First Comes Blood by Lilith Vincent

16

Chiara

Days pass and Cassius doesn’t say a word to me. It’s like living with an enormous, sulking bear. One who sneaks looks at me when he thinks my attention is elsewhere.

If Cassius doesn’t want to have any sort of relationship with me and he’s not trying to ransom me to Dad, why keep me here? Kick me out, send me back to Salvatore, anything. This limbo is making me crazy.

I carry my frustration with me everywhere I go, and I’m on edge whenever I’m with Cassius. When I’m alone, I’m stewing with anger and boredom.

One afternoon Cassius is out doing Cassius things and I’m sitting on the couch with a magazine when I hear the elevator ping and the doors slide open. Lorenzo strides out, dressed in black jeans and a black jacket, his blond hair messy and his dark brows drawn together. His T-shirt is cut low at the neck and there are tattoos on his chest.

I sit back when I realize it’s not Cassius. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Hello to you, too,” he sneers, heading past me. He and Vinicius show up occasionally at random times. I presume Cassius has a safe or a computer that they need to use for criminal purposes.

“Oh, like you give a damn whether I say hello. Go fuck yourself, Lorenzo.” I’m asking for trouble giving shit to a man who’s crazy, jacked up, armed, and hates my guts, but in this moment, it just feels so good to take out my Cassius-related frustrations on someone.

Lorenzo freezes, then swerves toward me. My belly swoops in alarm. “You mouthy little bitch. Why don’t you get out of here? Just leave. Go on, fuck off.”

I jump to my feet and yell at him, “I can’t leave because you’re all keeping me here.”

“Then find some way to fucking escape! You’re not even trying.”

“Call that elevator for me and I’ll leave right this second.” I expect Lorenzo to tell me to go fuck myself, but he hesitates. Hope flares in my chest. “Lorenzo, please open that elevator. You’ll never have to see me again.”

He passes his hand over his mouth and looks between the elevator and me. “Just to be clear, you’re asking for my help. Mine. Not the others?”

Cassius and Vinicius wouldn’t help me because they don’t want me gone. Lorenzo is the only one who would be happy never to see my face again. “I know, I can’t believe it either. Get me out of this building, please.”

Lorenzo glares at me for a moment longer, and then strides over to a door and opens it.

“You can’t use the elevator. There are cameras. Through here is the door to a stairwell. It opens with a passcode. Four-two-double-three-nine.”

Holy shit, he really is helping me. “One second. I’ll be right back.”

I run to my room and pull on a sweater and shoes with my jeans and scoop my hair into a ponytail. There’s nothing else I want or need from this apartment. I don’t know where I’m going without any money, phone or passport, but I’ll figure that out later.

I hurry back to the lounge, reciting the passcode under my breath.

As I pass by Lorenzo, he grabs hold of my ponytail and seethes in my ear, “You don’t know where you’ve been since the wedding. A group of men kept you in a dark room and you never saw their faces. If you go to the police or rat on us to your father and Salvatore, I’ll slit your fucking throat.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to remind him he showed everyone his face at my wedding, but now isn’t the time to be pedantic. “I know you will. I’m not stupid.”

“Could have fooled me.” He lets me go and gives me a shove.

My fingers shake as I punch the numbers into the door. I more than half expect the code to be rejected and for Lorenzo to heap scorn on me for believing that he’d help me, but the little light goes green, the door unlocks and I pull it open with a cry of shock.

Turning around, I see Lorenzo giving me a sarcastic wave.

Then I run.

It’s a long, long way down. I grow dizzy from the turns but I hold the stair rail and keep running. Several minutes later, I burst out of the stairwell and into an underground garage. A black Mercedes is parked in front of me, and Lorenzo is leaning against it with his arms folded.

I brace my hands against my knees and struggle for breath. “What are you doing here? I thought we already said our goodbyes.”

“Every entrance to this building has a security camera. When Cassius finds out that you’re gone and checks them, he’ll see me arrive and leave around the same time as you disappeared. I don’t want to get mixed up in your shit. You can’t be seen.”

He goes around to the back of the car and opens it. “Get in.”

“In the trunk? No way.”

Lorenzo bares his teeth at me in a snarl. “I’m not tying you up and kidnapping you. I’m driving you a few blocks down the street and then letting you out. Get in the fucking car or I’ll drag you back upstairs right this second.”

He’ll do it, too. Motherfucker.

