“Uh, I mean, I’m going to get a fortune for her, boss. I’ve been showing her picture around and she’s gotten a lot of buzz over at my place in Gilchrist Point.” Pete swatted the sweat off his forehead, his eyes darting around the room.
“I fucking warned you, Hannigan. I said that only willing women would be here. The women were to be paid handsomely, respected, and protected. What part of that did you not understand?” Uncle Gio paced in front of Pete, extracting a suppressor from his pocket and screwing it on the barrel of his gun.
Holy fuck.
I knew my uncle dabbled in someunscrupulous business, but I never asked questions about it for obvious reasons. I wasn’t an idiot.
Pete stuttered, trying to come up with a response when Uncle Gio cut in. “We don’t bring women here to sell off like cattle. That’s not the kind of business we are. Yet you’re bringing this shit in here, causing trouble, potentially harming women. Why can’t you follow directions?”
“Th–this one is different, boss. There’s a guy–some rich fuck with a politician father. He wants her. Bad. He’s willing to pay me. At least a million! Maybe even more. He’s got unlimited funds. We can split the cash fifty-fifty. She’ll be the last one, I promise,” Pete said as sweat poured from him, soaking his pink shirt.
Fucking Reynolds! He wanted to buy Ashtyn so he could have her for good. Never gonna fucking happen.
I lunged for Pete, yanking him off the chair and onto the ground, and pummeled his face with punches. The loser couldn’t even defend himself. He held his hands in front of his face to block my blows, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. Remington and Axel hauled me off him as Uncle Gio smiled at the sight of Pete covered in blood, curled up on the floor crying like a bitch.
“Where is she, Hannigan?” Uncle Gio asked.
“She–she’s upstairs in one of the private rooms. Tied up. I had to give her a sedative. Fuckin’ bitch is feisty. She kicked me in the balls.” Pete groaned and rolled from side to side on the floor, blood trickling from every orifice on his face.
“These bullshit sales and auctions you’re conducting behind my back end now, Pete.”
“But boss, it’s amillion dollars!” He yelled, spitting blood out of his mouth.
“I could wipe my ass with a million dollars. You are one stupid motherfucker, Hannigan. You’ve crossed me one too many times.” Uncle Gio aimed his gun at Pete’s face and squeezed the trigger. “Sogni d’oro.” Sweet dreams.
The littleplinknoise from the gun coincided with Pete’s head bursting in front of us, blood gushing onto the tile floor.
“Fuck,” I said under my breath, trying to absorb the fact that I just watched a man die in front of me. Remington and Beck were unfazed. I’m sure they’d seen and done worse in their little club. Axel’s face paled and his eyes widened behind his glasses.
“Idiot has been getting on my nerves for a while now,” said Uncle Gio, as casually as if he were ordering lunch. “Franco, call the cleaning crew. Have them take care of him.” He turned to me and smiled, replacing the gun in the waistband of his trousers. “Now. Let’s go get your girl.”
48
Ashtyn
Theroomwasdarkand smoky. Or maybe that was just my vision returning. My wrists hurt from the plastic ties digging into the skin and my ankles were in the same condition. The bed beneath me was soft and welcoming. It was more comfortable than my pathetic mattress at home.
My vision was still blurry. Once I’d come to, I realized Mom drugged me. I was sure Pete helped her lug me around since I was no longer at home, and there was no way she could lift me by herself. She could barely lift a finger to wipe her ass.
I woke up to Pete dragging me into the back of a tall, dark building and I promptly kicked him in the balls as hard as I could. The asshole stuck me with a needle, and I went down like a sack of potatoes. The second time I awoke, I was here. In this room–which was most likely a sex room, something torturous and disturbing–tied to the bed posts, aching from head to toe.
“That's it, my Queen. Open your eyes,” a smooth voice said from across the room.
I didn’t try to see who it was coming from. I already knew. The guy who was obsessed with me in the worst possible way.
Reynolds.
“I’ve been waiting to touch you,” he purred, slithering up to the side of the bed and leaning over me. I jerked my head to the side, avoiding his grotesque lips. He planted a kiss on my cheek anyway.
His hair was disheveled and he sported a light scruff on his face. His usual look of being cool and collected was long gone, replaced by derangement and a lack of sleep.
“Don’t be like that, my Queen. Do you know what I’ve been through to get you? I’ve lost my job, my reputation, my father’s furious with me…” Reynolds trailed off, gritting his teeth in anger. His hands moved up my arms and stopped at my neck, a chill going through me at his touch. He laughed maniacally and squeezed down on my throat. “I wanted to do this the right way. If I just…let you come around, I thought I could have you. But you had to go be a littleslutand fuck that neighbor of yours,” Reynolds spat, growing more furious the more he spoke.
He squeezed down on my throat even tighter, making it difficult for me to breathe. I didn’t react to his words or his actions. He thrived on getting a reaction from me. “You were supposed to be different! I chose you for a reason! I’m going to save you, Ashtyn. Don’t you see that? You’ll never have to worry about anything ever again. I’ll take care of you. The only thing you need to do is submit to me.”
My body shuddered involuntarily at the thought. I kept my mouth shut as he kept his hand pressed firmly on my throat and rambled on. “You’re mine, Ashtyn.Mine. Not West fucking Moretti’s. And he’s going to know you’re mine. We’ll be married soon, and once were man and wife, I’ll fuck you in front of him until you’re bleeding. I’ll paint him with your blood,” Reynolds laughed. He had officially lost it.
He lost it a while ago, but this was beyond.