Bought and Paid For (The Nardone Family Saga Book 1)

Chapter One

IT WAS THE most gorgeous piece of lingerie she’d ever seen. And it made Ari want to vomit. The same mountain of a man who’d been bringing her food and water for the last four days had just dropped it off. He’d hung it carefully over the back of the chair, told her she had one hour to shower and dress, and then left again.

Ari knew she needed to get moving. Ten minutes had already passed. If she didn’t do as she was told, things would get ugly fast. The demonstration of a beating to the bottom of her feet when she’d arrived here still made standing a little tender. Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to get off the small twin bed. It was ridiculous, but this bed felt safe. She’d only been here for four days, but she knew getting out of this bed now meant that even the painfully restrictive routine she’d gotten used to was going to be ripped away.

Four days ago. Four days since her stepfather had upended everything on her. Again. It was really just the story of her life at this point. First, the younger twin siblings that had come along when she was twelve, although that had turned out to be amazing. She loved her little brother and sister more than anyone else in the world. Then, her father had been shot and killed in a family war Ari didn’t even know existed until she was sixteen. Talk about a wakeup call. There was nothing quite like learning your father was an assassin for a mob family. Though all the years of shooting lessons made a lot more sense in hindsight. Her mother marrying Stan had been another huge upheaval. And then the last time when Stan, her stepfather, had yanked her from her bed in the middle of the night and hurried her into a waiting car.

“Where are we going, Stan? it’s three in the morning,” she’d whined.

He’d grabbed her throat and pulled her close, his putrid breath hot on her face. “What did you call me?”

Her temper had flared, but she’d done her best to tamp it down. “Where are we going, Father?” she’d spit.

“You’re going to start paying your way around here, you little bitch. You’ve been lazing it up going to that uppity school now for two years. I need to be compensated for all that time I’ve supported you.”

Ari had felt her mouth fall open. “Are you kidding me? I’ve taken out massive loans and I work two jobs, plus keep house for you. How much else am I supposed to do?”

“Are you a virgin?”

His question had thrown Ari completely. What did that have to do with anything?

“How is that any business of yours?”

“Answer the fucking question,” he’d demanded.

Ari had given a small shake of her head. The smile he’d given her then had made her insides shiver.

Ari had sat back in her seat then and waited.

A knock on the door startled her out of her memories. Ari looked at the door in shock. Who on earth would knock? Everyone so far had just come in.

“Come in,” she said. Then cleared her throat because it came out pretty raspy and tried again. “Come in.”

When the door opened, Ari let out a harsh laugh that was completely inappropriate. “What, got more shit to stick me with?” she asked the woman in the pale pink scrubs.

“No, I just wanted to know if you want a sedative before tonight. If you freak out, there will be hell to pay.”

Ari snorted. “As if you give a flying fuck if they beat the shit out of me,” she hissed. The woman flushed, but Ari didn’t care.

“I’m doing what I can to help you,” the nurse answered in a small voice. “Did you want to get pregnant?”

Ari swallowed and had to fight back tears at the memory. The nurse had shoved a needle in her arm four days before saying only “Birth control” before leaving. Ari still hadn’t known that the night was going to get so much worse.

She’d been left in a room that really could only be described as a cell. A mountain of a man had come in with the nurse and held her still while she jabbed Ari’s arm. Minutes later, Ari had jumped to her feet when the door opened again, and Stan had come in. He’d closed the door behind him and given her a smile that had made her shiver in revulsion. He’d backed her against a wall and cupped her cheek.

“Even though it made your value go down, I’m glad you ”re not a virgin, you little slut. Now I can show them just how invested I am in this endeavor. Plus, I get to feel that body you’ve been teasing me with for the last three years.”

“Stan, what the fuck are you talking about? I want to go home.”

He had said nothing right away but yanked her hair hard enough to make her cry out in pain.

“Listen here, you little bitch. We’re going out there and I’m going to sample the goods before I let them take you. If you so much as sass me I will blister your ass so hard you won’t want to sit for a week.”

Ari had seen a manic look in his eyes that she’d caught glimpses of before, but it had scared the shit out of her. She’d nodded against his hold on her hair.

Ari shivered at the mere memory.

He’d actually dragged her out of the room by her hair into an office where four other men were waiting. He’d ripped her clothes off, forced her down on the desk, and shoved into her dry.

She’d screamed and cried from the pain, but he’d just clamped his hand down on her mouth. She’d bit his hand and after he’d yelled fuck and moved to backhand her. One of the other men had grabbed his arm.

“Let her scream. Finish it up and then we’ll show you how we punish them in a way that doesn’t leave a mark.”

And he had. He’d raped her. They all had until she’d forced herself to check out and forget everything and everyone in the room. It had worked until she was dragged upright and into another barren room and tied on the table where they had proceeded to beat the bottom of her feet until she was sobbing from the pain.

“Let that be a lesson, girl. We will not tolerate disobedience.”

The mountain of a man had lifted her up and carried her to the room she’d been living in ever since.

“No,” she finally answered, “but I don’t want to be here either.”

The nurse sighed. “Join the club. Can you keep yourself calm or do you need something to help you?”

Ari thought about it. She wanted to say that she would be fine, but she really didn’t know. “I guess I’ll take something.”

The nurse pulled some pills out of her pocket and handed them to her.

“They won’t knock you out, but they will let you check out. If you take them now, they’ll give you just enough time to get dressed if you don’t wait. And I don’t recommend you wait unless you like the punishments.”

Ari stared at her. “Really? Who would want to be punished?”

