LOGINThe limo finally stopped. I don't even know how long we were driving because I was too busy losing my mind.
"Get out!" Alexander barks. He didn't even care about me. He just got out into the rain and left me to deal with this giant wedding dress by myself. I literally had to crawl out of the car, dragging all this expensive white fabric behind me. We went straight up some private elevator, and the next thing I know, we are inside his penthouse. The place is huge. Like, crazy huge. Floors made of marble and giant windows everywhere. "Everybody out!" he shouts to the security guys. The guards clear out in a second. Suddenly the whole place is dead silent, and it's just me and him. I'm just standing there in the middle of the room, shivering and sweating at the same time. I don't know what to do with my hands. "Please, Alexander," I blurt out. Words are just tumbling out of my mouth because I'm so nervous. "I know you're mad. I know I'm not Chloe. But I had to do it. My stepmother Beatrice is totally crazy. She was gonna turn off my dad's machines tonight. I have no money at all. Please don't hurt him." Alexander doesn't say anything. He just stares at me blankly. He slowly takes off his suit jacket, drops it on the floor, and starts unbuttoning his shirt. Oh my god... He looks older and way more intimidating up close. And so hot. Like, dangerously hot. The boyish look from the old magazine covers is completely gone. This is the adult, billionaire version of him. His jawline is so hard and his chest is so broad under that white shirt. I can literally hear my ovaries dying right now. My body completely betrays me because I'm terrified but I can't stop looking at him. He walks right up to me. He is way too tall. I have to tilt my head all the way back just to see his face. Then he smirks. It’s this cold, mean smirk. "Oh, I know your little story, Elena Costa," he says, his voice dripping with venom. I froze. "You... you know who I am?" "Did you really think I wouldn't check?" He chuckles, a dark, mocking sound. "I knew the second I touched your hand at the altar. You don't smell like Chloe. You're the broke stepdaughter. The one nobody cares about." Tears started falling down from face again. I feel like absolute crap. "Your stepmother is a fool," he continues, his voice sharp and deadly. "She wanted the Vance family money so bad she threw you to the wolves the second Chloe ran away with her secret boyfriend." "I don't care about the money!" I cry out, letting the tears ruin my makeup. "I just wanted to save my dad!" Instead of answering me, Alexander raises his hand. I flinch and close my eyes tight, thinking he's gonna hit me. But he doesn't. To my absolute horror, he touches my face. Slowly. Smoothly. His fingers caress my right cheek, and it feels so soft it sends a crazy shiver straight down my spine. I don't know if I'm shaking from fear or something else. "Why would I kill someone as beautiful as you, Elena?" he whispers, his voice taunting with danger underneath. "You have this face that makes men lose control. All those rich guys at the church couldn't stop staring at you. They wanted a piece of you." His fingers trail down my jaw, squeezing it hard so I can't look away from his dark eyes. "Not knowing you already belong to me." He moves away suddenly and sits down in a giant leather chair. He leans back, spreads his legs apart like a king, and looks down his nose at me. "From now on, Elena Jones, you are mine to use. Mine to play with. Mine to do with as I please." The words hit me like a heart attack. "Your body belongs to me. Your mind belongs to me. Your soul belongs to me," he smirks. "I own you." I shake my head No. Again and again, I shake my head. "But there's a contract! You can't just do this! The contract was for Chloe!" He laughs out loud, low and cold, his mockery slicing right through me. "You really are stupid, aren't you?" He reaches into his desk and throws a piece of paper on the floor. "Your stepmother already signed the new papers this afternoon. The contract doesn't say Chloe anymore. It says Elena. I paid off your dad's hospital bills in full, and she signed your life away for a wire transfer. You're mine." My breath catches. I feel myself choking on my thoughts. My own family literally sold me to a billionaire monster like eating cement. "I thought you were just a fake princess," he continues mockingly, standing up and walking back toward me. Slowly. Purposefully. "But you're just a girl wearing rags, living on my money now. Life outside must have been tough, huh?" I have nothing to do but cry, letting the tears fall. He reaches me and wipes a tear from my cheek. I flinch, but I don't move. Then, to my absolute horror, he puts his finger in his mouth and licks it. "I love the taste of your tears," he murmurs, his voice calm and gentle, which makes it ten times worse. "There's going to be a lot of crying for you in this house." Panic swells inside me. I think of my dad. I have to survive this. "I'm not doing this," I say, trying to sound strong but my voice is trembling. "I'm not staying here to be your toy. Just let me go." Silence. Then he laughs. Deep. Dark. Amused. He claps his hands together. "That was one hell of a performance," he says sarcastically. "Now. Get on your knees." His voice is filled with command, power, and absolute authority. I freeze. My mind is at war with itself. Some part of me wants to run, but what the hell am I kneeling for? Is he going to execute me? The thought slips out before I can stop it. "Are you going to kill me?" He laughs. Slow. Dark. Twisting his fingers into the strands of my hair, he plays with it