Unholy Vows: Chapter 7

I had no desire to make an appearance at the benefit tonight, but it usually paid off to show my face. Everyone of power and wealth in this city knew who I was. I showed up at these things to remind them that I was real, not just some fairy-tale monster people told their kids about. People needed incentives to stick to the rules, and fear was the best motivator.

Running into Charlotte Burke was just an unexpected benefit.

She tried hard not to stare at me as she worked. Her waitressing uniform was unflattering, yet it didn’t hide the classical hour-glass proportions of her body. I wondered if she picked out clothes that were purposefully large for her, disliking the attention that something formfitting would bring her. It was possible. Charlotte was smart. She didn’t exaggerate the largeness of the uniform. It was only just big enough to make her look unshapely, with a hint of sloppy. Hiding in plain sight from the clientele of the casino, who could err on the side of handsy.

“So, when can we leave?” Giada asked, six cocktails deep and still bored. “You said ten minutes, in and out.”

“Ten more.” I sipped my scotch, my attention on Charlotte as she moved efficiently around the room, clearing empty glasses.

“You know, I spoke to Zio Sal this morning.” Giada’s change of subject was enough for me to lose my focus.

I turned to her. “And what did Salvatore have to say?”

The De Sanctis family wasn’t only a powerhouse of organized crime in the States, but in Italy, as well. My uncle Salvatore ran the famiglia in Naples like a well-oiled machine, and I’d learned far more from him than I had from my actual father. He was my mother’s brother and had never fully gotten over her death. There had been no tears shed in Naples when my father had died.

“You know, the usual. He wants to know what time the christening is.”

I sighed, familiar with this routine by now. “The christening for his imaginary godchild? Any day now.”

Giada laughed. “You have to hand it to the old guy. Give him one book on manifesting and he’s all in. He’s not going to stop until he’s holding the heir of the De Sanctis family’s U.S. operations in his arms and cooing over them. You have to give in at some point, Ren. You’re not getting any younger. Clock’s ticking.”

“I’m not sure it works that way with men.”

“I mean Zio Sal’s clock. It’s only a matter of time before he pushes someone on you, if you can’t rise to the challenge to finding a wife yourself and knocking her up.”

The image of Zio Sal’s sweet, quiet-as-a-church-mouse wife filled my mind. Meek, silent, and far too breakable for my liking. At my age, I was set in my lifestyle and my routines. I wouldn’t be making space for some mafia princess who had to be coddled, or a fragile leaf of a girl who’d snap at the first harsh word or the strain of motherhood. I needed someone resilient. A woman with grit.

“Tell Uncle Sal I don’t require his help.”

“You can tell him yourself. He’s coming to visit, that’s why I called.”

“When?” I wasn’t displeased to hear that my Italian family was visiting, but I wasn’t looking forward to more pushing on the wife-and-heir subject. It wasn’t something I’d accept being forced into. I wouldn’t be marrying someone Zio Sal suggested just to check having an heir off the list. I’d choose the woman who would be the mother of my children with the same precision I chose everything in my life.

“In the new year. If I were you, I’d find someone to show off to him before then. For fuck’s sake, Ren. You’re annoyingly gorgeous, rich as Croesus, and powerful as hell. Women throw themselves at you wherever we go, but sure, it’s hard to scare up a few candidates.”

My grin stretched wider. “So, you still have that pesky little crush on me, do you? Annoyingly gorgeous?”

“Fuck of,” Giada grumbled at me and turned on her heel. “I’m going to find the tequila.”

She strode off, leaving me alone to consider the prospect of a visit from the Neapolitan side of the family.

Sal would push me about taking a wife and securing an heir, and he wasn’t wrong. The problem was, he thought it was easy to find a woman I could stomach being the mother to my children, and I knew it wasn’t.

The scars of my parents’ ill-fated relationship ran deep in both me and my sister, Sofia. When my mother was alive, Casa Nera had been a simmering pot of tension, resentments, and tears. I wouldn’t live like that again. I wouldn’t bring children into it, either. I had my habits and ways of living, and at my age, I didn’t see those changing. There was only a certain kind of woman I’d accept as mother to my children.

