“We’re here,” I announced as we pulled up the circular driveway that sat in front of the large plantation house. A house that years ago housed rich men who owned slaves. Funny how nothing really had changed over time.

“Yeah, we’re here,” Anita mumbled under her breath.

For a brief moment, I could see she considered escape again. She had glanced down at the door handle, and knew she wondered if she would be able to open the door, hop out of the vehicle and head to the bayou that surrounded the property and hide with the gators. The gators would be safer than Marco Nunez. She would be better off taking her chances with the beasts in the wilderness than the beasts all around her now.

“It’s not too late. You can cancel the contract right now. Do you want out of this?” I asked, actually feeling concerned. I wanted to help her, but she needed to help herself. She could help herself.

“You know I do.”

“Well then, you know what you need to do. Give the money back. Where is it?”

She shook her head. She was going to stand by her decision. So, if that meant getting pissed on and smacked around a bit, then so be it.

“You really are infuriating,” I said as I got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her.

I walked with my hand on Anita’s lower back up the long walkway toward Marco’s mansion. It was going to take all my might not to rip off Marco’s arm from his body if he so much as touched Anita in any violent manner. No sooner had we reached the door than Marco opened it with fury in his eyes.

“It’s about time,” he began as he scowled at both Anita and me. “Go up to my study, Anita, where we were before and wait for me,” he ordered.

Anita didn’t hesitate. She didn’t look back. She simply walked away like a lifeless robot. Had I stolen all the life from her?

“Everyone but Kenneth leave,” he commanded to the entourage of his shitheads who’d entered the house along with me.

No sooner had the last man walked out the door, than Marco took hold of my collar, bunching the fabric with his clenched fist. His other hand held my arm behind my back painfully. He forced me down the hallway and into the front room.

“What the fuck happened? You all assured me when I paid for her and signed that contract that everything would go smoothly. How is one of your staff members running off with my goddamn money everything running smoothly? I had your word, Mr. Saxon. I take a man’s word seriously,” Marco said, slamming me into a chair.

I suppose I could have resisted and tried to put up a fight, though most likely would have ended up being killed by the end of it. Marco had men all around, so even if I escaped Marco, other men would be waiting. Where the fuck was Harley Crow now? Fuck me, I should have let him handle this whole mess from the very beginning.

I held strong against him, showing no signs of weakness or surrender, yet I struggled to maintain my temper. I couldn’t fight him—even though I had a good chance of winning the battle—but I had to also consider Anita in all this. If I pissed Marco off too much, he would just have me and Anita killed and wash his hands of the whole dirty situation.

“You did have my word, which is why I personally delivered her back to you. I take that contract you had with her and Spiked Roses very seriously. I too believe in a man’s word,” I answered him. “I can understand why you are pissed.” As I said the last word, the vision of Marco pissing on Anita came to mind and I internally scolded my sick sense of humor.

Marco studied me, no doubt looking for any reason to hurt me. “So the contract is still in place?” Marco asked me. “I can do what I had planned?”

I nodded, hating myself as I did so. “Unless she wants to terminate it and give you the money back.”

His eyebrows rose. “Does she?”

“No,” I said. “She wants to keep the money and plans to earn it as agreed upon.”

“I want extra days,” he added. “The days she was gone don’t count.”

“Of course. And because of all the problems, Spiked Roses is prepared to waive your yearly dues. Consider it our apology, and hopefully it will not taint you on future tastings in The Tasting Room.”

He didn’t say anything, but crossed his arms against his chest and stared at me.

I cleared my throat. “Miss Kyle got scared off. She is new to this, and although she is wrong and knows it, she really meant no ill will.”

“I’ve killed people for less than that. She stole from me.”

I nodded. “I can see how you would feel that way. But I assure you, she did not intend for it to come across as stealing from you.”

Again, Marco said nothing but just studied me.

“But, Marco, I need to have your word that no harm will come of her. I can’t leave here until I have your word. And since you believe in the power of the word, as do I, I know I can trust it. You can not kill her, or torture her, or do anything that is not spelled out in the contract.”

Reaching for a knife in his belt, Marco placed the tip of the dagger at my neck, piercing my flesh until blood was dripping down and staining the cotton material of my shirt. Marco stared at me directly in the eyes, assessing, waiting for me to cry out in pain, to beg for him to stop his torture and have mercy on me. He was trying to scare me. He was trying to prove he was the mighty mafia and could kill me, bury me, and no one would be the wiser.

I refused to give him the satisfaction, remaining silent, barely flinching as the blade cut into my skin even though the fire sizzled along my flesh. I knew he wouldn’t kill me. It was bluff. He wasn’t an idiot. He would have had to deal with the wrath of the other members of Spiked Roses. Even if you took the lethal Harley Crow out of the equation, each man would rain down their wrath on Marco and his goons if they did kill me. Marco wasn’t a stupid man. A motherfucker, yes. But not stupid.

“Did you fuck her?” Marco asked, bending down close to my ear, the blade still threatening. “Did you fuck her while she was under contract with me?”

When I didn’t answer right away, Marco pressed the dagger into my neck a little further. I was going to kill this motherfucker… but I had to keep Anita in mind. If I acted rashly, she would surely pay the price too. No witnesses. No mess. But enough was fucking enough. Reaching up, I grabbed his wrist pulling the knife away, my eyes locked on his.

“I admit I owed you one, but if you ever put a knife to me again, the outcome will be different.” Dropping my hold on his wrist, I stood, forcing him to step back, never looking at the knife, never allowing my gaze to drift from his.

“Did you? Did you fuck that tight ass of hers?” Marco demanded, his anger bubbling over at my reaction, and yet he slid the knife back into its sheath. Just like in a courtroom, the calmer and more collected I was, the better chance I had of winning.

“Yes.” It took all my might to not beat the living shit out of the man for having the audacity of being so fucking stupid as to threaten my life. “Do you blame me?”

“No, I guess I don’t.” He smiled. Sick fucker. “I bet it was good.”

I shrugged. “Nothing you and I haven’t had before.” Lying between my teeth, but I didn’t want the asshole to picture having amazing, mind blowing sex with Anita. No fucking way.

“Maybe I should have added that to the contract,” he said as he took a few steps back.

I shrugged again. “Not worth the money if you want my opinion. It’ll cost you a pretty penny and frankly… mediocre pussy.”

“Yeah, the pretty ones are usually the worst fucks,” Marco said as he walked toward the door. Looking over his shoulder, he added, “I’m sure you can show yourself out. I have a contract to honor on my end.” With that, he left the room leaving me tempted to kill the motherfucker with my bare hands.