Chapter 4
Chapter Four
NADIA
I don’t remember much about the wedding. The entire day felt like a dream—a dream I couldn’t wake up from, no matter how hard I tried. The ceremony was lavish, extravagant in every way, as expected. My father, always so careful about appearances, made sure the world knew this was no ordinary union. The grand catholic cathedral, the diamond-studded decorations, the endless array of guests from every corner of the criminal underworld, all gathered to witness the marriage of two powerful families.
Besides his initial hesitation over my father’s stipulation that I came as part of a package with my specific bodyguard, Carlos Medeiros' first son, Benicio, was every bit the perfect gentleman in public—smiling, charming, exchanging pleasantries with the elite who came to celebrate this twisted arrangement…and constantly kissing the back of my hand in reverence. I knew having an intact maidenhood gave me more value…but this? It was almost disgusting how he and his father beamed at the news. His grin was always wide, the kind of grin that you could never quite trust. His eyes—dark, calculating—always lingered just a bit too long, making my skin crawl every time they found mine.
But the moment the final vows were exchanged, when the rings were slid onto my trembling finger, everything changed.
The moment we were out of sight of the guests and behind the closed doors of our new home, Benicio's smile disappeared. The facade cracked, revealing the cold, ruthless man beneath. I could feel it in the air—an immediate shift, like stepping from one world into another.
The car ride to our new mansion was silent, save for the sound of the engine rumbling beneath us, as if it, too, could sense the heavy shift in the atmosphere. My stomach twisted with anxiety, my chest tight as the miles rolled by. Romy was forced into a separate vehicle behind us and for once, I admittedly regretted the distance. Though I didn’t trust Romy, I trusted Benicio Medeiros even less.
Romy was the most familiar of two evils here.
When we finally arrived, I barely had time to take in the sprawling estate—large, ominous, like a prison waiting for its new inhabitant. I felt like an intruder in my own life. This was his house now.
Benicio didn’t speak as we entered, only gesturing for me to follow. The hallway stretched ahead, a tunnel of darkness and cold, and as I stepped through the threshold, I felt my throat tighten with dread. His mansion was an extension of his soul—elegant, yes, but suffocating, with walls that seemed to watch and whisper.
We hadn’t even exchanged a word before he spun around on his heel, his hand grabbing my wrist with a force that made my breath hitch in my chest.
“You’ll learn to behave here, Nádia,” his voice was a low growl, sending a chill through me. “You’re not the little princess anymore. You’re my wife now. And you’ll obey.”
I could barely find my voice. What the heck was he talking about? “What do you?—”
He cut me off with a sharp laugh, his grip tightening painfully around my wrist. “You don’t get to ask questions, not anymore. You’re here because of a deal, and that’s all this is. A deal , Nádia. Nothing more. Don’t think for a second you have any control over what happens next.”
I tried to pull away, but his hand was like iron, his gaze hard and unforgiving as he walked me backward until the back of my knees hit a couch. There was a darkness in his eyes that I hadn’t seen during the ceremony—the mask had slipped, and now I saw the monster that lurked beneath.
“Get used to it,” he hissed through gritted teeth, his breath hot against my ear. “You’ll be seeing a lot of this side of me.”
His clammy hands began undressing me right there. I shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold. What? I wasn’t even allowed the decency of a bedroom? Surely there were servants about? I wasn’t about to put on a show. I struggled against his grip and kneed him in the chest, creating enough distance for me to slip around the other side of the couch.
His pupils dilated and a wicked smile stretched across his face as he began to follow me, removing his shirt in the process.
Each step I took in the sprawling mansion became heavier, the silence more oppressive. I wanted to scream, to run, but Benicio’s eyes followed me everywhere, cold and measured. He was daring me to continue this insubordination. I was contemplating how fast I could run to his kitchen to grab the nearest knife.
“This is how you want to start our marriage, Nádia?” he chuckled, licking his lips. For every step he took, I took one step back, trying to find my escape. “I heard about how lenient your father had become with you. It was one of the main reasons I wanted you. It’s been a long time since I could play with something so…feral.”
What did he just say?
“You’re mine now, Nádia. Bought and paid for,” he smirked.
“Over my dead body.”
“Don’t give me promises you can’t keep, baby girl. You’re my wife . You’ll learn to behave, or I’ll teach you,” he purred right before he lunged for me, knocking a lamp off the table.
I shivered at the coldness in his words, realizing just how much of a prison this mansion had become—more so than my own home.
I turned to run, only to have my face slam onto the floor as he grabbed my ankle, dragging me back with a cackle.
I snapped, unable to hold it in any longer. “You can’t just?—”
He cut me off by dragging me across the floor to the closest wall, then forcing me to my feet. Slamming his hand against the wall beside me, he leaned in and licked the side of my face like a rabid dog.
“The taste of innocence has always been my favorite flavor,” he groaned, thrusting himself against me between our clothes. My hand moved before I could give it a command, slapping his face with a loud smack that reverberated through the room. I ducked just quick enough for his fist to land through the drywall. Bringing my knee up, I slammed into his crotch, giving me enough time to run out the front door.
