3. MY EVIL PREFERENCE

SOPHIA

Mike found the pad, and the blood, and his hand quickly disappeared from between my legs.

"Fuck," he cursed, disgust clear in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Big Mike, if you want, I can still…" I made myself gesture vaguely toward him, and I wanted to vomit at the implication, but desperate times required desperate measures.

"No. That's fucking disgusting, bitch. I'm not interested.” He climbed off the bed, and the relief was so intense I felt dizzy.

His eyes were cold and hard now.

"You have three days, Sophia. Three days until your period ends. And if you try to run or call someone, or do anything except wait here like a good girl, I will tie you to that bed and invite every man in my organization to fuck you until you're begging me to kill you. Do you understand?"

I understood. "Yes, Big Mike."

"We'll continue this conversation on Sunday. In the meantime, stay in your room. I'll have Neza bring you meals."

I waited until his footsteps faded down the hall, and I heard his office door slam on the floor below.

Then I grabbed the burner phone from where I'd hidden it under my pillow. My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped it. I pulled up the only number programmed into the phone; Cassian’s.

I'd gotten it six months ago from a business card I'd stolen from David's desk.

Cassian was a man who could destroy the Winters family if he had the right ammunition.

I had that ammunition. Three years' worth of evidence sitting on my phone. I was willing to kill Big Mike, and I would if I had to.

This is insane, I thought. He's dangerous, he might be worse than Big Mike. He might kill you just for calling.

But probably not, because I'd seen the way Cassian had looked at me that day, about a year ago. I'd seen the hunger in his eyes.

I hit the call button, and listened as the phone rang. Finally, I heard the beep as it connected. “Hello? This is Sophia Winters.”

“Mia Cara?” The voice was everything I remembered, and just like a year ago, a shiver worked its way down my spine. "I was wondering when you'd call."

My breath caught. "Cassian.”

An hour later, I was out of steam. I was in Cassian’s office, and I could have puked.

I had picked my room’s lock and escaped, running down the home’s emergency exit during a guard change.

“When I was fifteen, my mother began to develop dementia. She needed twenty-four hours of care when I graduated high school. It wasn't so bad until my dad was killed in a hit and run.”

“I'm sorry,”

I let out a bitter laugh. “It was worse when I realized my father had lost everything. I had to sell off the houses just to pay off the debts he owed the banks. There was nothing left over for college and even worse…”

I looked up at Cassian, meeting his silver gaze. “And David,” he whispered, “was the only offer left.”

“No,” I said. “My father had her in a facility by then, but it was too expensive for me to manage on my own. I didn’t have the education or the kind of job that could cover the bills and my rent. And if I’d brought her home, I wouldn’t have been able to work at all.” I stopped, the memory tightening my chest. “I was trapped, and very very terrified.”

I had been with Cassian for the last hour, telling him everything that had happened in the last four years.

Cassian studied me for several long minutes without speaking. Every muscle in my body was tight, coiled so hard it ached. He was my only option. I had no money, and even if I had money, I had nowhere I could go, where Old Mike wouldn’t eventually find me.

Finally, Cassian spoke. “What exactly do you expect me to do?”

I didn’t have a great answer. I wasn’t asking for employment. I wasn’t asking for charity, all I had was my desperation and my willingness to offer myself in exchange for my mother’s safety.

“I can’t take her out of the facility, I can’t pay the fees, and even if I walked away from her completely, I don’t think I’d be safe from Old Mike. I need help with all of it.”

Cassian remained silent, his silver eyes burning my face. I forced myself to continue. “I know it’s too much to ask. But I’ll do anything.”

His eyes darkened. “Anything?”

“Anything.”

“I want you,” he said simply. “I wanted you the first moment I saw you. You already know that, that's why you’re here.”

I lifted my chin, unable to speak, waiting for him to go on.

“I like sex, kink, and control. Things you’ve probably never even imagined. What I don’t like is inconvenience. Relationships are inconvenient. They require compromise. I’m not interested in getting to know a woman. I don’t want intimacy outside of sex. What I want is to fuck when I want to fuck, and I want a woman I’m attracted to who will let me do whatever I want to her.”

My throat tightened. “Will you hurt me?”

This wasn’t what I’d expected, but it was still less horrifying than Old Mike.

“Yes,” he said.

My stomach dropped. “But I won’t harm you. And the kind of hurt I’m talking about? You’ll enjoy it.”

“How would it work?”

“You’d move in with me,” he said. “You won’t leave the house. You won’t do anything without my permission. I’m not looking for a partner, Sophia. I’m looking for a plaything, a pet, a toy.” His eyes searched my face. “Do you think you can do that?”

Shock stole my voice.

I had come prepared to sell my body for my mother’s safety. I’d known it wouldn’t be dignified, but I hadn’t expected this level of bluntness.

The way he spoke about me as if I were already an object that belonged to him, made my skin prickle.

Still, I nodded.

I couldn’t afford to not go along with whatever he wanted. I couldn't afford to let him reconsider.

Fear or not, this was the only way forward. Big Mike would kill me if he ever found me.

Cassian stood, pushing back his chair, and walked around the desk toward me.

He stopped directly in front of me, his presence overwhelming, and rested his hands on his hips.

“I think,” he said, “that before we go any further, I need a demonstration.”

I stared up at him, confused, my mind slow and overwhelmed.

He leaned down slightly and whispered right into my ears. “Get on your knees and suck my cock.”