I do my duty silently and give Alexi a wide berth all night. The club is bustling, but I feel completely
empty inside as I play the role of smiling hostess. He’s left me be, said nothing when I appeared at
seven when the doors opened, after hours of composing myself upstairs.
I have been trying to put back on that face of control. He is doing what he does best it seems, acting
like nothing is amiss and nothing prior happened to cause any awkwardness. I wouldn’t expect
anything less from him to be honest.
I caught the staff whispering and throwing glances my way and I wonder if they are looking for my
bruises from what they think must have been an inevitable beating. I mean I did piss off our lord and
master and defied him so ruthlessly. What they don’t know is that it was so much worse than that. He
has the mental edge over me, knows how to break me, and uses that to control me much more
effectively than violence. I gave him something he can use next time I step out of line, and he knows it.
Alexi is king of the upper hand and I stupidly keep giving him all my playing cards. I’m even more afraid
of him than I was before, if it’s even possible, and I am starting to think the only way out of this is to find
my running shoes once more and use them. I can’t see this ever ending, even if I do pay off my debt to
Carrero; he doesn’t seem like a guy who just lets you walk out the door when your deal comes to an
end, and a year from now he may have enough leverage and emotional tools to have sent me to the
loony bin.
‘‘Hello Red ….’’ I jump when Gino’s smooth tone comes at me from behind and throw a wary glance to
where Alexi is sitting with a group of men in the lounge area. Girls moving in to drape all over them like
cheap whores and I turn away quickly when I see one of them sliding onto Alexi’s lap—it hits me with a
cruel twist in my stomach unexpectedly.
I take a long slow inhale, both to shove it down and stop caring what he does, and to appear
completely unfazed to everyone around me. It’s like an impulsive reaction every time a male comes
near me, to guiltily check if he is watching me, and I am more than aware he has me double checking
and watching every move I make tonight.
What has he done to you?
‘’Gino.’’ I step back when he leans into me, making a very visual space between us, with Alexi’s
warning swirling in my mind, and he smiles almost knowingly. Looking too Alexi like in a pair of smart
trousers and a shirt tonight, the dimness of the room making his eyes look grey and it’s almost creepy
in a way. How alike, yet completely different they are.
‘‘Still mad huh …? Look … I’m sorry okay, it wasn’t about you, but about me being a dick when I do
drugs and getting at my brother. I’m not normally that guy and I love my girlfriend. I’m marrying her, and
I don’t fuck around on her.’’ He extends a hand to me and even though I know it’s completely harmless,
I can’t get Alexi’s voice out of my head to stay away from his brother. I cross my arms over my bust and
throw him a tight smile with a raised chin, and just lower my brows seriously. Praying he takes the hint
that I am not a touchy-feely person when it comes to any male on the planet, while my captor is fifteen
feet away.
‘‘Apology accepted, can I get you a drink and alert your brother to your arrival?’’ My all business tone
and no-nonsense stance. I just want him to step off before Alexi realises he’s here, but he grins at me
with a cheeky all-knowing look.
‘‘You’ve been scalded huh? Yeah, you’ve got to learn to stand up to him Red, or he will grind you to
dust otherwise. Alexi is a hard arse but there’s more to him if you look deeper, and don’t let him get
away with his bullshit.’’ He moves back, thankfully, and throws a look towards the party I guess he is
attending.
‘’Well thanks for the tip, but it happens to be the worst advice ever. Alexi grinds anyone who stands up
to him to dust and I just need to learn to keep my head down and stop looking for anything beyond my
job.’’ I sigh and use the toe of my patent heels to kick out a fluff ball in the carpet in distraction. I’m still
pensive and sulking I guess, still feeling emotionally bruised and fragile, and could have done with
staying upstairs tonight to get over myself. I’m just not in the hostess mood. He’s bruised my
confidence. ‘‘You have no idea missy. How many women can you count on one hand that has a
permanent appearance in his empire? Family not included.’’ Mr smug is smiling at me like a Cheshire
cat who got all the cream and I just shrug him off with zero interest. I don’t want to have a cosy little
chat with him, I want to be left alone and mild irritation is brimming up inside.
‘‘I have nothing to do with his empire outside of this club, I have no clue.’’ I know it exists, he spends
most of his time anywhere but here, but he’s not a sharer of information and I have no desire to know
the ins and outs of what he does or where.
‘‘Two … The other is his secretary at his main office, and she’s known him since he was born. She was
our father’s assistant, this business is very traditional. Women have no place in power and Alexi is very
traditional about some aspects—like a woman’s place. Takes after my father and his generation; you’re
different Red, whether you think it or not. Alexi gave you responsibility and position in his club, you
stand out to him as someone capable and worth more.’’
