Chapter 1 #2
Her words landed like a slap, and for a moment, the smug mask slipped from Enzo’s face, replaced by something darker—anger, perhaps, or disbelief. But Lexie didn’t flinch. She stepped closer still, her eyes blazing.
“So, if you’re trying to impress me, you’ve failed miserably. And if you’re trying to scare me, you’ve failed there too. Now, if you’re smart—which I’m starting to doubt—you’ll leave me alone and find someone else to annoy.”
Enzo’s jaw worked as if he were chewing over a retort, but no words came. He settled for a sneer, his gold tooth glinting. “You’re making a mistake, Lexie,” he said, his tone low and vaguely threatening.
Lexie didn’t blink, still wanting to leave and dismiss this interaction from her mind. “The only mistake I’d be making is wasting another moment on you.”
For a tense moment, they stared at each other, the air between them taut and crackling.
The smirk dropped from his face, replaced by a scowl that darkened his already menacing features. “What?” he snarled, grabbing her arm. His fingers bit into her skin like claws, and she gasped involuntarily. “You only good enough for the head honcho now?”
His face was inches from hers, his breath reeking of stale coffee and bad oral hygiene. The rancid odor made her stomach churn, but Lexie kept her gaze steady, refusing to flinch.
“Let me go, Enzo,” she said, her tone sharp and cold. “Now.”
Enzo’s grip tightened, but a flicker of hesitation crossed his face, quickly masked by bravado.
“But good ole Max isn’t here now, is he?
” he sneered, leaning in closer as if proximity would intimidate her.
“You no longer enjoy his protection!” He looked down at her, sneering when he didn’t get even a hint of cleavage from her dress.
“As far as I can see, I’m free and clear to claim you! ”
Lexie twisted her arm, forcing herself to stay calm despite the sting of his grip. “You’re right,” she agreed. “Max isn’t here. But I don’t need him for this. I can handle a second-rate thug like you all by myself.”
His eyes narrowed, and for a moment, the facade cracked.
She saw it—his uncertainty, the flash of insecurity behind the bluster.
“Second-rate?” he spat, his tone rising defensively.
“You got no idea who you’re talking to, sweetheart.
I’m a soldier.” His chest puffed out again.
“I’m the guy people call when they want things done. ”
Lexie tilted her head, her lips curling into a faint, mocking smile. “Done? You mean botched? Please, Enzo. Everyone knows you’re a joke. The only thing you’ve ever been good at is running errands and scaring people who can’t fight back.”
His face darkened further, and he opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she continued. “You can puff out your chest and throw your little tantrums all you want, but at the end of the day, we both know the truth. You’re just a pathetic, insecure bully trying to play a game that’s way out of your league.”
For a moment, the only sound was the wind stirring the leaves. Enzo’s mouth worked silently, his bravado faltering under the weight of her words.
But then, something changed. A slow, sinister grin spread across his face, and his eyes gleamed with a triumph that sent a chill down her spine.
“Oh, I get it,” he said, his tone shifting to almost gleeful. “You think you’ve got me all figured out. But you don’t, sweetheart.”
Lexie’s stomach tightened as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone with deliberate slowness.
“I didn’t want to use this, but you’re not giving me any choice,” he said in that slimy tone that sent a tremor of warning through Lexie. He tapped on his phone. “I think you might want to rethink your answer to my invitation,” he replied, in a low, menacing whisper.
He paused, his thumb swiping across the screen as he held the phone up between them. “Maybe you should take a look at this,” he added, his grin widening. “I think you’ll find it… educational.”
The video began to play, the faint flicker of the screen casting a pale glow on Enzo’s face. Lexie’s gaze dropped reluctantly to the device, dread curling in her chest like a coiled snake. Whatever he was about to show her, she knew it wouldn’t be good.
“Maybe your students would like to see more of you,” Enzo taunted, his grin widening as he held the phone just out of reach.
Lexie’s heart plummeted, her breath catching in her throat as the video began to play. The malicious glint in Enzo’s eyes warned her it was going to be bad.
She instinctively turned her head, more to escape the putrid stench of his breath than out of curiosity for whatever was playing on the screen. But movement on the small display caught her eye, and she froze, the color draining from her face as the images unfolded.
It was her.
Stepping out of the bathroom shower, completely naked, water dripping down her skin. On the screen, she casually reached for a towel, patting herself dry, blissfully unaware of the camera that was capturing every intimate moment.
Lexie’s stomach twisted violently. It felt like her lungs had stopped working, and for a brief moment, she couldn’t even summon the strength to speak.
“Not bad, huh?” Enzo sneered, his tone oily and smug.
She snapped her gaze back to the phone as the video shifted to another scene. This time, she was lying on her bed, her hands... oh, God! Heat flared in her cheeks, her shame and fury boiling over in equal measure.
“How…!” Her voice broke, and she choked. She stumbled back a step, clutching her bag as though it could somehow shield her.
Enzo’s smirk grew wider as a third clip played.
This one was of her sleeping, the angle so invasive it made her stomach churn.
Then another: her stepping out of the shower again, but from a different angle.
And another: her in her closet, rifling through her clothes, completely unaware of the hidden eyes watching her every move.
Lexie’s knees nearly buckled. She gripped the car door for support as bile rose in her throat. Her voice trembled with a mixture of rage and disbelief. “How many cameras…?” She couldn’t finish the question, couldn’t even fathom the level of depravity it would take to do something so vile.
Enzo chuckled darkly, the sound as grating as nails on a chalkboard. “Enough to keep things… interesting,” he said, his voice dripping with malice. “You’re a difficult woman to get close to, Lexie. I had to get creative.”
