Monster: A Dark Arranged Marriage Romance

by Vanessa Waltz

  Why not?

  What’s happening?

  “Congratulations again to the gentleman in the back!” The announcer, a dapper man in his late seventies, ceased clapping and flipped his thumb on the iPad. The wall behind him flashed with graphic images of a tied-up woman. “Our next item is Chastity. Twenty-four years old. We’ll start the bidding at ten thousand.”

  I stared at my shaking palms.

  This was a dark fantasy born from my very exhausted brain. This couldn’t be allowed. Police would be here soon. I’d be saved.

  I would be fine.

  I wiped my forehead as a girl stumbled across the stage, so dazed with drugs she had to be held upright. I tore my gaze from her and gaped at my topless body. A thong I’d never seen before gripped my waist. I looked just like her, the woman for sale. Blood siphoned from my face.

  Rough fingers circled my biceps as my captor led me away from the auction. My head swirled as I struggled to string together the events that had brought me here. I clawed desperately through the fog as K pulled me into an Eyes Wide Shut nightmare.

  Sleek black floors dominated the penthouse, which pulsed with a nightclub-like atmosphere. It could’ve been an LA party with the trays of appetizers piled on gold serving plates. I scanned the catered food with a morbid curiosity. Dungeness crab. Sturgeon caviar. Oysters on ice. Bottles sweating beside champagne flutes.

  Girls dangled everywhere, half-naked, vacant-eyed. Some wore evening gowns. One lounged over a coffee table, her flesh bone-white under the glaring lights. Mounds of powder sat on her breasts. Men bent over her, snorting lines. They dipped fingers into the snow, wiped the dust between her legs, and licked her clean. They ate off her and drank belly shots.

  Warning spasms of alarm twitched my face, squeezing my eyes shut. I opened and closed them, but the insanity remained. I’d never seen anything like it.

  Naked girls. Devoured left and right, their bodies used as furniture or whipping posts. Everywhere I looked, women were groped, spanked, and fucked. The strangest part of it all—it could’ve been a BDSM dungeon. Except many of them wore nipple piercings with symbols dangling from them, almost like tags.

  They’re all slaves. I fingered my collar. Even me.

  My stomach bottomed.

  No. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t accept the dull ache of foreboding, but nauseating despair wrenched at me, and it grew with every step.

  K took in the party with detached boredom. “Your new owner is beyond those doors. Our time together has come to an end. It has been a pleasure.”

  “I don’t—I—”

  “You were sold.”

  The effect of those words shattered me.

  Sold. I can’t be sold. How did this happen? Does my Tony know? Will I see him again? Where am I?

  Somewhere hidden from the rest of the world.

  K had stuffed me in luggage and wheeled me into a truck. Up to that point, I’d never felt like a thing, but I did then, struggling to breathe from the zippered hole. If he saw no issue with treating me like that, he was capable of worse.

  I trembled violently.

  “Why are you doing this? Can’t you see how wrong—how evil—”

  “The world is filled with two kinds of people. Wolves and sheep. You and your father are sheep.” His hand palmed the small of my back. “Word of advice? Keep your legs open. Years down the line, he’ll find a new toy and set you free.”

  My chest tightened.

  “No, I don’t want this!”

  “You’ll grow to like it.”

  “I have a life! A husband!” My heart hammered as his grip transferred to my bicep. “You need to take me back. I have to go home.”

  “Home is with your master.” K gestured to a kneeling woman. “If you give him attitude, you’ll be treated like this.”

  She crawled toward a man sitting with a whip balanced over his thighs. He yanked another girl’s head off his throbbing erection and seized the blonde, and then he mashed their faces together. They exchanged tongue in a series of passionless kisses. He stabbed the leather under their chin and hissed something.

  God no.

  I shuddered at the thought of being forced to do that. I bit the inside of my cheek and dug in my heels as K pushed me forward, panic sinking into me at last. Black spots crept over my vision. My heartbeat thrashed. I was a bird, desperate for release, fluttering wildly.

  Can’t do this.

  I whirled. I elbowed his abdomen and broke free. K slung me toward him. He waved the stun gun he’d threatened me with. His thumb slid over a button, and a violent blue arc shot from a pronged tip, scorching the air.