I glance toward Alexi in two minds as to what Gino is saying and shake my head as I watch that
handsome profile schmoozing with his clients in such a relaxed manner. I know it’s not clear-cut, and
he had to do something with me to make back the money he paid out for my life. I’m just a tool, and
there’s no real power in being a hostess of a sex club. Luciano was failing so I was the obvious choice.
‘’I’m just a possession to him.’’ I lift my chin and try to exude my normal confidence even if the words
bite me strangely. I hate that I feel so bereft after the encounter with the cross earlier, even though, in
hindsight, he didn’t actually do anything to me that was overly cruel or abusive. What he did was play
on something he knew would make me freak out and get at me emotionally.
I need to learn to mask those things better, so he doesn’t see a worth in using them. I need to learn to
be stronger when it comes to standing up to him. ‘’If you hadn’t noticed … he’s not that possessive with
his many women. He picks them up and discards them without feeling. He’s crazy protective of you
though, bringing out the jealous psycho in him … like right now.’’ He nods out towards his left and I
glance up, finding Alexi’s eyes are trained on us from his sitting position, and he doesn’t look pleased
at all. He pushes his lap kitten off abruptly, shoves her aside rudely and downs his drink while still laser
locked on the object of his penetrating stare—me.
It’s not an overly angry look, but I can see that he is far from happy. My blood runs cold and I move
further away from Gino to make it very clear that it’s innocent.
‘’He doesn’t trust you, does he?’’ I try to get out of the firing line, but his eyes bore into me terrifyingly
so.
‘‘My brother trusts me just fine when it counts, we have a complex relationship; it’s you he doesn’t trust,
Red.’’ He leans in and kisses me on the cheek before swanning towards his brother, taking me by
surprise, and I flinch in delayed shock and half push him away. I can almost feel Alexi’s glare burning
into me, and cannot look his way as heat envelops my face. That kiss probably just earned me another
notch in his punishment book. He’s breaking me down, bringing me to heel, and taking away all my
fight while his brother Gino is a prick. Someone who likes to get a reaction from his twin, and he
probably just made my night a living hell with that little manoeuvre. Slowly, ruthlessly I am being ground
down into just another submissive little fuck buddy like all the rest, and I swore I would never allow
myself to become that to another man.
He’s right, I’m a challenge, and he won’t rest until he moulds me into another ‘‘yes sir’’ and then he will
discard me like he does all his playthings. I put my head down, ignoring him, avoiding eye contact and
walk towards the corridor of boudoirs instead. Blocking him out with his overly dramatic death stare. I
bury my mind in checking with security that everything is calm tonight as I can hear muffled moans and
groans coming from the rooms.
I hesitate when I get outside the door from earlier and shudder with a little unbridled fear before
stepping away to shake myself free of the memory and feelings it stirs up deep down inside. I have no
desire to ever venture back in there.
‘’Are you interested in going in?’’ A voice startles me, and I turn to see an older man looking me over
with a lot of interest; possibly late fifties, tall and broad with salt and pepper hair and a slight Italian look
about him, but I don’t think he’s a Carrero as he is missing that great bone structure they all seem to
have. He exudes power though and I wonder if this is the famous Santagato who has a card to this
room.
Another dangerous and well-known gangster who rubs shoulders with Alexi daily; rumour has it they
are friends and the families are joined by marriage somewhere down the line.
‘‘No. I don’t join in, I just oversee and make sure all patrons are satisfied while being here.’’ I smile
charmingly and feel immediately hemmed in when he gets a little closer. My normal sultry confidence is
trying to resurface tonight, but she’s just not with me and I curse myself for coming down here at all. It
seems I‘m just going through the motions with no real conviction; I’m a liability like this and I should
know better. You should never walk into the lion’s den without your battle armour and it's exactly what I
have done.
‘‘I’m sure Alexi wouldn’t say no to me having a little fun with something as elegant as you.’’ He runs a
finger down my cheek and I back up against the wall, recoiling as my insides churn from the unwanted
touch, banging my arse subtly as I try to get a handle on the situation, nerves peeking. Normally I
would rebuff and remove myself effortlessly, but this is not my night, and my sexy vixen mask is lying
on the floor upstairs where Alexi stripped me of it.
‘‘I belong to Alexi. I don’t play with anyone else.’’ I repeat robotically and pray that’s enough of a
deterrent, but my voice lacks confidence, and he can see the fear all over me like a second skin. I am
probably sweating terror and I don’t know if it’s him or the thought of Alexi catching another man’s
hands on me. Santagato seems to like what he sees, fear giving him a hard-on. I need to get a grip
over this shit.
‘’That’s right … She never plays with anyone else.’‘ Alexi’s voice cuts through between us and I swear,
despite everything he’s done, I feel a sigh of relief that he’s intervening as he slowly walks into the fold.
He leans against the door beside me, shoulder to the frame, so he’s almost sheltering me, and it cloaks
me with that insane sense of security once more.
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