Chapter Nine Jade
Chapter Nine
JADE
Tonight could be the chance I need.
I haven’t opened my eyes yet. I don’t see the point. I’ve lost all track of time with the lack of light in the room.
The chain isn’t long enough to leave, and I’ve tried and failed to pry the board off the window, the tiny crack at the bottom visible.
But even that crack is useless. I can only tell whether it’s day or night, and it’s driving me insane.
Finally, I force my eyes open. I have to start looking for a way out of this. If trying to manipulate Ezra fails—and it seems like that is the case—then I need to have another plan in mind. I need to figure out how to get back to my family.
As I look around the room, taking in the utter lack of furniture other than the bed and the nightstand, I want to scream. I don’t think anybody would hear me, though.
But if I’m going out with Ezra tonight, I might have a chance to escape. It could be the moment I need to get away from him. Which means trying to play him again.
He pays too much attention to me, though. That much is clear from the stalking. He knows my behavior. He’ll be able to tell when I’m lying to him.
Which means that I have to survive on half-truths.
I catch sight of the black silk dress hanging from the closet doorknob. There’s no hanger I could use to pick the lock around my ankle.
With a deep sigh, I get up, going into the attached bathroom and splashing some cold water on my face. At least he gave me somewhere to get cleaned up.
I open the cabinets beneath the sink, eyeing the pipes.
If the bolts around them are loose enough, I might be able to get one of them off. It wouldn’t be much, but one good hit would allow me to try and run.
But since there is no traffic noise outside, it seems I’m nowhere near civilization, which means there would be the matter of getting car keys. And he doesn’t seem dumb enough to keep them on him, which means I’d have to search.
And of course the house could have an alarm.
I bite my lip and shut the doors.
Knocking him out isn’t a good option with these many variables. As much as I hate it, it looks like the best option is still playing along with him and hoping that everything turns out okay. I have to keep going forward, doing what I can, and trying to get him to trust me.
Stupid fucker.
I’m going to talk to Aiden. I want to be the one to slit this bastard’s throat.
Among other things.
Maybe if I had toyed with him more when I was in the shower, I would’ve made more progress with him by now. I could have had him begging on his knees. Maybe. He did like the pictures and videos I used to send. He keeps bringing them up, which means there must be something about him I can exploit.
I sigh and step back out into the bedroom, looking at the dress. There’s a note folded in half over the neckline.
Love,
You’re going to need to wear this tonight. If I were you, I would put it on and make sure to be on your best behavior. You’re going to be in a room full of your enemies, and we would hate for them to get the wrong idea about you.
If you think this is in any way optional, just know that behaving properly tonight may come with benefits.
I rip the note into tiny pieces and toss it on the floor.
Maybe behaving is going to get what I want, but if he’s going to drag me into a room filled with Rinaldos, then I’m as good as dead. Either that or I’m going to spend the night wishing I was dead instead of playing pretend on his arm.
Linking my hands behind my head, I pace back and forth, letting out slow and steady breaths.
This isn’t what I wanted. Being here is never what I wanted.
I was supposed to live a normal life. I was supposed to go to school, and then get involved with the family once I was ready. I was supposed to be able to convince Aiden to stop a war that we have no business being in anymore.
Of course, the men are never going to listen to me. What the fuck do I know, after all?
“This is insane.” My hands drop to my sides, the shackle cutting into the top of my foot making me ache.
I was supposed to be living my own life and yet, here I am, going from one cage to another.
I’ll be damned if I put that dress on.
I could make him put it on me. It would push him off guard.
He’s already proven that he can’t keep focus when I’m naked.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I head back to the board over the window, picking at the edge of it again.
I could splinter off a piece of wood and ram it into his neck the next time he comes in here.
Stupid bastard would deserve it.
Dropping to the ground, I look beneath the bed for anything I might be able to use.
There are slats, but a quick push against them tells me that they’re attached to the wood.
He doesn’t stay here for at least part of the day. I would have more than enough time to work a board free.
The door to the room opens as I’m getting to my feet.
Ezra’s gaze cuts between me and the dress, his eyebrow arching. “Didn’t I tell you to get ready?”
I drop down onto the bed, linking my arms behind my head again and staring up at the ceiling. I cross one leg over the other, getting comfortable for the night. “No.”
He scuffs some of the torn paper on the ground. “I know for a fact that I did. Now, you’re going to get up and get dressed. We have places to be, and I’m not going to allow you to stall us any more than you already have.”
“No.”
Instead of the annoyed reaction I’m expecting, maybe anger and dragging me by my hair and forcing me into the dress, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black vibrator instead.
“Perfect.” He takes the dress and tosses it on the bed.
“You’re going to put the dress on and then as your punishment for your disobedience, you’re going to shove this vibrator into your pussy.
If you behave, I won’t play with it. If you insist on acting like a brat, then you’re going to be begging for an orgasm in the middle of a party. ”
I hate the rush of heat that flows straight to my core, my inner thighs already wet.
