Sliding a possessive arm around my waist, a little tightly and almost frog marches me to the dance floor. He does an up and down look of my dress with obvious disdain and tenses that square jaw of his. ‘‘I hate this fucking dress you look like a hooker.’’ He is all charm tonight isn’t he?‘’Thank you, that’s the look I was going for.’’ I answer smugly as he hauls me into position on the floor and starts dancing me slowly to a very boring piece of classical music, pulling me into his command and almost lifting me off my feet with how tightly I’m held. It’s hardly loving or comfortable and is just an aggressive show of how pissed he is at me.‘’You think I am not tallying all this shit up in my head … for later?’’ He almost growls it with furrowed brows and tone husky as hell as my blood turns to ice in my veins. Heartbeat escalating as weakness waves through me. I thin

I try digging my nails into his wrist to try and stop him, but he’s got me held and gagged like he intended, and I can’t get him off no matter how much I thrash, twist and turn. I can barely breathe or open my mouth to attempt biting, as the floods of tears hit me, through the veiled mist of panic.He’s stronger, more powerful and my slight body is no match. Alexi fucks me for only seconds, until I am in the throes of emotional hysteria so great my legs give out, and I end up being held up completely by him before he stops. The point of his effort was not his sexual gratification—it was a plain and simple lesson in my defiance. A tool to hurt me for standing up to him again and it was never about sex at all.My eyes are blurry with tears and my nose pouring from the instant sodden mess I have become. My heart is destroyed, my soul torn in two and I can’t see from the blind panic of being unable to get free. Pain wracking through me from th

 I literally feel like I have walked the streets of the Hamptons for days, alone and afraid, and yet it’s only been hours. I have never felt so distraught and sick with regret in all my life. I have walked in circles and gone through a million doubts and emotions in the meantime, and feel completely ravaged mentally.I got to the bus depot not long after I got away from Mico, and then lost my courage when I saw two boys who could have been Alexi’s brothers at the terminal and realised I am in the land of Carrero. They all live and breathe around this part of the world, word would fly fast about wherever I was heading. I mean there are not many harlot redheads in this part and I stand out like a sore thumb.Five foot six, slender with large breasts and a trim body, red hair, pouting red lips on a pretty attractive face and dressed head to foot in designer black, figure-hugging tailoring and high-heeled boots. I am hardly easy to hide even with a mismatc

 ‘’Don’t do that, she wasn’t part of that life, and she didn’t have it in her to shoot anyone, she still couldn’t—so leave her out of this.’’ Alexi is warning him; and a hint that he loves his mother comes through, a hint that he’s capable of loving his family properly.I find that hard to digest, and also saddened that he can feel for people yet still can’t for me. Gino mentioning the kingdom crumbling though? He thinks that kind of love will make him weak? Somehow affect who he is and how he does his job? It makes no sense to me.‘’Still protecting her Lex, even after all this time? She failed you and turned you into this monster. You changed. Instead of dealing with the fallout, she pushed you towards dad and hushed you up about what you did, so she didn’t have to admit it happened.’’ Gino sounds ready to cry and I cry instead, aching for a little boy who shot someon

 I don’t know what his business entails when he’s not and I would rather never find out, to be honest. Seeing glimpses of some of the men he deals with and knowing he never has his phone away from him at all hours, day or night, has given me a rough idea that his empire and responsibilities are huge.He carries a lot while still maintaining a dominant stance and unbreakable demeanour to his enemies all around, while they play nice to his face. No wonder he is such a psycho.I wouldn’t last five minutes doing what he does; it’s why he’s so good at manipulation and coercing people and situations. I can see why he is what he is, but it doesn’t make me forgive him in any way or swallow it any better. He’s cold because he is immune to suffering and death. He has probably killed his fair share of people in the last nineteen years since he first pulled that trigger, and I don’t doubt with every single one he lost a little b