by Measha Stone
“I don’t have time for your whining. Listen to me.” He cuts me off. There’s something different in his tone. He’s agitated but more, he’s worried. “I only allowed him to take you that night because I need you to watch him. I need you to listen to his conversations, find out what you can about his father. Find out when he’s coming back from Poland. Find out about his associates, who he works with, who he takes meetings with.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, looking out my bedroom window. A gardener is watering a rose garden. So much beauty in such a dark place.
“His father. Dammit, Kasia, listen,” he barks at me. “You need to find out when his father is coming back from Poland. As soon as you know, you call me. Don’t talk to anyone but me. Do you understand?”
“Don’t you have men for that sort of thing?” I ask. Dominik isn’t going to confide anything in me.
“I need to know when and I need you to find out who Dominik is talking with. Names of anyone who comes to the house, who he has meetings with.”
“Why would he tell me anything like that?”
“Make him. Get him to trust you and then find out what you can.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Do as you’re told for once, Kasia!” His voice raises and I pull my phone from my ear slightly. “Diana would have it done by now. She wouldn’t ask so many damn questions all the time.”
My heart sinks into my stomach.
“But she’s not here, is she, Kasia?” Poison drips from his question.
“No. She’s not,” I say quietly. I may be outspoken. I may have walked on the edge of what was proper, but he can reel me back in with merely mentioning my sister. My mother.
The guilt guts me, and he uses it to his advantage whenever he wants.
“I’ll see what I can find out,” I promise him. I gave up a long time ago that he would find a way to forgive me, but still, a small part of me believes he might. Maybe if he does, I might be able to find forgiveness for myself too.
“See that you do. And don’t let him know you’re poking around. He’s a dangerous man, Kasia.”
The call disconnects and he’s gone.
I hadn’t heard from him since he sent me off in the dark of the night with Dominik, and when I do, it’s this. He wants me to be a spy.
How the hell am I supposed to do that?
And what will Dominik do to me if he catches me?
Chapter Eight
Dominik
The drive from the city to home takes longer than normal, but I’m happy for the silence. With my father still overseas with my sister, everything is left on my shoulders. It’s good practice for when my father turns over the family to me, but I’ll be grateful for the day he’s back home and his legal troubles are over.
I know Marcin is behind the bullshit keeping my family stuck in Poland, but until I can find the information I need I won’t get the okay to act. The marriage between Diana and me was supposed to put an old rivalry to bed, but her death changed things. Without the tie, the old men back home allowed Marcin to move into my father’s territory.
It’s taken me five years, but I’ve built up our own business to recover the loss. But it’s meant nothing but work over the years.
“Has Kasia been inside all day?” I ask Tommy. He’s driving me home, but he spent all day at the house. I wouldn’t put it past Marcin to make some move to take her home, to help her escape the future. The ceremony needs to happen soon. Once we have the certificate, once our marriage is finalized, her father can’t make any more moves on my family. And when I find the evidence I need that he’s behind my father’s indictment, the old men back home will grant us what’s ours.
“She went out to the garden for a bit to sit with a book. But that’s it,” he informs me.
I nod but don’t ask any further questions. I text Margaret to tell her to hold dinner until I’m home. I’ll make Kasia have dinner with me tonight. I let her sneak away to her room yesterday, but there won’t be any more of that.
The house is quiet when I walk inside. Margaret meets me at the door, her hands wringing in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her, looking toward the staircase. Kasia is behind her frown, I can feel it in my bones.
“Kasia is in your office,” she tells me.
“What is she doing in there?” I ask, Margaret wouldn’t stop Kasia from wandering the house. I never gave her instructions to keep Kasia away from my office.
“I don’t know.” The wringing of her hands gets harder. “She locked the door.”
The key to the room is in my pocket.
“Okay, I’ll talk with her.”
“Dinner is ready.”
“Just put it on the stove,” I say and take off toward my office. Someone needs a lesson in being nosey. She may or may not be going to bed without dinner. It depends on her answers to my questions.
When I come to the door, I stare at it for a moment, listening. Something drops, then a curse. I pull the key from my pocket and slowly slip it into the lock. I want the element of surprise here. I want to see what she’s up to without giving her enough time to hide her actions.
With a quick turn of the lock and flip of the handle, I step inside. She has her nose buried in my laptop. But her hands freeze over the keyboard.
“Kasia,” I say her name tentatively. I’m not sure if I should be angry with her yet.
“Dominik,” she mimics my tone. Strike one, little girl.
“What are you doing in here?” I ask, walking around the furniture and behind where she sits. I grab the computer before she can close it.
“Nothing.” She sits back in my chair and folds her arms over her chest. “Am I not allowed an internet connection?”
I pick up the laptop. She’s checking email. The inbox is empty, mostly newsletters and advertisements. This is a decoy email. I wonder what’s in her actual account. The one she uses for real correspondence.
Closing the laptop, I set it aside on my desk. I’ll have someone go through it to find out exactly what she was doing in here.
“You have internet up in your room,” I remind her, pushing the chair around until she has to look up at me.