lazily, like a cat with a mouse. "Why would I kill you? That's too much drama. The cleanup, the press... It's a hassle. You're not worth it," he whispers, his breath warm against my ear. "I could just feed you to my dogs if I wanted to." A shiver of horror runs through me. My eyes widen with fear, and he chuckles. Then his expression goes completely cold. "On your knees. Little butterfly." I hesitate for a second before sinking down onto the floor. What choice do I have? He looks down at me, playing with my hair, running his fingers along my lips as if he's testing me. My stomach twists with nerves. Desperate, I finally whisper, "What do you want, Alexander? What will make you let me go?" He smiles. It’s slow, calculating. "I want a lot of things from you, Elena," he says, and his hands suddenly drop to his waist. The sharp click of his belt buckle echoes through the room. Then his zipper. And suddenly—he’s taking himself out. His dick is right there in my face. It is hot and angry, its veins bulging right there in front of me. I don’t know what to do. I’m completely frozen in place. "Be a good girl and open up," he commands, his voice low and cruel. "Why are you doing this to me?" I ask, tears blurring my vision. "I'm giving you a choice," he says, brushing my hair softly, tenderly, as if he actually cares about me. But I know that’s bullshit. "Do you want to go back to your stepmother and let your dad die, or are you going to stay here as my whore? You can only have one." I cannot believe this. I just kneel there wondering what I have to do. All of those options sound like absolute hell. "If I do this, will you let me go?" I ask, my voice cracking. "Give me your word." He scoffs. "Let's see how talented you are first. If you can get me to come in your mouth, then maybe I'll think about it." "Open up," he barks, his dick inches from my face. It's already leaking pre-cum. He moves closer. "Take your tongue out," he orders. I obey, extending my tongue. He uses his hand to smear the pre-cum onto my tongue. "Swallow," he orders. I swallow. "Open up," he repeats. I take him in, just the tip, then deeper and deeper. Both his hands grip my hair tightly, anchoring him. I look up at him, trapped, forced to watch him. His breath comes in ragged gasps. There is no gentleness in his eyes, only raw lust and rage. Before I can react, he thrusts fully into my mouth. It feels like hours have passed. My mouth aches, and my jaw feels completely locked. He draws it out, teasing, prolonging every second. Each time he nears his climax, he pulls back, torturing me. I didn't know how to process the unsettling sensations it was stirring inside me—feelings I desperately tried to ignore. Right here, right now, I was literally fighting for my dad's life. That was my only focus. When he finally withdrew, I tried to move my aching jaw. So I was both shocked and surprised when he released his cum all over my face and my hair. That was a lot of cum. It was dripping down my forehead, sticky and hot, getting into my eyes. I couldn't even open my eyelids. I just kept kneeling there, shocked, as it dripped down my lips. After a minute of silence, I heard the sound of his zipper closing. Eagerly, I asked, "Are we done now? Are you going to leave me alone?" The answer I got was a low chuckle. "Not even close. I am never letting you go, Elena, ever." I felt my anger rising. "What do you mean? You promised me! You said if I get you to come, you'd let me go!" He laughed again, a predatory sound. "You should really pay attention, Elena. I didn't say if I come, I said if I come inside your mouth I would let you go. And as we both witnessed, I didn't come inside your mouth. So no, I'm not letting you go." "You... you tricked me!" "You should have hung onto my dick tighter then," he scoffed. "If you did, you would be free right now." Something snapped inside me. The humiliation was too much. "Fuck you, Alexander!" I spat. He chuckled, dark and amused. "I'll be enjoying doing that to you every day, in every way." I felt a fresh wave of despair swallowing me. My face was streaked with his cum. I was a broken mess. Then his voice, completely cold, cut through my crying. "Here is what you're going to do. I'm going to give you two hours. Go back to your crappy apartment and pack a bag. Take only the essentials. A guard will pick you up. See you in two hours, wife." "No, wait!" I cried, frantically wiping the stickiness from my eyes with my wedding dress sleeve, desperate to see him clearly. "I'm not going to your apartment! I won't do it!" He smiled, a slow, predatory curve of his lips as he walked toward the door. "You have two choices, Elena—to die, or to have a luxurious life where you pay for your family's sins. Which one is it?" I didn't give him an answer. I didn't have one. He smiled, a winning smile, and turned the doorknob. He was about to leave when I remembered the most important thing. "Wait!" I shouted, my voice desperate. "I have somebody else depending on me! I can't just leave them!" He stopped, his gaze sharp and questioning. "What?" he scoffed. "A boyfriend? Don't tell me you're already pregnant or something?" He laughed mockingly. "No," I said, biting my lip. "Then who the hell is it?" he snapped, filled with impatience. I stammered. I didn't want to say it. But I knew he would track me down anyway. "What?" he barked. "Speak!" I swallowed hard, the secret burning in my throat. And before I could stop myself, I blurted out the truth. "It's my four-year-old son!”The clock on the SUV’s digital dashboard read 5:31 AM.The sky over Staten Island wasn’t even blue yet. It was a bruised, ugly grey, slick with a misting drizzle that turned the black leather seats of the armored suburban freezing cold.I pressed my knees together, trying to stop my legs from shaking. My jeans were still damp around the cuffs from the gravel in the driveway where Alexander’s guards had shoved me into the back seat. My heart knocked against my ribs in a heavy, uneven thud that made my throat feel dry as dust.Beside me, Alexander sat in total silence.He didn’t look like a man who had taken a bullet graze across his ribs less than forty-eight hours ago. He wore a heavy black wool overcoat over a dark grey tailored suit, his broad shoulders filling out his side of the leather bench. The sharp, bitter scent of clean rain, expensive cologne, and fresh antiseptic clung to his skin.His face was carved out of cold granite. His jaw was set so tight
