Adriana
Adriana was practically bouncing on the heels of her feet as she walked out of Ryder’s playroom, wrapping her coat tightly around her body as she headed for the front door, preparing herself for the chilly air outside. “La di dah di do,” she hummed to herself, unable to fight the wide grin that was splitting her face in half as she sang to herself. “La di dah di dah…”
But before she could make it to the front door, the doorbell rang, freezing her in her tracks, uncertain of what to do. It would feel weird for her to go back to the playroom. Would she have to take her clothes off again, just to inform Ryder that the doorbell rang? Or what if she walked back in with clothes on? Would he punish her? A shiver ran down Adriana’s spine as she considered that possibility, but it wasn’t due to fear. The thought excited her, made her turn on her heels and head back in the direction of the playroom, going back to get her ass slapped around some more—
She slammed right into Ryder’s chest, not seeing him in time to stop her movements before colliding with him. “Oof,” she groaned as she backed up, rubbing her head where it smashed against Ryder’s muscular torso.
“You okay?” Ryder asked, but his voice didn’t have the same soft tenderness as it had in the playroom earlier. Adriana swallowed the vague pained feeling that created in her and nodded, gesturing behind her towards the front door.
“Um, the doorbell rang.”
“I heard it,” Ryder said, a little curt. He sounded like he was on edge, a little like he did when they were in the office together. What could be wrong? Adriana suddenly felt a wave of insecurity crash over her. Did she mess something up? Did she not leave the playroom in time? Or did she leave too soon? He seemed like he was mad about something, but she couldn’t figure out what she had done to make him feel that way.
“Um, okay, well, I guess I’ll just go now…” Adriana started to turn back around, right when the doorbell rang again. She figured she’d let the impatient ringer in to talk with Ryder and then just head downstairs and go home.
But Ryder stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, pinning her in place, even as the doorbell rang a third time. “Wait. Head back to the hallway. Across from the playroom is my bedroom. You can wait in there while I get rid of whoever is coming by at this time of night.”
“I can just go; it’s no big deal,” Adriana argued, flinching a little bit as the doorbell rang again. Whoever was on the other side of the door clearly had no intentions of leaving anytime soon, at least not until they got an acknowledgment from Ryder.
“I insist,” Ryder said, his tone hard and unflinching. He wasn’t going to budge on this, Adriana could tell. She just sighed and nodded, walking around him to head to his bedroom.
She stepped into the luxurious room, shut the door softly behind her, and took a look around. There was a gorgeous full canopy bed in royal blue against the wall, with shining mahogany furniture pieces surrounding it. Adriana tentatively walked over to the bed, feeling a distinct heaviness in her head that told her she needed to sleep soon. The bed was just so tempting. She couldn’t help but picture Ryder curled up under those covers, all of his defenses falling away as he sunk into the mattress.
Adriana practically jolted as soon as she realized what she was thinking about. Snap out of it, she berated herself, turning around to face the door instead of the bed. She couldn’t afford to get mushy already, especially since she only just fucked the guy one time. They hadn’t even kissed on the mouth yet, for God’s sake. Why in the hell was she getting all soft-hearted and picturing the guy sleeping? There wasn’t even anything sexual about that. She had no excuse for being such a little bitch when it came to her inner monologue.
She exhaled deeply and walked closer to the door, putting more distance in between herself and the bed in an attempt to protect herself from the temptation to indulge in more of those mushy thoughts. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to repeat her mantra to herself as insistently as possible until it truly sunk in. I don’t want a relationship. I don’t want a relationship. I don’t want one.
But in the process, shutting out all other sensations, she picked up on some noises from the other side of the door. “What are you doing here?” It was Ryder, taking a rather rude tone of voice to someone. Judging from the distance of the sound, Adriana figured he hadn’t even invited the intruder in, keeping him or her installed near the doorway of the penthouse.
“Just checking in on my brother. Can’t I do that, or is that not allowed under the new leadership?” It was Giovanni. Adriana would recognize that squirrelly, desperate tone of voice anywhere. Her upper lip curled in disgust, and she backed away from the door a little bit, no longer invested in the conversation she was overhearing.