My eyes found Charlotte as she crossed the floor. Her fierce protectiveness of her younger sibling showed a strong maternal instinct. She’d make a good mother one day. Protective, loyal, fearless.

I studied her while she approached a table of guests who were well on their way to being drunk. One of the men said something to her that sent her shoulders up around her ears.

After the other night and her absolute bravery in the face of death, it seemed wrong to see the live wire that was Charlotte Burke flinching away from some loser’s attention.

The man caught her wrist, and I found myself striding toward them.

“Be polite, Nurse Burke. We’re the customers here tonight,” the man slurred at Charlotte, just before my hand landed on his shoulder.

His weak bones creaked as I squeezed hard enough to make him release her wrist. “Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” I asked in a silky tone. Velvet-covered violence.

A couple of people around the table went pale, clearly knowing me for more than just owning a casino.

Charlotte rubbed her wrist and blinked up at me, a frown marring her creamy brow. Her pulse fluttered in her neck. I wondered if I’d upset her even more by intervening.

“No, no problem,” the man under my hand panted, trying to loosen my grip. I only squeezed harder, barely exerting a quarter of my strength, though judging by the man’s sweating brow, it was more than enough.

“Happy to hear it. If you need something, come to me. Directly.” It was an order, not a request.

I turned away before they could agree and went after Charlotte, who was moving away quickly in the opposite direction.

“Miss Burke.” My voice lashed out like a whip. She came to a reluctant stop. “A word.”

I walked past her and continued to the hallway outside the restrooms, where the noise of clanking tableware and conversation wasn’t so loud.

“Yes, sir?” Charlotte shifted her feet, her eyes intently trained on a distant point. It immediately irritated me that she wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“Do you make it a habit to let the clientele here push you around and grab you?” Where exactly that question had come from, I had no idea. All I knew was that this timid woman in front of me wasn’t the same one as last night, and I didn’t like it.

She swallowed. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, Mr. De Sanctis.” Even her deferential tone pissed me off.

“That’s all you have to say? Was your defiance last night an act, or are you someone who needs to be held at gunpoint to grow a spine?” My words were mocking and cruel, but deep down, I was disappointed. It was an odd thing to realize. I generally expected nothing from people and it didn’t bother me when they proved me right in this regard. Somehow, this woman, with her unfailing courage and loyalty, had sparked my interest.

But just when I lost hope that she was anything different, her hands curved into tight little fists, and she met my eyes.

To be precise, she glared at me.

“Am I supposed to be grateful you protected me from a drunk co-worker? Should I get down on my knees and kiss your feet in front of the whole room? Is that what you expect after last night?” Her eyes flashed fire at me.

A grin tugged at my lips. Ah, there she was. “I’d prefer it in private, bambina, but your mind really is a fascinating place.”

Her cheeks flushed prettily. “I don’t need you to protect me, especially considering you’re my biggest threat. I can take care of myself.”

“Hmm.” I realized dimly that I’d stepped closer to her, and she’d stepped back. A dance neither of us was aware of. But now the wall had trapped her, and she had nowhere to go. I rested my hand on one side, caging her in. She straightened her shoulders and glared at me. She really was intriguing when those rich brown pools flashed amber fire at me. I could get addicted to the challenge held there.

No one looked at me like that.

“Do you think you’re doing a good job so far? Seems to me like you could use someone to take care of you.”

She curled her lip, her contempt clear. “I’ve been taking care of myself and my sister since I was thirteen years old. I don’t need or want a white knight to sweep in and take care of me.”

A chuckle left me at that comparison. “I’m no white knight, Miss Burke, as I’m sure you realized last night. I’m the dragon who guards the maiden in the keep and will swallow you whole if you try to escape me. You put me in control over your life, don’t forget that.”

She was quiet, that damn alluring pulse in her neck pounding harder.

“I didn’t realize that the promise I made extended to every single part of my life,” she said finally.

I nodded lazily. Someone passed behind us in the hall, reminding me that we weren’t alone. Not yet anyway. But soon.

“And if you had, would you have chosen differently? Would you have died instead?” My casual question was met with a pink blush, her eyes widening and chest rising more rapidly. She shook her head slowly, like the admission cost her deeply.

