by Raven Dark
“Mr. Davros. Oh, shit, what are you doing?” Reginald, the scrawny waiter widened his eyes and backed away from the doors as I shoved Dominic’s man further into the room.
“Where is Audrey?”
“Management sent her home. She’s pretty bloodied up.”
“Is she?” I shoved the man’s head against the steel counter, ignoring his curse. “I guess Dominic didn’t tell you I have this thing with men hurting women in my establishment.” I meant that for the thug.
“Yeah, we did hear you have a soft spot for pussies.”
I grabbed a piece of rope, the kind usually used to tie meat, and bound his hands behind him. Then I flung a glance over at a nervous Reginald who rung his hands and looked like he wanted to bolt. “Is the fryer on, Reg?”
“What? Why?” When I lifted the thug to a stand and rushed him toward the fryer, he started to scream. “Oh, no, God.” Reg looked like he wanted to pass out.
I stopped in front of the fryer and gripped the man’s head, ready to shove him down. “I’m only going to ask this once, friend. After that, you lose your face, understand? Turn the fryer on, Reg.”
“Mr. Davros, no. I can’t—” Reg backed away.
“Davros, you stupid fuck, you can’t do this. Mr. Gavini’ll kill you.”
“Reg.” I gripped the man’s head harder.
Reg made a small noise like a dog being stepped on and stepped forward, flicking the fryer on, then backing up as if he thought the thing might bite him. “Oh, God, oh God, Oh God, I can’t watch.”
But I didn’t do anything yet. Instead, I stood, pinning the man in front of me, hand ready on his head, letting the fryer full of hot oil heat up. “Now. Let’s start with the easy questions. Why are you here, and why did you attack my staff?”
“That bitch deserves what she gets. She back talked my men when they ordered coffee.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m sure all you did was order coffee. Audrey knows how the family business works. If she mouthed off, it’s cause one of your men was behaving like an ape.”
“We did not—”
“Who are you, and why are you here, ape?”
When he only cursed at me, I pushed his head down toward the now scalding hot oil.
“No! Wait!”
“Talk!” I roared.
“It’s Ben. Ben Calhone. I collect debts for the Gavinis.”
“No one owes a debt to the family on my staff.”
“I’m not here to bust anyone up.”
“Then, what?”
He said nothing and I pushed his head down further. “Okay, okay! It was Mr. Gavini. The Dons are having a meeting here on Friday. He wanted us to bug the place so we could hear everything that went on.”
“All of them? Here?” I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice. Meetings with all five families were rare, mostly because the Dons hated so many obvious targets being in one place. A Mafia summit could only mean something huge was happening. Except…
“If all of them will be here, then why does Dominic need to bug the place? He’s a Don, he’d be here with them.”
When he didn’t answer, I shoved his head low enough that he would feel the heat of the fryer on his face. Reg covered his face and Ben bucked and screamed.
“Fuck, no, don’t!”
I lifted him up a little and he let out a breath.
“Word is, Vincent Ferrara has an agent coming to the summit. He’s convinced there’s a rat in the Gavani crew, and the agent is supposed to report who it is.”
I froze. A rat. That tracked with what I knew. Just days ago, someone had stolen goods from Dominic, goods which he still thought my father or I had taken, and filled his delivery truck with rats as a message to him. A message he still thought I’d sent. Had Ferrara been the one to send the message? Did he know who the rat was, and he was having the agent report it to the other Dons as proof meant to discredit Dominic?
“Who’s the agent, Benny?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.” A little further toward the fryer. Grease must have boiled and spat at him because he wailed in pain and thrashed. Reginald groaned in horror.
“It’s the truth! I don’t question the Boss.”
“Who does the agent work for?”
“FBI. What else?”
“So Ferrara has an FBI agent is his pocket.” Made sense since, if rumor was correct, Ferrara was the Boss of Bosses. “Where did you put the bug?”
