Giovanni
That was her decision.Sienna is taken backstage to be prepared.I sit at my table with Axel across from me. He's back from his errand.Axel Drake and I have known each other since I was sixteen years old. He's one of the few men I consider a friend.There were three years when he left Vegas and went east. It's a time he doesn't discuss though, not even with me. All I know about it is that he and his brother, Hugo, a man I've never met, spent time in prison there and I have a feeling it has something to do with that errand he ran earlier.I understand revenge and I don't care what Axel has to do to take care of what he needs to take care of as long as he's available when I need him. It's an understanding we have between us.He drinks the last of his whiskey and I pour him another.The gong goes off and the auctioneer announces this is the last of tonight's draw. They'll be anxious for it. I only have half a dozen girls at each party. Keeps them hungry."Want me to keep someone on the sister?" he asks as the curtain goes up. "I have a feeling she'll disappear as soon as she's released. If she's smart, that is."We're both watching the stage as he speaks, as the spotlight begins its ascent up the raised dais where she stands like an offering.It seems like it's a slow dragging of the light, like we're given an inch at a time. Just glimpses as it travels up the draped figure where two women stand on either side.Finally, the light shines on her face and she squints, turning away momentarily.I didn't realize how long her hair was. It falls in waves over her shoulders and thick bangs frame her whiskey eyes. They've fixed her makeup, lined her eyes heavily and put a sheen of gloss over those pouty lips.I notice her hands are fisted and she doesn't raise them like she should when the girls draw the cloak from her, baring her naked body.I swallow at the sight."Keep someone on her, but don't pick her up," I say, hearing how thick my voice sounds. "She's no use to me anyway, not in the state she's in."I swallow the rest of the whiskey in my glass and can't drag my eyes from the naked woman on the stage. Watching her face burn in embarrassment while her eyes narrow in a combination of rage, rebellion and confusion as the men call out numbers.The auctioneer discusses her heavy breasts—large for her small waist—and the particular shade of pink of her hard little nipples.I myself can't look away from those breasts, can't not think about how perfectly they'd fit in the palms of my hands as I weigh them."Turn her!" someone calls out.Feeling oddly possessive, I note who.Sienna struggles against the girls who take her wrists and they're confused. The women on the block are willing. No one is made to do this against their will. Not really.This one, though, she's not like any of those women. I knew it from the moment I first saw her."Turn her!" more chants come from the crowd. Her resistance will only make them want it more. Want her more.The auctioneer, too, is momentarily at a loss. He glances over the crowd to my table.I give a nod and two guards step out of the shadows and onto the stage.The auctioneer gestures to the men. "Turn her."By the time they get to her, she's off the dais."I guess she changed her mind?" Axel chuckles as we watch the scene, this cartoon as the two giants grab the naked woman who can't be more than five-and-a-half feet. She's fighting as if her life depends on it and somehow manages to knee one of the men in the balls.Axel winces."Ouch," I say, pouring more whiskey into my glass without taking my eyes off the spectacle."Why don't you stop it. You know you're going to buy her anyway," Axel says, taking the bottle and pouring for himself.I turn to him. Before I can deny it, he laughs."I know you, Giovanni. You want that girl. You did the moment you laid eyes on her."I shrug a shoulder and when I turn back, the men are forcing her back onto the platform. And when she raises her middle finger at the crowd, the bids explode.The soldiers hold her there, and the auctioneer is looking at me again. I nod once more, and he picks up the strap and walks toward the girl.She sees him, sees what he's carrying, and her eyes go huge as she's turned and bent at the waist. She screams when he raises the strap and brings it down hard across her ass once, twice."Quiet, girl," he hisses the command.More numbers are called out from the cheering crowd.Calls for more strokes to be laid on her beautiful ass.When the auctioneer returns to his podium, she's straightened and turned to the room again. Her face is flushed, and I wonder if she can see me. If she knows I'm watching. If she knows it was me who ordered the strap.I stand. The room quiets as I do, and I speak my number."Quarter-of-a-million dollars."I don't have to raise my voice and I meet every eye in the place daring any one of them to challenge my bid.The gavel comes down once. That's all that's necessary when I bid."Sold for a quarter-of-a-million dollars."I look at Sienna's tear stained, mascara-smeared face. She still can't see me. The spotlight is too bright on her. But she must recognize my voice and know that it was me who bought her.The men take her down from the platform. She still fights as she's removed from the stage. The curtain falls and the lights in the room go on announcing to everyone that it's the end of the night.Axel chuckles. "Told you," he mutters as I resume my seat."Fuck you," I say, the excitement I feel in my gut something foreign. Something I'd forgotten.One hour later, Sienna is delivered to my penthouse by the same two men in about the same fashion as when she threw that fit on the stage.I'm standing at the window with my back to the elevator when I hear the doors slide open. I sip my drink, watching the lights of the strip in this city that never sleeps.A city of vultures.Hungry.Always hungry.Always looking for innocent flesh with which to fill their bellies.I'm hungry, too.I set my empty glass on
Giovanni I don't like clutter or anything messy, not anywhere in my life.My eyes fall on that tartan again. Why have I kept it all these years? I need to talk to the maid. I don't want to have to see it every time I fucking turn around.Sienna lowers herself into the chair nearest her and farthest from me. She hangs her head and her hair falls forward like a veil between us, but I don't miss the tear that drops.She combs her fingers through the thick mass, sniffles and straightens her spine. She meets my gaze."One night," she says.I nod."And I'm free and you won't hurt Ciara.""Not a bad deal if you ask me.""You're not the one who has to fuck you."I chuckle at that. "You could do worse, sweetheart.""I'm not your sweetheart."I shrug a shoulder. I could give a fuck."What are you, anyway? What's your accent?" she asks.She hears it? I wonder if others do too. I've worked hard to rid myself of it. Rid myself of the past."Scots.""You're from Scotland?""Born in the Highlands."
