Chapter Two
Riley
The man in front of me was scary as hell. When his dark eyes pierced mine, I felt tingles of heat spread across my skin. His smile wasn’t friendly, or sweet. His grin set off warnings in the pit of my belly, and I took a step back from him in fear. His face softened a bit, as if he knew I was scared and that did something to me. It made me feel, dare I say, safe?
“Tie Mark up.”
The scary man in front of me gestured toward the guy next to him, who pushed through the front door and grabbed my father.
My mind tried to catch up with all that was happening, but before I could stop the shifting of bodies in the foyer, the terrifying man in front of me stepped closer. The scent of his expensive cologne slammed into me, making my head woozy. He cupped my cheek with his rough, tattooed hand and leaned into my face. I was under his spell, completely captivated with him even though I knew there were bad things taking placing around me.
“You’re mine, little one. All mine, and I’ll do with you what I want.”
The man’s voice was like smoke filling my senses and invading my mind. “Yours?” I croaked, unsure how someone could just stake claim to another person like that. I was only nineteen. I had my whole life ahead of me. I didn’t belong to this man. I couldn’t belong to him or anyone.
“Nico. I swear I was going to repay you. I just needed more time.” My father’s voice raced from his lips.
I twisted toward the sound of my father’s voice and squirmed against the man’s hold on my cheek, the man I now knew was Nico.
He lifted his eyes from my face and to whatever was taking place behind me in the other room, groans and grunts of both of my parents echoing against the vaulted ceiling.
“Time and patience are two things I have zero tolerance of. We had a deal, you skipped out on your obligations, and now I’ve come to claim the collateral you laid down for the loan.”
“Daddy? Collateral?” On a breath, my understanding shattered me.
Nico’s thumb slipped out over my bottom lip, and as strange as it was, I felt this pull to him, this magnetic need and knowledge that he’d known I’d crumble and had made the choice to keep me standing.
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, or why I was feeling this fluttering deep inside my belly but I felt it just the same. As did I crave understanding.
“What… What’s happening? What did you do, Dad?” When I whirled around I found both my parents sitting in dining room chairs.
“Don’t take her, please. She… She’s innocent. She didn’t know, none of them did.”
My father’s cowardice, his betrayal caught my attention. I forced myself to ease from Nico, the warmth of his hand leaving me immediately.
“Your daddy here borrowed half a million dollars from me, then he skipped town. Now I’m taking you as payment.”
A shudder worked its way through me, and before I could stop myself I was running in the direction of the back door. I didn’t think this man would kill my parents, as threatening as he seemed. But there was a lot of money on the table, a lot of money that my father had taken, for whatever reason. I made it to the kitchen, thundering steps closing in from behind me. I braced myself.
Nico crashed his powerful body against mine, his large frame pressing against my backside, sandwiching me between two unmovable forces, him and the wall.
Gentle hands gripped me, but I fought, kicking with all my might. I felt something hard pressing against my backside, and my movements froze. “I won’t run. Please, please let me go, Nico.”
The pressure eased. “I don’t want to hurt you little one, not if I don’t have too.”
Nico’s gravelly voice shot straight through me and deep into my core. My thighs rubbed against each other and a moan threatened to escape my lips. “But you want to hurt my family…?”
My words shuddered out of me, betraying my fear…and need that coursed through my veins for this man. I’d never been with a man before, my virginity was still intact and, for the most part, I was straight laced, focusing on my grades instead of parties, and boys.
There was a slight pause, the sound of the duct tape being pulled and cut filled the air before he answered me, “I don’t want to hurt your family. I’m going to hurt your family. There is a difference, little one. If you steal from me, which your daddy did, then I’ll be forced to take things into my own hands, which I’m doing now.”
Tears stung my eyes at his candid way of speaking as if he saw only in black and white and never gray. Whatever my father had borrowed the money for it had to be within good reasoning. “I… I’m sure we can work this out in another way. I’m sure you have it wrong, my father didn’t steal from you. He would never steal.”
“You’re so innocent,” Nico breathed against my neck.
But I continued bartering. I had to for my family’s safety even if my father had to be punished. I defended my father hoping that Nico would see through his blind rage. Instead I got something entirely different than understanding.
One of Nico’s hands slipped into my hair, wrapping around the locks tightly.
Tingles of pain scattered across my scalp while his other hand pressed forcefully against my lower back. He pulled my head back, forced the rest of my body forward, proving without words he was in control.
“You’re mine, and I won’t have my property defending the honor of those that are below them. If your father didn’t take half a million dollars from me, and gamble it away, I wouldn’t be here right now… with my hand wrapped up into your silky locks, and my cock pressed against your back side, fighting everything I’ve got in me to claim your tight pussy and make it mine.”
“Please let her go Nico. I’ll do whatever you want, anything…” My father pleaded.
I panted from Nico’s words, filled with resolve and control, as waves of hot and cold rolled over my skin. I was turned on, and afraid. I was up, and down. I was subdued in his hold, but still he threw caution to my father.
“Shut your mouth, Mark, or I’ll pop her sweet cherry right here in front of you.”