I caught some of the maids with their hands over their mouths, their eyes full of betrayal as they glared in my direction. Me? ME? They were all serving a tyrant!
The moment I crossed the threshold of Benicio’s mansion, something stirred within me—a fleeting, foolish hope that I could escape. I should have known better. It was all a cruel lie. Where would I go? I couldn’t go back to my father’s house. Benicio was right about one thing—I was already bought and paid for, sealed in a contract of power and blood.
But still, my eyes were drawn to the sprawling woods surrounding Benicio’s estate. My pulse quickened as I stared at it, a weak beacon of escape. I just needed to run…
“Nádia!” Benicio’s roar shattered my thoughts. Heart pounding in my chest, I kept running down his steps, already knowing what was coming but willing to risk it anyway.
I could hear his fist slam against the doorframe, as he ordered his men to stop me.
"Get her!" He didn’t care if the entire house witnessed what was happening, all he cared about was getting control of me.
I chanced a look over my shoulder and ran into the hard body of one of his men who was just exiting the passenger side of one of the vehicles that pulled up to the front of the home. He stumbled, clearly taken off guard by the collision. I didn’t waste a second. I grabbed his side piece—the gun tucked discreetly in his waistband—and yanked it free. His surprised yelp did little to slow me as I brought it up to his face.
“Don’t move,” I ordered, sounding more calm than I was. Most standard capacity magazines carry fifteen rounds—that’s fifteen chances for me to escape this hell hole.
A look of confusion crossed his features as his gaze flicked between me and Benicio.
I could hear Benicio’s voice, a mix of fury and control, bellowing orders behind me, but the sound of my racing heart began to drown him out. That was until I looked up, eyes locking with a familiar face.
Romy.
His gaze was hard and unreadable, but his eyes narrowed the moment he saw me—saw what I was holding. He didn’t flinch, didn’t hesitate. He brought up his own side piece toward me and his betrayal sliced through me like a serrated blade. I knew I should have killed him in his sleep before the wedding. I was such a fool.
“You’ve really done it now, haven’t you?” he said, his words sharp.
I gritted my teeth, trying to keep my composure, trying to figure out who I needed to shoot first, Romy or the guy in front of me.
“Stay out of my way, Romy,” I snapped.
He chuckled low in his throat, a dark, bitter sound. “You just couldn’t help yourself could you?”
Before I could throw a retort back, I saw his trigger finger move and ducked. He unloaded shot after shot as return fire came back. I slammed my hands over my ears, refusing to let my own side piece slip out of my grip.
I could feel the anger surging through my veins, the heat rising in my chest. The bastard was going to shoot me!
Chaos erupted as screams from inside Benicio's home spilled out into the night, the terrified shouts of his maids scrambling for cover.
“Get out of my way,” I repeated, as I weaved around them to make my escape. I had just stepped around the blacked-out vehicle when Romy just stepped forward, his gaze unwavering, like steel.
“You don’t get to run,” he said, voice low and dangerous. "Not now, not ever.”
Before I could raise my gun and shoot his face off, he twisted my arm and maneuvered me in a way that forced my submission and my gun over to him. “Be a good girl for once, and shut up before you get into any more trouble.”
“You assho—” My breath was forced out of my lungs as he threw me over his shoulder and began to run toward the trees, releasing a few more rounds in the direction of Benicio’s home. I almost fell off his shoulder when he abruptly turned and threw a punch to a man’s face with brass knuckles, knocking his bloody teeth out.
Another blacked-out car screeched to a stop, its windows rolling down to reveal a few of my father’s men, guns drawn, aiming behind us and picking up right where Romy had left off.
Was this all planned? Why did no one tell me this was going to happen?
After what felt like thirty minutes, the only sounds that followed us were the crunching of leaves, snapping of twigs, and Romy’s steady breathing.
“What is wrong with you?” I screeched after deciding we were far enough away from Benicio’s property.
A hard hand slapped my ass as he continued to slow to a jog.
“Put me down!”
“ Amiira , there you go again, being a bossy little bitch,” he teased, his voice laced with mock sweetness. “A simple thank you would be appropriate.”
I could practically hear that damn smug smirk of his. I kicked and kneed him, frustrated, until he had no choice but to toss me off his shoulder, dropping me roughly to the ground.
Before I could throw a foot between his legs, he dropped his weight and pinned me down. I was tired of him reading my mind, tired of his stupid face, tired of this entire ordeal. I lost it and fought against him with all my strength. He blocked each slap with ease and forced my legs into submission under the weight of his.
We were both panting, so close to each other’s faces, I could feel his breath against my skin, both of us glaring at each other with nothing but disdain. Every inch of me screamed to push him away, the rage inside me burning hotter with each passing second.
“You really think you’ve got me figured out, don’t you?” I spat. “I should have shot you in the head first.”
He grinned—infuriatingly smug, like he always did when he knew he had the upper hand. “I think I’ve got you pegged just fine, amiira . Perhaps the men were right. Perhaps you do need the wildness forced out of you.”
