As Enzo’s words reached Jenny’s ears, Nero saw red.
“Motherfucker!” he screamed, shaking free of Jenny before launching himself forward and taking Enzo to the ground.
The bastard wasn’t expecting that!
Strength borne of shame filled Nero. He knew exactly what kind of sick shit Enzo would do to get a woman to scream. Never would he let Enzo put his filthy, perverted hands on Jenny. Pounding his fists into Enzo, Nero let the darkness of his rage engulf him. To feed his need for blood. Nero was usually the one being beaten to a pulp—but not this time. This time, he was strong enough to protect what he loved. He would have killed Enzo if Chris and Thomas hadn’t heard the commotion and rushed in, pulling him off Enzo. Nero kept fighting, wanting to finish Enzo once and for all. He was finally stopped not by their strength, but by the soft whimpers of the girl who held his heart. With dread in his soul, Nero turned to Jenny. Her beautiful eyes were large with fear, her face stark with whiteness. Tears fell freely down her cheeks as her lips quivered. Coldness filled him as him dreams of normalcy were ripped from him. Defeated by her tears, all of the fight left Nero. With the tension seeping from his muscles, they let go of him and stepped back. With dead eyes, Nero watched the guards who had arrived in the room pick Enzo up.
“What the fuck happened here?” Chris demanded as he looked between Enzo and Nero.
Shrugging his shoulders, he replied casually, “Enzo and I had a disagreement. He thought he deserved to live—I disagreed.”
Chris’s face turned to stone at Nero’s answer. Stepping forward, he got in his face. “I asked you a question.”
Looking him in the eye, Nero didn’t budge as he told him, “And I gave you an answer.” If possible, Chris got even angrier. Realizing that he was being a prick to someone who didn’t deserve it, Nero changed his tone. “You need to get him out of here before Mom sees him.”
Shaking his head, Chris turned to look at Enzo, who was glaring at Nero while he wiped at the blood coming from the cut on his lip with the back of his hand. “What the fuck are you doing here, Enzo?” Chris growled.
Enzo kept his hooded eyes on Nero. “Just came home for the weekend. Wanted to see the family, but with this welcome maybe I’ll just head back to campus.”
He shrugged to pull free of the guards, then turned and left. There was no slam when he closed the front door, but a soft click. That told Nero that he was up to something.
Keeping his eyes on the door, Nero said softly, “Chris, you don’t have time for this. Take Mom and go or she’ll be disappointed. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll talk when you get home.”
A heavy sigh filled the room. “Yeah, we will.” Motioning to the guards, Chris said, “Follow that little shit. Make sure he goes back to campus.” With a sharp nod at Chris, they followed Enzo out of the house. As Chris walked past Nero to leave the room, he stopped. “Nero, are you all right?” he asked with concern.
No! My whole fucking life is ruined.
“Yeah, I’m fine, Chris. Don’t let this shit mess tonight up for Mom,” Nero said instead. What good would it do to tell the truth?
Sensing that he was bullshitting, Chris looked at him over his shoulder. “We’ll be back late, so you and I will talk in the morning.” He left the room and closed the door behind him.
Staring at closed door, Nero said softly, “Yeah, in the morning.”
Still facing the door because he felt like too much of a coward to turn around, he said, “Jenny, why don’t you go get Josie and head home? I think—” He was stopped by Jenny, who came to him and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. In shock, he stood there as her wet face pressed into his neck. Slowly raising his arms, Nero wrapped them around her and squeezed her tightly into his body—he was too grateful to ask why she was clinging to him. Lifting her off her feet, he moved to the couch and sat down with her on his lap.
“Nero…” she murmured into his neck.
Pulling her back, he looked into her face. He needed her to listen to what he was about to say. “I can’t talk about it, Jenny. Please don’t ask. There’s just one thing you need to know.” Grabbing her chin, he looked into her eyes. “Never, ever be alone with Enzo. If he ever comes anywhere near you, I want you to run. Call me right away and run. Do you understand me?” He told her forcefully, needing her to understand how serious he was.
