Captive Souls

Chapter 22

Twenty-Two

Knox

I had planned for every eventuality.

As well as one could in a situation like that—with as many moving parts as there were. There were a lot of elements outside of my control. But I felt confident I could handle it.

I’d spent the majority of my life preparing for a moment like that. Every second I was in Stone’s employ, I’d been watching. Learning. Prodding weak spots, understanding the structure of the hierarchy. Cutting the head off the snake would ensure there was chaos for a time, but the serpent would grow a new head eventually. My goal was to create the most chaos possible. And the person who became the new don would have a lot to deal with before they even thought to try to pursue me. That’s if they were stupid. If they were smart, they’d know to thank me or leave me alone lest Stone’s fate befall them.

Though I was realistic, I understood that even I might not have the skills or stamina to be successful in my mission. But I had the cold determination of knowing that I had to be successful in my mission in order to keep my woman safe.

I’d happily bleed out if I knew that my death meant keeping her safe.

I’d already put plans in place if I wasn’t successful. A bank account with more than enough money for a lifetime, new identities for her and Daisy, a way out of the country if she wanted or somewhere to disappear to if needed. All of my holdings would move to her name, except a considerable sum to be put in a trust for Mabel.

I didn’t think that it would go that far since I was confident I would at the very least kill Stone. There was no way I’d submit to death if the man who had caused my woman pain and suffering was still bleeding.

I’d considered a lot of different options for how I’d go about my task. Maybe the smartest one was to stick to the shadows, wait until he was alone in bed then just put a bullet in his brain. Clean. Safer. No witnesses.

But that wasn’t what the hungry sadist inside of me wanted. In my fury, I’d let myself become a victim of my own ego. Not only did I want to kill him, I wanted to do it where he felt safe. When he felt like he’d won.

And I knew that he was stupid enough to not order me to be killed on sight. As if his soldiers possessed the skill to kill me in the first place.

He likely expected some surprise attack, knowing that I wasn’t dead. He’d upped his personal guard. He was scared. Oh, how I relished that.

What he expected was the attack in the night. Because that’s what he would‘ve done. He’d wait until his prey was at their weakest.

I wanted them at their strongest, to show them just how helpless they were.

So I walked in the front door.

I let them divest me of my weapons—I didn’t need them—reveling in the unease of the heavily armed men watching me sideways as if they expected me to set off a bomb at any moment.

They were inconsequential to me. Little more than flies buzzing around my face. Swatting them wasn’t worth the energy I’d expend.

Stone didn’t stand as I entered the room, merely looked up with what could only be described as a shit-eating grin on his face. It took me seconds to understand why, eventually seeing what he had mounted behind him, for every single person to see when they walked into the room.

It took every ounce of control I possessed to keep my expression blank, to not jump across his desk and rip his throat out with my bare hands.

That’s what he anticipated, after all.

“Knox,” he greeted as if he were expecting me. I could see past his veneer of civility to the fury that lay underneath. It was in the stiffness of his shoulders, the tautness of his body, hand underneath his desk, no doubt touching the gun he kept there. He was scared and angry.

“You are full of surprises,” he said smoothly. “I knew you had talents, but artistry wasn’t one of them. With a paintbrush, at least. We all know your talents with a knife.” He turned his head to stare at the painting, to leer at the ridges and valleys of Piper’s form.

I stood stock still, noting the men behind me had their fingers on the triggers of the guns they were holding. I supposed they were ordered to shoot at any sign of movement.

Not that I cared.

After a long silence, Stone turned back to me. His expression was still pleasant, lips turned up, features relaxed but I didn’t miss the glint of fury in his eyes.

“And here I was, thinking that you had no sexual appetite to speak of,” he continued, his voice straining with fury as he lost hold over his faux civility. “And all it took was the right woman to wake you up. My woman .”

Anger gushed through my veins, but I didn’t move. “She’s mine,” I said, keeping my voice cold and even. “Not that I seek to own her. She belongs to herself first. Women are not possessions. Men like you unfortunately don’t learn that often enough. It’ll be my pleasure to watch you learn the hard way.”

Stone froze for a moment in fury before he threw his head back and laughed. I knew the gesture was forced, for his audience. His bodyguards. Because he was too cowardly to face me alone.

“Look at you, the heartless eunuch now an expert on pussy just because he’s been bewitched by a cunt.” He said the words in his trademark polite tone.

My insides roiled, thirsted for vengeance, to punish him for the way he spoke about Piper.

But that’s what he wanted. He saw me as a feral dog, and he expected that he could just dangle some poisoned meat in front of me and that’s all it would take.

“Should we end the theatrics?” I asked, sounding bored. “We both know this only ends one way.”

Stone looked at me with barely restrained fury before he sighed. “Yes, we know it does.” He stood, making a great show of taking a knife from the sheath at his waist. It shone in the light, polished and clean.

When he rounded the desk, the men beside me came in tighter. A cage. That’s what he thought he had me in, thinking it would be as simple as slitting my throat.

I wanted to smile, but that would‘ve given me away. So I waited.

“Such a shame.” Stone took his time, making his way over to me, the showman he was. “I really considered you as my own son.”

“Makes sense, since my father was a piece of shit.”

His brow twitched. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy this.” He examined the knife. “But remembering how you tasted my fiancée’s pussy before I had the pleasure reminds me I will.” His eyes locked with mine. “And you’ll die knowing that she’s going to be mine for the rest of my life.” He clicked his tongue. “Or hers, which likely promises to be shorter.”

There it was. Just a few seconds away from my moment. My body prepared, coiled, the beast inside me licking its lips.