  Fuck.

  Like everybody else, a mask shielded K’s features. The only parts I made out were his eyes. Thick lashes fanned out from pools of amber-brown, which fixed on my forehead.

  “My husband is rich. He’ll give you whatever you want.”

  “I have all the money in the world.”

  I shouted, grief tearing my voice. “Then why do you do this?”

  He seemed to look through me, not at me. “Inside. Now.”

  “Please. You don’t understand.”

  K shoved the door open and jabbed my back with the cattle prod. “Walk.”

  I jumped away from the metal scraping my skin, into a room with peaceful landscape photos, two white leather chairs, and a side table. A bowl of strawberries sat beside a bottle of champagne.

  A man stood beside it, drinking. The plain black mask still hid most of him. He had long, sturdy Viking legs. Unruly, dark wisps curled against the V of his open collar, where his chest hair blended into his deep tan. His massive shoulders strained the midnight-blue suit. He must’ve been at least six feet tall, huge, and his limber movements hinted at youth. Details about him added together, forming an incomplete picture—wild hair, a chiseled, defined jaw, a muscular physique, a full mouth that parted when he faced me.

  His glare burned through me.

  The stubborn set of his jaw tingled the back of my head. The hairs on my arm stood on end. His aura threatened me more than K’s oily smiles because this man had an air of authority and the appearance of one who demanded instant obedience.

  I plastered myself against the wall.

  “Lot thirty-nine. Here are her medical records.” K strolled toward the man, who didn’t acknowledge him. “She’s clean. No drugs. No STDs. No birth control. A shiny, new toy. It wasn’t easy, making her behave without leaving any marks.”

  K stroked my neck in a sensual caress that seemed to affect the man. His fists balled, his knuckles whitening. The power seemed to coil within him when he approached.

  K, who flicked through his cell, didn’t notice. He inclined his head toward the man. “I just sent you the documents.”

  A chime echoed from the man’s phone, and he tore his eyes from me to cycle through them. He nodded stiffly and pocketed the cell.

  “Great. That’s all in order.” K flashed a smile at the man, who still hadn’t said a word. “Ah. I almost forgot.”

  K reached into his blazer and pulled out a syringe and small vial. “You’ll want this. Three months’ worth of birth control.”

  The man snorted and made a dismissive wave.

  “Not a fan of the shot?” K tucked it away and produced a packet. “Fine. I have pills.”

  The taller, broader giant’s mouth lifted with a contemptuous curl as K offered them. His hand whirled, slapping the foil from K’s fist. It skidded across the floor. K jumped back, scowling.

  “I strongly suggest you get her on something. We don’t run a daycare for your bastards.”

  The temperature seemed to drop a thousand degrees.

  The man wheeled on K.

  His hand shot out. He grabbed K by the neck. Cracked his skull on the wall. Bright red smeared the white paint. A dazed K staggered, clutching his head. The stranger pummeled him, knocking him flat. His thick bicep curled around K’s neck; K twisted and squirmed, but the man held on. He tightened
his grip, squeezing with a calm, lethal determination until K’s legs stopped flailing. Then he took out a switchblade and opened K’s throat.

  Oh my God.

  I sucked in a breath as K’s body hit the floor. Blood pulsed from the gash as I dashed for the door.

  “Don’t.”

  Tony’s voice burst from the man, stunning me. It couldn’t be. The drugs taunted me with the voice of my husband, but he wasn’t here. K was dead and he’d left me in the company of a new monster.

  The man hesitated. He settled himself. His dimpled chin rose and fell as he inhaled deep, steadying breaths. Then he rushed forward.

  I backed away. “I don’t know who you are or what you think you’ve done, but if you bring me home—”

  “Evie. It’s me.”

  His graveled tone tugged sharply at my memory, and then he cupped my face. His big hand grazed my cheek as the other claimed my waist, pulling me close. Vanilla musk breezed into my nose. He smelled sweet and crisp, like the linens in the apartment I’d made my home. The images washed over me like a warm tidal wave.

  “Tony?”

  My throat tightened, thick with the tears I’d shed hours ago.

