Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 144979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
It’s at this point I start to panic and try to rear up, but he presses me down with little effort on his part.
He unlinks the leather cuffs restraining my ankles and pries my legs apart. Then he inserts what feels like a cold, metal bar between the cuffs around my ankles, securing it there. Once it’s in place, he pulls my cuffed wrists behind my back and locks them together, effectively immobilizing me.
He removes my heels, and I start to tremble, pleading around the gag. Then I feel something slice through the fabric of my skirt, and I freeze. In one swift motion, he splits the skirt in half and tosses it to the floor, followed by my blouse.
I squeeze my eyes shut and try to remember how to breathe. He pulls on something that sounds like a roll of tape, ripping off a piece before he winds it around one thigh, then the other. He obscures Angelo’s name, and does the same to the tattoo on the back of my neck.
After he removes my gag, he stands there for what feels like the longest minute of my life. Even blindfolded, I can feel his gaze moving over me. The only scraps of clothing shielding the intimate parts of my body are a bra and a thong.
My mind is racing through a dozen different scenarios, wondering how this will play out. As I consider the guards’ lack of reactions when the van pulled up, and the fact that nobody here seemed to care that I was restrained, I have to believe this is Angelo’s doing.
What he asked me on our honeymoon is at the forefront of my thoughts.
Do you want me to terrorize you, cara?
You should know it will always be me who catches you.
He asked me if I wanted him to capture me even when I didn’t know it was him, and I said yes. I know with bone-deep certainty, he’d never allow another man to take me like this.
It has to be him.
As if reading my thoughts, the man behind me circles around to my head, his fingers gripping my chin as he tilts my face up. A tear trails down my cheek, and he catches it with his thumb, his deep, velvet voice enveloping me in warmth.
“What’s the matter, cara? I thought you wanted to play?”
“Angelo,” I breathe his name on a shuddering exhalation.
All the tension in my body melts away as he removes the blindfold. When I look up, his mask is gone, but something in his dark gaze warns me that I’m not out of danger yet. This is the Il Diavolo people whisper about, and I fear that my fragile heart may not survive whatever punishment he has planned for me tonight.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” he asks, his voice deceptively calm.
My lips part, but I don’t speak. This is psychological warfare, and Angelo meant what he said when he told me he plays to win.
He wants my secrets.
“You want to see how far I’ll go?” he asks. “Is that it?”
He releases me and reaches for something on the bench beside the platform. It isn’t until he lifts it to my face that I can see it’s a lace mask. When he slips it over my head, it shrouds everything but my mouth and eyes.
A shiver of uncertainty crawls down my spine as he replaces his black balaclava, obscuring his features.
“We’re anonymous here,” he says, as if to warn me.
I let his words sink in as he moves to the leather sofa across the room. He drops into it, stretching out with the kind of ease that makes my skin prickle. He’s familiar with this space, and I know in my gut it must be the Cat House.
Angelo removes something from his pocket that looks like a remote, and a moment later, the door opens and someone in a robe stands on the threshold.
“Dominus et Deus.” The masculine voice greets Angelo. “Would you like your gifts from the Tribunal now?”
“Yes.”
The robed figure steps inside, allowing three naked women to enter behind him before he shuts the door.
A wave of nausea rolls through me as I realize what’s happening.
“You can’t do this,” I cry out, yanking against my restraints.
Angelo removes a strip of fabric from his pocket and hands it to one of the women. “Blindfold her.”
I try to fight it, but the woman successfully secures the blindfold over the lace mask, leaving me in darkness.
“Kneel,” Angelo orders.
There’s some movement. A shuffle of feet, a rustle of clothing.
A gut-wrenching sob rips from my lungs as I beg him not to do this.
He’s going to destroy me.
“You should know how I feel about loyalty, cara.” The words, spoken so closely, startle me. His palm grazes the curve of my hip, the warmth of his body pressing into mine as he brushes his lips against my ear. “Do you really think I waited all this time to have you just to fuck someone else?”