Based on the way his eyes nearly glow, I’m guessing he can see my pussy getting wet from where he stands. After all, the bastard didn’t give me anything more than a shirt to wear.
He stalks toward the bed, leaning over the foot of it, his hands on the mattress. “You can either put both on yourself, or I’m going to do it for you.”
The top buttons of his black silk shirt are open, revealing some of the bronze skin beneath.
His hazel eyes shine with excitement.
The veins in his forearms are on display as he reaches out and grabs me by the ankle, hauling me down the bed.
Without a word, he parts my legs, and I’m helpless.
I do nothing to fight him. There’s a part of me that welcomes it, even if it feels like I’m allowing myself to be controlled by another man.
He might threaten to kill me, but I don’t think he’s actually going to do it. There has to be something else he wants.
His fingers slide along my wet slit before he pushes the vibrator in.
Ezra licks his fingers clean before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “Get up and get dressed, Jade.”
“Screw you.”
A moment after his thumb brushes over the screen, a vibration begins deep in my core, making my inner walls clamp down tight around the toy.
I roll my hips, trying to get a bit of relief, but there’s none to be had. Not when his thumb keeps moving over the screen, tracing patterns that have me panting and on the edge of an orgasm.
Just before he tips me over the edge, it stops and he stuffs the phone into his pocket.
I want to cry. I was so close. So close.
“Get dressed.” He grabs me by the hand and pulls me to my feet, my body nearly pressing against his.
Lust courses through my veins as I look up at him.
I haven’t even fucked the man, and I’m already dick drunk, even though he’s the worst person to be interested in.
But it’s harder to separate the man in the chatroom and the one standing in front of me than I thought it would be.
“See?” Ezra leans close to me, his arm wrapping around my waist as he leads me into the hotel ballroom.
Soft jazz music fills the air, and people with guns on their hips make their way around the room, grabbing little snacks from the trays roaming around the room.
He tucks his hand into his pocket.
A vibration pulses through my entire core, making my knees weak as I lean into him.
Smirking, he continues pulling me along with him to one of the tables in the corner.
“I bet you’re already soaked,” he whispers in my ear, his voice husky. “I’m sure by the end of the night, you’re going to be begging me to bend you over the table and fuck you.”
“Get bent.”
The vibration gets more intense, forcing me to sit down in a chair and clamp my legs tight together.
He must’ve been thinking ahead when he got me a black dress for the night. It’s the only thing that might not show how wet I am.
Ezra sits in the chair beside me. “You look beautiful tonight, love.”
I make a noncommittal noise in the back of my throat, not wanting to play the part of the happy date.
People move around us, casting long glances in my direction.
I hold my head high, though it’s hard with the vibration getting more intense. I rock my hips subtly, glaring at him the entire time.
“Problem?” He smirks, stopping the vibrator as the orgasm is building again.
“You know, this is a cruel game to play when you’re going to kill me in the end. You should just let me go and then I can be on my way.”
“You’d like that, love, but that’s not going to happen. I want you, and now that I have you, I’m not going to let you go. Which means that you need to stop looking for ways out and stop worrying that someone here is going to kill you. As long as I’m with you, they’ll behave.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel safe?” I scoff and grab the knife from the table, moving quick and getting it beneath his jaw. “You have no idea who you’re fucking with. I might not be as bloodthirsty and vicious as my siblings, but make no fucking mistake, I can handle myself.”
That crooked smile appears. “What are you going to do? You’re in the middle of a room surrounded by my family.”
“I could kill you. It’d be worth it.”
“You’d die too.” He swallows, neck bobbing against the blade, but he seems entirely unbothered by it.
Stupid fucking mafia men. I should’ve taken off and run away when I had the chance.
“It. Would. Be. Worth. It.”
“I think you’re full of shit.” His fingers climb up the slit in my dress, fingers tracing on my thigh.
“I think you want someone to care for you the way I do. I think it terrifies you that I adore you. I think you wish that someone else would want to be with you despite all that your family is. You should open your eyes, love. I’ve been here for a while, and I’m not going anywhere. ”
“Which is a problem for me.”
“I don’t care.” His fingers climb even higher, brushing against my clit.
Despite my better judgement, I rock into his touch, wanting more of him.
At the same time, the alarms are going off in my head, telling me to get as far away from him as possible. And like the dumb bitch I am, I run toward the red flags like a damn bull.
“Playing with my pussy in public is going to get you in trouble,” I whisper, leaning closer to him and rocking into his touch again, aware of all the eyes on us and the way people turn to whisper to each other.
Before he has the chance to say anything else, gunshots echo through the room, screams following them.
Ezra moves in the blink of an eye, grabbing me and hauling me to the ground. His body covers mine before he looks around and gets up.
More gunshots crack through the air. More blood sprays.
“It’s your family.” His voice is husky, the vibration starting again, building slow and low in my core. “You have a choice.”
“And what’s that?”
“You can come with me…” He increases the pace of the vibrator, making it hard to think straight. “Or you can let them capture you and go back to the boring life you had before.”