I stopped in front of the wall and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. I’d just pretend I was disoriented if someone spotted me or if I opened the door at the wrong moment. The door was rusty red and identical to the one I’d come through, so they’d be more likely to believe that I’d come by mistake. There was also a chance the door would be locked, but Tony had told me they kept it open during maintenance so they could use it as an emergency exit.
When I opened my eyes, I turned around in a circle, my brow furrowed, as if I wasn’t sure in which direction to go. I strode to the door and carefully pushed it open. There were cameras all over the terrace and hopefully they were off. The guards weren’t anywhere in sight. Keeping my head down, I rushed toward the glass door. The apartment was mostly in darkness since the sun had already dipped past the tall buildings, and luckily enough, as I tried the door, it slid open.
I slipped inside just as the guards appeared on the terrace and went to take a look at the door I’d passed through. They didn’t look alarmed, so it was very likely no one bothered to watch the cameras all the time, or they were all busy doing maintenance, so the cameras were off. I traced my hand across the wall and slowly made my way forward until I could no longer see the terrace. Nothing stirred or indicated that an alarm of any kind had been triggered, so I tried to follow the hallway to Aaron’s office.
I placed my hand on the door and realized it was open, so I pushed it wider and dared to take out my phone to get some light. As I lifted my phone, I froze in place because there was a camera right in front of me. I wondered if this one was still working. But as I inched forward, I realized the wires behind it were hanging out. My shoulders nearly sagged in relief. It looked like Aaron wasn’t too inclined to have his office monitored.
The computer was on the desk, and I rummaged through my purse for the lipstick that actually had the undetectable drive in it. The drive had been specially designed by my brother so it would be able to copy the whole disk using its own power source without turning on the computer. I found the slot and stuck the drive inside, watching the red light come on. Once the light turned green, I’d know the files had been copied.
Tony assured me the drive and the data transfer wouldn’t be detectable by anyone. I crouched behind the chair, waiting for the drive to finish for what seemed like hours. I strained my ears for any noise, but there was nothing except silence, not even any sound coming from the busy streets. The apartment had to be soundproof then. I tapped my fingers against my leg as quietly as possible, wondering if there could be something wrong with the drive. Why was it taking so long? Or was I just being impatient?
The light finally flashed to green and I snatched the drive, hopping to my feet. I tucked the drive into my purse and used my phone’s light so I could find the exit without disturbing anything in the office. I only had about fifteen minutes until the maintenance was completed and all the security systems were back up. Once I was back in the hallway, I shoved the phone in my purse and padded to the glass door, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized one of the guards was sitting in a chair right next to the door that was my main way out. Shit. Was there a chance he’d get up before the cameras were back up? Probably not.
I had to find another exit. My brother and I had gone over the alternatives, and my best way out was to find the bedroom that had a window through which I could get out on the other side of the terrace. There was another door there that I could use, but I’d have to be careful because of the other guard. I threaded through the darkness, my sneakers quiet against the carpet. It wasn’t that hard to find the room I was looking for, but as I made my way across it, a soft creak of the floorboards somewhere behind me caught my attention. I was in the middle of the room and there was nowhere for me to hide, so I moved forward, hoping the creak had been caused by me.
“Stop right there,” a male voice said, and pressed what I assumed was the barrel of a gun to the back of my head.
Chapter 4
My heart skipped a beat and I stopped breathing, wondering for a moment if I was imagining the whole thing, but the soft footsteps behind me confirmed that I’d been caught. Shit. The lights came on, and I had no idea if that meant the maintenance was over or if the man or his voice had activated them somehow.
“Put your hands up and turn around. Slowly,” the man commanded, and I raised my hands, slowly turning around, and found myself face to face with Aaron Viteri and his gun. A choked snort escaped my throat. Of course. Aaron had never come here—as far as my brother knew—on Thursdays, and the moment I tried to steal his files, here he was, just waiting to catch me. Just my luck, I guess.
