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I shoot a text to Seamus. I need to know how certain we are that the Espositos murdered the imposter.

Did anyone confirm Shannon O’Brien’s execution?

I put my phone face down on the table and walk over to the bed.

“Still stubborn?”

Her silence is her answer.

Maybe a new tactic will work. There's no question she was turned on by that spanking. She doesn't have a submissive bone in her body, but it's something altogether different when she’s over my knee.

“There are a lot of things I could do to you when your hands are above your head like that, aren't there?” I trace a lazy finger over the curve of her shoulder.

“You're a monster.”

“Aye. Yesterday I thought I owed you an apology for that spanking.” I shrug. “Turns out you deserved it and a fuck of a lot more, didn’t you? I had my doubts. I don’t anymore.”

I drag the very tip of my finger down her jawline. Her jaw tenses, and her breathing hitches.

“Truth is, I am a monster. I've killed men for less than what you’ve done.”

She swallows hard but stays still, her beautiful eyes watching my every move, dressed in clothes so skimpy I can see where her nipples press through the top and the slightest curve of her arse cheek sits at the edge of her shorts.

“Now,” I say in a low voice. “Are you going to tell me the truth, or is it time for another punishment?”

I drag my finger under the swell of her breast with a featherlight touch. She shivers. “I could put my mouth there. Just like this.”

Fucking hell. I want to pin her down and take my time with her until she stops being so bloody composed. I want to ruin her for it. I want her begging for more, like a dirty little whore, before I'm even half done. I lift the hem of her top, just a little more, stroking higher.

“Are you going to tell me to stop?” A slow smile spreads across her face. I’m starting to wonder whether she’s as fucked up as I am.

I drag my thumb across the hard peak of her nipple. She cries out as her hips jerk up.

Interesting. Very interesting. “You know, we could try a different kind of game.” Her cheeks have gone pink.

“Or not.”

“Right. You could give in and admit the truth.”

Silence.

“I’ll call this kind of game the carrot and the stick. Rewards for good girls, punishments for bad girls. What do you think about that?”

“It would depend on what kind of reward, wouldn't it?” she says. “You could let me go. You could give me my freedom. For that, I’d do anything you want.”

“Anything?” I pause, my thumb hovering over her nipple.

And let her run right back to where she'll get taken again? I don't think so. “If it were that easy,” I tell her, “I never would have taken you to begin with.” A light touch makes her shiver.

“So will you say yes?” I bring my mouth close to her ear. “If I let you come over and over on my fingers and on my mouth until you begged me, you might have a very different interpretation of owning, wouldn't you?”

“Fuck you,” she says, but there's none of the vehemence that was there before. “Go ahead. Try. See if you'll break me.”

I chuckle and shake my head. “Don't tempt me with a good time, Valentina. We talked about that.”

I drag my thumb across her nipple a second time, this time more slowly, watching her clamp her lips shut and say nothing.

Interesting. She'll break herself trying not to give me anything.