Her breath caught in a painful gasp at the coldness in his voice. He pulled her roughly from the room, impatiently hauling her to her feet by the arm when she tripped and lurched forward, unable to see where she was going. Once they stepped out of the gallery room he handed her over to someone else with a grunted command. “Take her downstairs and hook her up.”
A new set of hands took Katie impersonally by the arm and led her into the bowels of the huge hacienda. Katie was too stunned to protest. Never in the time that she’d known Roman had he ever willingly allowed another person, let alone another man, touch her in his presence. This act of coldness told her more eloquently than words that his love for her had died. He had maneuvered her capture instead for revenge.
Tears flowed freely from her eyes, soaking into her mask as she stumbled alongside her guard into the chilly depths of Roman’s home. They stopped walking abruptly and she was left standing alone for a few seconds, shivering in terror, wondering what they were going to do to her. She thought about attempting to run, but knew she wouldn’t make it far.
She jumped and let out a muffled scream as her hands were seized and jerked abruptly over her head. She was stretched upward until she was forced to stand on the very tips of her toes. The guy holding her grunted and she felt the rope binding her wrists lifted up until her feet left the floor completely and then she was dropped back onto her toes. Her heart pounded painfully as she swung forward and then around in a circle until she realized she was hanging from an actual hook. Terror swelled within her until she thought she would choke in it.
As she heard the man walk away from her, she fought the rising panic that was threatening to claw its way out of her chest. She was hooked up in the basement of a very pissed off Mexican mobster with a grudge against her and a bag over her head. She didn’t really see how things could get much worse.
About twenty minutes passed (though, with her arms tied over her head, it felt more like hours) when she heard the unmistakable sound of the crack of a whip slice through the air beside her body. Katie decided her plight could actually get much worse. What the fuck had Ivan set her up for?
Eyes wide and breaths coming out in whimpering gasps under the hood, Katie twisted and struggled helplessly in her binding. The whip continued to crack ominously, echoing loudly through the concrete basement and making her flinch to the side of where she thought it was landing.
“I would not move like that, Katerina.” Roman’s voice finally stopped her struggles. He sounded much closer to her than she had thought the whip yielder was. “You might accidentally push yourself into the path of my whip. Wouldn’t want to accidentally mark you… yet.”
She’d been holding her breath, trying desperately to hear his words through the rush of blood beating in her ears and the hood and mask over her head. A choking gasp escaped her lips when she caught the last word. Roman intended to hurt her bad. He’d had a year to contemplate his revenge on the woman he thought he loved. Now that he had her, there would be no mercy.
“Please… Roman…” she tried appealing to him, twisting her body in the direction she thought he was standing.
“What?” he roared, his voice a loud echo throughout the room.
Katie flinched away from the sound.
“I can’t hear you?” he snarled and reached out to roughly tear the hood away. He did the same with the mask. “Do you have something to say to me, Katerina mia?”
With no barriers left between them, they were once more face to face for the first time in a year. Her terrified gaze met his. She saw only triumph in his face. The same blazing possession she saw the last time he had captured her, only this time the demonic look on his face wasn’t tempered with the love he had felt for her since they were little more than teenagers.
He took her chin in a brutal grip and shook her. The chain above her head rattled as she swayed. “Answer me,” he snarled. “You have something to say, mujer?”
She flinched again, but continued to hold his gaze. Roman Valdez had always been a hard man. From the day she met him she’d known he was a killer. But this man that stood before her now? He was so much worse than anything she’d ever been confronted with before. Her betrayal had changed him in ways she never anticipated.
Physically, he was even harder, more dangerous looking than she remembered. He wore a suit that fit him to perfection. He’d ominously removed the jacket and rolled his shirtsleeves up extremely muscular forearms. His usual long, rangy form had been honed into muscular perfection, as though he spent much of his time away from her punishing his body in anticipation for the day he would get his hands on her.
“Speak!” he shouted in her face when she refused to say anything.
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and spilled over. Fine, if he wanted her to speak, she would speak. She would give him the truth. She wasn’t going to blubber and beg like he wanted. She was better than that. She stared into his dark eyes, lifted her chin and whispered, “I never stopped loving you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rage exploded in his chest and before he could think to stop himself he’d backhanded the lying bitch. “Fuck you!” he snarled, rearing back.
The hit didn’t have much power behind it, but still, he regretted the action. He didn’t beat women. If he had to deal with one within the organization, they were killed swiftly and humanely. Katie swung wildly on the hook, crying out in shock. She sobbed, her feelings likely hurt more than her face.
“You do not speak to me about that shit again, understand?” he snarled.
When she didn’t answer, he took a threatening step toward her, lifting his hand again. She watched him warily and whispered, “Yes.”
He stalked toward the table on which he’d set his whip down earlier. He could feel her terror-filled gaze following his every move. He picked up his special knife, the one with the wolf carved into it. He held it up so she could see the metal glint in the dim lighting. Another tear slid from her eye. He brought the knife up to her face. When she flinched away he cupped the back of her head in a big hand and swiftly captured the tear on the edge of his knife. She held her breath, barely moving as the razor-sharp blade slid along the silky skin of her face.
