Chapter Six

Tamatha

I awoke to the sun filtering through the curtains and something glossy under my fingers.

I blinked, not sure where I was. This room was different—the bed on the opposite side—but no less opulent than the one I had before. But the slick feeling under my hand attracted my gaze. The photos were black and white, but I had no confusion of what happened in them. In the first, Alec was bound to a chair, a white cloth stuffed in his mouth, and was staring up at the camera with tears in his eyes. In the next, he was bloodied, beaten, and his clothes were ripped up. He looked like he was screaming, but with his mouth blocked, I couldn’t be sure. As each photo progressed, Alec lost a piece of himself. A finger here, a toe there, until he was in pieces.

I looked at every picture.

I was sick and broken, but the images warmed parts of me that were still frozen and dead after leaving Alec. Each time I shuffled through them, laughter bubbled up within me. It was brutal, harsh, and I should have been disgusted. But I wasn’t. Alec was dead, and he’d never be able to touch me or my Domino again. When I ran from Alec, I changed my son’s name to keep him hidden. All I had to do was get the ten million from Benecio and I’d have my son safe from everything. For the first time in a long time, I let myself smile. Then I looked up and noticed a T.V. with a video on pause. The image showed Alec bloodied and bound to his seat before he’d been chopped to pieces. Benecio stood to the side in all black, with a blood-splattered neck and a white smile. I reached for the remote on the nightstand and pressed play. The volume wasn’t loud, but I heard every word in the silence of the room.

“Alec, tell her you’re sorry,” Benecio hissed.

“She was just some fucking slut off the street. I gave her a roof over her head, money, and the best clothes. All she had to do was fucking bend over.”

Benecio shifted, and brass glinted on his knuckles as he swung. The impact of his punch was wet, causing Alec to grunt before coughing.

“Did it feel good when you had her?” Benecio asked.

“Fuck you. I popped that cunt’s cherry. It’ll always be mine.”

Alec had always thought he was stronger and smarter than anyone around him. If he got the last word, he’d won. You couldn’t beat him if he was richer, better looking, and smarter than you. He kept me under his boot because it made him feel good, and I had no way to fight him. Benecio looked like an avenging angel, this time leaving the camera’s sight. I only heard metal grinding before he came back to the screen. Alec went pale watching Benecio, who had his back to the camera, before he shifted sideways.

“No, oh my God. Please,” Alec begged.

“I’m sorry, but God isn’t listening right now.”

Benecio put the hand-cranked vise down on the ground before reaching for Alec’s pants. Alec screamed and shuddered, but I was smiling hard enough my cheeks ached. This was vindication and violence I wholeheartedly supported. But it terrified me too. Benecio slipped Alec’s balls and dick out of his pants and fitted the vise around his sensitive anatomy. Benecio didn’t flinch as he tightened the apparatus. With single-minded focus, he crushed Alec’s balls and never blinked.

“But her pussy is mine now. Forgive me if I know I’ll do a much better job than you.”

Benecio’s bloody fingers reached for a camera, and he snapped a picture before he removed the vise and tossed it aside. It thunked on the floor, loud and clanging over Alec’s cries.

“But I’m far from done with you. This was for her, but you betrayed me. I don’t deal well with betrayal, and so you will die.”

I swallowed as Benecio looked at the camera, his gaze piercing my soul. “That goes for you, too, Tamatha. There are horrible ways to die, and I know them all.”

The video paused on his crazed smile, and my elation over Alec’s death wilted under my terror at the man who’d captured me. He could just as easily destroy me, and I’d have no recourse, no way to fight back. He’d own me, as surely as Alec and his father had, and I wouldn’t be able to protect my son anymore. I choked back a sob and scrambled out of the bed. I need to get clothes on and plan some way to get away.

Everything stopped, however, when a small voice sent my heart thundering.

“Will I see her soon, Mister?”

“Yes, bambino, you will. She’s resting. Eat your breakfast like a good boy.”

I wrapped the blanked around my body and stumbled from the room. Benecio sat at a table with bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes spread out over several plates, and a dark-haired little boy with stormy-gray eyes on his lap. The mop of curls made my throat ache as I whimpered.

“Momma!” he cried as he looked up.