“I thought I’d just sit in here. I mean if this is to be my home, I didn’t think any room would be off limits.” She tilts her head. “Or is it?”
There’s a challenge in her eyes. She’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t be, but she’s daring me to call her out on it.
“You locked the door. Margaret was worried.” I put one hand on the arm of the chair and another on the desk. She’s sweetly caged before me.
“Why? I’m in the house. Locked away just like you wanted.” She lifts a shoulder. A lot of sass for a girl who’s been caught snooping.
“What were you looking for?” I ask, knowing full well I can’t trust her answer.
“I told you, I was checking email.”
“You want to stick to that?” I ask, giving her a chance to come clean.
Her bottom lip tucks back. She’s trying so hard to stand her ground, to keep her secrets. With my thumb, I pull it free and run my thumb along her lip.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” she says finally. She believes the statement, that much is clear. So, either she was doing something she thinks is right, but I would disagree, or she was doing nothing. The pink hue on her cheeks suggests it’s the first. She’s guilty, but she’s trying to convince herself otherwise.
“Rule number three, Kasia. No lying to me. Ever.”
Her jaw tightens. She hates my rules, hates that I give them to her and expect her to be obedient to them. It’s fine, she can hate them, despise them, but she will follow them.
“I’m not lying,” she says with hesitation, like she’s testing out the words, unsure if they’ll stick.
“I heard something drop before I came in. What was it?” I ask, keeping my eyes trained on hers.
She gives herself away too easily, flic
king her gaze for a fleeting second to the ledger on the bookcase next to us. It’s a worthless book, filled with made up numbers and contacts. Fiction for the feds if they should ever find reason to go through my things. There’s nothing in this house for them to find, or her for that matter. Whatever she was looking for, she won’t find it in here.
I push off the chair and pick up the ledger.
“This?”
“It fell. I picked it up and put it away,” she explains quickly. For having such a corrupt father, she never learned the art of deception.
Her innocence combined with the building fear in her eyes makes my cock stir in my slacks. She’s dressed in a summer dress today, a light purple cotton dress. Her long thick hair is braided down her back, but a few strands won’t be tamed and frame her face. She’s to be my wife in a matter of days, being attracted to her is only a bonus.
“It just fell over on its own?” I ask with a raised brow. “That’s an odd thing for a heavy book like this to do, don’t you think?”
She’s holding her ground. No matter how caught she is, she’s trying to find a way out. Since there’s no real harm done, I could just let her leave. Let her go hide back in her room. But I’m not a good guy. I never claimed to be, and I never will.
“Stand up, Kasia,” I say, snapping the book closed and shoving it back on the shelf.
“I’ll stay out of your damn office, Dominik,” she says and shoves out the chair, making a break for the door.
I stop her easily enough with one arm wrapped around her middle.
“Where you going, sweetheart?” I ask on a chuckle. “We’re just talking.” I pull her back to me.
“Dominik. Let me go,” she says, smacking my hands.
“No,” I say, holding her to me tighter and forcing her to walk across the room to the wall. With a shove, I pin her to the wall with one hand pressed between her shoulder blades.
“I hate you. I really fucking hate you,” she says, struggling to push back against me.
“That’s okay. But what’s not okay is snooping in my office and lying about it.” I move closer to her, pressing my chest against her back. My cock is steel hard and I can tell the moment she feels it pushed against her ass. She freezes. It’s only for a second, but it’s there.
“I was just...” She doesn’t even finish the lie.
“You want to know about me? About who I am?” I whisper in her ear. Fuck, she smells like vanilla and lilacs. It shouldn’t make a difference, but it makes my need for her become even greater. As much as I like the scent, I want my own on her. I want her to wear me like a brand.
“I know who you are.” She shoves back again. I’ll give her credit, she’s a fighter. “You’re a fucking monster.”
I grab hold of her braid and pull her head back until I’m able to look into those dark brown eyes.
“You think your father’s any different? You think any man he married you off to would be kinder? I haven’t touched you since you got here. A lesser man would have already taken what’s his.” I’m not sure why I say this. It’s not relevant, but somehow, I need her to know I’ve shown restraint. As much as I’ve wanted to sink myself between her thighs since seeing her bare ass that first night, I’ve held back. I vowed to myself I’d leave her untouched until we were married. But fuck if she isn’t making it hard to keep that promise.
Her struggles cease and she stares up at me, waiting for what comes next.
“I told you on the first night, I won’t tolerate disrespect. I don’t take it from my men, I won’t allow it in my house.” I press her head to the wall, not hard enough to hurt her. That’s not my goal. At least not for that part of her.
“Leave me alone. Just let me go upstairs.” She starts up again.
I grab hold of the buckle on my belt and with one hand undo it. The jangle of the buckle catches her attention, and she freezes.
“Dominik. Dominik, no!”
“Are you going to tell me the truth yet?” I ask, whipping the belt from the loops of my pants. “What were you looking for in here?”
Her hands are fisted against the wall, her fingers tucked tightly.
“I...nothing. I wasn’t looking for anything,” she says, sealing her fate. “Please,” she says the word so softly, it barely registers.
