by CR Robertson
He didn’t reply, but his hands held me a little tighter and his pace increased. I propped my chin on his shoulder again and let him carry me back to the car, which was only a few minutes away.
Clothes here seemed to consist of casual shorts and T-shirts. Nicklas wandered around in the background and let me pick out whatever I needed, nodding or shaking his head if I held something up for his opinion. I decided to step away from being Sofia Black and choose clothes that I liked instead of what Catarina picked for me. At university, I tended to wear jeans and sweaters as the top of Scotland was a cold and wet place that left me shivering.
I loved vibrant colours and selected a range of tops in different styles.
“Don’t forget your panties,” Nicklas said against my shoulder, having appeared by stealth. I shivered at the sensation of him behind me.
“Any preferences?”
“Nope, but I think you’d look sexy as hell in silk and lace. Get yourself some dresses as well in case we go out. Most people want to visit Tropicana the first time they’re here.”
I squealed and hugged him, garnering amused looks from some of the staff. An hour and several bags of clothing later, Nicklas insisted on paying since I didn’t have the currency and most places didn’t take credit cards. That hadn’t occurred to me as plastic swiped everywhere nowadays.
He dumped all the bags in the back seat of his massive red shiny car and slid behind the wheel. His smile made my heart skip a beat and butterflies to beat against my chest. I crawled across the front seat and straddled his hips.
“Thank you for today.” I didn’t wait for him to reply, dipping my head to kiss him instead.
Nicklas’ hands landed on my hips to tug me tight against him. I may have instigated the kiss, but he took control, devouring me and leaving me breathless.
My fingers combed through his black hair to lodge themselves there. His lips must contain some sort of pheromone that attracted me since I couldn’t get enough of them. I moaned into his mouth and rubbed my aching core against him.
“If you don’t want your first time to be a public spectacle, I would stop doing that,” Nicklas muttered.
“Mmmm.” Desire throbbed through my veins and pulsed all my needs to between my legs. I was so hot and needy that right now I didn’t think I would stop him from taking me on the bonnet of his fancy car.
His hands on my face drew my head back. His lips were swollen and his eyes hooded. Nicklas traced his thumb over my bottom lip, his eyes boring deep into mine the entire time. “You are driving me fucking crazy, Sofia.”
My name sounded foreign on his tongue. It was the first time he’d called me by my name. No one had introduced themselves to me, including Nicklas. I discovered his name by listening to conversations. Using my name changed everything in my head. It meant he knew exactly who I was and saw beyond the world I came from.
“Yeah, I know the feeling,” I said softly, leaning my forehead against his.
“I can’t afford emotion in my world.”
Papa was the same. The man that the rest of the world saw was not the same man that lived in our house far from prying eyes. “No one has to know but us.”
He laughed bitterly. “I wish that was true, but there are eyes constantly watching. They report back to people who take what hurts you most.” His gaze met mine. “It’s the reason you’re here. Someone knows the best way to hurt your father is to target one of his daughters.”
He was right, but that didn’t change the way he made me feel deep inside. Mama used to tell me the fairy tale stories of when she met Papa. She said she knew from the beginning that he was the only man she’d ever love. He risked everything to be with her. Their love was short-lived but intense, and powerful enough that he still loved her all these years later.
Nicklas opened his mouth to speak again, but I put my finger on his lips. “Listen to me for just a moment. No one has to know what we’re feeling, Nicklas. I spent three years convincing all my friends at university that Mario and I were in love, when we never even kissed.”
He sighed and glared out the side of the car to the left.
“Show the world that you don’t care whether I’m alive or dead, but when it’s just us, then only the truth will remain.”
He returned those cobalt blue eyes to me. “That’s not how life works.”
“I’ve lived in a gilded cage my entire life. That’s exactly how it does work. I have no idea who Papa is when he walks out our front door, but something tells me he’s not a nice man. Inside our home, he’s the gentlest person I know.”
“You give me too much credit.”
I grinned and stared deep into his eyes since he wasn’t saying no. “Please…”
He threw me another one of his filthy looks, but it did not deter me. “Get in your seat and stop being a brat.”
I grabbed his face and planted another kiss on his lips before scrambling over to my own side of the car. Nicklas hadn’t said yes, but he hadn’t said no either. It meant there was a tiny bit of hope that he’d take a chance on me.
He drove the entire way back to the house in silence, his tight jaw the only sign of his emotions. I knew that constantly pressing Papa meant that he’d dig his heels in and say no, so I gave Nicklas his space to think. His curse as we neared the front of the property sent tingles rippling down my spine.
Cars were parked out front and men stood facing some of the men I recognised as working for Nicklas.
His hand grabbed mine and squeezed. “When I stop the car, you get out and go straight inside and lock yourself in your room. Understand?”
I nodded once and stayed quiet. Papa used the same tone occasionally, and it meant that he was serious and taking no shit.
He turned the engine off, and I lifted my backpack from the footwell, got out, and walked into the house without looking back or paying attention to all the gathered men.
