by Jax Hart
“Because, she was perfecto. Ripe, full of fire, sweet but fierce and all you want to do is strip her of all that. You’re going to ruin her. Snuff out all her flames and it’s going to be such a waste. You’ll never learn…never be a real DOM like me. You don’t need to break them so hard to rein them in. I’d at least train her right, let her enjoy her sensuality without changing who she is fundamentally.”
“Get the fuck out of my way.” I grind out through clenched teeth. He was right, but I didn’t care. She knew who I was. And said she didn’t care. “She could have chosen you, but she didn’t.”
“We don’t know that.”
“So, what’s your big plan, eh? Come here, make sure I don’t have a fucking clue where she is… and then you swoop in to the rescue? Help her recover from me by seducing her?”
“For starters…I still remember how she tasted in my mouth...”
“I’m going to kill you for this.” I was wrong to think I could let another man sample her. I’m going to kill him with my bare hands if he doesn’t get the fuck out of my face.
“Fuck off Christos. The world doesn’t revolve around you and your sick desires.”
“Maybe not, but hers will soon.”
He shakes his head, “Tell her I tried.”
CHRISTOS
AS SOON AS JIN TRACKED down Jessie’s location using intel he gained by digging into Dimitri’s affairs, I wanted to charge in and haul her out of Greece by her hair.
But I didn’t.
It took all the self-discipline and will power I had, but I reined in my need to see her, so I could set my trap. It took weeks to get everything set in place… and I thought of everything. My cunning and ruthlessness is about to pay off as I watch her through the windows. Cloaked by dusk’s dim light, my eyes drink her in. Satisfaction washes over me as her slim form and bright gold hair calls out to me like a beacon.
My fists tighten, clenching at my sides. I want to barge in there, right through the café doors and carry her out kicking and screaming.
But I can’t.
Not this time.
The muscles between my shoulder blades tense. My eyes keen as I scan the small stucco building where flowers fall down the wall from planters fastened outside small square windows.
It’s bright, cheery—I hate it.
Jin looks like a dumbass. I told him to blend in, watch the back door and when darkness falls, get ready to help me carry out my prize. He dressed like a damn American tourist. His bright Hawaiian print shirt hangs over pink shorts and he’s wearing a wide sailor’s hat. Christ, he’s getting attention instead of deflecting it. But with everyone in this small fishing town giving him a double take, no one is looking at the real threat—me, biding my time until the sun’s rays slip past the rocky cliffs, trying to hold on. But darkness always comes.
Now I know what it must feel like to be giddy. All those Christmas mornings where I never felt the anticipation…of getting that perfect gift. I feel it all now. But it won’t last. My brain chemicals are slowly receding, going back to the same patterns and rhythms of the past thirty-five years.
Just like the sun’s rays, my emotions try to cling; fight to stay…but they can’t. I won’t allow them to. Emotions are what got me here; wrecked and devasted that this slip of a girl who promised to stay and love me, left. She made me believe that a broken, soulless man could still have love.
Now I must punish her.
For lying and leaving.
For making me dream for the first time in my bleak life, for things that will never be.
It’s time. Jin texts.
Is the old woman gone?
Yes. She left to go play cards.
I grunt in satisfaction, snuff out my cigar, feeling in my pocket for the syringe and the letter I’ll leave for the old woman. I paid a small fortune to forge it. My ruthlessness knows no bounds. The handwritten note is identical to Jessie’s cursive writing. It says I was close to finding her…. that Dimitri came in secret and snuck her out on one of his boats before I could get here. The old woman will believe it because Andre will. And Dimitri will keep his mouth shut or I’ll rip apart his company next, not stopping until I bleed every cent from his bank account dry.