Confusion filled her face. His sweet little fairy would never understand why he hated his brother so much. To her, family was a good thing. A safe thing. To her, family meant love, protection, and forgiveness. She had no idea about the truth of what went on in his family—and Nero planned to keep it that way.
“But…he’s your brother.”
Hardening his voice, Nero snapped at her in a tone he had never used with her before. But this was serious. Her very life could depend on it. “Yeah, he’s my brother. So I know what he is. Promise me. Promise me.”
Eyes wide, she looked at him as if she didn’t know him—and realized she didn’t, really. She only knew the person that he allowed himself to be with her. Her voice quavered with the fear that he had just instilled in her, but she did what he said and whispered the words that he needed to hear.
“I promise.”
…
“I thought you were going to be here earlier. When you didn’t show, I started without you,” Juliet said, laughing as she ran her hands down the torso of the girl tied to the bed.
“I had a stop to make and it didn’t go quite as planned,” Enzo said angrily as he pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside.
“Oh? What could be more important than our play time?”
Instead of answering, he growled out, “I thought I told you to get me redheads for these sessions.”
To hide her annoyance, Juliet laughed. “Now, Enzo, I thought we’d spice it up a bit. I’m getting sick of redheads. Is a blonde bitch so bad?”
“You’re lucky that, after seeing my brother, a blonde will do.”
So he went back to his family home. Interesting.
She knew better than to ask directly. “Well, how is the little family? Getting along happily without you? Is little brother Nero still the perfect son?”
“The little fucker still thinks he’s better than me. He shouldn’t even be in that house. I should be there.” Reaching out, he grabbed a knife off the wall and tested the sharpness on his forearm. A thin strip of blood welled up. Stepping close to the bed, he looked down at their plaything for the night. The girl had been with them for a while now and was no longer in high demand. With the frequency that Enzo went through whores, Juliet couldn’t afford to give him their top earners. She wanted to gag the girl, but Enzo wouldn’t let her. She laid back to watch the show.
Guess he’s in a screamer mood.
Scream the girl did. With each slash of the knife or cuff of his fist, she screamed. She screamed till her voice became hoarse and her screams turned to whimpers. By the time Enzo discarded his toy and mounted her, Juliet had a headache and couldn’t enjoy herself like she normally would.
After washing off the blood, Juliet put on her robe and walked back into the bedroom. The girl’s vacant stare looked right through her. Enzo had been sloppy tonight. Normally he could make a girl last and last while he tried out new and inventive types of torture. His visit with his family had affected his ability to control himself. Pressing the intercom button, she called for housekeeping and went into the office that adjoined her playroom. Sitting down at the desk, she pulled up the account books. The money coming in was better than she expected. If this kept up, she would triple her profits within the next year. Instead of making her happy, though, the thought just pissed her off. She basically worked for Enzo.
The bastard used my money to start the business, I run it successfully, yet I’m just an employee instead of the owner.
Standing up, she moved to the two-way mirror that lined the wall of her office and looked out over the world that she had created. Paradise hung from the c
eiling and crawled on the floors—a paradise that should be hers alone. She had made a mistake with Enzo’s father, in trusting him to provide for her. That was a mistake that she didn’t plan to repeat.
Chapter 4
Nero, age eighteen
His little fairy had wept and screamed all night. He had to force her from bed that morning for the funeral. Her parents and sister were dead. A fire had consumed their home, taking them with it. The only reason Jenny hadn’t been at home that day was because he had taken her out. They had graduated, and Nero knew that Jenny was the one for him. Earlier that same fateful day, he had asked her to be his wife, and they had spent the afternoon making love. When they had finally gone back to her home to tell everyone, it was all over. They had gone to his house first—just dumb luck. When they had walked in the door, Nero could tell something was wrong right away. The place was full of people, and none of them would look him in the eye. Walking into the family room, they had found his mother holding Tori while they both wept. His sister Cat sat off to the side, looking annoyed as she threw dirty looks at the loudly weeping pair while watching TV. He had immediately wondered what the hell was going on.
