get back on the road. Back home. Back to that mobster den where I belong.
But when I finally get there and get out of the car, something up high in the tree house near my parents’ property makes me stop dead in my tracks.
Jill … kissing Liam.
And rage becomes me as I draw out my knife, ready to attack my own goddamn brother … and her. “You’re kissing him?!”
Jill
Present
The look on Luca’s face darkens. “Fine. I’ll have my way with you soon enough.”
He shoves me away toward my family, who are eagerly waiting for me to return. But when my father steps forward to claim a dance with me, my mood instantly sours again.
He clutches my waist and pushes me onto the dance floor, his grip impossible to escape. “Keep it civil, Jill,” he says through gritted teeth. “You chose to come back. Now take the fucking responsibility for your actions.”
“I’m trying,” I hiss. “But Luca is an asshole.”
He yanks me closer. “Keep the guy happy. I don’t fucking care what it takes.”
I blink away the tears forming in my eyes. “Don’t you care at all what happens to me?”
“I did before you ran away like a goddamn coward.”
His words hurt, but not as much as the look of disdain in his eyes.
“You ruined every chance I had for a good partnership with the De Vos family, and you almost ruined your sister too,” he balks. “If you didn’t want to deal with the consequences, you shouldn’t have killed Liam.”
“I didn’t kill him,” I snap. “It was an accident. I almost died too. I didn’t intentionally drive off that cliff.”
His eyes twitch. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you did.”
I get sick to my stomach from the implication.
I try to jerk free from his grip, but he’s much stronger than I am. “Why would I ever want to do that? All I wanted was to be free. This is the opposite.”
“You enjoyed three years of freedom when you ran. Be happy they didn’t kill you on the spot. Show some fucking gratitude.” My father looks me dead in the eyes. “Make Luca happy, or you’ll pay the price.”
I look away, shuddering in place.
The price.
My life.
While my father spins me around on the floor, pretending we’re finishing up our father-daughter dance, my eyes skim over the rest of my family. Jasmine’s tearful eyes make it hard for me to keep it together. I swallow down my own as hers begin to run, and she turns her head and rushes off into the backyard of the venue.
My breath hitches in my throat, and I attempt to tear away from my father’s grip to follow her outside. I jerk one hand free, but the second I do, Luca’s already grabbed me, taking me from my father’s hands.
“Missed me?” he muses.
“Let me go,” I hiss.
He raises a single brow. “We’re already way past that point.”
“I need to speak to my sister,” I say.
He pushes me up against him, forcing me to dance. “No.”
I frown. “She’s crying. I have to talk to her.”
“Why? You really are attached to your sister, aren’t you? Sometimes I wondered if I should’ve been jealous of your relationship with her.” He leans in to whisper, “Or maybe you just want me to fuck both of you in a trio.”
What the …?
I shove him away even though his grip on my waist keeps me close. So I raise my hand and slap him right across the face.
The whole crowd goes silent. Everybody’s watching us.
When I remove my hand, his cheek begins to glow.
Contempt fills the void in his eyes, almost turning them blood red with rage.
He snorts, and growls, “You should not have done that.” And he spins me around and forces me to face the crowd while his arm is right around my neck. His mouth is near my ear, his tongue slithering out to lick the rim. “When you give me pain, it only turns me on.”
“You’re a monster,” I say through gritted teeth, refusing to cry in front of these people, let alone for him.
I can feel his muscles clench behind me, the grip of his arm around my neck growing stronger, tighter as I struggle to breathe. “You’re not going anywhere except to my goddamn house as my fucking wife.”
Suddenly, he spins me around and whisks me up into his arms. I squeal as he throws me over his shoulder. Without saying another word, he marches off with me.
“Mom! Dad!” I yell, but they ignore me.
Luca walks to the exit while the door leading to the garden is farther and farther away.
“No, wait!” But he doesn’t listen, doesn’t even acknowledge my words.
The door is slammed right in my face, and the cold air hits me like a brick as Luca hastens down the stairs and marches across the gravel path. I kick his stomach and punch his back, but every one of my hits is ignored as though he can’t even feel the pain anymore.
And when he puts me down and shoves me into a vehicle, shutting the door tight, it’s like an airlock has tightened all around me, suffocating the life out of me. In here, no one can hear me scream. I’m trapped, far away from the guests mingling inside the building and far away from my sister, who is out there crying her eyes out with no one to console her.
It’s impossible.
It’s cruel beyond imagination.
And the man responsible hops into the seat right beside me, locking the door the second he’s inside.
When I look at him, I feel only one thing besides hatred.
Guilt.
Guilt that I ever gave him my most precious prize.
My freedom.
My life.
All I had to give.
Given to a man who wants to destroy every inch of me.