“Just remember that, and behave accordingly,” I finished in a murmur. A long strand of hair had escaped her ponytail. I reached for it before I could stop myself. She turned her head to the side, contorting her body to avoid my touch.

I didn’t like that. She didn’t get to avoid my touch.

I tugged her wrist and pushed open the door to the bathroom beside us. It was the ladies’ room, and it was blessedly empty. Charlotte’s eyes were wide, her pulse thumping. She was scared. She met my gaze steadily, regardless. Good girl.

Inside, I pressed her against the wall, shedding the mask of civility I’d worn in the hall. I finally had her alone, and I’d do what I damn well pleased.

“Let’s get something straight, right here and now, Miss Burke. You promised to make me your new higher power. Like any cruel and terrible god, when I want something, I take it.”

I wanted to taste that pulse point and feel the blood rushing beneath the surface of her skin. I needed to, to make sure she was real.

She stiffened when I pressed her head back against the tile and lowered my lips to her throat. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Tasting my property, because you are mine, aren’t you, bambina? My devoted disciple?”

My lips moved across her skin, and goosebumps spread out from the point of contact. She was so responsive, her body hummed with energy beneath mine. It was a connection unlike any other, and I knew in that moment that fucking Charlotte would be the highlight of my life. Our bodies communicated on a cellular level. A primitive part of me that was pure biology and hormones pushed me forward, urging me to take her. Yes, whispered the devil on my shoulder, take her, keep her, breed her, pump her full of your seed, and then, your children. She’s supposed to be ours.

Her hands pressed against my chest, but she didn’t shove me away as I sucked on her thrumming pulse point. Her skin was hot and soft. I licked up her throat; a long, wet stripe.

Playground taunts circled my head. I’ve licked it, so now it’s mine. Mine.

I found her ear and bit the lobe, making her jerk against me. Her breath was coming in short pants, and every single one pushed her tits more firmly into my chest. Her damn too-large uniform made it impossible to feel more than the general shape of the soft mounds. I needed more.

I kissed and nipped the side of her ear, enjoying her shivers. A gasp escaped her as I traced my tongue along the delicate shell, and I made a note of her sensitivity there.

“Is this part of it?” Charlotte whispered. Her words swept through my lust-fogged brain, digging in icy talons. “Is this part of what you want from me?”

I pulled back, my hand sliding across Charlotte’s mouth before I could stop myself. I didn’t want her to speak and damn me more.

What the hell was I doing? Giving in to temptation in a public bathroom, where anyone could walk in? I was measured, precise, and coolheaded. I wasn’t someone who lost control. Ever.

“And if it was?” I wondered quietly. My other hand dropped to the shining necklace around her throat. “You seem like a very good girl, Miss Burke. Will you give me everything I want from you?”

I held her there, my hand clamped over her lips, my body pinning her to the tile wall. I was dangerously close to losing control again. I had to get out of here. I never felt like this, and it was unsettling.

She held my gaze and nodded compliantly in response to my question. She wasn’t angry now. Her eyes weren’t spitting fire.

She likes this, I suddenly realized. She likes being ordered around and manhandled. She wants me to take control.

Just like that, I lost all self-control again. My hard-on ached at the new knowledge about my little nurse. I wanted to see just how far I could push her.

I unclamped my hand from her mouth, relishing its soft feel against my skin, and held my bunched fingertips to her lips. She parted them reluctantly, her color burning in red circles on her cheeks. I let my fingers invade the hot cavern of her mouth. I could fit all four fingers, and they were anything but small. She’d be able to take me deep when the time came.

I gripped her chin with my thumb, keeping the other four fingers inside her mouth as I held her there, open and vulnerable as hell. She stared up at me, unflinching. Brave and so fucking sexy. It was all I could do not to bend her over a sink here and now and fuck her over and over again until she could barely walk, and every step would send cum dripping down her legs.

Then no one would question whose she was. No one would dare meet her eyes, never mind grab her wrist.

Saliva welled from the corners of her lips, stretched wide open as they were. I leaned in and licked it up, a deep rumble escaping my chest. Charlotte’s breath stuttered. She was shocked by the act, but I knew if I reached into her panties right now, they’d be a mess.

Charlotte Burke, in charge of two people’s lives, responsible for everything in her world, tired, overwhelmed, and alone. No more.