The sound of footsteps made him turn; he came face to face with a pale Chris.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in dread. The question only deepened the sympathy in Chris’s eyes.
Looking at Jenny, Chris shook his head sadly before speaking. “There’s been an accident.” He had motioned them over to the couch. “You two need to sit down.” Keeping a tight grip on Jenny, who had started to shake, Nero sat them on the far end of the couch—away from his mother and sister, who were by then staring at them with grief-ravaged faces. Taking a chair next to them, Chris looked at Jenny again. “Jenny, there was a fire at your family’s home.”
Pulling herself free from his grasp at Chris’s words, Jenny tried to stand. Nero grabbed her and held firm, knowing that Chris wasn’t finished.
“Let me go! I have to get home!” she yelled in terror.
Trying to control her, Nero pulled her tight to him. He knew from Chris’s tone that there was nothing to go home to. Rocking her in his arms as her screams grew louder and reality sunk in, she clawed at him like an animal fighting for freedom. Her yowls of grief tore at his soul, shredding him alive. Terrified, Nero tried to calm her, but no word or touch could help. Chris must have realized in advance what was likely to happen, because the family doctor was there, and he rushed into the room. He yelled to them to hold her still. It took three grown men to hold his little fairy down, and then the doctor gave her a shot that sent her into a place where her grief couldn’t follow. Holding her limp body in his arms, Nero took her to his room. His mother and sister followed. Laying her down on the bed, he pushed the hair back from her face before taking her shoes off and covering her.
Everything seemed surreal. He asked them to sit with Jenny, then went back downstairs to seek the answers that he knew she would demand when she awoke. The room that he had just left was filled their men. Walking back to the couch, Nero took the same place again. Numbly, he heard Chris tell Cat to shut the fucking TV off and go upstairs. Watching her leave, Nero wondered detachedly why she wasn’t upset. Josie was her friend too, and Jenny’s parents had always been good to her. The hand on his shoulder pulled those thoughts back. Looking up, Nero saw Thomas behind him. Giving his shoulder another squeeze, Thomas moved out from behind the couch and took the chair next to Chris’s.
“What happened?” he asked in a monotone, thinking of the good people who had treated him like he was one of their own.
“We don’t know. The fire marshal is investigating, but it looks like it wasn’t an accident. From what we’ve been able to find out, there was an accelerant used on the bodies. The parents were on the first floor and Josie was upstairs in her bedroom.”
“Was it a robbery?”
“We don’t know, but it’s honestly the only thing that makes sense. Our guy down at the precinct said that there’s been a rash of robberies with the same MO over the last few years. Some of the jewelry has ended up in pawn shops, but the fucker is smart and they haven’t been able to identify him.” He leaned forward. “Nero, we’re going to find out who did this, and they will pay,” Chris said.
Nero nodded his head to indicate that he had heard, then looked over to the doctor, who was still in the room. “How long is she going to be out for?”
“She should sleep through the night,” he replied as he pulled a bottle and a pack from his bag. He opened the pack and showed Nero two needles. “I’ve already set these to the right dose. Don’t use more than one in a twenty-four-hour period.” Holding up a bottle of pills, he continued, “These will numb her, but she’ll still be able to function. Follow the instructions on the bottle, and keep them where she can’t get to them.” Without saying the words, the doctor made Nero understand that if she took too many, she’d overdose. Standing up, Nero left the room—he was unable to say anything else. Back in his bedroom, he murmured something to his mother and sister—he wasn’t even sure what he was saying himself—to get them to leave. Closing the door behind them, he had sealed himself in with the insanity of hopelessness.
