Domenico

DomenicoCopyright © K.I. Lynn This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. This work is copyrighted. All rights are reserved. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the author. Editors:Marti LynchDanielle LeighCopy editing by James Gallagher, Evident Ink Publication Date: May 5, 2020Genre: FICTION/Romance/ContemporaryISBN: 978-1948284271Copyright © 2020 K.I. LynnAll rights reserved

 Another day, another dollar, and another strip in front of a horde of men. Hopefully more than a few, but working in the shitty, low-income part of town wasn’t the most enticing for big spenders. Being a stripper, every dollar I made counted.When I was a little girl, the reality of taking my clothes off in front of half-drunk men was never even a possibility. Not even as a teenager, but life doesn’t always go the way you planned.“Belle, you’re on in five,” Al called out.I caught his eye in the mirror and nodded. Returning to my reflection, I fluffed up my hair and added some lip gloss. I slipped on my six-inch patent-leather platform heels and stood, making a quick adjustment to my blue mini dress, perking my breasts up in the deep V of the collar.Castle Lounge was a topless strip bar, and it drew in a decent crowd despite the lower-income community that surrounded it. Chances were the crowd would probably grow larger if it was full nudity, but it wasn’t like the little

 I was cold. So cold. That was the only thought I had as I began to shake the sleep that had ahold of me. More awareness surfaced and something strange kept me from clenching my teeth—soft, malleable, but solid.I drew in a sharp breath hindered by what had to be a cloth in my mouth. Panic sent adrenaline surging through me and I sat up, only to fail and flop back to the cold ground.Something sharp dug into my wrists when I tried to move my arms, which were locked behind me while my legs were bound together at my ankles.I didn’t recognize the building, but it was obvious it hadn’t been in use for years, as evident by the layers of debris in my limited view.The darkness made it difficult to see much, even with the moonlight, and my eyes had trouble adjusting. What little light there was streamed in through cracks from what I assumed to be windows and a large overhead skylight. The air was cool, damp, and so still that it stifled a scream that wanted to erupt from behind my

 I stared up at the ceiling, completely bored and wishing something would happen instead of the nothingness. My stomach was a constant knot as I wondered what they were going to do with me.For two days it had been nothing but waiting, and it continued to be so. Food was minimal, entertainment even less so.After that first day, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I was sitting in reality. I had been taken against my will, but that didn’t mean I was defeated. Far from it. I kept mostly to myself, not engaging in the cat-calls and egging from the animals around me. I stayed focused, continuing on my quest to keep the fear minimal and my mind busy with the task of finding some weakness that would allow me to escape.But the awful truth was that there was no way. From the constant guard to the inability to even escape the cage that held me, I was well and truly trapped. There was no way to even maybe loosen the bolts on the door, because someone was always watching.Instead, I

 In all my life, I never envisioned I would ever be in the predicament that I found myself in—taking a sponge bath, in an open cell, in an open room, in front of ten men, half of whom were watching.Still, it felt good to get the blood and grime off me. However, a bucket of warm water wasn’t enough, especially when returning to the same clothes I’d been wearing for days. The warmth leached away, the cold air cooling the water quickly. A shiver moved through me, and I pulled my clothes back on, trying not to give them a show. The days of showing off my body were over the moment they cornered me on that bridge.My eyes locked onto the splatter of blood dried into a deep red and clashing against the yellow of my sweater.A lackey, some young, thin guy about my age, opened the door to my cage to retrieve the bucket. I blinked, saw nobody in my periphery, and shot up.I bolted, knocking the guy over and sprinting toward the door. My muscles hadn’t been used much for days, causing