Fear sizzles down my spine. In the hours I’ve spent with him, I’ve felt nothing scarier than nervousness, but he’s the scary military-looking man again. At least until he looks at me and his face softens. “Pryntsesa. Your beauty is incomparable.”
I touch a hand to my burning face. “Thank you.”
If there’s one thing my virgin self never would have believed, it’s how Adriano Rossi treats me now. All he wants to do is feed me home-cooked deer, teach me how to shoot a bow, or listen to me talk. He says my voice is the most beautiful sound in the world. He also goes down on me constantly. I can barely draw breath without him burying his head between my legs and using his huge rasping tongue to lick me to orgasm.
He takes my hand and kisses it. Then he ducks his head and for a second, I think he’s going to kneel before me. Doc must too.
“Holy fuck, are you gonna make Tits knight you?”
Adriano scowls and drops my hand, striding away to the bar. He picks up a bottle of clear liquor and drinks from the neck for a long time.
I’m still only getting to know his moods, but he seems nervous. They all do, shifting around and cracking their knuckles. So much for ‘just formalities.’
The atmosphere changes when Eli arrives. It grows sharper, more formal. He’s in all black tonight, a black suit and shirt and tie. Even his cufflinks are onyx. It makes his hair extra dark and turns his eyes to gleaming coal.
“We need to leave,” he says without so much as a hello. His gaze finds mine. “You look like heaven on earth. Let’s go. The helicopter’s waiting.”
Chapter Eighteen
January Whitehall
The helicopter rideis swift. In thirty minutes, we’re hovering over the heart of Manhattan. I sit between Doc and Bobby, both of them squeezing my thighs and kissing my shoulders and hands. Across from us, Adriano is stock-still, his jaw set, and Eli is typing away at his laptop. Bobby’s right about him being a workaholic. It seems like if he’s not sleeping with me, he’s doing something work related.
As we circle over the city, my nerves spike.
“How’s Margot?” I ask.
“Fine,” Bobby says. “Gretzky just texted me. She’s watching TV.”
I nod trying to process how bizarre it is that my sister has met the men who held me at Velvet House. Eli decided that in the unlikely event the contract signing goes badly, Margot might be targeted. Harvey and Mr. Gretzky brought her a letter from me at her college, and she agreed to be taken to a safehouse for the night. I wanted to talk to her, but the boys warned me it wasn’t wise while Mr. Parker could still be trying to abduct me.
“You’ll speak to her afterward,” Eli promised. “If all goes well.”
I felt reassured at the time, but all ‘going well’ is beginning to feel a lot less likely.
The helicopter lands on a stretch of dark grass. A dozen armed guards are waiting for us. A hard knot forms in my stomach. Eli eyes me closely. “Time for you to be brave,bella. You are our glamorous toy, nothing more.”
He means—play your part. No tears. No fear. As Doc and Bobby have said a dozen times, Mr. Parker will be looking to upset me, if only for a last shot at revenge. But if I learned anything living with my stepmother, it was to play the role required of me. I push back my shoulders and try for a remote smile, like an off-duty model. I’m pretty and bored and no one can hurt me.
“Perfect.” Eli leans forward and kisses my cheek. “This will all be over soon.”
I think of Margot and pray he’s right.
The armed guards lead the five of us inside the building. It’s huge, like a gothic museum with glossy black floors and well-lit statues everywhere. The boys act as if they’ve done this a hundred times before, shrugging off their jackets and chatting to one another. But their eyes are cold and they walk in front and behind me. Four corners protecting me at the center.
We’re steered to a black marble reception where a man in sunglasses tells us to surrender our weapons. I expect Adriano to hand over his gun, but he also unpacks two knives, a set of handcuffs, and a taser. The other three are all carrying guns and knives, too.
I watch the receptionist pack them away under the desk and realize the boys are probably trying to make a point.‘We’re super armed and dangerous.’I wish they’d included me but, then again, there’s no way I’d look scary with a gun.
Once the gun butler has all the weapons, he comes around the desk and runs a black wand over each of us. It can’t be a metal detector because the chains on my dress don’t set it off. Maybe he’s scanning our bones. He eyes my breasts as he scans me and though it makes my skin crawl, I give him my best uninterested look, as though I couldn’t care less he finds me hot, because there’s no chance a lowly gun butler could be with someone like me.
“Good work, Pryntsesa,” Adriano mutters as we’re led to an elevator.
The guards stay behind as we pile in. It’s entirely black and so shiny, it’s like we’re in space. Eli presses for floor ninety, the highest floor. The doors close and I feel trapped. I touch the base of my ponytail where my St. Christopher is hidden.
Help me, Zia. Help all of us.
The space capsule opens on a conference room. The enormous glass table looks big enough for fifty people, yet sitting right in the middle is a single old man. His suit is light gray, and his thick white hair is combed neatly over his head. He should look harmless, even friendly, but as his pale eyes meet mine, a bolt of fear shoots through me. His eyes trail my body and then glance away and I understand he’s like a shark circling in a nature documentary. He won’t hurt me because he isn’t hungry and I’m just an unimportant little fish, but he isn’t someone I should make a mistake in front of. Ever.