But I know my dove won’t go without a fight. Especially, after what I did that night at Dimitri’s. I was driven by my dark passion for her. My rage boiled over. Lava ran through my veins at what we almost had…at what she had me believing. But our love isn’t a fairytale. I’m not a knight in shining armor. I’m the dark knight; about to charge and take back my captive. The small shops clustered around the small harbor are quiet. I would’ve never found her here, in Greece, practically under the nose of my family’s estate on Santorini. Andre is a clever bastard, I’ll give him that much. He found a job working for Dimitri and I should’ve known. Dimitri is the second wealthiest man in Capri after me, and he also employs people to run his houses and yachts.
Fucking Andre.
He’s number two on my hit-list. Dimitri left for America. He’s sick and disgusted by Alex and me. And I can’t blame him. If I cared enough to admit it, I’m disgusted with our twisted games myself. That’s partly why I craved Jessie so strongly. Now Dimitri wants something similar for himself, but he can’t have my dove. He needs to find someone like her across the ocean and stay the hell away from us. If he ever steps foot back in Europe, I’ll kill him. Even though I told him to play with my pet, I wasn’t expecting him to fall for her…but then again, why wouldn’t he? She was a fresh, ripe plum who fell in the paths of the wrong men. Just like Fiona did.
Fate is cruel to some but sweet to others.
Jessie’s fate is sealed. I’ll have her again, and this time she won’t ever be able to hide.
No matter how much she hates me for what I did—I know we’re dark magic, weaving spells of lust and obsession over each other. Who knows where or how this story will end? But right now, I’m starting the sequel.
My head swivels in both directions as I step out of the shadows and cross the cobblestone street. My hand twitches as I reach for the handle of the door. I pause giving her three more seconds of peace before I shatter her world again.
My heart picks up its beat. Sweet victory is minutes away. Her back is to me as she clears tables, wiping them down.
She’s alone.
Humming a Greek pop song as she works. Its sweet melody moving through the air and straight into my heart. My heart, whose door is seconds away from being slammed shut forever. But her notes snuck in. I hang my head, ashamed at who I am. And what I’m about to do. I let it escape…right before my heart clenches, then locks.
I text Jin, I’m going in.
We’re clear. He responds.
Good. Bring the car around. If I’m not out in three minutes with my prize…secure the back door and meet me inside.
Inhaling, my hands open the door gently, my calm demeanor not showing a trace of my intent.
I pause after the jangling of the small bell above my head.
She is my home.
My light.
I’m tired of living in the dark. So tired of being alone. I know I fucked up. I was driven by pure rage. The emotions trapped inside me for thirty-five years opened like a flood gate. I didn’t like how that felt. Shutting it down is the only way to get my equilibrium back. She has to understand—she must.
The bell above the door jingles. Without turning around, I call out in Greek, “Sorry we’re closed.”
“I’m not here for food. I’m here for you.”
The dishes I was clearing fall from my hands, shattering at my feet. I slowly turn.
Frozen in shock, I stare helplessly.
My heart races.
I don’t know if I’ll survive him again.
His dark eyes meet mine.
“Hello, little dove. Miss me?”
My heart stops beating, he stole my breath. He was back, more handsome than my dark dreams…but I was still too fragile to fight.
; “Please, don’t.”
I hold up a hand to ward him off, but he only comes closer. I choke back a sob as the familiar heat of his body wraps around me, it comforts as much as terrifies me.
He’s so familiar.
The missing part of myself.
The reminder I’m not the naïve girl from California anymore.
I’m wanton. A submissive slave whose master just came back to claim her. “Why are you here?”
“You know why.”
I bend to the ground, picking up the broken dishes, needing to break the spell he has over me every time our eyes meet. He’s silent as I gather the shards into my hand.
“Ouch!” A sharp piece of ceramic pierces my skin. He grabs my hand, bringing my cut finger to his lips.
“Don’t…”
But he doesn’t listen. He never does.
I can’t help how my breath hitches or how my tummy clenches; the familiar pull of desire travels south, where the heart of me missed him.