Aaron’s cold blue eyes flitted up and down my body, his face impassive. My heartbeat was drumming in my ears and I was trying to take deeper breaths to calm myself and come up with a way to get out of this.
“Octavia Ferrara... in my room. I never thought that would happen,” Aaron said with a smile tilting his lips, his gun still firmly pointed at me.
My eyes widened, my mouth hanging open. How the fuck did he know? “You know who I am. How?” I focused on that question and on the gun in front of me. If I could distract him with talking, perhaps I could get his gun. No one else had come in with him and there didn’t seem to be any guards nearby. He hadn’t notified anyone or called for help as far as I could tell, but I assumed he thought he didn’t need to.
“It wasn’t the easiest piece of info to get my hands on, but nothing is impossible.” He lifted his chin, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “And I’m that good.” He waved the gun at me. “Give me your purse.”
I slid the thin golden chain off my shoulder, hoping I could use it against him, but Aaron stepped back far enough that I couldn’t reach him and nodded toward the bed.
“Put that down there and step back,” he said. I lowered the purse onto the black covers and made a few steps back. With the gun still pointed at me, he inched toward the bed and one-handedly opened my purse, rummaging through it until he pulled out the drive that was only half-tucked in the lipstick that was supposed to keep it hidden. He twirled it between his fingers, his lips quirking up, and simply tossed it to the ground. “Were you trying to steal my porn collection? Wow. I didn’t expect that from my enemies.”
I licked my dry lips. Was he just toying with me or was there really nothing important on that computer? If there was, he didn’t seem to care, especially now that he’d caught me.
“How did you get in here anyway?” He came closer, eying me carefully.
I shrugged. “Why don’t you ask your guards?”
“You’re good. You’re real...” His phone rang and he pulled it out, his eyes never leaving me, his hand with the gun still steady. How long could he keep up with this? How long until he pulled the trigger? I didn’t doubt he could shoot me without even looking while he was on his phone. “Yeah?” A frown line creased his brow. “My father? Are you...? When?” His focus wavered and I dived toward him, knocking him down and bringing us both to the ground.
The gun fell out of his hand and I reached out for it, but Aaron was faster, grabbing my leg and dragging me across the floor toward him. I kicked out and he barely dodged my attempt to hit him in the head, but he let go of me. I scrambled toward the gun, but just before my hand could close over the handle, Aaron was on me again. He grabbed my wrist, squeezing so hard that I gritted my teeth. As he tried to wind his arm around my neck, I elbowed him, but he managed to catch my arm and twist it behind my back, pressing me hard against the floor.
“Haven’t you heard it’s a terrible idea to piss me off?” His strong body was like a trap that I couldn’t escape no matter how much I thrashed. Still, I got a hold of the gun, but before I could twist my arm and point toward him, he ripped it out of my fingers and jabbed the barrel into the back of my neck. Game over. Suddenly his weight left me. “Get up.”
I pushed myself to my feet, rubbing my wrist, and turned toward Aaron. I supposed a quick death was out of the question now. He knew w
ho I was, after all. Maybe he’d send my body parts to my father with a nice little bow.
“How much do you like your life?” He cocked his head at me, and my eyebrows shot upward.
“Really?” There was a tic in my jaw. “You’re going to talk me to death instead of shooting me?”
“I have an offer for you. One that could get you out of here alive, if you accept.” There was nothing on his face that indicated that he was playing with me, but surely to a cruel man this would be just a game.
I spread my arms. “I’m all ears.” I wasn’t about to believe he’d let me live. Well, maybe I’d be breathing long enough so that he could take me to some place where he could torture and kill me without getting blood all over his room.
“You seem capable of entering places without being seen. Absolutely none of my guards know you’re here or they would’ve alerted me already.”
“I got lucky.” He was probably wondering how I’d gotten in here or who had told me what to do, so he was trying to get the information out of me. I wasn’t about to tell him anything, especially because it seemed he had no clue I’d been in this building before, and I was hoping Pauline wouldn’t get dragged into all of this.