He licked her tear from the blade, savouring the look on her face. Fuck, one more year of age had made her even more heartbreakingly beautiful that she’d been before. Her cheeks were sharper, but her hair softer and longer. His balls ached as blood pooled in his cock. Soon he would find his way back home in her sweet pussy. But first, she would learn a lesson in submission. No more patient wooing for this one. She would know real pain at his hands. She would know what it was to be owned by the Valdez cartel boss.
Suddenly, he needed to see her naked body more than he needed his next breath. He wanted to see what else had changed in their time apart. He despised these fucking years apart she kept demanding from him. No more. Now there would be only minutes separating their time together. If even that. He would keep her close. So close she would begin to wonder how she ever survived without him. How she made decisions without his assistance. He would become her everything. There was no other choice. Because he would never trust her again.
“It would be very dangerous for you to move right now, mi querida.”
Her eyes widened and when he took a handful of her shirt, placed the knife at the neckline and slid it down the front, cutting right through the fabric like it was butter. Her mouth fell open and she made a small sound of protest. He gave her a quick look that told her she better not start protesting. She closed her mouth and stood stiffly as he continued to cut away her clothes.
Roman spoke as he stripped her, his voice cold and clipped. “I could have taken you back a year ago if I’d wanted to, but I knew I would not be able to keep you. You have powerful friends that you neglected to tell me about while also refusing to tell me the details of your job.”
His eyes flicked to her, giving her a taste of the rage that was soon to come. He slid the blade t
hrough the front of her bra, easily parting the material in two. He peeled one of the cups aside and carefully applied the flat of his blade to her nipple, never taking his eyes from hers.
“There it is," he murmured, satisfaction tempering a little of his perpetual anger as he recognized the flare of pleasure lighting in her expression as he applied a bite of erotic pain to her flesh. She may fear for her life at the moment, but her body still responded to him the same as it always did. He would bet his empire that her pussy was growing wet as well, whether she liked it or not.
He reached up to cut the sleeves away from her arms. “Knew if I wanted to keep you this time, I would have to reclaim what is mine. I would have to reclaim the Valdez name. Offered Hart a cut of the border action if he helped me take down the bastards that murdered my family and reclaim my inheritance.”
“What?” Katie gasped in surprise, jerking in his arms. “You mean the cartel?”
“Careful!” Roman snapped, glaring down at her and forcing her to stand still in his arms. He’d come very close to cutting her skin with her sudden movement. “Yes, the cartel. It’s mine now. This hacienda is mine, along with the land, the town, the law, the people… everything.”
He brushed the last shreds of her shirt and bra away from her and stood looking down at his handiwork as she looked up at him with fear and awe. “But Roman,” she said in a shaky voice, “I don’t understand. If you could have done all that, why did you never do it earlier? Why now?”
“Not listening, are you?” he growled, going down onto his knees in front of her. He was so tall his mouth could easily reach her nipples in that position, but he needed to get her pants off before he could start playing. He slid his dagger into the waistband of her pants, savouring the sound it made as it sliced away the barrier between him and her delectable self.
“Never wanted the responsibility of a region or a people. When my father fell, a lot of people fell with him. Families torn apart and allegiances splintered. Was better off going it alone in the States. Pledging my loyalty to whoever would have me. I’ve killed for money my whole life. For you? I have gladly killed for pleasure, cut the throat of your culero ex-husband with this very blade.”
He enjoyed the shudder that rippled through her at his words. It was dirty talk to him. Talking death with the love of his life held safe in his arms once more. Yeah, he was a sick bastard, but he owned it. Like he was going to own her once more. He yanked the fabric of her pants away from her, taking the shoes with them. He peeled the socks from her feet until the only thing left was a pair of brief cotton panties. They were the same light blue as her eyes.
He looked up at her as he spoke, loving the way she tilted her head down to watch him with those sexy eyes, wide with fear. The way her blond hair swirled around her restrained shoulders. It made him so fucking hard seeing her like that.
“The only thing I ever wanted for myself was you, Katerina. But you kept running from me, over and over again. This last time has taught me a hard lesson. That it was time for me to become a man equal to your challenge. And what kind of man is that, your gorgeous eyes are asking me?”
He brought his hands to her hips and squeezed, mindful that he still held the sharp blade in one hand. He buried his nose against her cunt, taking her scent deep into his lungs. She made a sound of distress combined with a whimper of pleasure as her pussy creamed warm fluid against his nose. He hadn’t intended to give her any kind of pleasure so soon after her arrival, but he couldn’t help it. He needed one little taste, just to tide him over until he got to bury himself in her.
Fuck, he felt more like a teenager with a raging cockstand than a grown 36-year-old man. Spreading his fingers and holding her tight, he rammed his tongue against the thin fabric of her panties, tasting her through the material. His responsive little runaway gushed right against his chin and mouth, giving him exactly what he wanted. He opened his mouth wide and devoured as much of her as he could, soaking her panties in his saliva. She filled the room with her echoing cries, rocking her pussy helplessly against his face, begging him wordlessly for more. But just as she was approaching some semblance of orgasm, he released her.