“I’ve given you plenty of chances to tell the truth.” I say, letting go of her back. “Pull up your dress,” I order.
She shakes her head but says nothing.
“If I have to do it for you, I will bind your hands and your feet, and you won’t get just a few licks of my belt. Now pick up your dress. I want your bare ass to taste the leather.”
After a moment, she rolls her shoulders back, stands straight and bunches the skirt of her dress up in her hands. The white bikini underwear is thin, it won’t offer any protection, but that’s not the point. With one hand I grab the elastic band and yank the material down to her knees. She shuffles forward a step from the force of my actions, but she rights herself quickly.
“Now lean forward.” I give her shoulder a gentle push. “Still don’t want to come clean? Still want to be a little liar?”
“I can’t,” she whispers.
“You can. Your loyalty is to me now, Kasia. Only to me,” I tell her, adjusting my stance. I don’t want the belt to wrap around her hip, only to strike her ass, so I wrap it around my hand until it’s the right length. The buckle is tucked in my palm.
“No?” I ask, staring at her profile. Tears are in her eyes, I can see them, but she’s holding them back. She’s steeling herself for what’s coming. I know she wasn’t snooping for her own knowledge. Her father’s behind it, all she has to do is tell me. Just be honest, and I won’t have to paint her ass red.
But she’s stubborn. Marcin warned me about that.
“When you tell me, the spanking stops.” I condemn her and bring the belt down across her milky white cheeks. She hisses but makes no other sound. Again, I bring it down, crossing over the red mark of the first lash. I pause, giving her a moment to say something.
With a bitter shake of my head, I continue. Again, and again, I spank her ass with my belt. Watching her plump cheeks bounce after each strike. I give her time, I give her chances, but she remains silent other than to utter a curse between swats.
“Fuck!” she screams when I hit the same spot twice in a row.
“Tell me, Kasia. This doesn’t end until you’re honest.”
I drop the belt to the floor and move closer to her side. With one arm around her belly, I pull her to my hip. Her ass is in prime position. It’s red, a few purple marks are already showing. I won’t give her much more, but she still has to obey. She will not get away from telling me the truth.
“Please.” She gasps for air but I’m not listening to anything other than the truth. In my gut I already know, but I need to hear the words. I need to know she’s not following her father’s orders anymore, that she’ll be following mine. I can’t let my own wife be my enemy. Not when this isn’t her war.
“So be it,” I say and bring my open palm down on her ass. She wiggles a bit but once I get into a steady pattern, she stops moving. She’s crying softly, but she’s not fighting me. She’s not giving in either.
When I move the spanks to her thighs, she sucks in some air, but melts into me. Fucking hell, she’s soaring. I stop, look at her eyes and confirm what I already know. Her eyes are glossed over; her bottom lip is swollen from her biting it so hard.
I’d set out to punish her, to teach her to obey, never lie to me, and what I’ve done is set her skyrocketing off into subspace.
Well, fuck.
Chapter Nine
Kasia
My ass is on fire, and the quilt on my bed isn’t making it better. I roll to my side, fluttering my eyes open to find Dominik sitting in the armchair beside my bed. His eyes are set on me, the cold blue unrelenting. His jaw, tight.
He was spanking me. Embarrassment floods me. It had hurt so bad, so fucking much, but wit
hin a few stripes of his belt it had turned into something else entirely. Something that surprised me but was welcomed.
I don’t remember him stopping or being carried up to bed, but I’m here. He must have brought me.
My dress is still on, but my panties are gone. There’s a distinct wetness between my thighs.
Can human beings actually burst into flames from humiliation?
“You’re up,” he says to me when I stay quiet. What am I supposed to say?
I start to sit up, but he puts his hand out. A signal to stay put.
“Obviously, an ass whipping won’t get through to you,” he says with a sadistic smile. “How do you feel?” His question throws me for a second. It’s what he does best, drags me one way then tosses me the other.
“I’m okay.” I don’t elaborate. My ass is sore, and my mind is a little fuzzy, but all in all I’m peachy.
Why am I so relaxed?
“Good.” He leans forward, his elbows pressed into his knees and his hands dangling between his legs. He’s holding something, but I can’t tear my gaze away from him to look. Whatever it is, I’ll deal with it.
“Do you know what this is?” he asks, putting the device in my line of vision. It’s a vibrator. He’s holding a goddamn vibrator.
“I do,” I say, feeling the hot rush to my face.
“There are other ways to punish, Kasia. Spanking won’t work with you, and we will explore that later, once I have your obedience and your loyalty. But pleasure can be punishment too.” He gets up from the chair and moves to the bed. There’s enough space for him to sit beside me. When I try to curl up, to roll away, he places his heavy hand on my stomach, stilling me.
He grabs the hem of my dress and flicks it upward until I’m exposed. I fling my hands down, trying to cover myself, but he brushes them away.
“No, Kasia. Bad girl,” he says and rests his hand over the small patch of curls. “Keep your hands to yourself.” He pulls my left leg toward him then shoves my other leg away. I’m open, exposed, and too shocked to do much else but obey.
“You’re...” the insult forming in my brain dies away when he spanks his hand over my pussy.