“Sure you did.” He let out a small laugh. “But... you and I have a common enemy, and you know what they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so your skillset might be just what I need.”
“A common enemy? Who would that be?” My family didn’t have any true enemies other than the Viteris, so I had no clue what he was talking about.
“My father,” he said calmly.
My mouth fell open, and then I pressed my lips together into an angry line. “Yeah, right. Am I supposed to believe that crap?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care what you believe. I have power over only a fraction of my father’s business and he still controls everything I do. He doesn’t know about you, and you’re familiar with stealing computer data. I need some files that I can’t get from my father’s office, and when you get them for me, I can take what should be mine and get my father out of the picture. In return, you’d get to keep your life. But sure, if you don’t want to, my father is on his way, and I’m certain he’d love to hear just everything about who you are... Oh, and don’t expect him to believe a word you say to him about me. In fact, he won’t even let you open your mouth. Well, at least not to speak.”
I glared at him. Was it possible that he was actually trying to take over his father’s business or was this just a trap for me? Maybe he was playing mind games with me to completely break me. “You’re just going to kill me after you get what you want.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He tilted the gun left and right. “But wouldn’t you like to find out?”
If I said yes, there was a tiny chance he was telling the truth. Well, at least about wanting to destroy his father, which wouldn’t be a surprise for such a ruthless man who’d do anything to get into power, but I didn’t believe he’d actually let me go. Maybe only if he was so arrogant that he thought that once he took over he could go to war with my family and kill me then and there. Maybe killing me while I couldn’t do much to defend myself wasn’t thrilling enough for him. Still, if I accepted, I might get an opportunity to escape, and that was at least something that gave me hope. “And how am I supposed to get into your father’s office? Are you just going to let me walk out of here or what?”
“No, you’d be coming with me as my slave,” he said. “It’s the only way my father won’t be alarmed by your presence. You’d get to live in the same house as him, and once he gets used to you, he won’t even notice you.”
“No way.” I vehemently shook my head. “You’re out of your mind. I’m not going to be your slave, do whatever you say, have sex with you, and who knows what else.”
“I can’t let you go, and you can’t get into that house alone, anyway. My father screens every person who starts working for us and he’d find out who you are too easily if I said you were something else to me. He’s not that interested in slaves. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you because you’d be mine, and I have no interest in sleeping with you. I just want the files. But if you don’t want any part of it, I can grant you a small mercy and kill you right here, right now. But think quickly, because my father will be here in a few minutes.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. This whole thing might as well be a trap, but staying alive for a little longer and perhaps finding an opportunity to escape or at least taking out one of Viteris’ men was a very attractive concept. Their trap wouldn’t work anyway if I expected them to trick me. And I couldn’t trust Aaron about anything he said, including his promise to kill me quickly. But maybe at least Pauline would be safe then, since Aaron had to be aware that my family had enough resources to get me in here without anyone else’s help. “Okay, fine.”
“You agree?” There was a hint of surprise in his voice.
“Yeah,” I said indifferently, just to show him that I wasn’t falling for anything.
“He’s here!” a voice yelled from the hallway, and Aaron lowered the gun and tucked it into the back of his dark jeans. His cold and threatening eyes narrowed at me. “You’re going to sit right there on the bed, be quiet, and do exactly as I say. If you start talking or try anything stupid, I’ll put a bullet in your brain. Got it?”
“Yeah.” I went to sit on the bed, clasping my hands in my lap. If I got the opportunity, I’d kill him and his father. After he glanced around the room, he fixed the red carpet and straightened the bed covers on the side of the bed where I wasn’t sitting to make everything perfect. He even pulled a stray strand of hair out of my face, making me flinch away. Then he ran his fingers through his dark hair and glanced at his reflection in the mirror. A part of me wondered if he had actually been telling me the truth. He seemed to be one of those guys who needed to have control over everything, and if he couldn’t even choose who worked for him without his father’s approval, then I could understand why he would be angry.