But Stone didn’t take the step forward I needed. He stopped at the knock at the door, his irritated gaze turning that way.

“I was not to be disturbed!” he shouted. But once he saw who was at the door, his expression cleared.

Then he smiled. Truly smiled.

And it was the smile that sent dread through me.

I didn’t need to turn to know what had turned him so victorious.

I knew. I fucking knew.

“Piper,” he drawled, stepping back. “I’m so glad to have you here.”

And just like that, all of my plans, all of my control, went out the window.

Piper

My heart was throbbing in my feet as I walked into the room. And not just on account of the uncomfortable shoes. I felt the eyes of every man in the room on me as I slowly and with faux confidence walked into the opulent office.

Stone’s inky gaze coated me in filth, but that’s not what almost brought me to my knees.

It was Knox, standing there, flanked by two armed men, standing stock-still, almost shaking with rage, not meeting my eyes until I was almost right in front of him. I might’ve flinched had I not retreated into such a deep part of myself. He was furious. I could feel the rage emanating from him, lashing against his skin like knives. I knew that he’d been confident in whatever he’d been about to do, willing to die in the process and without regret. And I knew I’d gone and ruined all of his plans. Which was the point.

With a deep breath, I looked toward Stone, but not before I caught sight of what was behind him.

My breath caught, and my mask slipped when I saw what was on the wall.

Stone, who hadn’t missed what caught my eye, smirked. “Ah, yes. I was just discussing with Knox my appreciation for his talents. Though I haven’t yet had the pleasure to see you in your entirety, Piper, this paints a picture that you will not disappoint.”

The way he spoke, the ownership he obviously felt over my body, made my skin crawl. Not as much as that painting, that sacred object being on display there, used as a torture device, a trophy for Stone. Sullying it in a way that should’ve been against the laws of nature.

“I’m glad you like it,” Somehow, I kept my composure. “You can consider it a wedding gift.”

Stone paused, his smile clearing from his face as confusion took its place. I reveled in unsettling him. A marker that I was going in the right direction, that I just needed to hold steady.

“I’ll marry you,” I told Stone, refusing to look at Knox even though his stare was flaying layers of my skin and flesh, down to my soul that was his and his alone. “On the one proviso you let him go.” I tilted my head to Knox, keeping my stare on Stone.

Stone’s confusion turned to contempt, his lips pulling back in a sneer. “And what convinced you to think I’m deluded enough to believe that you’ve had such a quick change of heart when you were so … insistent about where your heart, and your cunt, laid at the motel?”

His tone was pleasant, which made the crude words all the more biting. Stone’s true nature was leeching out of his $10,000 suit like snakes slithering through crevices. The anger he felt was fraying his control.

It gave me hope. That he was so furious, betrayed by thinking he could own a woman without consequences, that she’d bow down to him. That anger was my way in. And the delusion that despite all the evidence presented, he still had the arrogance to think I wanted him.

“My heart hasn't changed,” I told him honestly. “I’m still repulsed by the way you’ve gone about this whole thing.” I waved my hand. “I wasn’t lying in the beginning. I wasn’t interested in you. Not in the slightest.” I paused to lick my lips, moving just a little closer to him, though even the small distance disgusted me. “But now that I’ve had a taste of what it’s like to walk on the dark side, so to speak, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t tempt me. The life you offer”

I leaned forward, ignoring all of the tension in the room as I straightened Stone’s already perfect tie, my fingers steady as they stroked the expensive fabric.

In my periphery, Knox shifted on his feet where he stood, unable to remain still with the outrage he obviously felt as I touched Stone. I ignored him, gazing at Stone through my heavy lashes. The man was tense, not wholly convinced, but I didn’t miss the hunger, the triumph in his eyes. He really was fucking stupid enough to think a woman could still want him after kidnappings, beatings, attempted rapes, just because he had money and power.

After silently counting to three, I let go. “And then there’s the case of my sister’s life being in danger.” I took time to inspect my nails, which had been polished just a few hours before. The dirt underneath them from the garden in the mountains of Appalachia was long gone. I missed it like a body part.

I looked back up at Stone who was regarding me with distrust. “It’ll push a girl over the edge. I don’t want to run my whole life. I want a secure life. You can give that to me, can’t you? You have the power to give that to me, don’t you?”

Though he surely hadn’t become the head of a crime organization by believing everything he heard, I knew that I was breaking Stone down. Men were so simple. Stroke their ego, tell them they’re powerful, and they’d be putty in your hands.

“Yes, Piper,” he replied, the knife still in his hand. “I have the power to give you everything beyond your wildest dreams.”

I nodded, batting my lashes. “I expect you’ve done your research on my past.” I’d been thinking a lot about what Knox didn’t know about me. He’d explained that his ‘job’ had been rather last minute, that he’d been overly confident in his ability and hadn’t done the usual research into my background.

It only made sense that Stone would’ve, especially with the resources and time at his disposal. He wanted to control me. And he was smart enough to study me in order to do that.

Stone bobbed his head in response.

“Which may serve as more evidence as to why security is so important to me. Recent events made that all the clearer. And the violence your men didn’t hesitate to inflict upon me.” I raised my hand to my eye. “Along with their casual references to gang rape and attempted rape.”

I could feel white-hot ire radiating from where Knox stood, inches from me. The need to reach out to touch him was so overwhelming it hurt.

But I kept my attention on Stone. “I’ll have to request that there be no more violence against me and my sister, nor threats of sexual abuse.” I said this all blandly, as if the existence of such things didn’t fill my belly with immeasurable feminine fury.

