My hip throbbed in steady waves of discomfort as I sat up and peered around my room. Hello Kitty smiled back as the sun, low on the horizon, filtered through the curtains. The room was quiet, and I was alone, but I still caught the scent of Nate. He’d held me until I’d fallen into a pleasant sleep that eventually turned into one nightmare after another—each of them ending with me at the end of a barrel. I’d woken with a start, my sweaty shirt clinging to me.

Distant voices carried up the stairs, all male, as if there were a gathering below. I threw my legs off the edge of the bed and stood. The room spun for a moment before settling down. I eased to the bathroom and checked myself in the mirror. A light pattern of bruising rose along my throat. I shivered at the memory of Dmitri’s hand pressing against me. Another streak of bluish brown down my collar bone. Sliding my pants down, I checked the ugly bruise on my hip. It looked like I must have been thrown against the door’s armrest when Hargut rammed the car. Just the thought of him brought tears to my eyes. I swallowed them back. He’d been brave. I would be, too.

I cleaned up and pulled my hair into a messy ponytail. Walking with a slight limp, I crept down the hall to the bannister. Dozens of men were lined up in the marble foyer, their voices hushed but carrying in the wide space.

Going downstairs didn’t seem like an option, but I didn’t want to go back to my room, so I took a seat on the top step and waited. Out of sight, but with a great view of everything going on, I tried to figure out what was happening. More men arrived over the next few minutes until the foyer was packed.

They quieted as Nate entered from the hallway to the right. My breath hitched in my throat. He wore a perfectly fitted suit with a white shirt beneath, open at the collar. His dark hair was parted on the side, the strands neat and smooth as he stood and surveyed his men. At six feet three or so, he was imposing—taller than most of the men in the room. And the look on his face was stern, far more serious than I’d ever seen him. Two men followed close behind him. One was Peter, who I’d met earlier. I didn’t recognize the other one, but I would remember him—large and terrifying, his face was a mask of dark intentions.

All eyes were on Nate. Standing there like a gorgeous, lethal man who exuded effortless power, he seemed to be calculating as he met the eyes of each man before passing to the next.

“As you all know, we have a rat.” His voice boomed out over the crowd. They shifted uncomfortably and parted as Nate walked among them. “I want to assure you that I’m going to find out who it is.” He stopped in front of a younger man. “And when I do, there will be no mercy. I will let the Butcher pull out all the stops. Every nightmare you’ve ever had, it’ll play out right here, under our feet.”

The young man in front of him withered under Nate’s words.

Nate moved on, staring down each person in his path. “Because more than anything else, I demand loyalty. The rat threatens everything we’ve built here. And he will pay with blood, all of it. Does anyone have any questions?” He turned and moved to stand at the head of the room.

Silence reigned.

“Does anyone have anything they want to tell me?” His voice dropped low, which made it even scarier. The intensity of his gaze spoke to some primal part of me, telling me to run. Like a blinking predator alert going off at some ancient level of my consciousness. I didn’t move.

No one spoke. No one seemed to breathe as Nate bore down on them like a tempest.

“Tonight, we’re receiving a shipment at Essington. I’m expecting company straight from Moscow.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “We’re going to kill every last one of them. It’s time they learned what we do to anyone who takes what’s ours.”

A flurry of nods and agreement went up from the crowd.

“Don’t hesitate. Shoot first, ask questions later. We’ll protect this shipment, then the next, and the next.” He smirked. “What’s more, we’re going to start taking.”

Even more agreement with a chorus of yeahs rumbled around in the air.

“Peter will speak more about that when the time comes, but I need to be sure that every man here is ready to fight for what’s his. To protect what we’ve made with our own hands. Are you ready to bleed for it?”

The men roared so loud that I clapped my hands over my ears. Nate’s eyes cut to me, but he looked away quickly and continued, “Good. Because you will. But when it’s all over, we’ll rule this fucking city.”

Another cheer that seemed to shake the chandelier.

“Get to work.” Nate turned and retreated down the long hallway. Peter and the huge man followed as the room burst into movement and the men dispersed. In a matter of seconds, the entire foyer was clear except for George standing at the front door.

I padded down the stairs and turned toward the hall where Nate had disappeared.

“He’s busy.” Though I’d ignored George, he didn’t pay me the same courtesy.

“He’ll see me.” I continued down the hall and hoped my words were true.