The skin prickled on my back with the heated weight of stares. My gut told me that those men were capable of heinous acts. If Nicklas was trying to keep me safe, at least I could try to do the same. He needed to stay alive. We both did.
***
Chapter Fifteen
Nicklas
My heart plummeted when I saw our welcoming committee.
Darius was an evil sonofabitch who spent his life tormenting people for his own perverse pleasure. The fact that he was here right now after we assassinated those two assholes last night shouldn’t surprise me.
I grabbed Sofia’s hand. “When I stop the car, you get out and go straight inside and lock yourself in your room. Understand?”
She’d been cute trying to get her own way earlier, but right now, I needed her to listen to me. She nodded, and I prayed that she would do as I asked.
All eyes turned in our direction when I stopped the car. Sofia didn’t react, she didn’t look around or to me for further instructions. She silently left the car and walked inside as if she hadn’t noticed the group standing there staring at her.
My heartbeat slowly returned to normal, and I slid out of the car. “Gentlemen, have I forgotten a meeting?”
There was no way I had, but I wasn’t showing any of the cards I was holding either. I scanned the assembled group. Near the back was a little shit that I’d been looking for, for a while. He fucked up one of my deals when he was in town. I doubted Darius knew about it, or he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to bring him. Maceo probably thought I didn’t know about his involvement. Unfortunately, he’d been sloppy and couldn’t keep his grubby little hands off what didn’t belong to him. He assaulted a girl that worked in one of our clubs in town. The twisted little pervert needed his dick cut off and fed to him.
Darius gave me a smile that reminded me of a shark. “Not at all. We were in the neighbourhood and thought it would be rude not to call in.” His gaze moved to where Sofia had disappeared. “New girl?”
“New girl every week, Darius. You know how it is.” I laughed and sauntered into the house. “I n
eed a drink.”
Everyone followed me now that the tension had been broken. I doubted anyone would have been able to recognise her as Sofia Black. She was the daughter that had been well hidden, unlike the other two. Her sunglasses, messy hair, and casual attire made her blend in with local girls. The setting sun shining in their eyes had been in our favour as well.
Sam produced bottles of rum, but right now I needed a glass of scotch. I lifted the decanter, but Darius shook his head.
“What can I do for you?” I asked. He needed to leave and to make that happen, I had to accelerate proceedings. We both knew he hadn’t been in the neighbourhood.
“We’ve had some strange activity on the island. If another group is considering moving in, then it may take all of our resources to prevent that.” He took a long drink from his glass.
A few teams had locations in Cuba, and we gave each other a wide berth. I swirled the liquid in my glass, watching the contents as the light hit it through the cut glass. “What’s in it for me?”
He laughed, and I slowly brought my gaze up. “I am always willing to help out a neighbour.”
That was a big fat lie. “I’ll need to consider it.” He knew I had a lot of resources at my fingertips. That included access to technology and weapons that he didn’t.
“We’ve lived in peace on this island for years,” Darius replied. “I would hate for there to be animosity between us.”
My lips twitched. “We both know you’d put a bullet in my head if you thought no one would notice. I may be in charge of this division of our organisation, but the men at the top could wipe out this estate or your entire organisation with the press of a button on a keyboard.”
I took a sip of my drink and relished the sting as it flowed down my throat.
“My sources tell me you have a house guest.” He was trying to bait me.
Maybe he didn’t know that Danny and Herman were dead. Tomorrow, I was going through every man on my books to determine if they were trustworthy. The incinerator could be getting an influx of visitors.
“I have a lot of guests. Anyone in particular you want to know about?” I raised an eyebrow in challenge. My heart thudded in my ears at the thought of him anywhere near Sofia, but he would never see that.
“A foreign girl, someone very beautiful. Was that her in the car with you?”
“Maria often sends us into town with one of her girls for shopping.” It was true and a deflection at the same time. Maria had insisted Sophia needed clothes. She also mothered her and lectured me on keeping her safe from the evils of man. In other words, stop my men from sniffing around her.
I smiled and sat back in my chair. “Did you want to see our shopping?”
Kris discretely left the room. He knew I was telling him to get the clothes out of the car before someone saw them. He probably locked Maria and her daughters down as soon as Darius arrived. No women were left unguarded when any of his crew were in the area. We had a no force or rape policy, but his organisation crossed lines just because they could. They took without question and destroyed lives without remorse.
“No thanks. My chef performs all the menial tasks without help from the rest of us.”
I shrugged. “Happy housekeeper, happy life.” Without missing a beat, I opened the wooden cigar box on the table. We grew some of the best tobacco on the island, we also grew some of the best weed. Best way to diffuse an aggressive situation? Get everyone stoned and throw them off my property.
Darius inhaled deeply before blowing smoke out in a huge bloom. “If you exported these, you’d be a billionaire.”
I laughed and puffed on my own marijuana-free cigar. “Who says I’m not already a billionaire?”
“Billionaires dress better,” he snarked.
I arched an eyebrow and took another drag of my cigar. “You mustn’t know that many billionaires.”