I clenched my jaw, debating if I should bite a chunk of his cheek off his face. “You’re just a lapdog for my father, nothing more.” I seethed, my hands curling into fists beneath his grip. “You’re nothing but a pathetic, arrogant?—”
His eyes narrowed dangerously, his pupils momentarily turning into inhuman slits, before he slammed his mouth over mine, dominating me with a kiss I had never expected. It was wild, raw, untamed, nothing like our trysts back home. Even during our worst spats, he had never been like this—unhinged as if I finally hit a nerve.
And curse my treacherous body, it responded to his dominance. I struggled initially, testing him, seeing how far he would let me, but soon enough, the hands that were pushing him away were pulling him closer.
He nipped my lips and I gasped, about to curse him to hell when he swallowed my screams as he released my wrists and jerked the fabric of my dress up, his hot palms searing my skin as he trailed it down my outer thigh.
“Be a good girl for once, amiira ,” he panted against my mouth, trailing his rough kisses and his shadowed jaw along mine.
The brat inside of me couldn’t help it. “Fuck you.”
“I was going to do it anyway,” he chuckled before he forced my legs apart, throwing one of them over his shoulder. My eyes widened when he ripped open the top of my dress, spilling my breast out into the open air right before he covered my nipple with his hot mouth.
A foreign sound escaped me as I cradled his jaw, scratching my nails down his stubbled face. The snap of my underwear band made me grab his face and pull him up for another kiss as he pressed his hot and engorged cock against the apex of my legs.
Was I really doing this? Was I really letting my father’s former capo-turned-bodyguard deflow?—
“Oh, my fucking?—”
The pain was searing. There was no mercy in his moves as he thrust himself all the way inside me with one swoop. Tears sprang up at the corners of my eyes and all he could say was, “It was always going to be this way, amiira . Did you really think I was going to let another man take you? I claimed you the moment I set foot in the Nogueira empire. You just didn’t know it yet.”
What was he saying? I couldn’t have been but a child when he came into my father’s employ. “What the he?—”
His tongue dove into my mouth with the same aggression he gave to his thrusts, scraping my back across the forest floor. The strength of his carnal desire bordered desperation—one that spoke of a man who needed to make a statement, one that needed retribution.
And damn me if my body didn’t start to grow accustomed to his brutality as my arousal created a slick haven for his invasion amidst the inferno we were creating. I could do nothing but hold onto his shoulders, praying he didn’t slam my head into a tree in the process of his domination as he twisted his hips in a way that began to tease my clit.
“Keep your eyes on me, amiira . I’m the only one you’re going to be worshiping from now on, you hear me? Your life never belonged to you.” My eyes rolled to the back of my head as he enunciated each word of his final statement with a hard thrust. “Pretty little bratty princess in her high castle,” he whispered, licking the crook of my neck and biting my shoulder as if he were an animal, one with nature out here beneath the light of the moon.
“I hate you,” I panted, digging my nails into his shoulder and lifting my hips to match his thrusts.
“I know you do. I need you to. Because this,” he thrust once more and turned me over, lifting my ass into the air before continuing his brand of fucking. “This will be the first day of your taming, amiira ,” he groaned. “And I plan to savor every moment of your blood on my cock.”
“Fuck you,” I screeched as my pleasure skyrocketed with his every word, every scrape of his cock inside of me. When my pussy began to spasm, I mewled much to my own shock and dismay.
“Oh, I plan to, amiira . I plan to fuck you until all you can think about is being on your knees before me. Tasting us on your lips as I come into your mouth every night. You’ll thank me for it and beg for more.”
“Never,” I squealed as my climax hit me like a punishment rather than a reward. He didn’t stop. If anything, he forced me to ride out my pleasure and pain until all I could do was sob against the leaves beneath my cheek.
“I’m going to breed you, amiira . The way you should have been bred the moment you thought teasing me was a good idea.” With a few final thrusts, he covered my back and grabbed my neck to turn my face toward his. I could feel his hard cock spill inside of me, the hot jets of his release filling me to the brim and leaking from between us. “You shouldn’t play with predators, amiira , if you don’t want to be eaten.”
I quietly sobbed as the aftershocks of my climax came in waves, matching his throbbing cock. He slowly rocked into me, licking my tears before revealing his final plan.
“The Nogueira empire ends here. Your father thought he could control me, though he could move me like a simple soldier,” he chuckled against the back of my hair, rubbing his face against me like a feline as he continued his leisurely thrusts, running his seed down the inside of my thighs. “Fucking his daughter on the forest floor is just the first step. Viriato will be the first of the old kings I kill. You played with the wrong beast, amiira . Because I plan to destroy them all and burn this world to the ground with their ashes beneath my feet. And you? You’ll be by my side, bringing forth the most powerful empire this world has never seen.”
“You’re insane,” I whispered in a moan as he pulled himself out. Was it wrong of me to feel both horror and deep-seeded ravenousness for this man? I shouldn’t want him the way I did, but here I was on this floor, still in full submission as if he had woven a spell over me, willing to give my body up for sacrifice once again if he so wished it.
“I’ve sold my soul to the devil, amiira ,” he purred, loosening his hand around my throat, but never fully letting go as if to make sure I understood his metaphorical collar of ownership. “And tonight, you’ve just sold yours.”