Still, though, that didn’t keep her from picking up on some of the things that were said in the following minutes. “… you can go now,” Ryder said from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
“I just worry about you, that’s all. Aren’t you going to let me in?” Giovanni asked, an edge popping up in his voice like he was beginning to get frustrated.
Adriana rolled her eyes, checking her phone to see the time. She needed to get home and check on her father. Giovanni was just holding her up at this point. She was annoyed, but weirdly, she didn’t feel like blaming Ryder. If the late-night visitor had been almost anybody else other than Giovanni, it would have been fine for her to head out the front door, but Giovanni would be so goddamn smug about Adriana fucking a guy she just met at the office, not to mention that guy was Giovanni’s brother.
On the other hand, he might have even gotten angry, given the fact that he’d spent the last year hitting on Adriana mercilessly without ever reaping any benefit. He’d probably get mad at Adriana and maybe even try to get her fired. She rubbed her shoulders, feeling a dark cloud of worry descend over her head. She wished that Giovanni would just disappear already. She didn’t know how she would handle it if he found out about them.
“You know, I really think about you a lot man,” Giovanni said to Ryder, his voice a bit softer and more difficult to make out. “You don’t have anybody. I know, I know, you’re constantly fucking girls in the city. That must be nice. But it’s not like me. I’ve got people in my life that I’m close to. You… you just have servants. Isn’t that right?”
Ryder didn’t say anything, or at least not anything that Adriana could hear. She knew he wasn’t going to mention her, though, despite Giovanni’s baiting. After all, he had almost as much to lose as Adriana did. He’d threatened her not to tell anyone about their relationship; given how gentle and caring he otherwise was, it was clear to Adriana that he was desperate to keep his little “habit” of domination under wraps.
“Giovanni, it’s late. I need to sleep. You do, too. We’ve still got a lot of work to do getting Dad’s business in order, not to mention the funeral,” Ryder said, a stern edge appearing in his voice.
“All right, all right,” Giovanni said, his voice becoming more muffled as if he was heading back out of the apartment. “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”
“Yep,” Ryder said before slamming the door shut.
Adriana stayed in place, standing awkwardly in the middle of the bedroom, waiting for Ryder to fetch her. It was probably fine for her to go ahead and leave the penthouse, but she was nervous about doing something that Ryder disapproved of. She knew that, outside of the playroom, he wouldn’t be unreasonable about Adriana making her own decisions, but she still cared about doing what he wanted. Maybe I like him more than I thought, she thought, her stomach sinking as she considered that possibility.
In any case, Ryder appeared a minute later, opening up the bedroom door and gesturing for Adriana to follow him outside. “Sorry about that,” Ryder said, sounding genuinely apologetic.
“No problem,” Adriana lied, even though her heart was still pounding a little too quickly in her chest, making her feel queasy and off-balance. “It was your brother, right?”
Ryder nodded, placing his hand on the base of Adriana’s back to lead her away from the bedroom and back towards the main entrance area of the penthouse. “He’s always butting in where he doesn’t belong. He’ll behave though. I’ll make sure of that.”
Adriana found herself smiling despite her latest surge in anxiety. Ryder seemed to have that effect on her, helping her calm down even when her nerves went wild. “Well, thank you for tonight. I really appreciate... everything you did.”
For a second, Adriana was sure she was hallucinating, but she thought she saw Ryder’s cheeks go a little red. Is he… blushing? Adriana bit the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling and giving herself away. God, he was so cute. It was unfair, honestly, not to mention amazing, that someone so sexy and so commanding could also be so adorable.
“You’re welcome,” Ryder finally said, his tone stiff and uncomfortable even as his cheeks became pinker.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Adriana asked as she pulled away from Ryder’s touch, resisting the urge to run back into his arms and sweep him up into a kiss.
“Definitely,” Ryder replied, and Adriana was relieved to see a slight smile spread across his lips, lighting up his eyes in a way that Adriana tried to commit to memory. She didn’t want to forget this moment, this one beautiful, soft moment between them, before they had to go back to pretending that they were just colleagues.
She forced herself through the front door, turned on her heel, and headed down the hallway outside his apartment, fighting hard to keep herself from rushing back inside and attempting to stay the night. God, it was so tempting to try, but she held herself back, heading downstairs to the ground floor of the fancy apartment complex, and then outside into the bitter cold.