Stone watched me carefully. “As my wife, no one would lay a hand on you. But me, of course.”

His gaze went to Knox, taunting.

I didn’t follow it. My nails cut into my palms from the force it was taking to remain calm. “Of course,” I purred in a way that I hoped was convincing.

The air between Stone and I was electric as he dissected my gaze, looking for falsehoods. I hoped my acting skills were good enough.

“And I have another request,” I broke the silence, my voice sharper this time. “That you let Knox go. Unharmed. And with no one following him or killing him once I’m out of sight.”

Stone’s brow lifted, clearly amused but not convinced. “You think that I’d let him continue to breathe after betraying me?” His tone was eerily civil.

“You’ll have to ensure you do a good job of killing me,” Knox spoke for the first time since I’d walked in, voice coated in furor. I gave myself permission to sneak a glance at him, finding his stare on Stone to be unyielding, free of any kind of defeat. “Because if there is an ounce of breath left in my body, I’ll be coming back. For you. For her.”

I flinched at the sheer reverence in his words. His vow was full to the brim with the enormity of his feelings for me, his devotion to me, that it kneecapped me. I struggled to stay standing, to keep the sob in my chest from escaping.

“He did his job, even if it wasn’t the way you intended,” I told Stone, taking every ounce of strength that Knox had shown me I possessed in order to keep up the facade. “He broke me. He brought me here. To you. Willing. To marry you.”

When Stone looked from Knox to me, I didn’t wither under his glare, despite how uncomfortable it made me. Despite how much agony I was in.

I felt it. Knox’s life hanging in the balance. The need Stone had to punish him. To show me that no one was coming to save me.

“He has said himself that he’ll come for you if I leave him breathing,” Stone pointed out. Though I could hear acquiesce in his tone. It might’ve been working. I thought I could maybe save Knox. If I was willing to abandon my humanity.

I drew in a deep breath.

This was it. This was the part that required every ounce, every shred of my strength, scraped from my insides, from my organs. It tore at my soul as I finally looked at Knox.

I might’ve jolted at his expression, it was so utterly determined. His eyes were blazing, nostrils flaring, mouth parted.

Utterly devoted.

To me.

But I couldn’t flinch. Couldn’t break. I was there to save us, after all, even if it ensured there would never be an ‘us’ again. Even if I broke him in a way he didn’t deserve.

“He will only come for me if he thinks I want him,” I told Stone, my voice detached, foreign. I took a measured breath, forcing myself to look Knox up and down with distaste I couldn’t feel. Not ever. Not in a million years.

Outwardly, I looked as if I found him lacking—at least that’s what I hoped I looked like. Inwardly, I was committing every piece of his beauty to memory. Preserving him as perfection inside me, where I could treasure him long after the dust settled from the ruins.

“I don’t,” I declared when I found his eyes. “Want you. I don’t want you.”

Again, my voice was impressively strong. Mean. Cold.

“You are … wrong ,” I continued, my heart shredding into countless pieces, pain spearing every inch of my soul as I forced revulsion I didn’t feel into my tone. “You are … ruined. It’s not your fault, I know.” Sickly sweet, poisonous pity seeped from my words.

Pitying him. In front of an audience, no less. It was the worst thing I could’ve done to him. The most hurtful thing. To imply that his damage and his trauma made him weak. Like it didn’t make him the strongest, most complicated, multifaceted, extraordinary man I’d ever had the honor of knowing. Loving.

“I thank you.” I clasped my hands in front of me so he wouldn’t see them trembling. “For showing me what I really need. What I really desire.” I looked to Stone. “A powerful man who is able to operate in society, not chained by the shadows like you are. You’ll never be able to give me the life I want.”

There it was. Poison, sickening and vile, but hopefully convincing enough.

I turned away from Knox. I couldn’t bear to look at him. Instead, I took my cues from Stone, whose smile had grown wider and wider as I spoke. He believed me, I guessed.

“Ah, isn’t this nice. ” He clapped his hands together before grabbing me roughly and pulling me against his body.

I squeezed my eyes shut for a second to survive the unwelcome touch, steeling myself from fighting against him or kneeing him in the balls.

He was still holding the knife. Which meant my life wasn’t safe. He wasn’t wholly convinced. And he enjoyed torturing Knox.

His hand stroked my hip, creeping upward, across my bruised ribs to the underside of my breast, not quite fondling me, but it was an assault. I winced at the pain from it, yet Stone only held me tighter. Tears stung my eyes, and I tasted copper as I bit into my lip to stop from crying out.

Though I knew it was a mistake, I looked at Knox again.

His face was blank.

Completely blank. Not even like it had been when he first took me, devoid of human emotion. This was something else. I couldn’t explain it. It was as if he’d left, the shape of his face changed, and I swore, something inhuman and feral lurked beneath his eyes. His wrath was that deep.

“You’ll forgive me, my darling, if I don’t believe you at face value,” Stone’s voice was deep, warm. “It is partly on account of you whoring yourself out to the first of my men you encountered.” I had to swallow a whimper of pain when he held me rougher. The grip promised more violence. “I’ll be taking measures to ensure your … loyalty to me.” I forced my limbs to remain where they were when he leaned down to lay his lips on my neck. “I could make you bend over for me, right here, in front of Knox to show him what you’re giving to me,” he whispered., but not quietly enough for Knox and his men not to hear.

My stomach lurched at the threat. Not quite a threat either. He was actually considering it. Weighing his options. If he did order me to do that, it meant I was dead. I understood that if he truly wanted me to be his wife, he wouldn’t expose me that way. He held a fucked-up version of honor. He wouldn’t let his men see me like that.