I straighten up and walk toward him. “Only as long as this really is the last time I see your face.”

“Who would have imagined Little Miss Annoying would have asked for my help. One more thing. Pass me that cloth.” He points to a folded chamois in the trunk, the sort used to polish a car.

“What? Why do you need that?”

“Do you have to argue every step of the way? I said fucking give it to me,” he snarls.

“Fine!” I pick up the chamois and pass it to him. The second his hand closes around the fabric, his expression morphs from annoyed to menacing. As quick as a snake, he shoves the cloth into my mouth all the way to the back of my throat.

I’m gagging when he rips a piece of duct tape from a spool he’s pulled out of nowhere and slaps it over my mouth. Then he grabs a zip tie from his pocket and tightens it viciously around my wrists. He’s so fast I’ve barely struggled for one breath in the time it’s taken him to completely disable me.

“Idiot. You practically kidnap yourself.” Lorenzo grins and shoves me into the back of his car, straps me down and slams the door.

I lay on the floor of the Mercedes making angry buzzing noises in the back of my throat and kicking the side of the car.

I was nearly free. I was so close. You asshole, Lorenzo.

Chiara, you fucking idiot.

The car door slams, the engine starts and we’re moving. These are probably my last few minutes on earth and I’m spending them being humiliated and murdered by Lorenzo Scava.

I hate him.

Sometime later, the car descends as if into a garage and he turns off the engine. The back door opens and Lorenzo unhooks the straps and hauls me over his shoulder. I can’t see anything but his back and his heels as he walks along a concrete passage. A familiar concrete passage. Then we’re going upstairs, and then up another flight of stairs. I thrash about, trying to dislodge myself from his shoulder, but he holds me tight.

I’m set on my feet in a carpeted room and Lorenzo rips the duct tape and the chamois from my mouth. I stare around, trying to see where I am at the same time as I try to get some moisture back in my bone-dry mouth.

“This is your compound, isn’t it? What are we doing here?” My eyes land on the bed over his shoulder, and I realize we’re in the master bedroom. His bedroom.

Lorenzo gives a smile that could make an angel scared and horny at the same time.

My stomach hollows out and I back away from him. “Oh, no. No, no, no. Not that. Not you.”

“That pussy of yours is causing trouble. Or should I say—that virgin pussy. I’m going to do everyone a favor and make it mine.”

I start to shake in fear. No one hates me more than Lorenzo Scava and he’s going to make this as brutal as possible. Then, he’ll throw my battered body down in front of Cassius and Vinicius and they’ll turn away in disgust.

Ruined.

He’s going to utterly destroy me so they don’t want me anymore.

Lorenzo pulls his T-shirt up and over his head. He moves slowly, the muscles of his stomach and biceps rippling. There are tattoos across his torso and down his arms. His eyes are burning with the same twisted delight as they were the night of my seventeenth birthday.

He’s going to make me suffer, and he can’t wait.

I turn and run for the door, but Lorenzo merely steps forward and wraps an arm around my waist.

My back is pressed against his scorching naked chest and his lips are against my ear. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“Fuck you. We both know you’re going to make this horrible for me.”

“Ah, sucks to be you, princess.” Lorenzo scoops my hair away and goes for my throat.

He bites me.

I suck in a panicked breath, braced for pain.

Lorenzo nips my throat with his teeth, and then opens his mouth wider and bites me again. Not hard enough to hurt, but I feel every tooth in my delicate flesh and his breath heats my skin. Lorenzo buries his fingers in my hair, stroking up the nape of my neck over the spot where he cut me, as if the marks are fascinating to him.

I stare at our reflections in the nearby mirror. My chalk white face. Lorenzo’s savage beauty. His huge arms are locked around me and his eyes are closed as he works his teeth against me.

“I guess there’s a silver lining to this.”

“What’s that, princess?” he murmurs, almost sounding like a lover.

“Once this is over, none of you will want me again. I’ll be free.”

And yet my heart contracts painfully at the thought of Cassius gazing at me in disgust because I’m used goods. Turning away from me. Throwing me out so he never has to look at me again. It’s ridiculous that my virginity should make any goddamn difference to my value and I refuse to believe it does.

But it clearly matters to Cassius.

Lorenzo smiles against my throat. “Is that so?”

My blood freezes. I’m assuming he’s going to let me live. Once he’s finished with me, maybe he’ll just kill me. Take me out to the desert and hunt me down like game, like he so lovingly described.