Her tongue brushed past my fingertips, caressing. Her body welcoming my depraved control.

Oh, sweet little Charlie, I’m going to teach you how to lose control. I’m going to teach you how to sin like only a good girl touched by the dark can, in a way that will make the angels weep.

“Delicious. How sweet your submission tastes, Miss Burke. I look forward to more of it. And if you’re wondering when that will be, how, where… don’t bother. It’s not something you can control, try as you might. You gave me your word, and you’ll stand by it. Do you understand?”

She murmured low in her throat, her mouth too wide to form words. Gently, I withdrew my hand. I wanted to hear her sweet surrender in her own voice.

Her bottom lip was puffy when I let go, and she snapped her lips closed. She seemed shocked at what had happened, her eyes shining with accusation at me.

“Are you going to pretend that didn’t turn you on? Go ahead, and I’ll prove you wrong.” I put my hand on her belly, pointing downward. “How about this, bambina. Call me a liar, and I’ll slide my hand down your panties and check. If you’re not dripping wet, then I will never, ever touch you again. In fact, I’ll call our whole deal off…you’ll be free to go, both you and Lucy. You’ll never see me again.”

She blinked rapidly. She was trying to think her way around my offer and twist it to her advantage. “You mean you’ll trust me not to talk to the cops?”

“Not even close.”

“Then why even offer?”

“Because I know I’ll win. I know your pussy will be slick and wanting, making a needy mess in your panties. I bet you prefer cotton, right? Sensible, breathable, and now…soaked with your desire for me.”

“You’re wrong. I don’t want you.”

“Then let’s test it and see. If you’re right, then you’ll walk away free and clear. But if I’m right, you’ll never lie to me again.”

She licked her lips, considering her options. My hand itched to slide lower. I needed to feel her wet folds. I was in real danger of becoming addicted to tangling with this woman, only twenty-four hours after we’d first met. I had no idea what I’d be like in a week. She’d be lucky if she wasn’t chained to my bed in Casa Nera by then.

I couldn’t rule out the possibility.

I didn’t give her another moment to stall. I knew I was right. She’d shown me deep down inside her soul last night, and now I could read her. My fingers slipped under the waistband of her pants and slowly crept downward. Flames leapt higher in her cheeks when I got to her damp panties. No, not just damp.

Soaked.

I hooked them to the side and swiped a finger through her creamy arousal, then lightly brushed over her slit and hooded clit. She gasped, her mouth falling open.

“If you don’t want me, then care to explain?” My bored tone hid my raging desire.

Fuck, her pussy was hot and slick. Soft curls on her mound brushed against my fingers. It had been so long since I’d fucked a woman with hair. Hell, it had been a long time since I’d fucked in general. Even fucking could get boring, it turned out, when faces all blended into one bland mass, and shiny, waxed, and primped body parts were so interchangeable, I couldn’t have picked a woman I’d fucked out a group of her friends if my life depended on it.

The women who went after me – for money, or power, or just to make Daddy happy by creating an alliance with my family– waxed like they hated themselves. It was all so very monotonous. Diet to be slim as a board, wax until hairless, pluck, paint, nip and tuck.

Charlotte’s body wasn’t like that. She worked too many hours to spend a lot of time at the salon, and she didn’t have enough money for surgery. I’d bet her list for getting date-ready had exactly two items: taking a shower and shaving her legs.

My fingers played in the curls covering her pussy. I wanted to see it. I wanted to see it studded with white pearls of my cum.

“It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just biology,” Charlotte interrupted me from my reverie, her voice full of helpless anger.

I lapped up her emotion. She burned so fucking brightly. A light in the dark, and, like all nocturnal creatures, I couldn’t resist its pull.

“So you get wet like this whenever a man speaks to you? It’s nothing personal?” I persisted, enjoying the fury in her eyes.

She didn’t want to be proved a liar. She was ashamed of her body’s reaction. She thought something must be wrong with her to enjoy being manhandled and ordered around. She thought she was sick. She had no idea that the fever had consumed us both. I was just better at managing it.

“No! I – it’s just pheromones and chemicals,” she trailed off as I tugged on that delicious thatch of hair on her mound, just hard enough to make her gasp.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re trying very hard to use scientific jargon to explain one very simple thing.” I pulled my hand carefully from her pants, missing the warmth of her body immediately.