I didn’t have a plan if he did do that. Other than fighting like hell and hope I won. Hope Knox won.

Stone kept me there, in the purgatory of his indecision for a full minute. I counted the seconds. It was all I could do to keep sane. It took him fifty-seven seconds to act.

Keeping a firm grip on my ribs, he pulled back, his fingers again brushing below my breast. The sound that came out of his throat sounded like a laugh, but it scraped down the sides of my soul.

“I had planned on disposing of you.” Stone tucked a loose curl behind my ear. “Not before tasting what has bewitched the most ruthless of my men.” His eyes flit to Knox for a split second before returning to me. “But you have changed my mind. I’ll have you. Knox, you did me the great favor of disposing those of my men who had knowledge of you fucking her.” A pause, Stone’s gaze never leaving mine. “Well, almost all of them…”

In one swift movement, Stone had removed something from his jacket, two loud pops sending the men at Knox’s side tumbling to the ground with heavy, wet thumps.

There was a ringing in my ears.

I gaped down. To where Stone had shot his own men. In cold blood.

Blood trickled from their heads. Warmth dripping down my cheek told me it coated my skin.

Knox was immobile in front of me. I struggled to do the same, but my knees trembled, and I was glad that I didn’t have much to eat today or it might’ve been all over Elizabeth’s designer shoes.

Suddenly, the room was smaller, shrinking so it squeezed against my ribs harder than Stone’s hand. It was incredibly intimate—and not in a good way—to have the only living men in the room be Stone and Knox.

My savior and my captor.

Stone was still holding me. Armed. His dangerous energy strangled me.

“Now, I’m sure you’re still filled with all sorts of intentions,” Stone addressed Knox. “Revenge being the most pressing of them. Even if my fiancée has made it clear that she finds you … lacking.” He sighed. “I know it’s hard to let go. Bear in mind, if I so much as catch a glimpse of you...”

My breath caught as I felt a warm barrel on my temple. The gun that had just ended two lives.

“I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in my pretty wife’s skull,” Stone explained pleasantly.

He kept the barrel there as my eyes locked with Knox’s, drowning in the waters I’d so willingly jumped into, thinking I could swim.

The gun stayed at my head, my heart hammering in terror. Not for me dying, but for Stone pulling the trigger and having Knox watch me die. He’d never come back from that. Never stop punishing himself.

“Have I made myself clear, Knox?”

Knox looked as if he might grind his teeth to dust, not taking his eyes off me. He was furious. He was also making promises. About coming for me. Saving me. Not out loud. He said it all with his eyes. Even if we both understood that couldn’t happen. Not anymore.

He nodded once, brutally.

“I’ll give you ten seconds to get out of this room,” Stone’s voice was feather soft, gun still at my temple.

Knox used only five of them before he took measured, unhurried steps to the door. When it closed behind him, I got the distinct feeling that I was never going to see him again.

My plan hadn’t been overly complex. Get close enough to Stone to kill him. Simple was good, it couldn’t go wrong. How hard was it to get close to the man who wanted to rape and kill me at best and marry me at worst? Like Lukyan said, Stone was conditioned to underestimate me, and that would be when I’d strike.

I hadn’t accounted for Knox. On Stone killing two of his men in cold blood and then hurriedly having me taken from the room and put into a car, en route to his home.

Which was where I’d ended up. An hour outside New York, on a sprawling estate, grand with vast gardens. It was picturesque, like it had been plucked out of an English countryside. Made of stone with large, stained glass windows and exquisite marble statues in the entryway.

How such an evil man could live somewhere so seemingly pristine and magical was beyond me. The pretty walls contained revolting memories, blood that had been wiped clean. Of that I was sure.

Stone had handed me off to men in suits who obviously didn’t know of my past with Knox and weren’t aware that their mighty leader would kill them in a heartbeat if they so much as overheard the wrong information. I wanted to tell them that, but I doubted they’d listen to the word of a captive.

I wasn’t under any false illusions that Stone was actually going to marry me. How could he? He was a man of a certain code, and him knowing I’d been with Knox was him thinking that his property—me—was tarnished in some way. An absolutely absurd way of thinking but there I was, feeling like I was back in the 1800s where women were property to powerful men.

I was sure he was going to play with me, torture me maybe, rape me, but not marry me. I didn’t plan on any of those things happening, not that anyone who was raped or tortured was planning on it.

No one told me anything as I was walked through the hallways of the home, without a speck of dust to be seen, decorated in rich reds and reminding me of an old Italian villa with the furnishings to match. Everything was tasteful, elegant.

The ogre had good taste. Or enough money to pay someone who did.

The men in suits didn’t speak to me, and I didn’t attempt to make conversation. There was no point; I wouldn’t make friends there. I was alone.

The thought was distinctly terrifying but also … empowering. I wasn’t weak or simpering, and I was unwilling to give up and wait to be saved. Knox had showed me the power I had inside me, the strength, coiled and waiting for me to let it out. My mother was a victim to a man who took everything from her, and I’d learn from her fate.

I’d make my grandmother proud.

I’d make Knox proud.

Most importantly, I’d make myself proud.

The room I’d been shown to was lovely. An enormous bedroom with a wooden, four-poster bed, a fireplace, a balcony that jutted out with a view of the pool and courtyard below. The smell of roses swept into the room through the open doors. A seemingly tempting escape—it wasn’t that high, and there didn’t appear to be any armed guards patrolling the perimeter, but I wasn’t technically a captive, was I? I’d gone there of my own volition and had said I’d wanted this.