Tears shimmer in my eyes. At least then I’ll be with Mom.

“Ah, princess. Am I so hideous?”

Lorenzo turns me around to face him, his hands on my waist and a smile on his lips. His blond hair is tumbling around his face and the light from the window is striking his high cheekbones and the hard line of his jaw. He’s beautiful, but he can’t hide the malevolence that shines from within.

My wrists are still fastened together. I reach up and touch his face. “Not here.”

My hand slides down his jaw, over his tattooed throat and comes to rest over his heart. “Here. This is what scares me.”

The smile fades from Lorenzo’s lips. He almost looks like he’s in pain. He glances in confusion at my bound wrists, his clothes on the floor, and then at himself.

I beg him with my eyes. Please, please realize what you’re doing and that you don’t want to hurt me.

Please, Lorenzo. Show me that you’re not a monster through and through.

He steps away to pick up his jacket and fishes around inside it. He brings out his knife, clutched in his fist, and when his eyes meet mine they’re sparking with fury.

I swallow hard. Oh, shit. Now I’ve made him angry.

“The others have told me how lush you are. Let’s see what these clothes of yours have been hiding.”

Lorenzo grasps a fistful of my top and slices through it. He does it over and over, grasps and cuts, grasps and cuts, until every scrap of fabric has fallen to the floor at my feet.

He wriggles the point of his knife beneath the center of my bra. “Aren’t you fucking perfect. I’ve been dreaming about this.”

I swallow down the burn of disappointment and force my voice not to wobble. If he’s going to strip me bare then I’ll at least keep my dignity. “I thought you said you couldn’t stand me.”

“I was fucking with you so I could win. You’re just my type, princess.” He slices through my bra with a flick of his wrist and it falls open.

“Win what?”

But Lorenzo’s too busy cutting through my bra straps and throwing the tattered garment to the ground. His hungry gaze devours my body as he works. I stare straight ahead at his chest.

If I can just get my hands on that knife. Even with my hands tied I might be able to stab him in the neck, just how he taught me. The idea of him bleeding out in seconds is the only thing keeping me going.

Lorenzo notices me glance at his knife and throws it aside, laughing. “I like my neck how it is.”

I screw my eyes up. Stupid, stupid Chiara. I made it so obvious what I was planning.

He turns his attention to my jeans and pulls them down my legs. He tugs them meaningfully when they reach my ankles so that I have no choice but to step out of them, nearly losing my balance. Lorenzo catches me around the waist and steadies me, and his fingers just slip beneath my briefs at my lower back.

“How about we make things interesting? Vinicius told me you couldn’t resist his wager. If I get these panties off you and they’re not soaked through, I’ll take you back to Cassius.”

I frown at him, perplexed. Back to Cassius. Not Cassius and Vinicius?

“I see how you look at my friend. Like you’re half a breath away from falling to your knees and begging for him to save you.” There’s an edge to his voice, almost like he’s jealous.

He is jealous. Not of Cassius touching me. Of me feeling affection for the man.

He grips my hair and forces my face up to his. “I saved you, too, remember? We all did. We’re all your knights in shining armor, not just Cassius.”

I remember Lorenzo’s cold and brutal expression as he advanced on me with that hypodermic. “You’re one messed up knight. All you care about is scaring the hell out of me. If you wanted me to like you, you shouldn’t have gone out of your way to be so horrible to me.”

He laughs without humor. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”

Lorenzo draws his finger around the inside of my briefs, and I shiver despite the hatred burning in my heart. “It doesn’t matter now. What do you say to this little wager?”

I’ve got nothing to say to such a messed-up bet.

“Princess.” A delighted smile breaks over his face. “Are you wet for me already?”

“Screw you. I’m not wagering my body over anything.” Not a second time. I did that once and I was totally humiliated.

He hoists me up against his chest with an arm beneath my knees and one around my waist and carries me over to the bed. “Refusing the bet is not an option.”

I’m placed gently on the mattress, but there’s nothing gentle about Lorenzo’s expression. He slips between my legs and my inner thighs rub against his rough denim jeans. Looming over me, he takes my breasts in both hands and rubs my nipples between his thumb and forefingers.

I brace for an excruciating assault on my nerve endings. Instead, a delicious sensation expands through me and burrows deep inside me to blossom between my thighs. Every squeeze, every stroke of his fingers makes the heat grow.