I brought my fingers to her lips. Her eyes widened, horrified, turned on, scared. Who even knew anymore? It didn’t matter. When she tried to twist her head away, I gripped her chin with one hand and slid my wet fingers into her mouth with the other.

“You’re attracted to me. Every time you lie about that, I’ll make you taste yourself.”

My lips hovered over hers. I could smell her musk on her breath. I needed a taste. Taking my fingers from her mouth, I swiped my tongue across her lips, and she let slip the softest moan. I immediately wanted more. Me, the man who had gotten bored of everything. It was a revelation.

Just then, before I could kiss her properly, the way she was silently begging to be kissed, the door opened beside us. From the corner of my eye, I saw a group of four women stroll in, and stop in their tracks when they saw us. I had Charlotte trapped against the wall with my hips, my cock a pin of desire holding her in place. My hands cupped her face, my lips brushing against hers.

“Mr. De Sanctis!” I recognized the voice of one of the organizers, aghast at having walked in on such an intimate moment.

I straightened up, releasing my grip on Charlotte. She bolted, hurrying away like her ass was on fire as I turned a professionally aloof smile on the women.

By the time I left the restroom, Charlotte was halfway across the dance floor. She glanced back at me, her face flushed.

Giada passed her, raising an eyebrow at me as she approached. “Playing with your food, Ren? Watching you with her, I can’t decide if you’re going to kill her or marry her. That’s not like you.”

“What can I say? She’s different.”

Giada smiled. She pulled her phone from her clutch and nodded as she swiped it open. “She sure is different.”

She handed me her phone, and I took a moment to process the image. Detectives Whitely and Vane, the two motherfuckers who’d been on my tail for months, sitting at a small table in a cramped kitchen. The photo had been taken with a long lens, clearly from a neighboring apartment window. Despite that, the cops were easy to make out, as was the woman standing opposite them, dressed in only a towel.

Charlotte Burke.

“Bitch has a death wish,” Giada laughed.

I handed back the cell phone. What a little minx. That she could seem so innocent and beguiling, standing there with her sweet, lying lips wrapped around my fingers, and also be going to the cops behind my back? My blood surged through me, excitement pouring through my veins. A worthy partner to clash with, after so long. If this were chess, one of my favorite games, Charlotte had just put herself, and her queen, her sister, in check. I wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of that fact.

“Shall we go and get her? I’ve got a new crossbow I’ve been looking forward to playing with.” Giada’s catlike smirk was red like blood. “Maybe she just needs a reminder of the consequences of being a dumb bitch.”

I nodded. “A reminder she’ll get. Keep your crossbow for hunting down the Castillos. You know, your job.”

I watched Charlotte moving around tables, casting nervous glances our way. My reminder wouldn’t be tonight, while my fingerprints were still imprinted on her tongue. Tomorrow, I’d show her I couldn’t just get to her in the dark, or in my territory. She needed to know that I could get to her wherever, and whenever I wanted. This was my city, and no one here would protect her from me. Her wrathful and vengeful god.

Something to look forward to, after so long.

Charlotte worked at Camden Community Hospital in downtown AC. At this time of day, early afternoon, the place was already packed. There was a chaotic buzz in the air akin to the atmosphere after a fight. Maybe that’s what doctors and nurses did all day; fight off death, prolong the inevitable for another day. It was a shitty, underfunded hospital and it showed, with its stained walls, blurry windows, and general air of postapocalyptic chaos.

My men entered the building before me and asked for Charlotte at the front desk. The wide-eyed receptionist watched us warily as she checked her system.

“Student nurse Burke here is working in the ER right now,” she said, chewing her lip nervously, maybe rethinking the wisdom of telling men like us where to find Charlotte, but also not wanting to challenge us.

I turned toward the ER and started along the hall, my men flanking me. There was so much white in the damn place it was blinding. I was a creature of darkness, and my dark home in Casa Nera didn’t hurt my eyes like this hallway did. Blaring fluorescent lights and white tiles. Even the staff who passed were in white. It was like some parody of Heaven, and me and my men were black-clad demons.