Stone was smart enough to see through my lie, or at least suspect it. The balcony was some kind of test, I was sure. Or maybe a taunt.

I went to the ornate marble bathroom to splash water on my face until I remembered it was covered in a thick layer of makeup. I blinked through the heavy false lashes, wanting to rip them off.

But I didn’t. Couldn’t. I had to be this poised, false woman in white, standing in a marble bathroom with no allies for miles.

I jumped as the sound of ringing echoed from the bedroom. Following the sound, I was surprised to see a phone on the nightstand beside the bed. Who still had landlines? Mafia Dons needed to communicate with their captive fiancées somehow, I guessed.

Figuring it was for me, I answered it.

“Piper, I trust your accommodations are to your satisfaction.” Stone’s tone was warm, as if he hadn’t just murdered two men in front of me hours before.

I clutched the phone tighter. “My … accommodations?” I repeated. “You’re not expecting me to sleep with you?”

I’d known upon first glance that I wasn’t in Stone’s bedroom. There were no personal effects, nothing male about it, and the large closet was empty. No shrines to the horned god or stone slabs with chains for sacrificing virgins. Not that he’d leave evidence of the true sadist he was.

“So eager?” he teased in a charming deep tone. “No, I’m afraid I’m old fashioned in that regard.” There was a loaded pause. I picked at my cuticles so I didn’t rush to fill it. “I know you don’t stand on ceremony in regard to who you fuck.”

I flinched at the words delivered in that same polite tone. but I didn’t miss the bite, even through the phone.

“I’d rather let some time go by before we venture into that portion of our relationship,” he continued placidly. “We have forever, after all.”

Forever. Or as long as he deigned to keep me alive, was what was left unsaid.

I didn’t speak. What was there to say?

“I’ll be home for dinner by six thirty,” he continued. “I’ll expect you at the table not a moment past.” Order saturated his tone. And the promise of retribution should I not heed it. An omen of what a life would be like under the thumb of this man. I reveled in the fate I was saving the next woman from.

“I’ll be there,” I promised, glancing at the clock that had barely struck twelve. My stomach panged with hunger and thirst. I ignored it.

“Good. I’m so sure you’ll like it here, Piper,” he added before he rang off.

My hand was shaking as I put the phone down. I was most definitely out of my depth there.

Six hours. I had six hours to learn not only how to swim in these shark-infested waters but to become a shark myself.

Knox

Powerless.

I had promised myself I would never be powerless again. Never in a position where my life was controlled by outside forces. People.

I’d always been the most dangerous person in the room. The most feared. My fate my own. My demons my friends. I’d never been more in control than I had been in Stone’s office, poised to kill him.

Yet since the moment I’d laid eyes on Piper, I’d become untethered from all of it. I’d been operating by lying to myself that I was still able to grasp on to the reins.

It had all come crashing down when Piper entered Stone’s office, clad in white, looking like a dream and embodying my worst fucking nightmare.

Powerless. I’d been powerless while watching her offer herself up to save me. Spouting lies, thinking that she was convincing enough in her coldness to make me think she didn’t care. When her whole fucking soul burned for me. When I knew every inch of it and could tell by the flutter of her eyelids and the tremble of her bottom lip how much her words pained her.

Watching the pain she felt while she thought she was hurting me was the most agonizing thing I’d experienced in my existence. Followed closely to Stone’s hands on her, her wincing in pain, the fucking barrel of a gun to her head. One twitch of his finger and every part of her would’ve been extinguished.

I paced my penthouse, vowing to kill Lukyan. He’d given me his word that he’d take care of her, yet she’d somehow been able to make it to Rosso. And no fucking way did she accomplish that alone, I didn’t doubt Piper was capable, but no one outsmarted or escaped Lukyan He’d helped her. Led her to her death like a lamb to the slaughter. Dressed her in fucking clothes she couldn’t even fight in, that constricted her, packaged her up like a goddamn treat.

Powerless. He’d made her appear powerless.

Which I knew was the point in their little, fucked-up plan, but it was by no means infallible. In fact, it had a less than 1 percent chance of fucking working.

Yes, I’d make him pay. But now was not the time.

Think... I had to fucking think.

Piper was in Stone’s hands.

His hands were likely all over her, his lips on her skin.

I sent a vase smashing against the wall as if destroying something so meaningless would take the edge off the fury practically blinding me.

I eyed the shards and craved the feel of them cutting into my skin, the relief of some pain, subduing the buildup of poison barreling through me.

But that wouldn’t help. Not then.

Piper was no longer at the restaurant. I knew Stone well enough to know that he’d taken her to his residence outside of New York. Because he was smart. Because he expected me to come for her, and he had every inch of that property surveilled. He would’ve scented me from five miles away if I hastily tried to approach it.

And he’d kill Piper. Of that I was certain. He wouldn’t wait for me to come to make a big production out of it. He’d do it, then he’d wait for me to come upon her lifeless body, watching in satisfaction as I crumbled before his eyes.

There was no way for me to get to her. Not immediately anyway.

That meant she was alone. Alone with him and his whims and cruelty.

The simple thought had panic, sheer, unbridled panic hurtling through my heart.

She’d been alone with me and survived it, I reminded myself.

I must’ve had something foreign in my blood to believe she’d survive him.

Yet I had to have faith . Not in some obscure deity created by man in order to control women. I had faith in Piper .

But nonetheless, I was completely fucking powerless.

I wanted to reduce the world to ashes to protect her, to save her, but all I could do at that point was trust she had the flame inside of her to do it herself.

