chapter Thirty-Nine
Rafe watched the entry to his jet like a panther waiting to leap. What amazed him were the nerves coursing through his body. He didn’t succumb to the weakness of nerves – he was Rafe Palazzo and nothing could affect him.
He sat back in his comfortable lounge chair as he watched Ari’s shadow edge into the jet, showing him she was now walking up the stairs.
He waited.
Taking a sip of his bourbon, he leaned back in his seat, casually setting his foot across the top of his opposite knee. He was the picture of cool confidence, though the fire raging in his eyes would certainly squash any rumors of him being referred to as the man of ice.
Finally, Ari stepped inside. His eyes never left her face as she glanced around at her surroundings with intimidation. He would concede that for someone like her, growing up in a lower middle class neighborhood, may have a more difficult time adjusting to his world. He didn’t even blink when he lost millions in the stock market, but then that was nothing to him, not when he had billions more to secure his future.
Ari’s eyes adjusted to the light, and that’s when she turned and spotted him sitting there. His first instinct was to stand up and haul her to the back of the jet where his luxurious suite was available for him to devour her. Still, he didn’t allow even so much as a single muscle to twitch.
This was a game – and his ultimate victory would come when she surrendered herself to him. He would let her speak first, if she did so at all. By the look in her panicked eyes, it was obvious she hadn’t expected to see him. Did she honestly think he would’ve allowed her to leave him so easily? He was soon to find out.
*****
Ari was frozen to the spot as she looked into the frosty purple eyes of Rafe. How could she not have put the pieces together? Of course she hadn’t been so lucky as to get her current job on her own. The minute that call had come in, she should have been researching the company, finding out all there was to know.
It wouldn’t do her any good to kick herself now. She felt like she’d been run over by a freight train – not only the engine, but she was currently trapped against the track and every car the huge machine was pulling continued to keep her locked down, pain radiating from every single space of her body.
“You own Sunstream Electronics.” She wasn’t asking, merely making a statement. She refused to play the victim or ask senseless questions.
“Obviously.” He wasn’t going to make any of this easier on her. But then again, when had he really made things easier. Yes, there’d been some moments. A few brief flashes in time when he’d actually been human, but those times were quickly fading in light of how manipulative he’d actually been the entire time she’d known him.
To be honest, Rafe had said he always played to win. He’d let her know in no uncertain terms that she was nothing more than a plaything, another trophy for his shelf to be acquired. She thought the two of them had played every game, her always losing the battles, but apparently there was still one game left to play.
It looked like she was losing her job.
His last hand was being dealt and her only question right then was to know how bad the damages would be to her. If he felt confident enough in revealing himself as her true boss, then one of two things had happened.
He was either bored with her and ready to purge her from his life, or he had an offer he felt was too good for her to refuse – he underestimated her, though. One thing she’d learned in the last few months was that she could survive on her own.
It wasn’t always easy, and she knew there were plenty of speed bumps ahead in her long journey, but her confidence had grown. She was managing to take care of herself and her mother. She may have been working for Rafe all along, but she took a huge victory in the fact that it hadn’t been as his personal call girl.
With a surge of confidence, she threw her shoulders back and stepped further into the jet, walking up to him and looking impassively down into his fiery eyes.
“Mr. Palazzo, we’ve been cleared for departure. Would you like for us to shut the doors now?” Before Rafe could respond to his pilot, Ari spoke, looking right into Rafe’s eyes the entire time, making sure he knew she wasn’t afraid of him.
“No. I’ll be getting off the aircraft in just a moment.”
She nearly stumbled back a step at the flames leaping in Rafe’s dark depths. If looks could kill, she’d be nothing but ashes. Instead of revealing her slight moment of weakness, she pushed his buttons a bit harder and smirked.
“Hold the doors for a moment and leave us,” Rafe commanded. The man pretty much scampered away like a scolded puppy.
“It seems we’ve finally arrived where I knew we’d end up all along. You’ve just made an increasingly long journey out of something that should’ve been taken care of that day in the restaurant.”
“I told you then that I wouldn’t be your whore, Mr. Palazzo. That decision still stands. Just because you were able to trick me into your employment anyway doesn’t mean that you own me. I will find other employment.”
He paused with a knowing look on his face. Her stomach fluttered as she waited for him to drop down whatever it was he had to say. Nothing could make her change her mind… The longer he waited, the more her agitation grew, which he could obviously read in her eyes as his own face reflected his confidence in victory.
“Your mother gets released from the hospital on Wednesday, Ari. I happen to now own your childhood home. It’s your decision whether your mother discovers you sold off everything and she has no place to go, or whether she can heal in the comfort of her home. I also happen to now own her floral shop. Do you give her back her life, or do remain self-serving as you always have and take all you can at the expense of the woman who raised you?”
Ari stood frozen. The one thing that had been eating her alive as her mom talked about returning home and getting back to work, was what he held against her. She’d underestimated his desire to win.
Rage filled her as she looked into Rafe’s burning eyes. He wasn’t even human. How dare he put her in this position! How could he live with himself? Would it kill her mother to find out that she had nothing left after surviving a car crash that should’ve taken her life, and then beating all odds and surviving the cancer that had tried to finish her off?
“It looks like you have a choice to make, Ari? Do you choose love or pity?”
“You’re a bastard, Rafe. Do you care of nothing other than yourself?”
“Ah, I hope you choose love, because it will be a great pleasure for me to break your spirit – and leave no doubt about it, Ari – I will break you.”
Her stomach heaved as she looked into the eyes of a stranger. This wasn’t the same man who’d rescued her, laughed with her, and adored his family. This was a monster – one who wanted nothing less than everything.
“If you choose pity, you’re free to go with no one to worry about but yourself. You can feel sorry for yourself about the situation you’re in and try to put back the pieces of your shattered life, or you can choose love – love for the mother who raised you. I don’t want nor need your love, so don’t ever get the idea that this will lead to more than what it is. You will be my mistress and nothing more. I tried love once, and got nothing but a hell of a lot of damage for my efforts. Make your decision quickly because I have a long flight ahead of me and work to do.”
“I need time…”
“Your time is up. You can either exit the way you came in. Or you can take yourself back to my bedroom and strip. Your training will begin immediately.”
Ari held back the tears of anger as she turned away from him. She was faced with an impossible choice. She couldn’t sign her life over to him – but she couldn’t leave her mother to die.
Maybe he was bluffing. She could walk out the door and find out. She retreated a step while still looking into his eyes. He showed zero emotion as she made the hardest decision she’d ever had to make. He really didn’t seem to care one way or the other of her decision.
With a firm resolve, Ari turned from him and took a step toward the aircraft’s open door...
THE END