Again, he didn’t answer and I shoved his cheek against the hot steel rim of the fryer. It wouldn’t be as hot as the oil, but it still scalded. He twisted. The screams he let out stabbed at my ears, but I pressed his cheek harder until I could smell burned flesh.
“Where is the bug, Benny?” I lifted his head up just enough that his screaming cut off. He breathed like a man having been suffocated.
“Fuck. It’s in one of the floral arrangements on the table. As soon as I planted it and left here, I was supposed to call him.”
“Reg,” I barked.
The waiter vanished into the other room to find the bug. Untying Ben’s hands, I spun him around. Relief mingled with anger in his eyes.
“The Boss is going to gut you, Davros. He told you, you only got a pass once. He’s going to gut you, and then he’s going to fuck that pretty slave of yours while her daddy watches.”
The threat against Anika made me want to crack his skull open. Instead, I grabbed his nose and twisted it until blood ran between my fingers and down onto his lip.
“Ah, you son of bitch, you’ll take my nose off…”
“Talk about my woman again, and see what I cut off.”
“The Boss will have your head.”
“No he won’t. Because you’re not going to breathe a word to him.”
“Fuck that.”
Releasing his nose, I gave him a menacing smile and grabbed his hand, aiming it for the oil.
“Hey! I told you what you wanted to know!”
“You did. And now I want your word. You’re not saying a word to your boss about what happened here. In fact, we’re gonna put our own bug in the meeting, and you’re gonna be a good little ape and set it up.”
His face paled. “No way. Do you have any idea what the Boss does to traitors?”
Similar to what happens to rats. Who’s the rat in your ranks, Dominic? “I can guess.” I held his hand over the oil and he screwed up his face.
“You fuck.”
“Your word.” He squeezed his eyes shut and I put the first few inches of his hand into the oil. The oil boiled and hissed and the smell of frying flesh assaulted my nose. He howled. “Your word.”
“Ah! Shit, okay! My word! I’ll do it.”
I released him, shoving him away toward the counter hard. Tapped his face with a mocking appreciation. “Good boy.”
“You piece of shit, Davros, I’ll gut you like a sea bass.”
Before I could reply, Reginald came back into the room. “Got it, sir.” He puffed like he’d rushed around trying to find the listening device, and when I held my hand out, he put what looked like a long, plastic flower in it. It was a lily, just like the other real ones used in the floral pieces the staff always put on the tables.
“This is the only one, right?” I looked at the ape in the suit.
“Yes.” He cradled his hand, the flesh raw and bubbled.
I handed the fake lily back to the waiter. “The first time the room is empty, put this back where you found it. Make sure no one can tell it isn’t part of the arrangement.”
“You want to leave this place bugged, sir?”
“Yes. I want Dominic to think everything is going according to his plan.”
“Ah. Right.”
“Are you done yet, Davros?” Ben snapped.
“Not quite.” I turned and punched him hard in the nose. Bone crunched and blood sprayed, and he cried out, head snapping back.
“What the hell, man!” He grabbed his nose. “You got what you wanted!”
/> “That was for Audrey, and for talking trash about my woman. Hit one of my staff or open your mouth about Anika again, and you’ll lose that hand next time.” I grabbed him, marched him across the room to a back door, and tossed him out onto the back lot so hard he rolled ten feet. Then I slammed the door, turned to Reginald, and nodded to the listening device in his hand on my way to the door that led to the main dining room. “Hide that thing. Then get back to work. If anything else goes down, you call me.”
Reg wiped sweat off his whitened face. “Sir, has anyone ever told you, you’re kind of terrifying?”
Hand on the swinging door, I grinned at him. “All the time.”
Back in the underground parking lot, I let out a long breath, and looked at my own hand. Bruises had started to form on my knuckles. They hurt, but the ache was a sweet pain when it came from getting justice against a guy like him the only way I could.
Part of me longed to go back up to the hotel room and pull my sweet Anika into my arms, fucking her until she screamed a much different scream than Dominic’s wiseguy. Wiping away her anger with another few hours of me inside her.