She was halfway to the road, where a town car presumably waited for her as it did the night before when she left Ryder’s apartment, when a figure, all in black, sprung out of the shadows, stopping her in her tracks.
“Hey, there, pretty lady,” the man said, smiling so viciously that the white of his teeth cut through the night’s darkness like a knife. It was Giovanni. Of course.
Adriana inwardly berated herself for not waiting longer to leave Ryder’s apartment. Of course, Giovanni would be waiting outside like a disgusting little creep. It was just the way he was. It was stupid of Adriana not to anticipate that, honestly. Now she’d have to come up with an excuse, quickly, before Giovanni figured out the truth.
“Hello, there, Mr. Rainieri,” Adriana said, hoping that if she was polite and overly respectful that Giovanni would leave her alone. “Visiting your brother?”
“Just saw him, actually,” Giovanni replied, a slick smirk sliding across his face. “You know, you look better than usual, Adriana. What is it? Pilates, yoga? Fucking my brother?”
“Excuse me?” Adriana summoned up as much manufactured outrage as she could and screwed up her face to show that she was offended. “How dare you!”
“Oh, save it,” Giovanni said, his smug smile slipping off his face as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something scarier, something more disturbing. He looked hard and mean, older than he really was, his shoulders squaring up under his jacket like he was preparing for a fight.
Adriana felt chilled to the bone, backing up a pace to put more distance between their bodies. Giovanni just walked forward, cutting the space between them in half. He could probably see how scared she was, how hard she was breathing now that he was closer to her. But that didn’t stop him from narrowing his eyes, looking at her like she was a piece of trash standing in his way.
“I know what you’ve been doing tonight. Quite the slut, aren’t you?”
“You don’t have a single idea what you’re talking about,” Adriana said through gritted teeth, maintaining a mask of confidence, even though it probably wasn’t very convincing, given how much she was trembling. He could probably see how her fingers were shaking, even as she reached into her coat pocket, her hand scrambling to find the handle of the knife that she carried around with her. She’d never had to use it before, and she was hoping and praying that she wouldn’t have to do so tonight either. But she had to be ready, just in case.
“I think I know exactly what’s going on here,” Giovanni said, practically snarling now as he stepped a little closer to her.
Adriana stood her ground, refusing to back up or yield any space to him, the knife in her pocket giving her strength, even though she knew she could really only do minimal damage with it if it came down to that. He would prevail in a physical fight. No, instead, she’d have to do something she hated. She’d have to scream for help. But not until he actually got physical with her; otherwise, she’d lose her job and Ryder in one fell swoop.
“You’re fucking my brother. You met him, what, a few days ago? And already you’re letting him in your pants? You haven’t even done me once. What’s up with that?”
Adriana shook her head and shrugged. “Maybe I don’t fuck around with losers. Maybe that’s got something to do with it.” She knew it was foolish to taunt him at a time like this, but some part of her wished he’d just attack and get it over with. She could handle him if she had to, but the anticipation, the gradual build-up of fear inside of her was too much to take.
Giovanni clicked his teeth, making a popping sound from deep inside his mouth with his tongue before smiling again, cheerily, like she’d said something hilarious. “Funny. You’re a funny girl. I like that. I like you, you know, in general. You’re a pretty hot girl with a good head on your shoulders. So, I trust that you’ll listen to me when I tell you this because I’m not fucking around.”
He paused, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to let her talk. Either way, Adriana didn’t take the bait, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him silently instead.
“You fucked my brother. What’s done is done. You can’t take that mistake back, no matter how hard you deny it, baby. So, let me tell you what’s got to happen now. You’re going to fuck me, too. In fact, you’re going to stop doing him and focus on me exclusively.”
“Why the hell would I do that?” Adriana snapped, beyond denying the sex with Ryder at this point. There was no point. Giovanni knew the truth anyway, even if he had no idea about the exact nature of their relationship.
“Because pretty soon I’m going to be the boss, babe,” Giovanni said, his eyes twinkling with something between mischief and satisfaction, like he’d already won their argument and gotten her to agree to fuck him. “And you want to keep your job, don’t you?”
