by B. B. Reid
My gaze landed on the laminated black box just as the sound of the door locking echoed in the room.
Could I truly be intrigued or just plain stupid?
I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter what was in the box. I wasn’t going to dinner. I damn sure wouldn’t entertain whatever bullshit game Angel was intent on playing. I was only here to find my son, get the hell out of dodge, and make sure Angel Knight was sent somewhere that would guarantee he’d be ass fucked every single day until his number was up.
But… My feet moved forward, the plush carpeting keeping my movement silent. I would feel guiltless if my brain wasn’t screaming that I was a fool.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Ten hesitant steps and I was running my fingertips over the smooth, flat surface before lifting the top. Transfixed by the beauty of the contents, yet confused how this could be considered dinner attire, I lifted the string of pearls and silver mask with black beading and a small feather adorned on the right corner.
Where the hell was the rest?
Chapter Sixteen
Hate isn’t always black and white.
ANGEL
“I got a look at the kid when Vincent brought him in. He’s not looking too well.” I turned to the sound of Lucas’s voice. I’d been staring at the ceiling holding my second drink when Lucas and Z interrupted the little slice of peace I had found. When Z left with Mian, I had her kid brought to me. The first thing I noticed was that he didn’t have his mother’s eyes.
“Yeah, I noticed. You think he’s sick?”
“Sickly. It looks more serious than just a cold.”
“Fuck.” I weighed my options. None of them allowed letting the kid die if it didn’t serve me.
“It’s like I said,” Lucas voiced, “I can’t have a kid’s life on my conscience.”
“We’ll ask his mother. Maybe there’s some medication he needs.”
“I saw the apartment they are living in. If it’s medication he needs, he isn’t getting it. There wasn’t even food in the cupboards. She’s either destitute or strung out.”
“When did you do this?”
“When she was shaking and fucking for money. I figured you’d be curious.”
I tossed back the rest of my drink and reached for the bottle. She was in my house looking for something to sell. The Knight’s black book could gain her unlimited supply of drugs if she sold it to the right people. Her father may not have wanted his lifestyle for her, but it didn’t stop him from sharing trade secrets from time to time. When we were kids, she was the only person who understood my frustration at my father’s insistence to keep me tucked safely away. Her desire for the life wasn’t nearly as strong as mine was, but still, she understood. “So did you find drugs?”
“None. The place was clean, but there wasn’t much to begin with.”
“So she’s broke. How the fuck could that be? Theo had money, and despite his shitty parenting, he loved that girl. He would have left her every dime he had.”
“Unless she got crazy and burnt it all.”
I shook my hand without wasting time considering it. “She’s smarter than that.”
“Not from the looks of it.”
I cut my eyes at him in warning. Lucas’s eyebrows reached for his hairline. I fucked up and revealed too much. Defending her against my brothers would be painting my hand red in front of an audience.
I reached for the blunt sitting in the nearby ashtray and lit up. If I couldn’t focus, then I needed to forget. Getting fucked up was the quickest route to forgetting. Lucas, Z, and I dabbled as kids until it progressed into a regular thing. My father had never approved of my habit and always swore it would eventually lead to stronger avenues of escape.
We sat in silence as we passed the blunt amongst ourselves until we smoked it down to a roach. “Be careful with this girl. She affects you even when she isn’t in the goddamn room.”
“She’s nothing.”
“Don’t lie to your brothers.”
“Then I’ll make her nothing,” I growled. Just like that, they blew my high and frustration returned full force. “This is more than just recovering the book. This is retribution. If Theo Ross can’t pay for my father’s death, then his daughter will.”
I felt the conviction in my threat which scared me most of all. My desire to possess this girl was a sin, and now it threatened my future and my brothers’ trust. Wanting her was undoubtedly the cruelest wrong I’d ever done.
I listened absently as a phone rang and Lucas impatiently answered. He swore and then ended the call.
“What was that about?” Z questioned.
The frustration in Lucas’s eyes warned me before he even spoke. “They finished tossing the shop.”
“And?”
“They found nothing, and the owner is insisting he knows nothing about a book.”
“What else did he say?”
“He says the only thing that was sold to him this morning was a watch. They checked his sale’s receipts. It checked out.”
“Could be a cover up,” Z remarked.
“How much did he pay her?” I questioned.
“Nine hundred.”
Z blew air from his lungs. I ignored him and said, “Which means the watch was likely worth thousands. If she had a watch like that, why would she need to rob me?”
“It was one of your fathers.” I was surprised to find the answer to my rhetorical questions had come from Z.
“I thought you said you searched her?”
He shrugged. “I did. I saw the watch.”
“And you let her keep it?”
He shrugged again, and if I hadn’t just drunk and smoked my fill, I would have shot him, but my reflexes would have been too slow.
Then again, I too was once a victim of Mian’s innocence.
“I think we should pay our bandit’s conspirator a visit before dinner.”
