The stony smile and the icy blue stare tells me that my father wouldn’t think twice about slitting the throat of his only daughter, because to him, I am a toy to manipulate and use until I break and there is nothing left.
“Yes, Papa, I understand,” I lie. I will never understand, and tonight is when I will take the first step to get control of my life in almost twenty-one years.
Being the daughter of one of the most notorious dons in the United States allows me to have access to people and places that the public could never dream of. It isn’t because people like to hang out with my father and his minions; they fear the terror that my father commands. Fear allows my father’s name to carry way more weight than it should.
I’d gotten an invitation to Provocateur, a high-class sex club for the rich and powerful. The high-profile figures who frequent the club are the reason that every patron has to wear a mask. Hidden identity means less of a liability.
The only reason I got an invitation was because I caught Stone Miller fucking his stepmother. The possibility of me spilling his dirty secret to his psychotic father petrifies him. Stone’s family owns the club and every other sex club in the city. I’d gotten myself in no problem with a signed NDA. The thing said if I talked about the club, they would annihilate me, the equivalent of telling me I’d be swimming with the fishes. I’m not sure what they have to use against me since my only claim to fame is being the daughter of Vincent Ferreri.
So here I stand in front of the cast iron door that leads to the pits of hell, the dwelling of Lucifer himself. I’m about to have sex with a random stranger just so I can stick it to my father and his demented plans. The door flings open, revealing a whole new world that seems more depraved from the world I already experience, but this kind of depravity is one that doesn’t harm or use anyone else unless they want to be a victim.
The upper echelon of society loves their kinks, craves them, but they don’t want to let the depravity ruin the fake facades they’ve created. Politicians who like to wear diapers while they suck on a woman’s tit, lawyers who like to be tied up on a cross and whipped, a famous actress who’s paraded around like a little puppy, licking the shoes of her owner.
I’m about to head straight through those same cast iron doors and leave when a deep voice whispers in my ear, making my toes curl.
“You see anything you like?”
I try to turn so that I can see his face. His firm hands move up to my waist, keeping me still, his touch a fiery brand on my skin. “Not yet, princess. Be a good girl and stay still.”
I rub my legs together. I’m smothered in kerosene and ignited into flames by the stranger. His voice is deep, one of those voices that can get you off by just saying hello.
Get it under control, Reese.
I push back against him. If I’m going to be a mess, then he sure as fuck will be, too. “What happens if I don’t listen?”
A dark chuckle tickles my ear, the sound invading my body in ways it shouldn’t. “Then princess, you’ll get punished.”
Punished.
“Do I get to punish you back?”
He nips at my ear lobe. “Normally I’d say no, but for you I’d allow you to indulge, if that’s your kink.” The warmth of his lips grazes my shoulder, moving back and forth in a hypnotic rhythm. “I think you’ll like the punishment my dick, mouth, and hands will give. You won’t have energy to do much of anything else after I am done with you.”
I tilt my head back. I have spent my whole life under the control of men, but this time I’m allowing it. No one is forcing me. I don’t even know what this guy looks like, and I’m already completely under his control. It’s frustrating and liberating, all in one. Control. That was something I never had, and now it is all up to me…not to mention the move will piss off my father. Two birds, one stone. “What are you waiting for?”
Chapter Three
Six Months Ago
ENZO
I was simply an observer at the club. I never sampled the goods. I frequent the establishment for the secrets it unlocks. That’s what the draw is to a place like Provocateur. It is drowning in secrets. I’d learned from a young age that knowledge was power, and there’s no knowledge more powerful than the sinful desires people hide from the rest of the world. Once you have the darkest desires of powerful men in your hands, you suddenly become the one with control, and that’s what I’ve always craved. Control. Powerful men will do everything you demand to ensure their skeletons stay where they live in the closet.