“No,” I moan. Not again. I don’t want to enjoy this. I want to give him the hatred he deserves, not the satisfaction of seeing me pant for him.

Lorenzo bends over me, the bulge at the front of his jeans tight against my pussy. He takes one of my nipples in his mouth and sucks at the same time as he grinds his hips against me.

I twist futilely at the zip tie binding my wrists. I can’t believe this is happening. I’m filled with self-loathing.

When he sits up, his lower lip is reddened and wet with saliva. He hooks a finger into my underwear and drags them down my legs. He lifts them up and rubs his finger over the slippery wetness that has gathered in them, a triumphant smile on his lips. “Fuck, I love it when you do that.”

He throws them aside, puts his hand between my thighs and spreads them open. “I win.”

“No, wait—” But my protest is lost when he slides down the bed and his tongue swipes my clit.

My whole body jumps in response. Fuck.

“You taste like heaven,” he murmurs between lashes of his tongue.

I screw my eyes up tight. He doesn’t feel like heaven. He doesn’t.

“Has anyone ever licked you before, princess? Wait, Vinicius got his lying mouth all over you, didn’t he? And you came so hard for him.” Between words, he laps at my clit, his lips vibrating against me. “How I fucking loved hearing about that. As soon as I read the text from him I was so hard. I pumped my cock up and down in my hand, thinking about your tight, dripping snatch. I was right here in this bed, imagining you moan for me as I slammed into your pussy.”

I feel my back arch as my hips rock against his mouth. As he’s spoken, my eyes have opened and so have my knees, and I’m watching him murmur filthy words into my pussy.

Lorenzo glances up at me. “You must have imagined what it was liked to be licked by a man, but the real thing isn’t what you thought it would be. My tongue’s soft, isn’t it?”

Softer than I expected, especially from Lorenzo. As hot and slippery as I am, my pussy and his tongue feel like they were made for each other. He spreads me wider with his fingers and laps at my clit, and I can’t control the cry that tears from my lips.

Lorenzo’s arms slide around my hips and hold me tight as his eyes close and he keeps licking. What the hell is happening to me? This feels so wrong, but the wrongness seems to be spicing my body’s reactions.

I’m so close to coming when he sits up, and I’m frantically trying to get a grip on myself when I realize he’s taken off his jeans. His cock is jutting out beneath his belly, thick and aggressively swollen.

Oh, Jesus. He’s really going to do it. I whimper and struggle against the zip tie that’s cutting viciously into my flesh.

“Hmm. This isn’t right.”

My head lifts in surprise, wondering if he’s had a change of heart. He gets up for his knife, cuts my wrists free and then throws the weapon out of reach. Then he slides back between my legs, his cock nudging my entrance.

I press my palms against his burning chest. “Don’t, please,” I sob, but not with tears. With need and self-loathing. Being free is worse. I look at my hands splayed against his tattooed muscles and it like he’s my lover.

Once this is done, it’s all over. I’ll have nowhere to go. No one who’ll want to keep me safe. They’ll all throw me aside. Lorenzo. Cassius. Vinicius. Salvatore. Dad. They all made it plain that I’m worthless without my virginity. I don’t want to be anyone’s prize, but the thought of being used and discarded is even worse.

Used and discarded by a man that I’m burning up for. After he’s finished with me, Lorenzo will mock me for the ways he made me come, and then throw me out onto the street.

“Don’t do this, please.”

But Lorenzo doesn’t listen. He grasps his cock and slides it through my wetness.

“I fucking hate you,” I say, my chest heaving with every breath as I stare at the shiny head of his cock.

“So fight me if you’re feeling so guilty for getting turned on. It won’t stop me, but at least you’ll be able to tell yourself that you weren’t asking for it.”

My muscles are locked up with fear and desire. I don’t want to fight. I just want to burn up in shame and humiliation. This is worse than if Lorenzo beat me first. This is so sick and twisted.

His eyes narrow and he doesn’t move. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. He’s getting exactly what he wants and there’s nothing I can do to stop it even if I did fight him.

“You want to feel like I’m making you?” Lorenzo asks, reaching into the bedside table.

I hear an ominous click, and then something cold and hard is pressed under my chin. I look down and see he’s holding a gun, the barrel pressed against my jaw. Lorenzo’s fingers flex on the gun grip. “Aren’t I good to you, princess? Hands down on the bed.”