He pulls my finger into his mouth, sucking on it. I gasp, as his tongue swirls over my finger just as it used to swirl over me.
He smirks as his eyes drift lower.
My nipples peak, aching… missing the tug of his lips.
“No, Christos. This has to stop. We aren’t good for each other.”
“No, we weren’t. We’re perfectly bad. I still burn for you, little dove.”
“Too bad. I-I can’t ever touch you again.” Tears fall from my eyes as I remember how he touched her.
“Come. Be mine again.”
“Never!” I pull my hand back and stand, shaking like a leaf. “You need to go.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“You’ll have to take me by force.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. So, my broken bird, isn’t so broken as she thought, eh?”
“Don’t touch me!” I scream, with frantic eyes searching for an escape. My only options are trying to make it past him to the front door or through the back where his meaty asshole henchman just enters from.
I’m screwed. Again.
I should’ve known there was no place I could hide where he wouldn’t find me. He’s uninvited, unwanted and I doubt I’ll ever be free of Christos Devillo.
“Please don’t let him do this. Don’t let him take me again,” my eyes search the meathead’s.
“Jin’s loyal to me.” Christos stalks closer to the table I’ve put between us.
My eyes fall to the shards of ceramic. My hand grabs a long piece, “Stop! Stop, or I swear to god I’ll stab you.”
“You already have glykía mou. Put it down.”
Jin stalks closer. I’m caught between two powerful men who won’t let me win. With little options left, I turn my arm, holding the sharp edge of the broken plate to my neck.
Christos’ eyes go wide, “You wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know that. I-I don’t even know that. I’m not who I was. And you’re wrong, Christos. I am broken. Very broken. Half-mad, partly-insane. Don’t push me. I won’t survive you again.”
He hesitates. It’s in his eyes—a quick flash of guilt…of shame at what he did to me. He knows what he’s doing is wrong and he can’t blame his lack of empathy or feelings for doing this again.
I hold firm, feeling the sharp sting of sweet pain as I pierce my own skin, warm blood trickles from my neck. “You did this to me, you sick fuck. I hate you. I’ll hate you forever!” I scream twisting the shard harder in my hands.
I relish in the pain now. I close my eyes, choking on tears of rage, and get ready to cut myself more.
He uses my brief hesitation to flip the table over. His strong hands move mine away from my neck. “Stop, chrysí mía. You’re breaking my heart again.”
“You stop! Stop lying! You never had a heart to break. This—” The shard drops from my hand as I make a fist, using it to beat on his chest. “…this is empty. Hollow. I finally believe you now. Did you know I threw up for days? Seeing you fuck her—made me physically ill. Did you think I’d ever let you touch me again after that? Go. GO! There’s nothing left here for you.”
His arms wrap around me. I hear his intake of breath at my ear as he inhales the smell of my hair. “Oh, glykía mou…how I’ve missed the taste of you.” His tongue slides out to caress my neck, shivers run down my spine. “You of all people should know I’m capable of anything.”
“Ouch!” Something sharp stings my neck. His dark eyes are too close to mine as he kneels to catch me as I fall. “What did you do?” I whisper, watching as he tucks a syringe and needle back into his pocket.
“What I had to little one.”
“You bastard. I’ll never forgive you for this.”
“Good,” he shrugged, “I don’t want your forgiveness anyway, little one. You know exactly what I want from you.”
“And I told you—you’d never get that again.”
“Never is a short time when you say it,” he chuckles against my lips. Then swings me up in his arms, carrying me out.
“I hate you. I’ll never love you again.”
His lips move but I don’t hear his answer as I’m lifted high in his arms. My last coherent thought…is how much I hate this dark monster my body craves but my mind loathes.
CHRISTOS
“WHY ISN’T SHE WAKING?”
My soft Italian loafers pace across the plush carpet in the master bedroom of my Gulfstream.
“It’s hard to say.”
