Everyone wanted a piece of the D’Agostino heiress, and she’d come to her senses that she’d have better chances here with me than with any of those other ones out there.
Hell, at the very least I was the best-looking one.
The defiance in her eye flickered like a wavering candle and she asked. “What are you going to do with me?”
Ruin you, and make you wish you’d never been born a D’Agostino.“That’s not your business anymore.” I told her.
Leda did not expect me to say that, but I was already at the door, ready to be done with this place. I got what I wanted.
“Time to choose.” I said. “Me. Or them.” My hand gripped the doorknob.
“You,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”
I turned to look back at her, that last flicker of defiance was fading away. “Final choice?”
She straightened, and her chin lifted again. “Final choice.”
“Fine. Come,” I told her, as I stepped outside and held the door.
She looked down at her thin clothing. It was meant to entice me to sample my wares: give me a clear shot of her body and what twenty million had bought. It was cheap and meant to be ruined for the moment that I claimed her.
But for some reason, I felt that I wasn’t ready for that.
Not with her. Not yet at least.
“Can I have some different clothes?” she asked. “At least some shoes?”
“No,” I said, keeping my voice hard and flat. “You come like that.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but I cut her off.
“Rule number three,” I growled. “You will obey my every word. If I tell you to go naked, you go naked. Everything you thought you had is gone. From this day onward, your freedom is gone. I fucking own you, Leda. Never forget that.”
“Like hell you do,” she answered. “You don’t own me. You will never own me, you piece of—"
My hand clamped around her mouth and I pushed her against the door. Her eyes widened in surprise as I pulled my face close to hers. She tried to push me back to no avail. I kicked her legs apart and kept her pinned to the door.
"Don’t talk back like that again,” I warned. “Do we have an understanding?”
The look she gave me was nothing but hatred. But her head dipped in the smallest of nods and I released her from my grip.
Leda sniffed and moved past me, drawing up short when she saw my capo Rocco standing at the door.
“Did you think I hadn’t planned on you running away?”
She refused to look at me as I pushed my hand into the small of her back, urging her forward.
“Escort Miss D’Agostino to the chopper,” I told Rocco.
He nodded and dragged her by her arm into the car that would ultimately take us to the helipad on the Hudson. I turned in the opposite direction and found the auctioneer waiting for me with a tablet in her hand.
“So I assume you’re taking your merchandise?” she asked, her lips pursed.
I nodded. “I will.”
She nodded. “And you found everything to your liking?”
I knew what she expected me to do in that room. Leda was labeled a virgin, and it was my duty—since it it was my fucking money—to ensure that she was correctly labeled. When dons paid for a virgin, it was important that they got exactly what they paid for.