I turned into the study where Opal said he did most of his business. Comfortable couches and a wide desk presided over a sunny room whose walls were lined with books. Nate sat at his desk and stared at an unopened pack of Marlboros in his palm.

“It’s not as bad as all that.” Peter sat on one of the sofas as the other man—the one who looked like a beefy version of Death—stared at me.

“It might be.” Nate peered at the cigarettes, then glanced at me as I eased into the room.

“You still smoke?” I asked. The faint sweet scent of tobacco floated through my memory. He’d used to roll his own cigarettes, though he’d try to hide his smoking from me.

“I quit two years ago, but sometimes…”

I sat on the couch next to Peter and crossed my legs at the knee. “That’s a long time. Would be a shame for you to break your streak.”

“Two years, and you’ve made it through three hit attempts and all sorts of shit without lighting up.” Peter seemed to be on an anti-smoking campaign. “Don’t give up now.”

“You’re right.” Nate sighed and nodded before dropping the pack into his top desk drawer. “Sabrina, you’ve met Peter, and this is David, his brother.”

“Hi.” I offered the big guy a small smile.

“Nice to finally meet you.” Despite being delivered in a chilling baritone, the words were warm.

“I’m glad you’re pleased.” Nate leaned back in his chair. “I want you to start training her in self-defense.”

“What?” David and I said at the same time.

“I already know self-defense,” I protested.

“I don’t think so.” Nate’s green eyes pierced me. “If you did, you would have gotten away from Dmitri.”

Indignation rose inside me. “He had me by the throat!”

“Exactly.” His gaze slid to the bruising at my neck. “You need to be able to get out of a choke hold. David can teach you that.”

I snuck a look at the brooding giant. He seemed just as irked as I was about the training, his dark brows lowering over his light blue eyes. Scary with a placid expression, he was downright terrifying when he was pissed.

“Don’t worry. He won’t hurt you. Well, no more than he has to so that you can learn.” Nate seemed to chew on the words as he said them, as if the idea of David and I sparring didn’t taste very good on his tongue.

“Fine.” I shrugged. It’s not like I had any pressing commitments, and I wanted to be able to fight back if Dmitri or his minions every got their hands on me again. I flinched at the thought. “Did you get any more information about Dmitri? About what he said to me in the car?”

Nate shifted in his chair and took a long while before saying, “Dmitri wants to hurt you. From what we’ve been able to uncover, what he said about your father was true—he sexually abused Dmitri when he was his apprentice.”

My stomach churned, and I almost felt sorry for Dmitri. But my father’s actions weren’t a valid reason for Dmitri’s cruelty toward me or anyone else. “I didn’t know anything about it. I was just a child.”

“That doesn’t matter to him.” Nate shrugged.

David cracked his knuckles. “Someone has to pay. For him, that someone is you.”

A chill seemed to drift through the room. I pulled my feet up and tucked them under me.

“But we’ll protect you and kill him, of course,” David offered in what he likely thought was a helpful tone.

“Guys, be ready for tonight. Let me talk to Sabrina alone for a minute.” Nate’s voice carried a weariness that hadn’t shown during his earlier talk with his soldiers.

“On it.” Peter rose and gave me a small smile before walking out of the room with his brother.

When the door shut behind them, Nate asked, “Did you enjoy the show out there?”

Yes, it was hot. I nixed that comment and went with, “Everyone seems on edge.”

“Good. They should be. We’ve got a rat. Someone who told Dmitri where you’d be and when. I’ll find him. And when I do…” He flexed his fists, his eyes blazing with barely contained fury.

“George.” I thought back on how he’d looked at me, the questions he’d asked before Hargut and I had left. “It had to have been him.”

Nate shook his head. “Not a chance. He’s been with me since the beginning.”

“He’s sleazy.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he’s a rat.”

“He knew where we were going.” I stood and walked around to the side of his desk, running my fingers along the smooth wood. “He was asking questions.”

Nate followed my movements, his green eyes focused on me in a way that heated my blood. “He’s supposed to ask questions. He’s security.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“I do.” He leaned back as I skirted around the edge of his desk and stood next to him.

When I perched beside him, his nostrils flared.

“How do you know he’s not the rat?”

He sighed and placed his hands on the arms of his office chair. “Because his younger sister and I used to dick down back in the day. She got pregnant.”