“Wh-what?” Adriana whispered, unable to raise her voice any higher under the weight of the fear that suddenly crashed down over her head.
“You heard me,” Giovanni said, but then he went on to repeat himself anyway. He probably liked the sound of his own voice, Adriana figured. “You sleep with me, soon, or you won’t have a job anymore. And you can’t afford to lose this position, right? What are you going to do instead? Be a bookkeeper at a coffee shop somewhere? Or actually serve the coffee? How’s that going to keep your dad alive?”
“How do you know about my dad?” Adriana asked indignantly. She’d never talked about her personal problems at work before, except a little bit with Paolo here and there before he died. But he never would have talked to his son about it. He just wasn’t that kind of man.
Giovanni shrugged, apparently unwilling to give her a satisfactory answer. “I have my ways. You shouldn’t worry about that. Instead, I suggest you focus on the problem standing in front of you. Now, I don’t want to fuck you right now. I’m not really into sloppy seconds, if you know what I mean. But you better get ready to fuck me soon, and it better be good. Otherwise…” He trailed off, shrugging again and smiling meanly at her, his eyes reflecting the moonlight shining down from above in the ugliest way imaginable, as if there was some nuclear bomb inside of him, just ready to go off and consume everything that Adriana was.
Adriana stared as mean and cold back at Giovanni, wanting him to be perfectly aware of how much she hated him. She’d always disliked him, always found him rather disgusting, just based on the way he harassed all of the women in the office. But now it was beyond that. He’d never made threats like this before, or she would have found herself looking for another job a long time ago.
It must be because of Paolo, Adriana realized. He never would have done this if Paolo were still alive because he would know that he wouldn’t be able to get away with it. But now that his father is gone…. nothing will stop him.
Except for Ryder, of course, she realized belatedly. Maybe Ryder would protect her, despite the fact that they’d only known each other for a couple of days. They’d really connected, bonding in a way that Adriana had never expected. He could keep her safe, defend her from his brother.
“So, what do you think your brother is going to say about this when I tell him that you’ve been threatening me?” Adriana said, narrowing her eyes at Giovanni, who looked unbothered. “Do you really think you can just get away with saying this kind of shit to me? Ryder is the boss now. Not you.”
“Not for long,” Giovanni muttered under his breath.
“What? What does that mean?” Adriana asked, feeling her pulse start to pound in her throat, fear collecting at the bottom of her stomach.
“Nothing,” Giovanni replied dismissively, waving his hand as if she was imagining things. “Nothing at all. But to answer your question, nothing’s going to happen to me. Because you’re not going to tell my brother a thing.”
“What? Yes, I am. I’m going to do it right now,” Adriana said, turning on her heel and beginning to march up the hill, back in the direction of the apartment building, where Ryder was probably getting ready for bed.
But before she could scale the hill, Giovanni’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, keeping her in place in much the same way as his brother did earlier. Chills reverberated inside of Adriana’s bones, freezing her in place even as she felt Giovanni’s hot, sickly breath hit the back of her exposed neck. “You’re not going to tell him shit,” Giovanni whispered into her ear. “Because if you do, something might just happen…”
“You’re not going to kill me,” Adriana said, even though she didn’t feel nearly as confident as she sounded. Who knew what Giovanni was really capable of, seeing as how he was essentially conning her into fucking him?
“No,” Giovanni agreed. “I’m not. But something else might happen, something that would be worse than death for you.”
“What?” Adriana asked, feeling utterly confused.
“Let’s just say, I’d hate for something bad to happen to your father,” Giovanni said casually before stepping back and removing his hand from her shoulder. “That’d be a real shame. I know what that feels like now—losing a father. It’d be terrible for you to experience that.”
Adriana slowly turned back around to face the little shithead that was threatening her, swallowing the bile that cropped up in her mouth as a result of Giovanni’s words. “You’re not serious,” Adriana said, forcing as much confidence into her voice as she could possibly muster. She couldn’t show him how afraid she really was, how much she’d shaken her. In reality, her fingers were still shaking around the handle of the knife in her coat while her other hand balled up into a fist, preparing to strike the little man in front of her at the first sign of trouble. “You’re just fucking around with me.”