My fists grab Beckett by his collar, hauling him three inches off the floor. Jaw clenched, the veins in my neck throb, “I didn’t pay you a half a million Euros for that answer.”
He places his palms up begging me to let go. Casting him away in disgust, my hands run through my disheveled hair. I’ve been lost without my little dove. Lost, horny as fuck and angry; enraged that she got inside the black heart I was told would never beat.
But she made it beat, harder than it ever has before.
And if I thought I couldn’t feel she proved that to be dead wrong—all I’ve felt is the bitter pain, emptiness and despair of losing my sweet little pet. I hunted every inch of Europe for her. I knew she was here somewhere. My connections at Interpol were on the look out for her passport everywhere. But she never tried to run home. I lost my mind knowing she was so close but so hard to find.
When I did finally locate her, the giddy feeling that rushed through me rivaled even the first time I came in her.
She will be mine, again. And this time she won’t escape my sweet captivity. If only she’d wake up. Fists clenching, I growl sitting next to her on the bed as the incompetent doctor checks the saline IV dripping down to enter her bloodstream.
“It’ll work,” he tries to reassure me. “It might take two bags. But it should flush the drugs from her system.”
“Can she hear me?”
“There’s no way to know.”
Taking her frail hand in mind, my finger traces the blue veins. “I think you can hear me, little one. You can’t ever escape this… escape us.”
Her fingers twitch.
“She’s trying to fight the drugs.”
“It seems that way.” The doctor replies.
My lips find hers, my hand cups her mound hard through the silk nightie I changed her into myself.
“Leave us,” I bark.
He hesitates eyes wide at my hands on her unconscious body. “Sir? You wouldn’t?”
“It’s none of your business. Get out!”
His face is beet red, embarrassed but the tent in his pants betrays him to be the sick fuck of a doctor who’s easily bribed. He reluctantly leaves, shutting the door and I turn back to my sweet broken bird. “I... think I might love you,” I whisper, hands stroking her breasts and thighs over the silk. Her lips part, chest flushing but she stays hanging somewhere between reality and dreams.
My hands clutch the V of the silk between her breast, ripping it apart to expose her flesh to my greedy eyes.
She’s t
hin.
The lines of her ribs are showing; her round hips are trimmer.
But I like my woman meatier, thicker in the ass and breasts. I’ll force feed her if I have to, but I’ll get my dove back.
“Your body betrays you, little one. No one understands this but you and me. Never doubt I’ll do what I need, to get you to come back to me.”
My lips roll her pale pink nipple. I almost come in my two-thousand-dollar Armani pants at the feel of her gumdrop tit rolling on my tongue.
My long finger slides up her hot, wet slit.
She might be incoherent but she’s not immune to my touch.
“I’ll make you come back to me if that’s what it takes.”
My head drops to her delectable core. I feast on it as if I haven’t eaten for days. She’s tart, tangy; hot lava flowing from a spring.
Her body tries to move. Either to fight this or the drugs chaining her—it’s hard to tell which.
Voices float around me. I’m conscious but can’t move. I’m trapped inside my body; my mind is the only thing working. But even my mind is sluggish trying to work out where I am.
But then the husky voice from my sweet nightmare is close by.
Then I remember, how he found me.
I feel the touch of his hand rub something silky across my skin. I feel every touch while locked inside the cage of my mind.
The torment he inflicts is unbearable.
I can’t move.
His hot mouth captures my nipple, wetness spurts from between my legs accompanied by the sweet, sharp tingle of need his touch invokes every time.
I can do nothing but lay trapped inside my body as he splits my gown, feasting on my breasts and core like a madman starved for days.
I guess he was.
My scream echoes in my own head as his ministrations force an orgasm I didn’t want to give him. But my body chose him. Our physical chemistry was always there. Despite how I tried to fight how his touch affected me.
He laughs low in his throat. “I told you—you’d never escape me, little dove. Soon, I’ll make sure it’s damn impossible.”