Giovanni "Stop calling me that. I am not your sweetheart.""You'll be whatever I want you to be. You're bought and paid for, remember? Now get on your knees before you piss me off."Her face goes red, and rage rolls off her.I open my mouth to say something, but I don't expect what she does next.I don't expect her to slap me, not after my warning.Her gasp comes an instant after her hand collides with my face.I force a long, deep breath, feeling the sting of the slap. Feeling the rage bubble inside me. I tighten the muscles of my gut to tamp it down, to control it.I'm bigger than her. Stronger. I can hurt her in a way she can't hurt me. I have to be careful.When I shift my gaze back to hers, she has her hands to her mouth, and her eyes are huge. She's staring at me like she can't fucking believe what she just fucking did.It takes me a long time before I speak."You want to play rough, Sienna?" The words are a low, almost whispered threat.She swallows, shaking her head. Streaks
GiovanniI dip my head down and lick her and hear her sharp intake of breath as she goes dead still.I do it again, circling her clit, then taking it into my mouth."Please!" she cries out and when I suck that hard, little nub, it's moments before her back arches and she lets out a long moan. Her eyes are closed, face tense, hands fisted in their restraints and she's coming. She's coming hard and fuck, she tastes good. She tastes amazing.I don't go down on women. I haven't in too long to even remember their taste.But her. I can't get enough of her and when I ease my grip on her thighs, she bends her knees on my shoulders, squeezes and whimpers.I suck harder, drawing out her orgasm, wanting another."Oh God. Please stop!" She's panting and her thighs are squeezing and she's coming again, bucking with her release even as she begs me to stop.I taste her, relish her every breath, every whimper. I only let up when she falls limp on the bed.I kneel up between her legs, look at the gapi
SiennaI walk back into the bedroom and close the door.I look around, take in the sophistication of the place and for all its beauty, it's sterile. Cold. Too clean and impersonal. Only the rumpled sheets and the smell of sex make it less clinical.I walk into the bathroom, glancing at the lights of the strip as I go. The bathroom is big and it's the only room without windows for walls. I lock the door behind me although I don't think I need to. He won't come in.It smells like his aftershave and I wonder if he ever has women here because everything is so masculine.Switching on the shower, I step beneath the flow. Even his soap, when I lather it, smells like him. Like he's in here with me."You're safe."For some reason, being here, in his shower, in his room, in his bed, I feel safe. Which just goes to tell you how screwy my radar is.It's not that he's not dangerous. He is. But not to me. At least not right now.Tonight, I don't have to double-check the locks. Test every window.Ci
GiovanniShe's asleep when I wake in the early morning.It took her a long while to fall asleep but when she did, she slept heavy, not moving once as I held her. Her hair is still a little damp and I smell myself on her. My shampoo, the cologne still lingering on my T-shirt that she's wearing.Even after my shower and while I dress, she remains a still form beneath the covers of the bed.I leave instructions for her by the coffee machine. When she's ready, one of my men will drive her home. If she wants breakfast, she can go downstairs to the restaurant. They'll know to look after her.On the elevator, I type a text to my attorney.Find out what you can about the Williams family, Senator Sean Williams of Maine. I'm interested in the years Sienna Williams was fostered there. She was eleven years old so I'd guess twelve or thirteen years ago. Goes by alias Sienna Chase now. Photo to follow.I send both the text and a photo of her fake driver's license and it seems as soon as I hit send,
GiovanniI've known Jack for over a decade. Met him when I started to work for Lanigan.Murray Lanigan was about eighty when I met him in an alley where two idiots were trying to rob him. I say idiots because the fools didn't realize who they were fucking with.I knew. I knew from the minute I set foot on the strip.What the old man thought he was doing without his bodyguard I have no idea. To this day, I'm certain he suffered from some sort of dementia.The casino I own used to be his, but by the time I started working for him, he was old news. A legend, but old news.I beat up the two-bit thugs trying to rob him, and he hired me on the spot. I still think it's because he mistook me for one of his sons, long dead by the time I came on the scene. It was partly my accent, heavier then since I'd just gotten into the country about a month earlier.During one of his rare lucid moments, he changed his will, leaving the casino, hotel and the building itself to me. His children were pissed,
SiennaI blink my eyes open and wait for the room to come into focus. It's silent, a quiet I'm not used to, and bright with morning light.And the instant I remember where I am, my heart rate picks up.I roll onto my back, glance at the empty space beside me. I tug the comforter up, appreciating its weight. I wouldn't use one so thick at home. It's too hot in the summer, but it's cool in the penthouse. Giovanni's got better air-conditioning.The pillow still has its indent from where he slept, and I remember the feeling of his arms around me, his body like a solid wall at my back.I sit up to take in the room. The bathroom door is ajar, the light out. He's not here. I know. Not in the bedroom and not in the apartment.I get out of the bed. I'm still wearing his shirt and I catch the hint of aftershave clinging to it.Barefoot, I pad across the hardwood floor and open the door to step into the hallway, putting a hand to my hair to tamp it down. It seems to grow to three times its size