She forced herself to look away, though the images had already burned themselves into her mind. Her home—her sanctuary—violated in ways she couldn’t even begin to process.
“You monster,” she whispered. She glared at him, her eyes blazing with hatred. “How dare you?!”
Enzo’s grin faltered, but he quickly masked it with a shrug. “Relax, sweetheart. It’s just a little insurance, you know? To make sure you’re… cooperative.”
“Cooperative?” The word came out as a hiss, as she fought to keep herself composed. “You think this—this perversion—is going to get what you want?”
“Oh, I think it will,” Enzo said, his grin returning, cruel and triumphant. “See, you’ve got a lot to lose, Lexie. Your reputation, your job… your precious students. How would they look at you if they saw this, huh?”
Lexie’s nails dug into the strap of her bag as she tried to think, to plan, to fight through the haze of shock and fury clouding her judgment.
Her hands shook, but her voice steadied, low and cold as ice.
“You’re disgusting. A coward. You think this makes you powerful?
It doesn’t. It just proves how weak and pathetic you really are. ”
She saw a flicker of something other than triumph in his eyes—an almost imperceptible wince. It was tiny, but it gave her a sliver of strength to hold on to.
“You invaded my home, my privacy!” she snarled, her voice trembling but gaining a dangerous edge as she glared at him.
Enzo chuckled, low and malicious, nodding as he leaned in even closer, pressing his body against hers. Lexie’s back hit the cold metal of her car, and she flinched as his weight bore down on her, trapping her in place. “I did,” he said, his voice a sinister purr. “All over your house, baby.”
Lexie tried to twist away, but he shifted, his hips pressing against hers in a way that made her stomach churn with revulsion. Her breathing quickened, panic rising in her chest like a tide she couldn’t hold back.
“So,” he continued, his lips curling into a smirk as his hot, rancid breath assaulted her nose, “if you don’t want these pretty little videos all over the internet, then you, my dear, are going to be my girlfriend.
” He chuckled at the horrified expression that spread across her face, his amusement sickeningly genuine. “For as long as I want you.”
Lexie’s stomach churned violently at his words. He finally backed up, shoving his phone into his pocket with a satisfied air. At least he released her arm, and she rubbed the sore spot, wincing at the dull ache. She felt dirty, violated, like his touch had left something vile on her skin.
But she couldn’t shower. The thought struck her like a blow, and the bile that had been rising in her throat spilled over.
She bent over suddenly, retching, her lunch spewing onto the asphalt near Enzo’s feet.
A few splatters landed on the hem of his jeans, and for a brief, grotesque moment, she felt an inkling of satisfaction.
“What the hell!” Enzo screeched, leaping back as if the vomit were acid. His face twisted with disgust as he examined his soiled shoes.
Before Lexie could react, his hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of her hair. She cried out in shock and pain as he yanked her head back, her scalp burning under his grip.
The slap cracked through the air like a gunshot, the sting exploding across her cheek in a burst of white-hot pain. Lexie staggered, her palm smacking against the cold metal of her car just to stay upright.
For a heartbeat, she couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. The world seemed to tilt, colors sharpening and blurring all at once.
Her fingers found her cheek, trembling, as if she had to confirm the blow had really landed. Her voice came out raw and incredulous. “You hit me!”
Enzo’s face was all fury and contempt, the kind of disgust that made her skin crawl. “Yeah,” he hissed, leaning in close enough for her to smell the acrid bite of his aftershave. “And I’ll do more than that if you’re not ready by eight o’clock tonight.”
He stepped back, straightening his leather jacket with the casual arrogance of a man who thought violence was his birthright. His gaze swept the street, searching for witnesses, and Lexie’s stomach twisted when she realized he looked almost disappointed that they were alone.
Satisfied no one had seen, he smirked. “And dress up. I like my women looking pretty.”
Then he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing in her ears long after he was gone.
Lexie clung to the side of her car, her breath coming in shallow bursts. Pain throbbed through her cheek, but it was the collision of humiliation and disbelief that left her unsteady.
“He hit me.”
The thought slammed through her again and again, like a wave crashing against a cliff. No one had ever hit her before. Not like this. Not with such cold, deliberate cruelty. She had imagined she’d fight back, scream, claw—but instead, she was rooted to the spot, shaking.
Her fingers stayed pressed to her cheek, ice against fire. She’d expected a slap to sting, but she hadn’t expected it to sink under her skin, to make her feel…dirty.
The slimy bastard had blackmailed her, slapped her, and now—God help her—he wanted her to play dress-up and smile at his side like some trophy.
The sheer gall of it burned in her chest, a rush of heat that chased away the numbness. But anger tangled with something colder, sharper. Fear.
Why? Why now?
Enzo wasn’t high up in Max’s organization—he was a nobody. A smarmy, second-rate thug who puffed himself up with intimidation because his ego was as flimsy as his reputation. But this…this wasn’t random. This felt calculated. As if he’d been setting the trap for months.
Her pulse spiked. Max.
Her chest tightened at the thought of him—of what he would do if he saw her on another man’s arm after almost a year.
She had only known him for a couple of months before she’d walked away, convinced she could keep herself from being swallowed whole by his world.
But in that short time, she’d glimpsed the part of him people feared—the ice-edged, ruthless force that had built an empire from nothing.
And she had glimpsed something else too.
The Max she’d known in the quiet moments hadn’t been cold. He’d been warm. Gentle. Passionate in ways that had wrecked her defenses.
The memory of his sweet kisses warred with the chilling image of what he might do if he believed she belonged to someone else.
Her cheek pulsed under her palm. Her mind felt like a pinball machine—bouncing between fury, shame, and the creeping dread that she’d just been maneuvered into a game she didn’t understand.