But I did.
The Russians destroyed my family, and that British cunt destroyed my name. Now I needed revenge on two fronts, and I would get it one way or another. I wouldn’t let anyone step on me ever again. I wouldn’t let anyone get close to my heart again. Whoever I married would only be a match of convenience, someone who could give me children to carry on my legacy.
But that was it.
“Yeah.” I masked my discomfort by taking a drink of my scotch. I’d been working with Crow for years, but I wouldn’t consider us to be friends. Good acquaintances, perhaps. People like us didn’t really have friends. “She came by a few weeks ago and said she made a mistake. Wanted another chance.”
“That’s some nerve…”
I wouldn’t take her back. I was over her the moment she turned her back on me. Every feeling I had disappeared instantly. My heart became calloused and black, and I lost any ability to feel any form of happiness.
Now I just wanted to blood.
“I’m glad she’s miserable.” It was a cold thing to say, but I really didn’t care.
“That makes two of us.” He clinked his glass against mine. “Your new plaything seems nice. I heard one of your clients crossed you…”
Good news traveled fast. “Yeah. I took his sister as payment.”
He grinned. “You’ve gotta teach them a lesson. But I have to say…” He looked over his shoulder and glanced at her. “She doesn’t seem like much of a prisoner.”
“Meaning?” Because she was beautiful? Because she was one of the sexiest women I’d ever been with?
“If I were a prisoner, I wouldn’t smile. I wouldn’t drink scotch with a room full of men and enjoy it. She doesn’t seem like she’s being held against her will. It’s almost like she likes you.” He crossed his legs and leaned back against the couch.
I watched her figure in the corner, treasuring the sight of her beautiful curves. She had an hourglass figure, something I’d always been a sucker for. I turned back to Crow. “I threatened to kill her brother if she doesn’t obey me. I have a transmitter in his skull. The second she displeases me, I’ll hit the button and give him a stroke.”
Crow nodded like he was impressed. “You’ve got this all figured out.”
“Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t fuck with me.”
He chuckled. “Wasn’t planning on it.” He glanced at London again. “If she up for grabs?”
It wasn’t uncommon for business partners to share women. I’d done it before myself. Since I made it clear she meant nothing to me, his question wasn’t out of line. But I didn’t want to loan her out. She was my pet, my prisoner. I didn’t want to share her with any other man. “No.”
Crow accepted my decision without argument. “Don’t be offended if Cane asks you the same question.”
“I won’t. I’m surprised he hasn’t asked already.”
He chuckled. “You know my brother as well as I do. So why did you bring her, then?”
“She wanted to come along.”
“Looking for an escape route, possibly?”
The more I thought about it, the more unlikely that seemed. “No. She knows I’m not bluffing about her brother.”
“Maybe she just wanted to get out of the house, then.”
“She doesn’t like my men. Says she doesn’t trust them.”
“And she trusts you?” he asked with interest.
I shrugged, unsure how she felt. She wanted me to protect her from my crew, and that made me feel hard in a way I couldn’t explain. Then she stuck her tongue in my mouth and chased all my logical thoughts away.
She had a magic touch.
“I think she trusts me in some aspects.”
“Well, being by your side really is the safest place she could be, relatively speaking. She’ll never be hungry, poor, or in any danger. But you aren’t going to keep her forever, right?”
“Not sure yet.”
“Well, are you gonna kill her when you’re finished?”
That’s what I should do. She would become useless to me eventually. I would meet another woman, or perhaps the woman I should marry, and then she would just be a burden. Obviously, I couldn’t just let her go because she knew too much.
So he was right. I would have to kill her. “I guess so.”
3
London
We drove back to his estate thirty minutes away. Crewe drove with one hand on the way, his eyes on the road straight ahead. His other hand rested in his lap, and dusk was slowly settling across Tuscany.
It was beautiful here. I loved the warm sun, the green vines of the vineyards, and the dusty dirt that flew into the air when we drove down the road. In some ways, it reminded me of home. In others, it didn’t remind me of anything I’d seen in my lifetime.
Crewe didn’t make small talk. He seemed to be in a bad mood, but I wasn’t sure why. I behaved myself the entire time and rarely spoke unless I was spoken to first. I could have given a lot of smartass comments, but I didn’t. I was just grateful to be with him instead of back at the house with his psychopath partner and his violent henchman.
I wasn’t trying to run.
If I did, he would kill Joey. I didn’t have any other option but to make the best of my situation. I wasn’t sure how long I would be there. Maybe I would be there forever. If I could make him fall in love with me, he may leave Joey alone and let me go.
But the more I got to know him, the more unlikely that seemed.
Crewe was heartless.
He lost his family, and I knew something serious happened with Josephine. He carried too many scars, too much hatred. But at the same time, he did have his soft moments. He told me I was beautiful and told Dunbar to keep his hands off me. If he really didn’t care, he wouldn’t intervene.
And I still suspected he changed his mind about Bones for a different reason.
But I would never really know the truth about that.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re mad?”
He kept his eyes on the road. “Because I am.”
I should have been more specific. “Why do I get the feeling you’re mad at me?”
“I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself for allowing you to come with me.”
“Why?” I blurted. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Crow asked if he could have a go with you.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter, his knuckles slightly turning white. “Cane did the same.”
I was grateful he didn’t share me. Crow and Cane were good-looking, but I didn’t want to be loaned out to strangers. It had been difficult enough for me to sleep with Crewe to begin with. Now sleeping with him was so natural I didn’t think twice about it. “You didn’t act like I meant anything special to you…”
Crewe clenched his jaw.
“And I don’t mean anything to you, so why do you care?”
“I just do. I shouldn’t have let you come. It was a stupid decision.”
“You’re being really unfair. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my fault they’re both perverts.”
“They aren’t perverts,” he said quietly. “They’re men. When men see a beautiful woman, they want to fuck her. It’s pretty fucking natural.” His jaw was still clenched as he spoke.
“Then you shouldn’t be upset.”