  The mouth trembled. Then he yanked the mask off, revealing a face wrecked with emotion. His forehead hit mine with a soft thump.

  “Evie.”

  “It’s you. It’s really you.” I gaped at him, crying. “I can’t believe you’re here. Thank God.”

  I was saved.

  Twenty-Three

  Evie

  I’m grateful I’m alive.

  Did I fall into another fantasy?

  I floated in a haze of euphoria, weakened and confused. My owner said little as he wrapped me in his coat and dragged me out the service exit of a luxury hotel, where a car waited for us. We drove to an underground parking garage and switched vehicles. My husband’s face swam in front of me, taunting me like that bittersweet dream.

  I reached out, tracing his stubbled cheek.

  “Wait,” he ordered the driver, a tall man with a wave of auburn hair. “She needs a hospital.”

  A man wearing khakis and a polo kneeled. He gripped my head, his fingers like icicles. He thumbed my eyelid and forced it open. Light burst from his cell phone, blinding me.

  I flinched. “Touch me again, you bastard!”

  “I saved your life, you ingrate.”

  “She’s not ungrateful,” the vision of my husband muttered. “She recognizes a devil when she sees one.”

  “Both of you are ingrates.” The light dropped away, and the man’s wholesome features came into focus. “She’s okay. Just has to sleep this off.”

  “Cainan, I killed him.”

  My heart pounded at the confession.

  Cainan hardened. “I gave you a direct order.”

  “You weren’t there,” Tony snarled. “The piece of shit had his hands all over her.”

  “Taking him out wasn’t part of the plan!”

  “I’ll deal with the fallout.”

  “You’ll deal with it? I’m the one that got you in there. I vouched for you. Who do you think they’ll blame when they find his body?”

  Tony’s soft hands fell away as he turned around, his drawl in full force. “Maybe it’s time for you to make a sacrifice.”

  “God, you are hopeless. Completely irresponsible. Reckless. A loose-fucking-cannon. Have you any notion of what you’ve fucking done? Of the hell that’s about to rain on our heads?”

  “I’ll survive.”

  “Against one goliath, fine, but not two. Your cousin will come after you. I hope you realize that.”

  “I’ll explain everything. He’ll understand.”

  Cainan laughed bitterly.

  Headlights swept through the parking lot.

  They both startled.

  Tony backed into me and Cainan’s haughty features froze as a car zoomed past. It seemed to spook him.

  “I suggest you get out of Boston, and fast. I’ll be in touch.”

  Cainan fished a set of keys from his pocket and clicked. A beep sounded nearby, and he strode into the darkness.

  Tony’s face swam in front of me, concern knitting his brows. “Evie, I’m bringing you home.”

  “Is this a dream?”

  “No, it’s not. I’m here. I’m real.”

  I tried to make sense of their conversation, and that my husband was the man who’d lifted that white card and bought me. How did find me?

  I slid into the passenger-side seat as Tony’s outline cleared into a solid shape. His presence seemed so unreal, though my mind sharpened by the second. The hour ride home was enough time to clear the drugged fog, but I was so confused.

  Who was that man?

  Once we parked the car, I felt nothing but a dim buzz snaring my senses. I strolled into the darkened penthouse. All of my things were undisturbed, a snapshot of my normal life before it’d been violently taken away. I couldn’t believe what’d happened to me. Part of me wanted to think it was a strange dream, and nothing more.

  Tony slammed the lock. He stood in the dark, his shoulders curling forward. His keys dropped. So did his jacket, sliding from his loosened arms. The warmth from his rescue suddenly left me, like a cold tide of ocean water rolling over my feet. The sadness radiating from him stuck in my throat.

  I stroked his shoulder.

  Tony whirled. He crushed me in his embrace. He exhaled a ragged sigh and pinned me to his body.

  My hand found his chest, unbidden. I grasped his tie and slid my hand down, my pulse racing as he bowed his head. His full mouth touched mine. He was like silk and honey, so gentle my heart burst with pain. His lips claimed me as he pushed me against the wall.

