16. Amara
Amara
I did what I had to do last night. But I was surprisingly upset when I woke up in my bed and Dom was not there this morning.
He left me a note, telling me he replied to my blackmailer with the information they needed. He told me it was time for me to step back.
But I can’t.
I have to go to the club as part of the deal.
So here I am sitting in a stall in the bathroom, wondering what SweetJustice has planned for the night, and how I’ll reply to Caleb’s last message asking me to call him when I have the time.
I don’t know what to say to him so I haven’t replied. I tuck my phone in my purse before I leave the stall.
I glance at myself in the mirror as I wash my hands.
I’m wearing a hairpiece, platinum blonde strands mixed with my dark hair in a high plaited ponytail. I’m also wearing bright red lipstick and I chose to wear Milly’s black mask, not the more elaborate pink one. I want to blend into the club, not stand out.
I dry my hands, take a deep breath and leave the bathroom, and regret it almost instantly.
Mateo and Enzo are standing at the end of the corridor. I know they are waiting for me.
I back away from them, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“What did you tell de Luca?” Mateo’s eyes narrow.
“Nothing.” I lift my chin.
He takes a step closer, invading my space. “Keep it that way.”
I push past him, my shoulder knocking his arm. “Please. You’re not important enough for me to think twice about Enzo sucking your cock.”
Enzo’s hand wraps around my upper arm, spinning me around. My back slams against the wall, knocking the breath from my lungs. His face hovers inches from mine. “Watch yourself, princess.”
I shove him off, straightening my dress. “If Dom knew what you did, you’d both be dead. Think about that. How easy it would be for me to make you disappear.”
Mateo slides his tongue over his teeth, a cold smile spreading across his face. “You fucking wouldn’t dare.”
“Touch me again and you’ll find out.” I stride away, my shoulders back in defiance, trying to hide how much I hate every second of this life.
My blood runs cold when I spot Dom at the bar. He is deep in conversation with his son, Rafe. Shit. I duck my head before I turn and make to the corridor leading to the private rooms.
Heavy footsteps echo behind me. “Amara!”
I keep walking, pretending I don’t hear him. That I’m someone else.
“I told you not to come here,” he growls in my ear.
“Until I know I’m safe, I have to,” I tell him.
“I left you a note. Everything is fine.”
I don’t know why, but I don’t believe him. How could he find out the identity of the person and end my nightmare in a few hours?
Unless—
His hand catches my arm. Before I can protest, he lifts me off my feet and carries me down the darkened corridor, flashes a card across a door reader. A green light flickers and he pushes the door open with me grasped in his embrace.
“What are you doing? I cry out.
“Saving you from yourself.”
We are greeted with another hallway. This time only two doors are ahead. He glances around him, but there is nobody here but us.
This is a part of the sex club I’ve never ventured into. The seedy part Milly told me all about. The area where the members are hidden behind a wall of fake identities and enough money for the owners of the club to not pay attention.
The club is owned by Dominic’s son, Rafe and his partner, Cade.
Dominic flashes his card again and another door opens. There’s nobody around but us and even if I managed a high-pitched screech, there is no one to rescue me.
My brain is misfiring, the warning alarm blaring loud and clear. I want to kick him, shuffle out of his hold, but I can’t seem to move as fear grips me.
Inside the room, he sits on the large leather chair with me on his lap. One of his arms is around my waist, his other hand plays with the hem of my skirt.
Panic burns through my veins.
He presses a button, and the black curtains glide to one side. My eyes are fixated on the movement of the fabric...until something else catches my eye.
What the hell is going on?
“Do you like what you see?” he asks as I stare ahead.
A woman dressed in a lacy bodysuit lies on a round table. Her legs and arms are stretched, making an X of her body. Her ankles and wrists are tied with leather binds.
One man leans forward and rubs his thumb over her nipple as the girl writhes. And I don’t know if she wants more or if it’s from fear.
I take my eyes away from the girl and look at the man. He is wearing a black mask with an emblem I can’t see clearly from my position in this room, but it looks like a family coat of arms—perhaps a syndicate symbol.
He looks at the glass and I don’t know if he can see us or if the glass in this room is one-way.
“I told SweetJustice this is the room the deals are going down,” Dom strokes my thigh, higher and higher. “We can watch it unfold together. We can find out who your blackmailer is.”
“Are you setting these people up?” I swallow hard.
“They are all willing participants.”
A door opens behind the man and another four men come inside. All wearing identical masks.
I slam my hand over my mouth and mutter, “I should go home.”
“It’s too late, Amara.” His enormous arms remain locked around my body, but I don’t feel safe and secure.
This is Dominic, and everything happens for a reason.
The men walk slowly, then they line up, and one by one, each takes his place around the table. It’s like they are taking strategic positions around the girl. That each man knows his place.