In the ER, I spied Charlotte immediately. She walked between curtained cubicles efficiently, her face beautiful and serene despite the chaos around her.

“Bring her to me,” I said to Elio, my shadow. He nodded and moved away.

Ten minutes later, I sat behind a curtain, my mind going over the idea of the Burkes talking to the cops, playing with a knife as I waited. I guessed it was the younger, more idealistic one, Lucy, and not practical Charlotte. Not that the cops could do anything to me. I had enough leverage on the chief of police to get away with anything I wanted in this city. Still, it was a transgression that couldn’t go unpunished.

The curtain drew back with a sharp snap, and Charlotte stepped into the area. She gripped a clipboard with a paper sheet attached like it was a shield that could protect her from me. As soon as our eyes connected, she flinched so hard, she dropped it.

“What are you doing here—” she started and nearly leapt forward as Elio’s silent shadow crowded in on her, forcing her further behind the curtain.

He pushed her firmly into the curtained room, so close that if I reached out, I could have gripped her thigh. The thought wasn’t unappealing. Then Elio backed up and ducked out of the space, pulling the curtain closed behind us.

“Why are you here?” Charlotte repeated, her voice just above a whisper.

Her words were strong, but her eyes glittered in fear. They dropped to the knife in my hands. It was a little trick I’d mastered young, twirling a slim blade easily between my fingers. I liked knives; I’d been comfortable with them since I’d learned paranza corta, the Sicilian art of knife fighting, when I’d only been a boy.

Charlotte’s gaze fixed on the knife, and she paled, seeming to swallow her words of protest at my presence.

“We need to talk, Miss Burke.”

She stared at me, wordless.

“Sit, please.” I pointed my blade at the exam bed beside my chair.

“I can’t stay here if you’re not hurt. I’ll get in trouble for – fraternizing during work hours,” she said quietly.

“Fraternizing?” I cocked an eyebrow at her words, faintly touched with amusement. Christ, this woman was intriguingly unpredictable. I liked that about her.

I put the knife against my palm, flipping it and catching it by the blade. “Meaning?”

“Meaning you need to be a patient for me to stay here with you,” she said, gaining confidence in her ridiculous ploy.

The mistake law-abiding citizens like Charlotte always made was that they thought that there were rules that could keep them safe. They thought that some higher power, an authority over all, would enforce order.

She hadn’t understood that I was now the authority over everything in her life.

“Here, how about now?” I asked carelessly, catching my knife and then dragging it across my palm. The cut burned slightly as blood welled and dripped on the floor.

Charlotte gave me a horrified look. She needed to understand that I didn’t fear her superiors or the police. I didn’t fear pain or even torture.

“What have you done?” she muttered, the compassionate part of her that was such a fucking liability kicking in. She reached my side and took my hand in hers. Her skin was sinfully soft.

I shrugged nonchalantly, the cut forgotten now that she’d moved closer. I’d never really had a chance to study her in adequate lighting. She was even more lovely than in firelight. Her nut-brown hair was gathered into a low ponytail, as sleek as an otter’s hide. She had two beauty marks on her neck and one on the delicate shell of her ear. Someone should commission a portrait of this woman. Oil on canvas, maybe sitting in the orangery at Casa Nera, or the library.

She tutted over my hand, reaching for gauze in the small cabinet next to the exam table.

“You know why I’m here, don’t you?” I prompted.

A faint blush tinted her cheek. Yes, she knew.

She gathered herself, ignorant to the fact that her stunning face was as easy to read as my favorite book.

“You just really wanted to see what an ER was like on a random Saturday afternoon?”

Her brave attempt at dispelling the tension had me smiling. I shook my head. “Try again.”

She took a breath and pulled a small rolling table toward us, resting my hand on it. Truthfully, I didn’t give a fuck about getting my hand bandaged, but her willing touch felt good.

“Confess your sins, Charlotte. You’re the kind of person who will feel better once you do,” I advised her.

She swallowed hard, and her eyes flickered up to mine for a second before glancing away. “I don’t know what you mean.”

My injured hand tightened around hers in a flash. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t. Ever. Lie. To. Me.” My tone was lethal.

She paled. My fingers pressed against her pulse in her wrist, and it fluttered wildly beneath her fragile skin. “Was it you or Lucy?”