But Giovanni just shrugged again, raising his eyebrows skeptically at her. “Who knows? I’m a fucking mystery. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But you can’t be sure, can you?”
“I can tell someone that you said this to me,” Adriana recalled the fear and cold certainty she’d felt earlier in the day when she was going over business information with Ryder. “I could go to the fucking cops. You don’t even know all that I know.”
But Giovanni didn’t look intimidated, not even in the slightest. “Go right ahead, Adriana. You just do that, and then you see what happens.”
“You can’t hurt my father if you’re in jail!” Adriana argued, her voice getting higher than she’d intended, starting to feel panic sweep over all of her internal organs, making every muscle in her body clench up.
“I can’t, no,” Giovanni said, nodding at her encouragingly like she’d just made a really good point. But he was mocking her, because then he smiled sharply and added, “But the men I have watching over him might.”
“You’re bluffing.” Adriana shook her head and turned on her heel again to head back up the hill. This time, Giovanni didn’t follow her or try to stop her.
“You just keep telling yourself that, Adriana. I’ve been pretty bored lately anyway. Maybe I’ll head over to your dad’s place myself, pay him a little visit. I’m sure he’d like to hear all that you’ve been doing with your employers.”
“Fuck you!” Adriana shouted over her shoulder, continuing to struggle up the hill in her heels.
“You will. And soon,” Giovanni said, right before the sound of his footsteps informed Adriana that he’d walked away from her, in the opposite direction, towards the main road. He probably had a car waiting for him to take him back to the Rainieri compound.
Adriana kept walking until she was sure that Giovanni was gone for good, taking her knife from her pocket and bracing it between her fingers, ready if anyone jumped out at her from the shadows again. “Goddammit,” she muttered as she stared up at the lights of the penthouse apartment above. “God fucking dammit!”
What should I do? Adriana wondered silently, the cold handle of the knife contributing to the trembling of her fingers. Should I tell Ryder? Could he really protect me? And what did Giovanni mean when he said he was taking over? That he would be the boss soon? Are there people in the Rainieri organization willing to defect over to Giovanni and overthrow Ryder’s control?
She couldn’t be sure. Even though she’d worked at the Rainieri compound for over a year now, she didn’t really have any relationships with anybody there except for Paolo, who was gone now. Maybe Giovanni was just pretending—acting like he had a lot of sway in the organization, lots of men under his control, when really, he was just pissed that his father had passed him over in favor of Ryder.
But on the other hand… Mama Rainieri was definitely a lot closer to Giovanni than she was to Ryder. As far as Adriana could tell, her older son hadn’t talked to her at all in the entire time that Adriana was working for the family. That didn’t bode well, as Mrs. Rainieri was the longest-running authority figure in the entire organization at this rate.
Fuck. Adriana turned back around and headed downhill, then stopped before she got to the road, hiding in the shadow of a large tree in case Giovanni was still watching her. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Even if she did tell Ryder, she had no reason to trust that Ryder would believe her word over his brother’s.
Despite the fact that the two men clearly competed with each other for their whole lives, they were still family. That had to take precedence over a fuck buddy, no matter how deeply they’d connected with their bodies. If Adriana were in Ryder’s position, he’d probably fire her right on the spot just for the crime of accusing Giovanni of such a terrible thing. Adriana couldn’t even blame Ryder for it. After all, they’d only fucked once, and they’d only met a few days prior. Ryder had no reason to take her word over his brother’s, even if she didn’t have any reason to lie.
Slowly, terribly, a sick sensation of certainty sunk down over Adriana’s head, removing any and all doubt, any and all hope from her system. She couldn’t tell Ryder. That much was obvious to her now. The risks were too high, and there was no reason for Adriana to believe that Ryder would or even could protect her if Giovanni’s brags about the men under his control were anything to believe.
Adriana began walking away from the protective shadows of the trees around her, heading further downhill toward the road where a town car was indeed waiting for her, a servant opening the door to the back seat as soon as he spotted her. Adriana faked a polite smile and told the servant thank you as she slid into the vehicle, then pressed her head against the opposite window, staring down at the city below.
“I’m fucked,” she mumbled as the car roared to life, rolling in the direction of her home.