Piper

I didn’t change for dinner. There was nothing for me to change into. Was that another sign of Stone’s temporary plans for me? No clothes or personal affects because I wouldn’t be alive to need to brush my teeth or change my panties?

That only served to motivate me in my mission even more. Kill one of the most dangerous men I’d ever encountered when I didn’t even believe in killing or eating animals. Though I was a vegetarian, appalled at even the thought of helpless animal blood, the blood of men, on the other hand… I could admit I was a little thirsty for it.

I’d spent hours in that room, thinking, stewing. Gazing upon the beautiful vista yet seeing nothing but the woods of Appalachia. I’d spent my hours there, combing over every memory I made with Knox, using it to fortify myself, to build me up.

When the hand on the clock read five minutes to six, I went to my door. I’d been expecting someone to come to escort me, but no one came, and nobody was waiting outside when I opened the unlocked door. I peered down the long hallway. Sense of direction wasn’t my strong suit when it came to mansions. I knew my way around Manhattan and the woods of Appalachia, but not there.

My stomach turned at the memory of a cabin thousands of miles away, half a world away, forgotten by anyone but me and Knox.

With great effort, I pushed him out of my mind, turning left from the bedroom then walking in the general direction I’d come from. Because I wasn’t practiced at being an assassin—if that’s what I was—I hadn’t taken in the layout of this huge house beyond appreciating the Mediterranean furnishings. Rookie mistake.

After a few wrong turns, I found myself in an opulent dining room complete with oil paintings and an outrageously-long table that could’ve comfortably sat twelve people.

The room was bathed in soft candlelight, and the figure sitting at the end of the table was an imposing shadow, coming into focus once I’d traversed the length of the table, doing my best not to limp. I made a mental note to give Elizabeth a tongue lashing for her choice in footwear for my task.

That was if I survived it.

“Piper, you found the dining room.” Stone’s smile was warm as he stood to pull out my chair. He glanced at his watch. “Two minutes late, but we’ll address that later.” Cold promise threaded into his tone, and I restrained a shudder.

I wondered if it was a game. All of it. Leaving me in the room without guards, letting me roam about freely. If this was something he did on the regular, a hobby for the man who didn’t like golf—terrorizing women. It made sense. It was a pastime enjoyed by powerful men for centuries.

Despite my hatred for the man, I kept my expression docile, let him pull out the chair, didn’t squirm when he brushed hair from the nape of my neck and inhaled.

There was a wine glass in front of me, full of amber liquid, and a tall water glass beside it.

“I have come to understand my mistake when I served you wine during our last dinner,” Stone said, taking his own seat. “Rest assured, this is nonalcoholic wine.” He scrunched up his nose. “It does go against my very nature that such a thing exists, but we make sacrifices, don’t we?”

I again did my best not to scowl at him and hurl the nonalcoholic wine in his face.

“Forgive me if I don’t take you at your word.” I picked up the water glass when I realized I hadn’t had a sip of water in hours.

Because of that, I drank greedily and had already taken a large gulp before the burn hit my throat, and I realized it was not water.

I choked the vodka back into the glass, the liquid spilling all over the napkin in front of me and my hands.

Stone had been watching me carefully, hands clasped in front of him. “I suspected you wouldn’t take me at my word,” he shook his head. “Rest assured, Piper, there will be consequences if you don’t trust me in the future.”

I coughed, desperate to get the taste from my mouth, yet unable to find anything at the table for me to wash away the vile taste. Except the wine that Stone assured me wasn’t alcoholic.

My body revolted, reviling the warmth from the small amount of vodka that made it into my system.

I looked at Stone, horrified at the realization of what he had done to me. Just the beginning of the tortures a life with him promised. A bitter taste of my future.

“It’s good for me to gauge how much control you have over your addiction,” he said genially, reaching over to mop the rest of my mess with his own napkin.

“It would’ve served me well to have a wife who fell apart if she happened to be exposed to a bit of wine every now and then,” he continued, belittling my addiction with a handful of words. “I’m sure you’ll taste it on me often enough.” I barely suppressed a shudder at the glint in his eye when he said that.

I was still gaping at him, offended and electrified with fury at this man.

Unbidden, I thought of how instantly Knox swore off alcohol the second he understood my addiction. He didn’t want to cause me even a second of discomfort, didn’t want to consume something that almost destroyed me. Yet Stone delighted in the taste of it on his lips, on forcing it onto mine.

My heart pulsed with pain.

Stone lifted his hand, clicking his fingers. I jumped when the doors opened, and a well-dressed man appeared, holding two steaming plates.

“Giovanni, would you mind getting my betrothed some water and fresh napkins?” he kindly asked as the man—Giovanni, I guessed—nodded once, taking the vodka glass and the sodden napkins away, not even glancing at me as he placed a bowl in front of me.

I stared at the bowl of soup in front of me, crusty bread beside it, and my stomach growled painfully.

My body hungered for his punishment more. This horrible, cruel, entitled man. Seconds passed without either of us speaking, me marinating in outrage that reeked of vodka.

Giovanni returned with what I presumed was water and more napkins.

“Thank you, Giovanni,” Stone said cordially, then the man left.

“It’s not poisoned, I assure you,” Stone informed me when I didn’t do anything but stare at the soup in front of me.

He picked up his spoon and started eating, as if to prove it to me.

Still, I stayed frozen. No fucking way would I sit there and enjoy a meal with him.

“Eat!” he yelled, the unexpected violence in his tone making me jump.