Jealousy twisted in my gut like a fish hook. “You have a kid?”

He smirked. “Not quite. I’d been careful, but when she had the baby, she’d told me it was mine. Of course, I’d requested a paternity test. Turned out, it wasn’t mine. But she was desperate, didn’t have money, no job, and the kid would have suffered, so I paid child support anyway. Still do. The kid doesn’t know about me. But George knows what I’m doing for his family. And as long as they’re safe and looked after, which they are, he’s got my back. Mercy creates loyalty. Fear works too, but mercy is the long game.”

I arched a brow. “Mercy creates loyalty, huh? Why can’t you just admit that you wanted to help the kid? You’re a softy at heart. It wasn’t about ensuring loyalty.”

“A softy?” His gaze drifted down my body. “I don’t think so.”

I licked my lips as a familiar pressure slowly built inside me. Just the nearness of him lit up every pleasure sensor I had, priming me for his touch. “You saved me because you’re a softy. Same thing for the boy. You can’t help but do good things.”

“Good things?” He shook his head and gripped the chair arms. “I killed a man today, Sabrina. Shot him in the basement while you slept. Do you know why?” His words should have chilled me. They didn’t.

“Why?” I breathed the word and edged closer to him until my knee touched his.

“Because he took you.” His jaw tightened as he stared up at me. “Because he dared to think he could touch you.”

“Because I’m yours.” The words I’d longed to say to him slipped from my tongue in the easiest confession.

He closed his eyes, as if the words hurt to hear. “I’m going to protect you.”

I shifted until I stood directly in front of him, both our knees touching and my ass pressed against his desk. “Because I’m yours.” I’d say it as many times as I needed to so that he’d understand. I wanted him.

He opened his eyes and leaned forward, placing his palms at my waist. I shivered at his touch, the fire inside me threatening to consume all rational thought. His posture tightened, as if he were just a few threads away from unravelling.

“I swore to protect you. That’s all.” His touch didn’t match his words. He squeezed, his fingers digging into me as he stroked his thumbs back and forth across the fabric of my t-shirt. “I’m going to keep you safe and send you off to college.”

“I’m staying.” I straddled him and sat in his lap, my ass resting on his thighs as he leaned back in his chair.

“We aren’t doing this.” Still, his hands never left me.

I rested my palms on his chest, feeling the rampaging beat of his heart. His hands slid lower, grazing along my hips, then circling around to my ass. When he squeezed, I curled my toes and leaned closer.

I hovered my lips over his, desperate to taste him. “I want you.”

He groaned and flicked his gaze to my lips. “This can’t happen.”

“I’ve waited for you.” I pressed my palms against his cheeks.

His pupils dilated as he slid his hands under my shirt and up my back. “What?”

“I’ve never been with anyone. Because I’m yours.”

“Fuck.” He bit the word as it left his lips.

I moved closer until I could feel the hard length of him against the seam of my jeans. Sensations flickered through me, my need for him so strong it verged on a sickness. He remained still, a silent war raging inside him.

“I’m yours. All of me. Whatever you want.”

“This can’t happen.” He started to push me away.

I pressed my lips to his, tentative at first.

He didn’t do tentative. With a low groan, he gripped my hair and took my mouth with a rough kiss that blasted away all expectations. Even though I was on top, he was in charge. Tilting my head, he slanted his mouth over mine, taking me just how he wanted. His tongue pressed against my lips, and I opened for him. Liquid fire flowed through my veins and pooled in my clit as he took over.

His low groan ricocheted through me as his tongue caressed mine. I answered, tangling with him as I gripped his shoulders. I’d wanted it for so long, imagined it so many ways—but the real thing was better than anything I could have concocted. Nate stoked my desire with his sinful mouth, promising me bliss with each artful stroke of his tongue against mine. Reaching around me, he yanked me forward until his cock pressed fully against me. I moved my hips, riding him despite our clothes. He gripped my ass harder, and my nipples ached as they pressed against his chest with each of my movements.

Running his hand to my hip, he squeezed. I squealed at the sudden shock of pain. He pulled back.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He blinked hard, then set me on my feet and stood.

I stepped toward him, wanting more of his touch.

But he held a hand up and stepped back. “No.”

“What?”

“This is…you are…we can’t…” He stopped and ran a hand through his hair as he tried to compose himself.