It had taken two weeks for the cops to release the bodies for burial. They gave Jenny details of what they believed the tale of her sister’s partially burned body told. It was brutal—and made worse when they told her that the smoke in Josie’s lungs meant that she had still been alive when she burned. Too broken to crawl away from the fire, Josie hadn’t been able to do anything but lie there as it roasted her alive. Since then, Nero had had to keep Jenny doped up—all she would do was scream herself sick otherwise. Like a zombie, she stood next to her family’s graves during the funeral, unseeing. Leading her like a child, Nero took her from the cemetery to the car, then to his house. Mourners poured in, coming to give their condolences, but she just sat there without saying a word. Unable to watch her like that, he took her to his room and put her to bed, drugging her to make sure she wouldn’t get up until the next day. Sitting on the bed next to her, he wondered if she would ever be the girl he knew again.
“Nero?” a sad little voice called from the doorway.
Looking up, he wiped at his eyes and stood. Walking over to Tori, he joined her in the hallway and closed the door. A haunted look filled her eyes. “Nero, is Jenny going to be OK?” She asked.
He knelt down so he could look into her eyes. “I don’t know. How are you holding up, baby girl?”
Her lips began to quiver at his question, and she threw herself at him. Wrapping her arms around him, she buried her face into his neck and sobbed. “I miss Josie!”
He squeezed her tight, trying to absorb her pain himself. “I know. I know you do.”
“Please don’t leave me, Nero. I can’t lose you too. God will forgive me, won’t he? I can’t lose you too,” she cried.
She wasn’t making any sense. The hopeless sound that filled her voice made him worry.
“Forgive you for what, Tori?” Nero asked.
Instead of answering him, she ripped herself from his arms and fled down the hallway. As he stared after her, a movement caught his eye. It was Enzo, just starting to walk down the stairs.
What the fuck is he doing here?
He went downstairs after Enzo, but Nero kept getting stopped by people wanting to talk. Short of pushing them aside, he didn’t have a choice but to stop. As he was trying to get away from one persistent bitch who he suspected was only interested in getting her hand down his pants, he saw Enzo talking to Caterina. Something was off—it wasn’t anything that they did per se, but more of a feeling Nero had. As if they realized that he was watching, they both glanced over at him.
What the fuck is going on? He could have sworn that, for a moment, he saw the same smirking expression of satisfaction at someone else’s pain that always seemed to grace Enzo’s face on Caterina’s. Then it disappeared just as quickly. Pushing the woman in front of him away, Nero went straight for Enz
o. The snake turned when he saw him coming and was out the door by the time he made it to where Caterina still stood. Grabbing her arm as Enzo’s car zipped by the open front door, Nero pulled her into the only room he was sure would be empty. Chris’s study. Nodding to the guard by the door, Nero pushed Caterina in and closed the door behind them.
“What the fuck were you doing near Enzo, Caterina? I’ve told you to stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”
“Christ, Nero. I wasn’t doing anything. What was I supposed to do, cause a scene?” she said, flouncing into a chair.
What the hell is going on?
Rage filled him as she continued her snide little tirade. Slowly and deliberately, Nero stepped forward. Reaching out, he yanked her up from the chair. Twisting her arm behind her, he brought her forward until they were nose to nose.
“Listen to me carefully, and don’t say one fucking word. You are to have nothing to do with Enzo. If I catch you anywhere near him again, you’ll be attending boarding school in Europe.”
“Let go of my fucking arm, asshole,” she snarled.
“Do you understand me?” he demanded, shaking her.
“Yes,” she hissed out through clenched teeth.
Afraid that he would hurt her, Nero let go of her arm and stepped back. “Good. Now behave yourself and get out there.”
Hatred filled her gaze before she quickly looked away and rushed from the room. Staring after her, a coldness filled Nero. For that one moment, he was thrown back in time to the last day he had seen his father. The same look that had just filled Caterina’s face was the look that his father had worn as he had looked upon Nero then. Shaking aside the chilling thought, Nero went to the sideboard and poured himself a drink.
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