The nurse shrugged. “Even if I could stay and talk, I guarantee you wouldn’t believe the stuff I’ve seen. You have twenty minutes to be showered and dressed, then someone will be in to do your hair and make-up.”

And with that, she’d left Ari staring at the pills in her hands. Ari had taken them, deciding numb was best right now. Then she rushed through a shower. As she’d stood contemplating the black lace confection with gold accents, she’d felt a sense of calm settle over her and realized the drug must be kicking in. She forced herself to pull the offensive garment on and then, deciding she needed to know, checked her outfit in the mirror. Objectively, she could say she looked good, damn good, and sexy. But her brain rebelled against why she needed to look like this. She was very glad now that she’d taken the pills. She had a feeling she’d have been panicking by now if she didn’t.

The knock on the door didn’t even startle her this time and her flat, “Come in,” probably should have worried her, but right now nothing worried her. Nothing at all.

Rex Nardone pretended to sip the spiked drink in his hand. He knew it was spiked. He’d watched the bartender do it across the room. The why eluded him for now, but he figured there must be a double cross coming tonight if they felt they needed to incapacitate him. He didn’t know if it was against him specifically, or they just didn’t want him getting involved. He forced himself to stop in front of one of the dancing girls in a cage and observe her. She was pretty, but too young for him. All the girls here were, but he had to keep up the pretense. He never brought a… pet… the way some buyers did, so he had to be sure they caught him ogling the girls. The last time he’d actually had to accept a lap dance to maintain his cover. He’d watched who bought the girl and sent a team in two weeks later to abduct her from her buyer. She was in a safe house across the country getting counseling and, hopefully, a new start on life.

“Nardone.” A hand clapped on his shoulder and Richard Hopkins stepped in close to watch with him. “She’s a sweet little thing. Is she something you might be interested in? I keep trying to find what you’re looking for…” He trailed off, the implication clear. Rex had been coming to these auctions for six months and still hadn’t “bought” anything. He’d told them several times that he just hadn’t found what he was looking for, but he knew his time was running out. He needed to buy one of the girls tonight to keep getting an invitation. The thought made his stomach turn, but he had to keep up appearances.

“Maybe, but one of the pictures for tonight caught my interest.”

Before each auction, Rex received an anonymous email with head shots of the girls to be sold off. It was always a different email and always from an untraceable IP address. He knew. He’d had the best hacker in the world, who was also his cousin, trying to track them, and even she’d had no luck.

A slight flash of surprise crossed Hopkins’ face and Rex forced himself to not smile. “Oh good. I like a tough customer, but I also like to be able to deliver.”

Hopkins was called away and Rex took that opportunity to stroll around the room and pretend to stumble, his drink spilling all over the plush carpeted floor. A server hurried over, apologetic even though Rex had made the spill and offered him another drink. He refused, joking that obviously he’d already had plenty to drink. He circled the room again, exchanging pleasantries through gritted teeth with men he really wanted to hurt.

“Gentlemen, please take your seats and make sure you have your bidding paddles. We will begin shortly. We have some beautiful merchandise this evening and I wouldn’t want you to miss out.”

Rex found a seat in the back. He liked to be able to scope out where each girl was headed. He knew he couldn’t save them all, not by a long shot, but he tried to pick out one each time to send a team of family men in to rescue. That would probably have to stop soon. He knew that the assembled men were getting suspicious, since their “purchases” kept being stolen. Rex fought down the bile that rose in his throat as he contemplated what he had to do tonight to ensure he was not a suspect. He had to buy a girl.

He had no intention of doing anything with her or to her. He’d hide her in his home for a few weeks to keep up appearances. Watching went both ways, and he knew there were several spies watching him. It galled him not to do anything about it, but that would have sent a clear signal to these men that he was not what he pretended. Rex sipped at the bottle of water he’d picked up at the bar. It wasn’t foolproof, but it was harder to spike water than a drink. They quickly sold the first several girls brought to the stage. Some were in tears, a few fought and were quickly subdued, but most of them looked dead. They were upright, but their eyes said someone had drugged them. Interesting. Were they given a choice?

The next girl on stage made him catch his breath. She was stunning. Her rich brown hair was styled so that it fell in waves around her face, which was made up lightly. It was a face that obviously needed little help. Her eyes were dead like some of the others, but they weren’t red, so she hadn’t cried a lot. She carried herself proudly, even though her stature was tiny. The black lace they had her dressed in could barely be described as clothing, though it did cover all the most important pieces.

“Next we have Ari. She’s sixteen and while she isn’t a virgin, we’ve verified minimal use and maximum pleasure.”

The girl, Ari, snapped her head around to stare at the man without speaking. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but she closed her mouth and looked back out over the crowd. Her gaze was focused behind Rex, and he found himself wishing she would look at him. As though reading his mind, her eyes met his. He had to force himself not to gasp; they were a light and piercing shade of blue that he could see here all the way across the room. They pinned him, and before he knew it, he was raising the paddle in his hand. When his number was called for fifteen grand, several men glanced around at him. It wasn’t surprising, as he’d never even entered a bid before tonight.

Rex never hesitated as the price climbed. He outbid each offer until finally he raised the paddle and said, “Two hundred and fifty thousand.”

The room fell silent. Rex cursed himself. He’d been too obvious with this. He bought a girl that couldn’t help but be noticed. Fuck. He should’ve bought one no one else wanted. At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to regret the move. Something about her had drawn him in. Rex shook his head as the auctioneer moved on. It didn’t matter how drawn to her he was, he couldn’t do anything about it. She was sixteen, and he’d only bought her to show these men he was one of them. He’d never actually touch her.

That didn’t explain his impatience, though, as he waited for the auction to finish so he could take his new prize home.