Benecio rubbed his back. “Remember, your mother has been sick. Sit here and wait for her to come. Good morning, baby. I’ve just been telling Domino his name is Italian, and comes from Dominus, the Latin word for master or lord.”

“He says I’m a prince in training,” Domino said around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s disgusting.” Benecio’s inflection on the word was accompanied by gagging sounds, and Domino gave him a wide, syrupy smile before chewing with his mouth closed.

No.

I raced forward, dropping to my knees in front of my son, and wrapped my arms around him. “Domino.”

My eyes met Benecio’s, pleading, but he never released his hold, and I pulled on Domino harder to take him away.

“Mommy, you’re hurting me,” Domino protested.

“I’m just so happy to see you,” I told him. His familiar powder scent filled my lungs, and his heart thumped against my chest. I’d done so much to save him from beasts, but it hadn’t been enough. I jerked once more, and Benecio reared back, taking Domino with him.

“Careful,” he warned. “We don’t need a second video.”

I shifted back, trembling. “Please,” I begged, looking at my son.

“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Domino asked.

I swallowed my panicked response and smiled. “Nothing, baby. Mommy’s head just hurts.”

“I can kiss it for you,” Domino offered.

The words still made me feel so good. I may not have been the best mother, but I’d been able to take care of him. I stayed away from the foster family who’d held him, but I sent them money, and they secretly met with me to let me know how he was doing. The money I gave them kept them quiet about who he was, and I was grateful. I kept an eye on him, but I’d been so disgusted with what I had to do to take care of him; I never wanted him to see me that way. I shifted over so Domino could kiss my temple, but a second set of lips caressed my opposite ear.

“Did you like my present, inferna?”

I looked into his eyes, terrified of what he wanted but knowing he’d use Domino to get it out of me. “I don’t know,” I told him truthfully. “What’s the cost?”

“That our agreement changes. The bambino will come with us, and he will stay safe. Eat your breakfast, baby. We have much to discuss.”

What else could I do except sit down across from the man who’d bought me twenty-four hours ago and turned my world upside down? My gaze ate up Domino; he’d grown so big. He happily slurped up thick chunks of pancakes, and his wide smile when he looked at Benecio broke my heart. He’d always been hungry for a father’s love, and his father used it against him. Used it until he did things that gave Domino nightmares. Since then, he hadn’t been able to stand being around men. But he now sat on Benecio’s lap without a qualm. The sight should have warmed me, but it terrified me instead.

“Eat. You haven’t eaten since yesterday,” Benecio ordered.

Rene stepped forward and fixed my plate before reaching out for Domino. “It looks like you’re done, young man. How about we go get cleaned up and watch some cartoons? You can show Nathan the one with the little purple guy who wants to be a chef again.”

“Cool. See you in a little bit, Mommy.”

I turned to grab for him, but Benecio’s hard grip on my leg under the table stopped me. “You wouldn’t want to upset him.”

“Why are you doing this?” I choked out.

“You are a good mother, and you deserved to have your son back. But doing that for you ended a deal that was necessary for me, so you will repay me.”

“I didn’t ask you to!”

“But I was the man who could do it, and so I did. It doesn’t change the position in which you find yourself. I still would not let you go for at least three months, as we agreed, son or not. You would rather him be comfortable and get what he needed to heal, wouldn’t you?”

My throat ached, and I swallowed against the urge to cry. Why did men like him always have to get their way? I curled my fingers into my palms until my nails bit into the skin.

“Yes,” I whispered. My son had been through hell, and I wanted him to have a life. But he shouldn’t have had to keep paying for my mistakes. He was only a child. He didn’t understand the world around him.

“Then I propose a permanent solution,” Benecio continued.

“What do you want from me?”

“Marry me.”

I blinked at him. “You’re out of your mind.”

“I’m sure. But I need a wife, and the intent of taking you was seeing if you could be queen to my empire. You fought for your son and have protected him any way you could. I want a woman like that by my side. In return, you will want for nothing. Your son will be untouchable, and you’ll never ever have to run away again.”

On the surface, it sounded like a dream, but a man who could kill as easy as Benecio, and take me—hell, even use my son against me—could not be a golden opportunity. Finding out I had a son may have thrown him, but he recovered quickly and turned it to his favor. Benecio was not a man I wanted to find myself bound to forever.