* * *
I stepped out of the shower, free of another man’s blood. He had screamed, and begged, and insisted. I hadn’t found the book, which freed the merciful part of me to believe him.
So, instead of killing him or taking his hand, I sent his livelihood and hard work up in flames.
No one could say I wasn’t a merciful man.
Padding over to my closet, my mind wandered to my little prisoner. She had been mine to protect, and now she’d become mine to do with whatever the fuck I wanted. It was long overdue. And now our fathers’ weren’t around to protect us from each other.
Dinner was already waiting when I entered the dining room. Lucas and Z sat at the table with tense expressions while Milly waited behind my chair ready to serve my every whim.
That should have been Mian’s place.
Fuck.
“Where is she?” I knew as soon as I walked in that Mian was the cause of the tension. Her absence likely had something to do with it.
“Miss Ross has declined your invitation to dinner and has chosen to remain in her room.”
“Is that right?” Milly nodded and looked like she had more to say. “What else did she say to you?”
“Not to me,” she corrected. Her face reddened, and her expression tightened further, if possible. “She instructed me to tell you that she’d rather starve and imagine you choking on your food.”
“And?”
“And…” Her lips pressed tighter, if possible. “…if that didn’t work to die anyway.”
I felt the smile on my lips that had nothing to do with humor. “It seems our guest needs a lesson in manners. Milly, you’re dismissed until I say otherwise. Your payment is waiting on the table by the door.”
She didn't even blink, which is why I paid her a hefty salary, and she immediately replied, “Have a good night, Mr. Knight.” I waited until I was sure
she had left before standing up. “What are you going to do?” Z questioned.
“I’m going to incentivize our guest.”
“Maybe I should go.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not ready to be alone with her. You know it as well as we do. Isn’t that why we’re here?”
“He’s right,” Lucas chimed in. “If we let you near her in your current state of mind, she’ll be ass up with you balls deep, and our dinner will get cold.”
“Fine. But I want her at this table in ten minutes, or I’ll do it myself.”
A chuckle came from Z's direction. “You’re a cranky bitch when you’re horny.” He took off with Lucas on his heels. I threw back the glass of wine that had been sitting in front of me and counted slowly in my head.
Chapter Seventeen
Well, it’s not a pumpkin.
MIAN
“Knock, knock. Your carriage awaits.”
I looked around for a weapon, but it was too late. They were already through the door and quickly closing the distance between us. “Beavis and Butthead.” I flashed a mocking smile. “I would say it’s nice to see you again, but my mom insisted that it’s rude to lie. What brings you to my humble abode?”
Broody’s face gave nothing away, but Z grinned and said, “Our princess has ice in her heart.”
“As far as you’re concerned, you would only be so lucky.”
“Well, I guess I should look forward to feeling you out.” His smile was easy, his voice was like liquid honey, and I had the feeling it was just a mask until his lids lowered and his gaze warmed about a hundred degrees. The way he watched me didn’t feel like a game. It felt like I was being seduced. Of course, I’d only ever had sex once, and the choice hadn’t been mine. If I couldn’t recognize a predator, how would I know if I were being seduced by one?
“Mian?” He grinned knowingly.
“Don’t count on it,” I snapped to cover up my curiosity.
“Mian.” This time, it was Broody who snapped, so my attention thankfully shifted away from heat to the frigid gaze of his companion.
“How may I help you…?” I realized I still hadn’t learned his name and left him to fill in the blanks. He didn’t.
“You declined his dinner invitation.”
“And?”
“It wasn’t a request.” What was up with these men thinking I would jump simply because they commanded it?
“Sure sounded like one to me. Angel requested that I share a meal with him and I declined.”
I crossed my arms and waited for him to force me or threaten to hurt me if I didn’t please his precious boss. He did neither.
“Eight minutes.”
“Sorry?”
“You have less than eight minutes until Angel comes after you and you don’t want that.”
An innocent but totally fake smile spread across my face as I tilted my head playfully. “I don’t?”
“No, Mian. You don’t. You want your son safe, and you want him to free you both.”
“And having dinner will make that happen? What about the buyer?”
They both tensed. What was so special about that watch? If I had known it would cause me this much trouble, I would have demanded more money. “One step at a time.”
“Which would be?”
“Believing that we are sparing you and your son a night of suffering.”
My heart threatened to break through my chest while my arms uncrossed and weakly fell to my sides. “Why should I trust you?”
“I’m not asking for your trust. I’m asking for your obedience.”
“People don’t normally ask for obedience.”
“I’m not most people.”
“Yeah, only the psychotic ones steal a child from their mother’s arms.”
He snorted. He actually snorted. “It’s not as if you made it hard.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were alone and unprotected with a baby in a bad neighborhood. It could have been someone with nothing to lose. They would have killed you and the kid right there on the sidewalk for the lint in your pockets.”