Alexander dragged me back up the stone stairwell by my wrist, his grip so tight my fingers went numb before we reached the second floor.I tried digging my heels into the hardwood twice, but even with fresh blood seeping through his bandages, he pulled me along like I weighed nothing. He shoved the heavy mahogany doors of the master suite wide open, hauled me inside, and slammed the wood shut.The lock turned with a sharp, heavy clack."Sit down," he growled.I stumbled over the edge of the rug, turning around with my hands balled into tight fists. "Stop shoving me! I am not one of your guards, Alexander! You don't get to handle me like furniture!"Alexander ignored me completely. He walked over to the dark wood desk near the unlit fireplace, pulled a thick leather-bound folder out of the top drawer, and tossed it onto the ottoman in front of the couch.The folder popped open, spilling a stack of heavy white pages across the leather."Read it," he said, p
Three in the morning. Alexander was dead to the world on the massive king-sized bed, his breathing heavy and even, fueled by fever and high-dose painkillers. The red stain on his side hadn't spread any further, but he wasn't waking up anytime soon. I sat on the floor, staring at his sleeping face. We're going to pick up my nephew. The words echoed inside my head like a firing squad. If Alexander got his hands on Leo, my baby boy would be sucked into this bloody mafia nightmare forever. I couldn't let that happen. I would rather die on the pavement than watch Alexander turn four-year-old Leo into a weapon for the Vance empire. I slipped my sneakers on, tying the laces in double knots. I didn't take a bag. I didn't grab a coat. Just the clothes on my back and the fifty bucks shoved in the lining of my hoodie. I crept across the dark hardwood floor, stepping around the silver washbowl on the nightstand. Alexander did
My heart hit my ribcage like a sledgehammer."Your nephew?" I choked out, trying to pull my hand back off his bare chest. "You're crazy. Leo is my son. He has nothing to do with your family."Alexander didn't even blink. His fingers tightened around my wrist, pinning my palm flat against his warm, thumping heart."Dark curly hair. Julian's nose," Alexander said, his voice dropping an octave. "I saw the side-profile shot from the church security feed this morning. You can lie to yourself, Elena, but you can't lie to a DNA test."Before I could scream at him, a harsh, buzzing vibration cut through the quiet bedroom.Bzzzz... Bzzzz... Bzzzz...My eyes shot over to the nightstand. The cheap prepaid burner phone I had shoved under my spare sweatshirt was buzzing across the dark wood surface, lighting up the marble in bright blue.Only two people had that number. Mrs. Gable... and my stepmother.I scrambled off my knees, reaching for the phone, but Alexande
My stomach did absolute gymnastics the second Viktor shoved the heavy double doors of the east wing wide open.The room was massive. Fancy cream-colored furniture, dark hardwood floors, windows stretching all the way up to the ceiling. But none of that made it a home. Two guys in black tactical vests sat on folding chairs right outside, sidearms strapped to their thighs, watching my every breath.I dropped onto the edge of an oversized velvet couch, pulling my knees straight into my oversized hoodie.My knuckles were still stained brown from the dried blood under my nails. Every time I looked at the dark window glass, rain slapped the panes like tiny pebbles thrown from the yard.Around two in the morning, the door lock clicked.I shot up, my heart hammering a chaotic beat against my ribs.Viktor stepped in first, his giant shoulders filling the frame. Right behind him came Alexander.He looked terrible. His black dress shirt hung completely unbuttoned over his broad shoulders. The wh
Chapter 72My heart was doing backflips inside my chest.I stood over the metal examination table, wiping my bloody hands on the front of my gray hoodie. The cloth absorbed most of it, leaving a dark, nasty smudge right across my stomach. Alexander was out cold, his breathing shallow and loud, every exhale sounding like a cracked pump."Great," I muttered under my breath, staring at his gray face. "Just great, Elena. You cleared your name and now you're stuck playing nurse to a dying mob boss."The heart monitor kept up a steady beep... beep... beep... in the background. It was the only sound in the room, besides the rain hammering against the high glass windows near the ceiling.I grabbed a fresh roll of medical tape and a stack of clean gauze pads off the rolling tray. My fingers were shaking so bad I dropped the tape twice before I could get a piece torn off. I leaned over him, pressing the thick pads right over the torn stitches on his side.He didn't even flinch. His eyes stayed