I knew right then that Nico was crude, and impulsive, and that if I wanted him to let my parents go then I would have to do what he wanted. “Please… Don’t hurt them… If you don’t hurt them… I’ll… I’ll do what you want. I won’t fight.” I tried to sound confident but I was shaking with fear on the inside.
Nico dropped his stare to mine, his pupils dilating and making his searing gaze darker while his hot breath hitched.
I could tell he liked the idea of me going without a fight.
Maybe he really didn’t want to hurt me? Maybe we’d all survive if I obeyed.
No. I had to keep fighting. I pushed him away. I was crazy to think that this man who had just shown up on my parents door step, with duct tape, and rope, and probably guns too wouldn’t try and hurt me, or even rape me.
I was naïve, but I wasn’t dumb. He must’ve made up his mind as he released the hold he had on my hair, letting me move forward. He still had me against the wall though, trapping me, confining me.
He pressed his lips against my throbbing pulse at my neck, the one place I couldn’t hide my fear, my arousal.
“I can feel your fear. I can sense your arousal. I can tell you want me just as much as I want you even though it feels wrong. Even though your daddy is tied to that chair in the other room. Even if you’re scared, you’re curious too, and that’s all that matters to me, little one. You’re all that matters.” His lips trembled against my skin.
I sighed, leaning into his touch and wondering why I was succumbing to the lure of power, of control, or reasoning, and punishment. There was something wrong with me. I couldn’t be attracted to a man who wanted to kill my family, and kidnap me.
I should’ve been running, kicking, and screaming, doing whatever I could to escape his hold, yet if anything I wanted him to pull me closer, to whisper more words in my ear, and call me his.
He pushed my hair behind my ear, his touch more gentle than I’d ever known, personal, possessive, like each strand he’d counted and named. Although he exuded danger, and death, although he had the power to kill, he took pity on me that I had no power at all.
Mercy even. If I wanted to save my parent’s lives, and secure this debt then I would have to give myself over to him. If I warmed up to thought maybe he would make my time with him bearable.
“Please.” I pleaded with him, yet making up my mind. Knowing my father had went to this man to borrow money just to gamble it away didn’t surprise me. Mom and I had suspected an issue, but there was nothing we could do, could have done. You couldn’t help someone who didn’t want to help themselves. Now mom and I paid the price.
“Please don’t hurt her. She’s our only child.” My mother cried out, voicing her opinion for the first time since the exchange.
These were strange circumstances and just like me she probably assumed it was best to keep her mouth shut. But my mother sobbed, and I held very still as if I was being held by the throat by a lion. My father had all but lured Nico into our house, and now it was my job to survive the kill.
“Oh, I won’t hurt her Mrs. Sullivan. I’ve got other plans, ones that include very little clothing, and a whole lot of fucking…”
My knees buckled but Nico encircled my waist, spinning me around to face him. My eyes grew wide with fear at the thought of him and I in bed together. He had already stated he knew that I was a virgin, but now he was staking claim to me. I turned, my eyes moving to my father and mother. When would I see them again?
Nico’s eyes turned dark as he grabbed me, pulling me into his rock hard chest.
His heart hammered into me. How was it possible that a man like this had a heart?
“Please, don’t… please…”
“Don’t beg for him, little one. He’s abused you both. I know the kind of man he is even if you aren’t ready to see you deserve better. Deserve to be a queen. My queen,” He hissed, cupping me by the chin, his lips hovering just above mine.
“Tie em’ up, duct tape their mouths, and shoot her father. No kill shots, I don’t want to clean up a dead body today.” Nico ordered his assistant, who had already done one of the following.
Fear rattled me, and even as Nico released me, moving his weight off my front while I still stood there shocked and paralyzed, my mind spinning with the truth. My father was evil. Maybe more so that Nico.
Nico softened his threatening mask. “Your father deserves what is coming to him, and that’s that. Pleading won’t change anything. I’m here because of him, and you’re mine because of him. You should be angry at him not sad because of what’s going to happen.” He stated.
Nico’s assistant pulled out a gun and Nico nodded, giving the man permission to deal the sentence.
Fear stabbed my belly as Nico plucked me off the ground, holding me against his chest and pressing my face against his shoulder, like a blindfold. “No!” I punched and kicked, but Nico squeezed me tighter.
Within seconds, Nico spun, moving, walking, running out the door while cradling me and dampening the fight I tried desperately to hold on to.
But the dusky sunset, the heat rising off of Nico and seeping into me couldn’t silence the ringing of the gun as the bullet shot from the chamber, forever changing my life.
“You’re mine now, and I’ll protect you from all the bad in the world… including myself…”
Nico cupped my face against his chest, even as I struggled against his hold, even as warm tears trickled down my chilled cheeks. My movements became sluggish as I tried to suck in oxygen, my lungs grasping for bits of air. My mind whirled and searched for understanding what the future held and why Nico was robbing me of my breath.
He was suffocating me, killing me.
The thought slammed into me right before everything went dark, my body exhausted and my lungs burning for air, but still he never let me fall.