Lucas and his nephew blended in, altering their appearance to look like they were businessmen who had over nine figures in the bank. They also blended into a crowd to look like tourists. Sofia proved she had the same ability.
Darius glared at me as if trying to work out if I had the wealth I claimed. I wasn’t quite at that status yet, but it wasn’t that far away on the horizon. I saved most of my cut from our adventures across the globe. The cost of living here wasn’t that high, and I didn’t need too much to keep me content.
The more cigar spliffs were puffed, the more tension decreased proportionately.
Kris entered the room and gave me a nod. I was able to relax since that meant that every valuable asset in the compound was locked down. I didn’t give a single fuck about money and possessions, but I cared about innocent people. They were my priority from the night that Silas took my family away from me.
“Why don’t you send me down the intel from these new arrivals and I’ll get my tech guys to take a look at it,” I offered. No one knew who my tech guys were. I kept Kris and his team hidden in plain sight. Most people viewed him as different and a bit of a loner, when really his mind worked constantly. You should never judge a book by its cover.
“I’ll get Dalian to bring the files down to you tomorrow.”
I nodded. “I’ll call you after I take a look at them and see what we can agree on.”
Darius smiled to himself as he blew smoke into the room, clearly thinking that he’d won.
“I can only do business with those I can trust,” I said in idle conversation.
He raised his eyebrows.
“Our business thrives on being able to trust allies in times of need. Don’t you agree?”
He tilted his head and watched me wearily. “Of course. We have different goals, but sometimes that needs help to achieve.”
“One of my businesses was robbed a few weeks ago. The asshole decided he could fuck me over and rape one of my dancers. I take disrespect very seriously.” I noticed Maceo glancing toward the door where Kris was casually lounging on the frame.
“No one disrespects me,” Darius declared in a loud voice, proclaiming his ideal to everyone who wanted to hear.
This was where the two of us differed. Darius had other men do his dirty work; I had no issue getting my hands filthy. Sam had slowly been moving around the room and was beside Maceo. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and pushed him forward. Maceo tried to struggle free, but Sam dragged his arm up behind his back.
Darius jumped to his feet. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Showing this little piece of shit what happens when you disrespect me. He owes me money and my dancer placed a vendetta oath on his head.” The room went silent around me. Everyone knew what that meant. It was the fabric of our club. If someone hired us for a vendetta, they were marked for death.
“Maceo?” Darius queried.
Maceo’s eyes darted from side to side. “Things got out of control. We only wanted to make a little money.”
Darius glared at him in disbelief. “You went into a Vendetta Brotherhood club to do that?”
“I didn’t fucking know, Dare, you gotta believe me.”
None of that mattered, and Darius knew that too by the way his shoulders slumped. “Your dick always did get you into trouble.”
I nodded to Kris, who grabbed Maceo’s other arm, pinning him to the wall between them.
“Maceo, you are accused of robbing a Vendetta Brotherhood club and raping an innocent woman. How do you plead?”
He struggled, but not a single man stepped forward to help him.
“I didn’t know!”
“I’ll take that as an admission of guilt.” Weapons were hidden strategically around the room. I removed a blade from under a shelf. “I had a specific request from the woman you brutalised.”
Aymee had always been a bright and cheerful girl, never complaining, and grateful for the job to help her family. This asshole had stolen the light from her eyes.
I doubted he’d need his dick where he was going. He could spend his eternity in Hell as a eunuch
. It took a lot of effort to remove a limb, but his dick was severed with one slice of my blade. His scream pierced the silence, and he sobbed.
“That was for Aymee,” I snarled in his ear. “She wanted you to know that your dick was removed at her command. You may have used it to hurt her, but you’ll never harm another woman with it.”
I stepped back. Blood dripped on the floor and I threw the limp piece of flesh into the mess. My stomach rolled at the sight, but the day I showed any sign of weakness was the day I needed to walk away from being a leader.
I drew my Glock from the back of my jeans, a round already in the chamber and ready to go. “You took from me and now I’m taking something from you. Goodbye, Maceo.”
Neither of my two men flinched when my finger squeezed the trigger. They knew I never missed my target. Maceo’s face was frozen in fear even as the bullet entered between his eyes. His body slumped and my men released him, dropping him to the floor.
“I would advise you to make sure that the next time you visit, you ask your men if they’ve done anything to upset me,” I said to Darius. “Have the files brought to me tomorrow.”
He stared at his man on my floor. He should be grateful I didn’t get him to clean the mess before it stained my wooden panels.
Darius snapped his fingers and pointed to the door. His men filed out, none of them looking at Maceo.
“Would you like me to take the rubbish out?” I asked in a loud voice.
Darius shot me a one fingered salute over his shoulder, and I chuckled.
“Take him out of here,” I commanded. Several of my guys stepped forward to lift the body. “Don’t forget his dick, I don’t want the local cats to get food poisoning.”
Julio sniggered as he lifted Maceo’s arms to carry him out.
I brought my glass to my lips and downed the last of my scotch, since there was no way I was letting it go to waste.
For a brief moment, I considered Sofia’s offer. After tonight, the only way to keep her safe was by staying far away from her.