I quickly picked up my spoon with a clatter to obey his command. With Knox, I’d so readily battled him against all of his orders, despite the sheer danger that emanated from him. Yet with Stone, I had genuine fear, knowing the reprimands I would receive would be real and permanent.

I was sure the flavor of the soup was wonderful since it smelled fresh and enticing, but all I could taste was bile. For a while, there were no other sounds in the room but the clink of cutlery against porcelain as we ate our soup.

I didn’t fold first. Any words I had to say to Stone would’ve broken my cover as a slightly willing fiancée. So I waited.

My bowl emptied as I went through the motions of eating. Giovanni came in as if he sensed I was done, sweeping the empty bowl away.

“It might interest you to know,” Stone dabbed at his face with a napkin. “That your sister and one of my younger lieutenants have gone missing.” His jaw twitched, the only sign that this displeased him.

It took everything I had to keep a smile from my face. This was the first concrete news I had that Daisy was safe. If she wasn’t, I didn’t doubt that Stone would have paraded her around this table in handcuffs or with a gun to her head.

“Missing?” I repeated, reaching to take the glass of amber liquid that he had assured me was not alcoholic. I took a small sip. It tasted just as earthy and rich as I remembered wine being, so who could know if it was real or not? I decided I’d worry about the potential relapse later. This was a game I was playing, one I was learning on the fly, but one I intended to win.

“What a shame,” I tutted. “Your favorite bargaining tool is gone, and now you’re going to have to resort to either charming me or threatening me into staying.” I took another long sip of the wine, not breaking eye contact.

Stone watched me carefully, measuring my every word, my posture. He was probing me for weaknesses, sincerity, for threats. Surely, he was smart enough to know that I had come to hurt him, not to concede. Then again, male arrogance knew no bounds.

“I don’t think I’ll have a problem finding … methods to convince you that becoming my wife is in your best interests.” His eyes were aglow with excitement. This was turning him on, thinking of the ways he’d bring me to heel. This wasn’t his first rodeo. He was practiced at torturing, breaking women. Something instinctive told me I was not the first woman to sit there.

My spine tingled with unease, and every instinct inside of me shouted ‘danger.’

The door to the dining room opened and closed before I could say anything and before Stone could threaten me further. Giovanni placed a large bowl of pasta in front of me, creamy and invitingly smelling of garlic and parsley.

“I was also made aware of your preferences when it comes to eating meat,” Stone said, sipping his wine. “And I’ve made the necessary arrangements. Though I hope through our relationship I can coax you over to the dark side. Giovanni makes veal that will melt in your mouth.”

I glanced up at Stone, plastering a smile on my face. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you revel in eating baby animals?” I snapped before I could stop myself.

Stone’s face was blank for a handful of seconds before he smiled, chuckling. The sound was low and throaty and might’ve sounded warm to the casual observer, if you didn’t know what a piece of shit he was.

“Ah, there’s that fire that drew me in. I was worried you’d let it go out in your … time with Knox.” I caught the slight stiffening of his shoulders and the glazing over of his eyes as he mentioned Knox. He was forcing his composure, but I could see the rage festering underneath.

He wanted to punish me. Hurt me. I could see it. Feel it. But first he wanted to coax me into a false sense of security.

Maybe it might’ve worked had he just plucked me off the street, but I doubted it. I was not one to be wowed by grandeur, money, a shiny suit and smile. Not when the man who fathered me was just like him. Cruel and weak.

“It’ll serve you well, having that spark.” He cleared his throat, glossing over the Knox remark.

I forced myself to eat some pasta, if only to have something to do that wasn’t stare at Stone. The flavor profile surpassed even my rage-filled body, and I had to suppress a moan.

“Is that what you want from me?” I asked once I swallowed. “To serve you?”

Stone’s eyebrow raised, and he leaned back in his chair, eyes making a slow trail down my body. “You came here of your own free will,” he said instead of answering once he was done assaulting me with his gaze. “Well aware of the lengths I would go to in order to make you mine. Do you expect anything else from a man like me than a wife who will know her place?”

I considered his words. My next move. How dangerous it would be. Every decision I made felt riskier and riskier. I still couldn’t shake the certainty that Stone had no intentions of marrying me, that he was going to play with me until he wasn’t amused anymore, breaking then discarding me.

If I acted how he expected me to act.

Looking longingly at the most delicious pasta I’d eaten in my life, I reached up with my napkin to dab at my mouth.

Feeling Stone’s eyes on me, I pushed out of my chair, noting him tense as I rounded the table. He turned his body toward me, as if he expected me to attack at any moment.

The small knife that Elizabeth had given me was tucked into the garter belt of the exquisite lingerie I was wearing. It had been slightly weird to put on the lingerie of someone who I had just met, however nice they were, but she’d assured me that it was brand new and had been custom made so there was a spot for the blade so thin, I barely felt it. Except for the cold brush of steel against my inner thigh every time I crossed my legs.

It was a risky spot for the blade, not entirely easily accessible and not good in a pinch, but we’d reasoned that any other kind of weapon would’ve been noticed by the men who had indeed searched me for weapons when I had first arrived at the restaurant.

My hands ached for the blade, thirsting to embed it into Stone’s neck. Patience… I had to be patient. I was not going to be a slave to my anger, let it push me into hasty decisions. No show of brute force would save me there. I needed a delicate touch. I reached back for the zipper of my skirt, bile replacing the aftertaste of the pasta as I shimmied it down to my ankles, revealing the garter belt, stockings and white, lace panties

I’d inspected myself from this angle to see if the blade was visible. It wasn’t. And I was hoping that Stone might be too caught off guard to look too hard at the wrong places.

