10. Eve
10
EVE
T here is so much beauty in the sight that greets me, but there is so much ugliness and disappointment too. He’s right. My new world is a cage, a beautiful terrible cage, that’s bordered by a dreamy blue ocean, reams of barbed wire and armed guards stationed every few yards apart.
He marches me down a wide path and jerks me to a stop on the edge of a driveway that’s magnified in luxury by the three black Jeeps and the black Ferrari parked there.
“Take a good look around,” he says, crushing me to his side. “Drink it all in… Perhaps now you’ll see that the inside of my bedroom isn’t such a bad deal after all.”
“What is this place?” I whisper.
“I’ve given you the answer to that question already.”
Home.
Beyond the fancy vehicles and the emerald- green lawn is a picture-perfect vista of paradise, or it would be if it wasn’t for all the lookout towers set along the beach.
I turn my head away, determined not to cry. It might be his home, but it will never be mine.
His mansion is like something from the Deep South. It’s an elegant estate with an inherent romanticism about it, but it’s a fortress, nonetheless, shielded with jade flora and tiny pink flowers, and broken glass cemented into every window ledge. Several more modern-looking buildings are situated to the left of it, but they’re no less guarded. I count over a hundred men in total patrolling their boundaries.
I sense him watching me all the time. Drinking in my reaction, feeding off my frustration… I can tell he’s been wanting to show me my hopeless reality for days. Is he tiring of my constant defiance? Too bad. He’s taken nearly everything from me, and it’s all I have left.
“I wasn’t trying to run,” I say quietly. “I know there’s no escape from this place. I know what you’ll do to my parents if I try.”
He laughs. “Then maybe we’re finally starting to understand one another, my angel .”
I don’t want to be his ‘angel’.
I don’t want to be his anything.
“I’ll never understand you!” I try to yank my arm away, but his grip is unflinching. “You’re nothing but a heartless monster!”
“I thought we’d agreed I was the devil?” His dark pools are glinting unpleasantly at me now.
“There’s a difference?”
“A monster is never Machiavellian in his intent, Eve. He’s not that smart or patient. I, on the other hand… You wouldn’t fuck me willingly, so I starved you for two days. It made your submission that much sweeter. A monster would have taken what he wanted from you, then and there.”
“I hate you!” Tears of helpless rage and some other emotion sting the corners of my eyes. “I wish I’d never walked into that damn liquor store!”
“Careful,” he warns, pulling me back to the unwelcome warmth of his body, lust sparking in his hooded gaze. “I tend to find your defiance amusing, but you’re pushing my patience today.” My gaze flickers to the gun tucked into the front of his jeans. “Get back to the bedroom. Wait for me there.”
My stomach lurches in horror. Anything but that.
“Let me at least breathe clean air before you lock me away again!”
“No. You lost that privilege when—”
“Se?or Dante?”
One of his armed guards has approached us, unseen. He’s hovering nervously on the fringes of our altercation.
“What is it?” he snaps.
The guard glances down at his grip on my arm and then shifts his gaze away. He’s a young man, attractive, not much older than me, with the same olive skin and dark hair as him. He’s nowhere near as tall or as imposing, though. His features are sharper, and his muscle tone is less defined.
“Well?”
“Se?or Grayson is waiting for you in sector six.” Despite a thick accent, his English is excellent. “Everything is set up and awaiting your instigation.”
My captor nods. “Tell Grayson I’ll be there shortly. ”
“Yes, se?or.”
“Bedroom. Now,” he says, turning back to me.
“Please.” I shake my head at him, violently. “I’m begging you… Dante .”
A flash of surprise crosses his face before that mask of cold impassivity smothers it again.
“Five minutes,” he snarls, recovering quickly, gesturing toward the beach. “Manuel!” he calls out after the guard, stopping him dead in his tracks. He proceeds to bark at him in Spanish, and more than once I watch the guard’s brown eyes swivel my way.
If I’m going to be stuck here, I need to learn his language. It might be a way of alerting myself to something incriminating said about the Santiagos. “I’m doing all this for you, Ryan,” I mutter without thinking.
My captor stops talking to Manuel. “What did you say?”
My face pales. “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” How could I have been so careless?
“Five minutes,” he repeats, glowering at me. “And don’t disobey me, or else.”
I watch him walk away with a mix of relief and curiosity. Something happened when I said his name out loud just now. It was a shift of energy, a minute transfer of power for a fraction of a second. I shocked him, but why?
“Please, se?orita. This way.” Manuel jerks his head toward the beach, and I turn to follow. I’m suddenly eager to reach the water and sink my toes into the soft sand; to forge a connection to this strange place that is something other than fear and desperation.