“Marry me, or leave now, with your child, and my protection is withdrawn. How long do you think you’ll survive?”

“What about the ten million dollars?”

“What about it? Have we reached three months yet? I think not. Now eat, and then answer.”

“I’m not hungry.”

He sighed. “I am being kind now because you have been through an ordeal, but I am not always such. Eat, and give me your answer, or I will fuck you on this table.”

I swallowed and picked up my fork. The food was like cardboard on my tongue, but I forced it down. He watched me eat it all and nodded, satisfied.

“What is your answer?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “No matter what I say, you’ll take me anyway.”

“There is always a choice. Yes, and leave with me today and be protected, or no, and leave now to your own devices.”

“I cannot risk my child,” I argued.

“Then be the mother I know you to be,” he returned with a smile.

“I hate you.”

“I do not require your love to have your hand in marriage, subservience, or your body. And with your son, I have the chance to pass on my legacy. I have everything I need.”

“Subservience?”

His smile was brittle and cruel, a dark mockery of beauty. I felt it all the way to my toes, and a ripple of unease streaked through my belly, but heat pulsed inside me too. Alec had destroyed me, and I was sick for wanting to be hurt, for feeling my pussy grow slick with the idea of being humiliated. I shouldn’t want shit like that, but I did. And I had no doubt Benecio would give it to me.

“Yes,” he said. “I expect to enjoy you in any way I please, with no argument.”

It was dangerous to give in to him. I needed to keep my emotions locked away and passively give him what he wanted. Domino was all that mattered now. He was all that had ever mattered.

I gritted my teeth and nodded. “I’ll marry you.”

“I thought you might. We’ll explain it to Domino on the plane. Rene has already had your things packed. There is a travel outfit waiting for you in our bathroom. We’ll be leaving within the next two hours. On second thought …” Benecio stood and extended his hand to me. I stared at it like a viper ready to reach out and strike me. “Take my hand, inferna. You are a fighter, I shouldn’t scare you.”

But he did. To the soles of my feet, I knew he’d break all of me and I wouldn’t be able to put myself back together. Benecio didn’t give me a chance to try to run away. He gripped my hand in his and pulled me back toward the room.

“Dom—” I started.

“Is otherwise occupied. It is time his mother showed some thanks.”

He closed the door behind him and then reached for my blanket. We tugged it back and forth before he ripped it from my hands and left me standing bare.

“Kneel and show me your thanks,” he ordered.

My gut clenched. I was still his whore. In this room, alone with him, Domino didn’t matter. The fact I was now engaged to Benecio didn’t compute. All that was between us was I had yet to fulfill the physical part of our agreement. But I felt sick, even as I sank to my knees. I shut off the parts that felt, the parts that acknowledged my son was not too far on the other side of the door. I went on autopilot—blank eyes and mechanical movements—while I opened his tan slacks and pulled out his cock. He was large, and I’d have to work to get him to the back of my throat. The spongy head was bulbous, and a single bead of pearly-white pre-cum leaked from the tip.

Back of the throat, Tamatha. Put it there and you won’t taste as much.

But I was wrong about not tasting it. Benecio could see I tried to push through this, and he gripped the base of his cock before tracing my lips with it, staining my flesh with him.

“Lick it off.”

I flicked out my tongue, and his salty, musky flavor filled my mouth.

“There is no hiding from me. Ever.”

Then he threaded his fingers through the heavy fall of my hair and tilted my head back further. He pumped his hips, sliding his dick across my lips, his hot flesh partially blocking my view of his face. He watched me, unblinking, his dick dancing over my face, until he slipped a thumb into my mouth and forced it open wide.

“I’m going to fuck that pretty mouth, just like I’ve been waiting to do.”

I took a deep breath, prepared to regulate my breathing, but again Benecio was master of this domain. He shoved himself into my mouth, leaving his thumb in place. It stopped me from pressing my teeth into his skin or locking down. And it also gave him direct access to the back of my throat. He slid in, choking me, and I couldn’t push him back. I gagged on his dick, and he chuckled.

“Let’s see how long you can hold on.”