Giving a beat down always made me want her, and besides, I wanted so badly to tell her the good news. We had something more on Dominic. All we had to do was find that FBI agent first, before the summit on Friday, and discover who the rat was in Dominic’s circle. As soon as we knew who it was, we’d have the ammunition we needed against him. Information that would secure Anika’s freedom, and save her dad’s life.
Everything in me wanted to tell her what had happened in the hotel kitchen, but I couldn’t, and not just because she’d pushed where a woman shouldn’t, violating Mafia code. What had happened in that kitchen represented the worst of family business, and once I found that agent, I might have to do a lot worse to make him talk. I’d have to do shit that would make my father proud, the sick fuck.
Whatever I did would make my father happy, but it would scare the fuck out of my angel, and probably drive her further away. Some things a man never told his woman. So, instead, I got in my car and sped toward my first task of the day, visiting a sweet cook who’d paid what I’m sure wouldn’t be her last price for working for a Davros.
4
Morning light woke me, stabbing at my eyes. I groaned, rolling over in Kane’s huge bed, and instantly regretted it. The mattress chafed against my ass cheeks where he’d belted me, making me wince. The fucking bastard.
Normally I loved when he did things to remind me of his ownership. The sting on my skin usually only made me needy, craving his dominance, but with the way he’d behaved last night, that need was all tangled up with a white hot, lingering anger that burned as fresh now as it had been last night.
Whatever it was that made Kane think he had to be so tough and unyielding, that’s what made him so animalistic last night. That’s at least part of the reason he’d whipped me, I was sure of it. I could live with that. I’d accepted his deal, a deal that entailed him owning me for six months. Part of being his would mean sometimes dealing with his moods. I even liked the rough side of him. I didn’t want a gentle, sweet guy. But he hadn’t just owned me. By taking off on me, shutting me out the way he had, treating me like a Mafioso mistress who was supposed to just lie back and accept another woman, he’d hit a raw nerve.
Remembering the ease with which he’d distanced himself, like he was punishing me for pressing where I shouldn’t, the hatred I’d been feeling less and less for him of late swung back on me full force. It hit me in the heart, twisting up inside me like a poison. All of a sudden he wasn’t just the man who held mine and my father’s life in his hands, who protected me. Suddenly, he was a Davros again, the man I’d been conditioned to hate. A man I couldn’t trust and should never, ever want.
“Ugh. Bastard.” I whipped the covers off, letting my resentment burn away my shame for the things I’d let him do to me. Today, I’d find Fran at the hospital and get her to help me find what I could on Kane and Gala’s relationship. I’d discover the inevitable sordid truth, and….
“And then what?” I ran my hands through my curls. I didn’t know what I’d do with the information I found, but I’d gain the advantage somehow.
Popping my morning vitamin into my mouth, I glanced at the clock. Almost nine. I had today and tomorrow off from the hospital, but I seriously considered covering for someone else so I could go into work, and not just to avoid Kane. Somehow, I’d have to figure out a way to get Fran to help me without telling her too much. Without yanking her into this messed up thing my life had become and endangering her.
I had no idea what I could tell her and what I couldn’t. My father’s debt, the Gavinis, contracting my body to Kane, it was all tangled together in a dangerous mess. But it didn’t matter. I was useless with computers, and I needed her help. Besides, I’d been putting her off and avoiding her so much, I owed my best friend something of an explanation. Without having a shift, meeting with her would raise questions. Would Kane try to stop me?
What’s more, I had another task ahead of me, one I dreaded more than facing Fran. I needed to see my dad.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad, and I hated that he was currently lying in a hospital bed healing from a gunshot wound. But seeing him meant I’d have to confront something I still wasn’t sure I wanted to face. He’s my father. It doesn’t matter who the sperm donor is. He’s my dad.
Fuck, would he even tell me who my real dad was if I asked? My gut twisted and I half hoped he wouldn’t, even while my mind screamed to know the truth.
I reached to put on my slippers and stopped when the phone rang. I picked it up. Kane. I rolled my eyes. “What now, Master?”