My hunch about him being a big, old pervert before he was anything else proved correct when his gaze focused in on where my panties left nothing to the imagination.

He pushed his chair out, splaying his legs open with the arrogance of a man who knew that the gesture itself was an invitation, an order and a threat all in one.

I licked my lips and forced a seductive smile onto my face, as if I were hungry, wanting instead of trying to fight back vomit.

I took measured steps toward him before giving away all of my pride and kneeling at his feet, my hands going to his zipper.

His hands went to my hair, fisting it and tugging it back brutally. Nothing in the pain was erotic; it was a grip meant to hurt.

Stone’s mouth was stretched into a satisfied smile as he forced my eyes to meet his. “On your knees for me, Piper. This may be a fruitful union after all.”

My scalp screamed with pain and tears filled my eyes, but I forced myself not to grimace. “I think after I’m done here, you’ll understand how badly I want to serve you.” It wasn’t a lie. I did want to serve a man’s whims. Wanted to kneel at his feet. Just not that man. And I’d serve Knox in the way he preferred. With blood.

Any moment now , I told myself. Any moment now he’s going to see through me .

This was a ruthless, educated man, the head of a powerful crime organization. There was no way a woman baring her pussy and getting on her knees in front of him was enough to make him let down his guard, let go of all sense.

He kept hold of my hair a second longer, pulling even tighter.

This is it , he’s going to hurt me now. It’s over.

He let go of my hair to roughly shove his fingers in my mouth. They were hairy and large and tasted sour.

I forced myself to dutifully suck them even though I wanted to vomit. He moved them roughly, penetrating the back of my throat with a spear of pain, activating my gag reflex. Panic crawled up my throat as he made it hard to breathe. Spots danced in my vision as I fought against my instinct to bite down on his fucking sausage fingers.

Smiling with ill-gotten male satisfaction, he removed his hand in order to unzip his trousers.

My hand on his wrist stopped him. It was bold of me, breaking the sexual tension, and I instantly noted the way his body stiffened, and his eyes glowed with irritation at my action.

“Won’t we be …interrupted?” I asked, still speaking in that faux-raspy tone, eyes darting to the door that Giovanni came in and out of.

Again, I waited for Stone to get suspicious, to understand what I was doing. Ensuring no one was coming in to save him.

Instead, he smiled. Why wouldn’t he? He didn’t think he needed to be saved. He was the one who had the powerless female on her knees. “Shy? I wouldn’t expect that from you.”

I ran my tongue along my front teeth. “If you want me to be yours, I’m just yours.” What I was doing was risky, considering the Knox-shaped elephant in the room. “I’m not a toy.” I forced myself to inject agency into my tone, trying to impersonate the way in which a mob wife might speak. “If I’m yours, I’m yours. No voyeurs.”

Stone smiled wider and leaned over to type into the phone that had been lying beside his plate. I waited with bated breath.

He returned to his stance, leaning back, seemingly relaxed.

With a thundering heart, I went to where his dick strained against his slacks, unzipping it then reaching into his underwear to free it completely.

I circled the base of his cock, gripping it tightly, earning a groan of pleasure from Stone. I looked up at him purposefully. “It’s your power,” I whispered to him. “I couldn’t resist how fucking powerful you are. It makes me so hot.”

My other hand was busy between my legs, finding the small, sharp blade. But from the casual observer, it could have appeared that I was touching myself.

Stone was so deluded that he believed me. Leaning down as if to wrap my mouth around him, I moved rather clumsily instead, freeing the blade and embedding it right where Lukyan had instructed me a femoral artery lay. I stuck it down deep and hard then yanked along the skin to make a long incision in case I was off by a few centimeters. If I was, then I’d almost certainly be dead.

Blood sprayed at my chest in spurts, communicating that I had in fact hit the right place.

Stone let out a muffled yell before I was catapulted out of my haze and burst up, plastering my sweaty hand over his mouth.

His body spasmed as he tried to fight me. I gritted my teeth at his strength, panicking that I was no match for it. He would overpower me. Get my hand, yell for help, then I’d be done for. I forced myself to fight against him, even though it was a losing battle. But within seconds, his grip waned, and his body was no longer stronger than mine.

My eyes were locked onto his as our bodies ended up pressed together in a horrifically intimate position. I watched as his vehemence gave way to apprehension, to realization that he was dying. Then he turned desperate. Helpless. Afraid.

Unable to look away, my heart thumped as blood pooled around us, the intense spurting from his thigh slowing as his robust struggle became weak jerks against me.

My lungs filled with lead as I watched life creep out of his eyes, like water draining from a bathtub.

It was horrifying. Unnatural. I’d never forget it. Not until the day I died.

My heart pounded against my throat as I stayed in place, transfixed, my palm still pressed against the slack mouth of a corpse.

How long did I stay like that? Seconds? Minutes? Who could know? My heartbeat was no longer thundering; it had slowed to a low thump, but it still felt high in my chest, almost in my esophagus.

I stepped away from his body as it slumped off the chair and onto the ground with a loud thump. My eyes darted to the door Giovanni had been entering and exiting from. Would he have heard that and alerted some kind of alarm?

I decided that if that happened, I would not like to be caught in nothing but lingerie, so I quickly shuffled back into my skirt.

The process took seconds, but it felt like eons, the clock in the corner ticking in the now stifling silence.

My breathing came in heavy pants as I fastened my skirt.

I’d done it.

Killed Stone De Luca. Don of the Italian mob. I’d done it. Myself. Without help.

But it turned out that was the easy part.

I still had to figure out how to get out of there alive.