Her flush told me all I needed to know.

“Confess and repent,” I ordered her. “Promise me that you’ll make sure it never happens again, that you’ll lock her up if she tries to go there again, shackle her to the door to stop her. Make me believe it,” I urged.

Charlotte stared at our joined hands. “And?” she wondered.

“And I’ll give you one last chance…to save your own life.”

She was silent for a long moment. I loved the battle on her fine features. Her pride battling with her practicality. The good girl in her soul arguing with the one who’d do anything to survive. I saw the moment she lost against the devil on her shoulder.

When she opened her mouth, I interrupted. “On your knees, isn’t that how sinners ask for forgiveness?”

Her eyes flashed fire at me, far too furious to be the meek little lamb she was pretending to be, and yet, she followed my instructions. Her face ended up level with my knee. I stroked my hand through the fall of her ponytail, pushing it back from her neck, my eyes daring her to stop me.

She didn’t. She had excellent control over her fear. I’d enjoy breaking that control to pieces and seeing what it revealed beneath. My hand framed her neck like a tattooed necklace, pressing in at the sides just enough to force her eyes wide. She flushed, and her lips parted and reddened, like I’d touched her clit instead of her throat. So responsive and lovely. So wicked and depraved.

“I can’t figure out if you’re afraid or excited,” I confessed.

The room around us had faded away, and there was just Charlotte and the feeling of her lifeblood rushing desperately under my palm.

She wet her lips, and my heart lurched. “Do you really care?” she asked.

I considered it for a moment before shaking my head. “No. In my experience, they’re very much alike. You told me that you understand men like me…What is it you understand?”

Her lips parted to answer, but no words came. She was willful and loyal. Good in her bones in a way I’d never been, not even as a child; my blood didn’t allow for that. She also had no idea of her true appeal. I’d bet my life that Miss Charlotte Burke didn’t have a lot of experience with men. I liked that thought. I liked it a lot.

“Have you ever been properly fucked?”

She clearly wasn’t expecting that question as her eyes widened comically.

She recovered quickly and scoffed. “Are you asking me if I’m a virgin? I’m twenty-six.”

“I’m not talking about a little piece of inconvenient skin. I didn’t ask if you’d ever been pawed by some sucker who was punching above his weight. I meant have you ever been fucked properly…Have you ever seen stars behind your eyes while some lucky bastard pumped his cum into you? Have you ever come so hard, you forgot how to talk…how to breathe?”

My hand still ringed her throat, and her pulse hitched another notch upward. “You can’t expect me to answer that,” she muttered.

“I don’t need you to, bambina; it’s obvious. But don’t worry.” I leaned in and rested my forehead against hers. Just being skin to skin felt soothing. Right in a way I’d never experienced. “We’ll remedy that soon enough.”

A throat clearing sent Charlie jumping back, her face twisting guiltily. She leaned back and nearly fell in her desire to turn around. I steadied her from my seated position and took my time making sure she was fine before swinging my head toward the intruder.

“Boss.” Elio pushed the curtain open and shouldered in. “There’s some business that needs your attention.”

“Arrivo.” I looked back at Charlotte. “But first, a little reminder that you can’t escape my eyes in my city.” I gripped the back of her neck, like a newborn kitten, and pushed her face forward.

Behind me, Elio produced a syringe and handed it to me. I wouldn’t let him put the tracker inside her. No one but me would break her creamy skin. That was my privilege.

I slipped the needle under her skin as her hands shot up to rest on my thighs, her nails digging into my legs as she gasped. I injected the tiny tracker in the back of her neck where it wouldn’t move. She also wouldn’t be able to cut it out too easily, with her neat and capable skills.

“What have you given me?” she asked, her voice calm. There was that impeccable control.

“A new leash. Don’t test its bounds; they’re shorter than you can imagine. We’ll continue this conversation later, Miss Burke.”

I handed the syringe back to Elio and released her neck. She looked up at me immediately. I cupped her angelic face with both hands. Leaning in, I placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. A pardon for her sins, for now.

“Answer your phone when I call, bambina, and be on your best behavior. Lucy, too, or I’ll get upset. You wouldn’t like me when I’m upset.”