I jabbed the icon to answer the call. “Submissives Are Us.”
Kane’s laughter crackled over the phone, soft and welcoming, like smooth honey. Not at all like the gun-toting almost mobster I’d seen in him last night. The kind that thought I didn’t belong in his world.
“Morning angel. Sleep well?”
“I might have if every time I rolled over my ass didn’t feel like I sat on a hot stove.” Did my voice sound as needy as it seemed to me? I snatched up my slippers and yanked them on.
“You had fun last night, and you know it.” I heard keys being typed. “Are you dressed?”
“Not yet.”
“Good. Check the bathroom door. Min left some clothes hanging on it for you. I want you to wear them today.”
“Min? Fantastic.” I marched across the room toward the en suite bathroom. The last time Kane’s stylist had chosen an outfit for me, other than the admittedly gorgeous dress he put me in for The Dungeon last night, it had been that hideous slave’s outfit that showed off my ass. To a mob boss, no less. I shuddered to think what atrocity he might try getting me into now.
At the bathroom door, I rolled my eyes, taking down the outfit there. A pair of slinky black leather pants hung from a hanger, with a top to match, the leather cut to cup my breasts like an outside bra. It had lacework meant to cover my arms and back. The outfit was gorgeous, in a Goddess of the Night sort of way, but it would also hug and expose every curve. Showing off the shape of my too wide ass, the flare of my hips, my ample tits.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I tossed the hanger back on the door hook. No way would I wear that today, and especially not to meet Fran, or my dad.
“Problem, angel?” He was smiling, I could hear it. Fucker.
“I’m not wearing that, Kane.”
“You’ll wear it if I say you will.”
“Kane, pick something else.”
“Why? You aren’t going to work today, your schedule says you’re off.”
“Do you have to sound like such a stalker when you say that?”
“You gave me your schedule for the week, Anika.”
“Because your fucking contract said I have to.”
“Language, girl. Respect.”
“I’m not wearing those clothes.”
“Oh, really?”
His voice dropped to a deliciously menacing growl. “I wouldn’t belt you again when your ass still needs to heal, but there are other ways to make you howl.”
Dread and need swirled through me in an intoxicating mixture at the thought of all the ways he could inflict his ownership on me. After last night, I knew how good he was at delivering pain. I nearly swayed at the thought. “No, no, I’m good.” I snatched the hanger off the hook and stalked into the bedroom.
“Good girl. I’m coming up in the elevator now. I expect you to be in those clothes when I get into the hotel room.”
Damn it. I’d never been the flashy or sexy type, preferring simple, plain, comfortable clothes. Fran knew that, even if she didn’t know why. Even if she didn’t know it was partly because running from the Gavinis had taught me never to draw attention, never to stand out. If I dressed like this, never mind that it would make me look like a fish out of water, she’d ask questions I wasn’t sure how to handle. To say nothing of my dad.
“I have to see my dad today. You’re going to make me dress like this in front of him?”
“I love what Min chose for you. What’s wrong with the clothes?”
Throwing the phone on speaker, I took the clothing off the hanger and started undressing. “I’ll look stupid in this.”
“You will not. And I told you about putting yourself down. Min is the best there is, and he would have chosen clothing that looked perfect on you.”
“Yeah, right.” The leather pants fit like a glove, and I was surprised how easily they went on, even while they made me look like I’d been poured into them. “I don’t like Min, you know.”
“Ha. Min would get a kick out of that. He always says, if clients like him, he’s not doing his job.”
“What?” I slid the top on, straightening the lace arms.
“I dunno. Beauty is pain or something. Speaking of which, we’re having dinner with my father on Thursday, and that only leaves us today and tomorrow to turn you into the perfect Davros woman.”
“Lovely.”
He’d told me about this before. Not only would I be trained in submission, but also in proper etiquette. I remembered Fran telling me her parents had made her attend some sort of finishing school when she was younger. The way she described it, they expected girls to sit, stand, eat, even think, like perfect little princesses. It seemed no better than brainwashing. I shuddered.