He guides me across an immaculate lawn where the grass feels like crushed velvet beneath my feet. He’s careful to keep several feet between us at all times, and his eyes are constantly fixed on the ocean. I get the feeling that this is deliberate. That these are all instructions from him .
Dante.
I inhale sharply, and Manuel snaps his head in my direction.
Shit. I’ve said his name again, albeit in my head this time. Up until now I’ve kept steadfast to my rule—to never ever say it, even when he’s driving me insane in his bed.
I won’t do it again. Not unless I’m forced to. It’s my safe word. A guarantee of his undivided attention.
Once we reach the narrow boardwalk, Manuel stops and motions for me to go on without him. I don’t need to be told twice—I’m practically skipping toward the water’s edge.
This section of the beach is bordered by jagged rocks. There’s a group of men patrolling the summit, and they’re all looking in my direction. I feel like an exotic creature that’s been locked away behind an invisible sheet of glass.
Ignoring them, I keep on walking until the pure white sand turns sticky and dense, and the sea air smells the saltiest. Only then do I sink to my knees and allow the incoming tide to rush up and embrace my skin. I dig my long fingers into the wetness, and gaze out at the blue expanse on the horizon.
I think about all the dangerous men I’ve interviewed over the years. Back then, I hid my intimidation behind my words. Here, I have no notebook… No laptop. He’s stripped away all my safety nets, and without them I feel weak and exposed. He has me suspended on a tightrope of fear and consequence, and I’m too damn scared to look down .
I stay in this position for ages. For as long as I dare. On my knees, immobile. Resigning myself silently to my fate.
Time passes. Five minutes must be long gone by now, but he hasn’t stormed down here to claim me. With a heavy heart, I turn back to the house. The guards have disappeared. Frowning, I sweep my gaze up and down the beach before resting on a lone figure standing in front of the house.
Watching.
Waiting.
Again.
It’s him. He’s changed his shirt, but I’d recognize the breadth of those shoulders anywhere. His sunglasses are glinting jewels in the late afternoon sun.
There’s a presence to this man that goes way beyond his physicality. He may work for ruthless criminals, but he’s his own man. He’s a prince with a fortress for a kingdom, and somehow, despite all he’s done to me, I’m drawn to him in a way I don’t fully understand.
He makes no move to come to me, so I go to him, brushing the sand away from my knees as I rise to my feet. Shielding my eyes, I make my way across the beach, but my footsteps falter the closer I get. There’s something dangerously still about him. I glance down and see a length of black rope coiled in his hand, and I just know it’s for me. Saliva pools at the back of my throat. He’s intent on punishing me, but for what? Leaving his bedroom without permission? Requesting to visit the beach? My gaze lifts to his face.
Oh, dear God.
His expression turns me to stone. There’s something so singular about it. So cold and detached. I don’t know much about dominant and submissive relationships; I just know that we’ve been skating around our version of it for the past two days. It’s crueler and more calculated than I thought it would be, but somehow, it’s more honest, too.
“Come here,” he orders.
His voice is fear itself, and yet there’s an instant beat between my legs.
“Why are you acting like this? I stayed put like you told me to.”
“I said five minutes. It’s gone thirty. Hold out your hands.”
“But—”
“Hold out your fucking hands!”
“Dante, no!”
I said it again. It just slipped out this time, but there’s barely a flicker of a reaction.
That doesn’t bode well.
There’s no hope of a reprieve from whatever he has in mind for me.
“Are you going to make me repeat myself again, my angel ?”
His words chill my blood and send another bolt of electricity straight to my core. This display of dominance is calling to something inside. Something I never knew existed.
“I don’t care what you do to me, but please don’t hurt my parents.”
He pulls my wrists together and binds them tightly. He yanks at the knot, making me wince as the coarse rope bites into my skin.
“I’m growing tired of your disobedience.”
“But— ”
“Silence.”
He leads me over to a small clearing out of sight from the estate and the outhouses. I’m shaking so badly, and I keep tripping over my feet. Whatever he wants to do to me, he seems intent on carrying it out in private. No one will hear my screams, and even if they did, no one will come.
This is his fortress.
These are his rules.
“Stop.”
He turns swiftly and backs me up against a palm tree, pinching my chin between his forefinger and thumb and forcing my head upward. He rips his sunglasses away, and there’s no light in the dark. I’ve pushed him as far as he’s willing to go, and it’s time to accept the consequences.
I glance down at his erection straining against the front of his jeans. My breath is coming out in sharp, shallow gasps again.
“What are you going to do to me?”
His lips twist unpleasantly. “I’ve shown you how the Devil makes love, my angel… Now, it’s time to fuck a monster.”