“I think the cartel boss can tame the international thief, do you not?” he asked, pushing away from her and standing once more to tower over her. Her dazed eyes watched his movements with disbelief. With two quick flicks of his wrist he cut through her panties and pulled the wet garment from her body.
He balled it up and held it up to her face, growling, “I would shove them in your lying mouth, but I want to hear your screams.”
“Roman!” she cried out when she finally found her voice. “Can we talk? Please? I didn’t mean to hurt you like this. This… this is crazy! That you would start an entire criminal organization just to get back at me…”
He dropped the knife on the table and picked up the whip. Turning back to her, he raised an eyebrow. She fell silent, her horrified eyes on the whip. He approached her, lifting the instrument so she could clearly see the long black leather whip and handle. It certainly looked and sounded terrifying. It could do real damage if he wasn’t careful and he certainly intended to hurt her. But he had more than enough proficiency with the weapon to let it kiss her tender skin without actually causing lasting damage. “Not to get back at you, Katerina. I avenged the Valdez name twenty-four years after it fell so that I could hold onto you. Since you’ve made it clear to me this is the only way I can do it. I intend to lock you up so tight you’ll have nowhere else to run.”
He took a handful of her hair in a painful grip and pulled her head back. She cried out in protest. He placed his lips next to her ear and growled, “I will burn your childhood home to the ground if it means you no longer have any place to run from me.”
He stood like that, holding her for several long minutes as he let the words sink in. Her chest heaved where it was thrust out into the cold air. Finally, he whispered, “Don’t fucking move, or you will bleed.”
“Roman, no!” she cried out when he let her go and shoved her away from him, snapping the whip in the air, amping up her terror.
“You still like the pain, baby?” he snarled. “You letting other guys give it to you these days?”
“No, no!” she screamed as the whip sang through the air slapping against the skin of her stomach. As promised, it left a red mark against the pale flesh, but didn’t break skin.
He stalked forward and ran his thumb over the mark, enjoying his handiwork as she sobbed and flinched away from him. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. She needed to know what it was going to be like living with him, what she could expect if she ever tried to leave him again. He could make her life heaven or he could make it hell. It was her choice.
“We’re going to count, Katie. Eighteen lashes. You got that?” he asked her, pinching her chin to see if she understood. When she nodded, he asked, “What does it mean, mi mujer. Why eighteen?”
Tears ran over her cheeks and her voice quivered as she answered, “E-every year we’ve known each other.”
He stepped away from her. “As intelligent as you are beautiful. Except this is punishment for the crime of eighteen years apart. Years that you have kept us separated.”
He cracked the whip again, allowing it to bite into the flesh of her thigh and curl around to mark her ass cheek. “Count it!” he snapped.
Tears dripped from her eyes, but she managed to glare at him and say from between gritted teeth, “Two.”
He nodded his head and, walking behind her, cracked the whip fully against her ass. “Three!” he shouted, startling her. “If you forget, I will hit you harder, Katerina.”
“Three,” she hurried to comply.
Still so beautifully submissive. He reached around her body and plucked at her already stiff nipple, cold from the chill in the room. She arched her back and moaned at his touch, responding immediately to the heady combination of pleasure and pain only he knew how to give her. He gently rolled the distended nipple be
tween his thumb and forefinger until she was squirming in her bonds and moaning, arching her head back into his shoulder.
He stepped away from her and cracked the whip in three successive hits, striking her harder each time until she was screaming and counting, recoiling with each hit. Red streaks formed along her body, up her side, along her breast and hips. Tears dripped from her chin onto his head as he took her nipple deep into his mouth and alternately soothed and tortured the distended object with his hot tongue. She cried out and arched her back, forcing her small breast into the back of his throat. The sounds coming from her mouth were more carnal than he’d ever heard her make before.
He backed up and took in the fear that immediately flashed across her face as he lifted the whip. She shook her head and he could see a denial forming on her lips. She wanted to beg him to stop. Sadistic pleasure flowed through him as he remembered the way he’d woken up at the hospital handcuffed to a fucking bed. Questioned by detectives. Humiliated, while his boss maneuvered him out of the situation. If he’d been able to wrap his hands around Katie’s neck at that time, she may not have survived.
He brought the whip down on her thigh harder than he meant, nearly drawing blood. She screamed, “Eight!”
But having lost her had given him plenty of time to figure his shit out. Sort out his priorities and life goals. Realize it was time to stop doing the lone wolf thing if he intended to keep his woman. He clearly needed the backing of an entire cartel if he intended to lock this woman down. It was time to rise up and claim the Valdez mantel, become the man he was born to be. And take the woman meant to be by his side.
He realized as he slapped the whip against the flesh of her ribcage on either side of her body that she’d gained some much-needed weight. Probably less stressed after he’d taken care of her douche of an ex-husband. So, he’d done something right during their last encounter. Now that she belonged to him, he would make sure she continued to eat right and take good care of herself. Take some vitamins and shit, too.
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