His words clenched my gut in a fist and twisted. What he said was true. I made a bad choice—a few of them—and now I would pay the consequences. While it is no excuse or invitation to kidnap my child, I was forced to admit where I’d gone wrong.
“So, you’re saying I’m a bad mother?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m saying you’re stupid.”
One moment there’s distance between us, and the next we’re standing toe to toe. My chin was up, and his head lowered until we were glaring at each other. I’m not winning, but I’m not losing either… until something passes between us and suddenly has me feeling that I’m in over my head. Before I can retreat, he’s gripping my arms and pulling me closer into his hot chest.
“You have something you want to say to me?” The closeness soaks me in his warmth and scent. Not to mention his mouth . His breath is sweet, and his lips are perfectly kissable. That couldn’t be. Evil men weren’t supposed to look and sound, and—Oh, God, he pulled me closer— feel so sexy.
I needed a distraction and quick. His body was screwing up the signals my brain was sending to the rest of my body.
“What’s your name?”
“What?” The bewildered look on his face said I was crazy. I was crazy, but crazy was all I had to protect me.
“I’m going to kill you the first chance I get. I prefer to know who I’m killing just in case hell asks questions at the gate.”
He smirked. I didn’t expect that. “Lucas.”
“Hi, Lucas. Did your mother or your father give you your name?”
His hands tightened around my arms. Oh, boy. Did talk of Mommy and Daddy piss him off? Z, who watched us with a bored expression, had a similar reaction when I questioned him about his mother.
“I wouldn’t know because I don’t know them.”
So, they were both orphaned… “Don’t know them or don’t remember them?”
“Does it matter?”
“I think it does to you.”
He studied me for a moment, and I wondered if he was actually considering it until I felt my body jerk. I looked down to see the button of my jeans undone. They were covering my lower body… and then they weren’t. I was staring at them lying twisted around my ankles when I felt the same being done to my shirt. The cool air touched my naked skin once my shirt was gone, and it woke me the fuck up. I bucked, but strong arms swiftly closed around me from behind.
“We have six minutes,” I heard Z say—no breathe —against my neck. Jesus, when did he even move?
“Let me go!” His hand shot up and muffled the sound of my scream.
“You do not want him to come in here. We’re doing you a favor, Sprite.”
“Don’t call me that!” I spoke into his hand, which muffled my voice.
“Not now, Sprite. We’re trying to get you out of your clothes.”
“Stop. Please!” More muffling. It was Lucas and Z who tore my clothes from my body, but it was Aaron’s smile I saw the moment he knew he had won. I didn’t realize I was crying until my tears were being wiped away by a gentle finger.
“Shhh,” Lucas demanded.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” Z softly assured.
But I knew the warning behind it that went unspoken. They weren’t going to hurt me if I didn’t make them. Men like them don’t stay alive doing what they do without taking a few first.
“Stop,” I tried again to no avail. They had already taken so much, a part of me wanted to just hand them the rest.
But I wasn’t my father, and I wasn’t my mother. I wasn’t going to give up on my son and leave him behind to their mercy.
“Your panties and bra are next,” Lucas announced.
“Can you accept what is expected, or do we need to proceed?” Z questioned. I didn’t want to bare my body for them, but they were giving me a choice to endure their hands or be free of them. Feeling numb, I nodded.
“Good girl. We’ll wait outside.”
I wanted to tell them there was no need. I saw the contents of the box and knew Angel intended to parade me, naked, in front of his friends and company.
They moved to the door and just before the door closed, I heard, “The clock is ticking, Mian Ross.”
Z.
“You have four minutes.”
Lucas.
I wanted to rage and tell them where they could stick their clock and do with their dinner, but I didn’t. I sunk down on the bare mattress and pulled the box closer to me. If they were warning me not to tempt Angel, then maybe, I should do exactly that. Maybe it was time I get my head in the game and play it better than the men who started it.
Chapter Eighteen
Outnumbered but not outsmarted.
ANGEL
The wine glass I’d refilled was poised below my lips, and I had to anchor my feet to the floor when she appeared nine minutes and forty-three seconds later. The moment my gaze found her may have been the first time I ever lost at my own game.
She was naked except for a silver mask and the pearls around the tempting column of her neck. I wanted her like this — vulnerable and humiliated. From the rigid way she held her body as she entered the dining room, I could tell I got my wish.
I just wasn’t expecting a rock hard dick for my trouble. Z cleared his throat when my staring bordered on embarrassing. Lucas was too busy staring at her ass to notice the tension.
Fuck me, but she was gorgeous. Everything about her was small from her pouty lips to the tiny pink toes resting on the marble floors. I could probably wrap my hands around her waist and have my fingers overlap. Her tits were small making her dusky pink nipples seem larger than normal. They looked slightly reddened, which made me wonder if she nursed the baby. Her stomach was still as taut as I remembered it, but I could also see the faint evidence of a few stretch marks on her otherwise unmarred skin. The marks didn’t detract from her beauty. It only made me hungrier… and curious.