“Keep your eyes down,” he whispered, and I could hear footsteps in the hallway. A dark-haired man in a black shirt and matching pants opened the door wide but didn’t come in. A man with light blue eyes as cold as Aaron’s, an older but still handsome face, and grayish short hair walked in while wiping invisible dust off his impeccable black suit. The man was tall and held his head and shoulders high as if he were a king. Well, he was a king of his little empire, I assumed. My head was bowed, but I wasn’t keeping my eyes exactly glued to the floor.
“My son,” Roberto said, patting Aaron on the shoulder.
“Father. I didn’t expect you here.” Aaron frowned. “Do you need something?”
“I was in the area and came for you. Why are you holed up in here when you can have...?” His eyes stopped on me. “Who’s that?”
I immediately lowered my gaze, my pulse speeding up as I heard footsteps coming toward me.
“No one. Just my new pet,” Aaron said casually.
“Your pet?” The incredulity was obvious in Roberto’s voice, but then he laughed out loud. A hand gripped my chin and forced my head up. I found myself staring into Roberto’s amused eyes. “Exquisite. Where did you find her? Why didn’t you tell me you were getting one? I could’ve offered you some advice.”
“I saw her in a club. She caught my eye, so I decided to take her for myself and train her. You told me so many times to get one, but I didn’t like any of those... This one... She was a delight to break.”
“You trained her all on your own?” Roberto finally let go of me, and goose bumps erupted all over my skin.
“Yeah.”
“I’m very proud of you, Aaron. I didn’t think you had it in you.” I lifted my eyes enough to see Roberto smiling from ear to ear, his chest thrust out. Aaron’s eyes had a strange glint in them as he smiled too, as if he’d been waiting for his father to say that for a very long time. I couldn’t believe Aaron hadn’t had a slave before, but maybe he just didn’t want to bother and was using
and discarding girls as he pleased. That face and body of his could get him any girl he wanted. Girls didn’t even have to be forced, unless that was what turned him on. Maybe that was why he didn’t want an obedient pet who’d do whatever he wanted. There was no thrill in taming those who wanted to be tamed.
“She looks overdressed, though,” Roberto said.
“We were outside for a walk to test her obedience. People tend to frown on things they don’t understand, and she’d draw too much attention.”
“Ah, true. You’re finally becoming a real man and a true Viteri, as you should. But come. Let’s go home. There’s a party you and your pet should attend to.” He turned on his heel and waved to someone out in the hallway who I couldn’t see. A real man? More like a real psychopath. When Roberto was gone, the guy who’d opened the door came inside, raising an eyebrow at Aaron.
“Take her, Marco,” Aaron simply said, and shook his head just a little while looking at the open door, as if he was communicating something to the guy. “Cover her eyes and bring her straight to my room. No one touches her.”
Marco nodded, his dark brown eyes meeting mine as he gently gripped my arm and pulled me to my feet. I glanced at Aaron before Marco led me out, but his gaze was focused elsewhere, his eyes churning with emotions I couldn’t decipher. Who was the guy leading me away? Everything about him indicated he was a guard, but a mere guard wouldn’t be giving such questioning looks to his boss, especially not to Aaron Viteri. Just what the hell was going on here? I intended to find out.
Chapter 5
After the thick, dark blindfold was finally removed from my eyes, we were at what I assumed was Roberto’s secret residence. The hallway in front of me was long, with thick red carpet and ornamented walls. Marco led me forward, and as we passed each set of doors, there was yet another armed guard. We went up the white stairway with painted black flowers on each side and ended up in a hall with dark blue carpet and blue walls full of war paintings. There were more guards posted at every corner. I couldn’t see any cameras, but it didn’t really matter. This place was a fort, and there was no way in hell I was getting out of here easily.
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