“I’m not a child. I’m eighteen—”

“Right.” He nodded, perhaps at himself. “Eighteen. You’re far too young. I’m your guardian. That’s it.”

Irritation, thick and acrid, welled up inside me. “I can make my own decisions. You aren’t my legal guardian anymore.”

He flexed his fists and then straightened his fingers. “Don’t sass me.”

“I’ll sass you if I want to. I’m a grown woman. You’re acting like a scared kid.”

“Sabrina.” His tone held a warning that I ignored.

“What? Are you afraid? Scared of me?” I stepped toward him.

He retreated. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, can’t you see that? For once in my life, I’m trying to put someone else first. Put you first.”

It sounded right, noble even. But it wasn’t true. “No, you’re protecting yourself.”

“What?”

“You feel the same thing I do. You want this, but you won’t let yourself have it. You’re afraid.” I wanted to move closer, but his wild eyes told me he’d bolt.

“No, no, no.” He waved away my words. “You and me—it’s wrong. I’m supposed to look after you. To send you off to college. Not”—he gestured at his chair—“not do that.”

I tried a different tack. Running my hands up my body, I cupped my breasts. “Big tough mob boss can’t handle the heat?”

His eyes flashed. “Sabrina, I’m warning you.”

I was testing his control. But I didn’t just want to test it. I wanted it gone. “Warning me?” I laughed and grabbed the hem of my shirt. “About what? What will you do? Run away because you’re afraid?” I began to lift my top.

“Don’t.” He tensed, but watched every inch of skin I revealed as I peeled off my shirt.

When I tossed it on the floor at his feet and unbuttoned my jeans, his eyes darkened.

“That’s enough.”

“I don’t think so.” I unzipped my jeans and pushed them down my thighs.

Before I could finish the job, Nate grabbed me and sat in his desk chair, then flipped me across his knees. Smack. A burn ripped across my ass. Smack, smack, smack. I squealed and wiggled to try and get away from him, but he held me fast by pushing me down onto his knees with his left hand while he spanked me with his right. Over and over again, his palm came down against my backside, sending fire rushing along my skin.

“Nate!” I tried to push away from him to no avail.

“Teasing me.” Smack. “Sassing me.” Smack. “Showing me your fucking perky tits.” Smack. “Grinding on my cock.” Smack, smack, smack.

The more I struggled, the more he spanked me. The fire on my ass cheeks began to seep deeper into me, changing from pain to something warmer as he smacked me again then smoothed his hand over the burn. I moaned as he dipped his fingers down along my thong.

“Fucking wet.” His voice was tight as he stroked me through my panties. “Fuck.”

I whimpered and wriggled against his touch, wanting more. “Please.”

My voice seemed to snap him out of his reverie, because he cursed in a creative litany, then yanked my jeans up to cover my stinging ass.

“Shit, I’m sorry. Shit.” He lifted me to my feet. “Are you okay?”

Okay? I was fucking flying. I wanted more—more pain, more pleasure, more of his hands on me. Before I could vocalize all of that, he’d swiped my shirt off the floor and pulled it down over my head.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “That won’t happen again.” His eyes were wide, as if he were horrified at what he’d done. He led me to his office door. “Just, ah, I’ll see you later.”

“I want to stay.” I dug my heels in, but he easily overcame me and pushed me out the door.

“No. I’m sorry.” He shut down, his eyes refusing to meet my own. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I want—”

He closed the door in my face, and I heard the click of a lock. The door handle wouldn’t budge when I tried it. “Nate, let me in.” I crossed my arms and stared at the door.

Silence inside. He’d given me the hottest moment of my life, then completely shut me out.

“Nate!” I slapped the door.

Low laughter met my ears, and I turned to see George leaning against the wall at the end of the hall. “Told you he was busy.”

Shut up was on the tip of my tongue, but I ignored him and tried the handle once more. It didn’t move. Hurt arced through me like lightning, and tears stung behind my eyes. I couldn’t even begin to fathom the embarrassment that George’s presence caused me.

He sauntered a few steps closer. “Your shirt’s on inside out.”

Glancing down, I saw he was right. Damn. To save what was left of my pride, I turned to walk past him and head back to my room.

The flick of a lighter caught my ear, and I stilled. After a few more moments, the slight acrid scent of a cigarette wafted from beneath the door. A grin spread across my face as I realized I’d driven Nate to smoke.