The table spins and the men touch her. First it’s her legs, stroking lightly as she floats by them. Gentle touches of her stomach, her arms, and her face. Then one man pulls her hair. Her face tilts back as she glides by him.
I’m not sure if that was a warning.
“Have you been in that room before?” I ask Dom.
“The only time I shared with anyone was my first wife, when she took the Syndicate Oath,” he says, his warm breath on my neck. “Is that what you want? To be shared?”
“I don’t know,” I say, watching the girl as they touch her while she writhes on the table.
More hands stroke up her thighs and two of the men lean over and rip off her lacy underwear.
I side-eye Dominic’s hand to my right. He is holding a remote control of some sort and presses a black button.
“Relax. The real show will start soon.” He places a soft kiss on the top of my head, causing a shiver to travel down my spine, but I try not to react.
The men touch the girl intimately—her breasts between her legs—and one kisses her deeply.
“Don’t worry, she’s a willing participant. Women want to be chosen. These women want to be you.”
I shuffle in his lap, needing to create some distance between us. But he drags me back against his chest and growls in my ear, “Do you want to see who blackmailed you?”
“Do you already know who it is?” I ask, my pulse racing.
“Not yet. But I have my suspicions.”
I swallow back a lump as I look into the room again. “Who are the men in there? Do they know what is about to happen?”
“No, they were picked out of the crowd.”
“What if they get hurt?” I cry, wriggling in his embrace. “I can’t let innocent people get hurt.”
“Nobody will be hurt.” He kisses the side of my face.
“How can you be so sure?” I beg.
Unless he knows who it is.
“Just trust me, piccola,” he whispers.
I narrow my eyes as I stare at the men. One man keeps glimpsing our way, despite the glass being one-way. I glance at the remote control in Dominic’s hand and wonder if they can now see us watching them.
“Can they see us?” I ask.
Dominic pulls me closer to him, widening my legs over his large thighs. His fingers play with the hem of my panties and my breath catches.
“He wants to see what I do to you,” he whispers in my ear as he looks at the man who is staring at us. “He wants to see your cunt. Should I show him? Or is it mine?”
I try to press my legs together. “Please Dom, I don’t want anyone else but you,” I whimper.
He turns me around on his lap until my legs are straddling him. He cups my face in his large hands as his mouth plunges against mine. Our lips meld and I don’t fight the kiss. My tongue strokes against his as his hand holds me firm.
He pulls away first and we stare at each other for what feels like forever.
“Do you want me?” he asks, his chest heaving, his fingers roaming inside my panties.
My mouth opens. “Here?”
He lunges forward, and our mouths clash as the kiss comes hard and fast. His teeth drag on my lip as he sucks and then his mouth is there again, his tongue battling with mine.
His free hand strokes down my body, over my breast, and lower as he grinds his hard cock against me from below.
I know I’m kissing the devil, flirting with danger, but if this is what it takes to save myself from whatever happens in that room, then it’s what I have to do.
My nails claw at the back of his neck. He groans as he presses his cock against me, only the material of my panties and his trousers stopping the force of how he wants to take me.
And then he stops.
I stare at his face, but he isn’t looking at me. He holds me still as he looks over my shoulder.
“Fuck,” he hisses and grasps my waist as he stands and places my feet on the floor. “I took my eye off the room.”
I turn around.
The room is filled with people in black pointing guns at the men. The woman is yanking her arms and legs against the binds, frantically trying to escape. A man has his mask dragged off his head.
“Is this a mafia hold-up?” My heart pounds as I stare into the room. One of the men in black is looking directly at the window.
Can he see us?
Is he wondering where Dominic and the other Syndicate leaders are?
He steps closer to the window, as all the men hold their hands up in surrender.
A balaclava mask still covers his face, and I’m drawn to his eyes.
Eyes that are looking directly at me, but I know he can’t see me.
I turn to Dominic, who is already on the phone, ordering his men to meet him somewhere outside.
I twist back to the sex room. The woman is now unbound.
“Or is it the police?” I ask.
“Time to go,” Dominic says.
I nod and my eyes lock onto the man as he slaps cuffs onto another man’s wrists. But I’m not paying too much attention to the arrest. I’m looking at beautiful eyes...gray eyes I recognize.
I blink hard as a shudder runs through me.
“Oh my god,” I gasp, my hand slamming against my chest.
Dominic disconnects his call. “We need to get out of here.” He takes my hand, dragging me away from the window.
I look back once more and mouth, “Why?”
I stumble as Dom drags me through the back corridors of the club, my heels clicking against the polished concrete floor. His grip on my wrist is tight enough to leave marks.
“Dom, you’re hurting me.”
He loosens his hold but doesn’t let go. “The raid took place in the entire club, not just in this room. The tip I gave was ignored. Which means your blackmailer didn’t trust you.”
My heart pounds against my ribs. “Oh my God.”
Dom grabs my hand again and pulls me toward the exit. “We’re not done with this conversation.”