  I expected him to devour me like he usually did, but he held back. He sought every corner of my mouth, reassuring and healing. My fingers tangled in his locks as he tugged my hair, angling me to meet his mouth. Slowly, the kisses burned hotter. More urgent. He took my hip, brushing my naked skin under the coat.

  Tony’s attention flicked to the collar wrapping my neck.

  “K put that on you?”

  “Yeah.”

  Wildness overtook him like a growing shadow, contorting his features, turning his eyes black with greed. He nuzzled me, shaking. Trembling.

  “It’s okay, Tony. I’m all right.”

  I was. But he wasn’t.

  His fiery gaze told me he was barely tethered to the ground, but I’d grown to like the monster inside him. I ignored the warning from his stiffening limbs and kissed his throat. I breathed him in. His scent steadied me. It set off an ache in my chest that demanded more.

  “Tony, I need you.”

  “Stay away. I can’t hold back.”

  A thrill of anticipation touched my spine. I sucked on his full pout and nipped him.

  He growled into my lips. “Evie.”

  “The way you say my name is so beautiful.”

  “Evie, this is not what you need.”

  “I always need you.”

  I slammed my lips into his, and in one forward motion I was in his arms. He lifted me, and I buried my hands in his thick hair. Kissing, we stumbled into a console table. Something rocked violently and crashed, but Tony’s lips lashed mine hungrily. He bumped his elbow on the doorway, cursing. He stroked me, gliding over my backside to cradle the fullest part of my ass.

  Perfect. He felt perfect.

  He groaned a tortured sigh.

  “Evie, I’m too fucked up. I’m trying to be a gentleman but I don’t—”

  I kissed him, shutting him up.

  He devoured me with a demanding possession before he yanked away, hissing. “Evie, I’m not in control. I relapsed. I couldn’t help it, and I don’t—”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know. It was just one drink, but—” He made a deep, frustrated sound as I smothered his protest. “Evie, for once, would you fucking listen to me? I can’t. I’ll hurt you and I’ll hate myself and then—”

 
I tore his shirt and curled into the curve of his body. I nuzzled his neck, seeking his warmth. I needed to forget the last twenty-four hours, and only my husband could make it better. I stroked his rock-hard pecs and the gorgeous wall of muscle, relishing the heat baking my skin. My fingers skated his back, bumping into rigid flesh.

  Shock wedged in my throat as I traced the unyielding tissue. Scars. Slashes marked him in angry strokes. He was ripped up everywhere.

  A shudder passed through me.

  I’d never seen him completely naked. Tony had avoided taking off his shirt. He’d kept it on at Sanctum. Hell, he’d stopped me from touching him on our wedding night. He’d acted so strangely, refusing to fuck me even though I’d begged him for it.

  This was why.

  He wasn’t ready to share this with me.

  Oh, Tony.

  His tormented gaze found me as I took his face. For once, he didn’t wipe it blank.

  To the world, he was Mob Prince—well-bred, elegant, beautiful, Boston’s most eligible bachelor with a perfect body. At the club, he was the monster. Witnessing him like this, so raw and wounded, moved me.

  I wanted to take away his pain.

  I leaned forward but Tony got there first. He fingered my collar and jerked hard.

  “I’m done waiting.”

  “Tony—”

  He slammed his lips onto mine. His tongue forcing my mouth open. Liquid heat delved in deep, flicking, fucking my mouth like a wanton beast. He wouldn’t let me breathe, save for a quick inhale between ravishing me again.

  As his grip tightened, I slipped further under his spell. I slumped in his arms. I submitted to his frenzy, knowing that I wouldn’t be the same after this. Once he pinned me down and finally fucked me.

  He promised he’d hurt me.

  What kind of a woman gets off on that?

  He gathered me like a wolf snapping its jaws on squirming prey. He released a low hiss. His burning palms slid down my naked back, seizing me in a brutal, ass-grabbing pinch.

  So fucking hot.

  This possession was what I’d ached for.

  He twisted the thong, breaking it on my skin. The black lace skimmed my legs. I shivered as it trailed my skin, jarred from the soft touch by Tony’s unyielding grip. He dragged me toward the bed like I was a convict headed for execution. His legs struck the edge of the mattress. He fell, dragging me with him.