My palms hit the mattress.

“If you resist me before I’m through, I’ll blow your brains out.”

“If I resist you, you’ll be screwing a corpse.”

His eyes flash. “Don’t mind one bit, princess. Your pussy will stay warm enough for me to finish even with your blood and brains all over the pillow.”

The sight of the gun pressed against my jaw and my body prone beneath him seems to excite him. He’s braced on one hand by my head. “Reach down and take hold of me.”

“What? No!”

The barrel of the gun presses viciously against my jaw. “That’s your last warning.”

Lorenzo Scava is so messed up he’s making me help him take my virginity against my will. I reach down between our legs and wrap my fingers around his length. He’s burning hot and iron hard, but velvet soft to the touch.

He groans as I enclose his girth. “That’s it, princess. Guide me in.”

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second. Lorenzo is watching me, his eyes filled with delight and anticipation. I push the broad head of his cock down my inner lips and feel my body give against his. He surges forward with a heavy groan, sinking into me, so deep it’s shocking.

I almost reach up and grab his shoulders before I remember his threat to shoot me in the head. I grip the sheets with both hands instead as pain burns through me.

“Fuck, your pussy,” he groans, moving slowly. Then he hesitates. “You okay, princess?”

His cock is thick, a blunt weapon deep inside me. The pain is subsiding, but the humiliation is only getting worse. “You don’t care.”

“Well, fuck you then.” His pale blue eyes flash and he looks down between us. “There’s no way you can tell me that doesn’t look insanely hot.”

I grip the sheets harder. I’m not looking. I won’t look.

The only other place to look is into Lorenzo’s face, so I take one glance down between my thighs. He slides into me, and then out again, his length glistening wet and smeared with red. Is that my blood?

Oh, Jesus. That’s weird and…and kind of hot.

Without thinking, I look up at him.

The same time as he looks up at me, his face just inches from mine.

I’m trapped in Lorenzo’s eyes as he fucks me deep and slow. The pain has been replaced by a delicious stretching sensation every time he bottoms out inside me.

“Your little clit is so swollen. My hands are full here. Stroke her for me.”

His voice is heavy with desire. Even with the gun to my head he sounds like he’s coaxing me.

I don’t have a choice, so I do as he tells me, lifting my hand from the bed and sliding it down over my hip and circling my clit with my middle finger. His tongue sensitized me so much that just a few strokes of my finger has my breath deepening. I watch my fingers move as he thrusts, fascinated by the strange sight.

“Look at me,” he breathes.

I do, and I wish I hadn’t. That expression on his face. I’ve never seen him look so…normal. Not a trace of viciousness or cruelty. I could swear he’s wondering how the hell this is happening as much as I am.

I see it again.

A tiny glimpse of the humanity inside Lorenzo.

Everything’s starting to slide out of my control and without thinking I reach up with my other hand to grasp his shoulder.

Lorenzo doesn’t seem to notice my mistake. His teeth sink into his lower lip and he groans. “Princess, I can feel your pussy squeezing me. You’re going to come and it’s going to make me blow.”

Heat flashes through me. Blow. Come inside me. My finger keeps working on my clit as he continues to thrust. This is so wrong. This is so fucking wrong. I’m panting hard and moaning for a man who’s holding a gun to my head. I’m squeezing his shoulder like a lover while he pounds my pussy that’s so wet for him I’m practically gushing.

His eyes have me pinned to the bed even more than his body does. A surge of pure pleasure breaks through me, taking me prisoner. Wave after wave of heat slams through me in time with his cock.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he growls, animalistic and rough, like feeling me come has set something off in him. He starts pounding me faster. Now both my hands are up on his shoulders as his body moves. The aftershocks of my orgasm have moved deeper and are gathering right where his cock is thrusting.

“Lorenzo,” I whimper, panting with need as he drives into me in the most heavenly way. Not saying his name because I have anything to say. Saying his name because it’s the only thing I can say. “Lorenzo.”

The door flies open. In a flash, Lorenzo whips the gun out from beneath my chin and points it at the intruders. He sits up, still buried deep inside me, his chest and brow glowing with sweat.

Cassius and Vinicius.

Cassius looks thunderstruck as he stares at me. My hands have trailed down Lorenzo’s chest to slip around his waist. My thighs are tight around his hips. I rip my hands away from his stomach as if they’re suddenly burned, but my legs are locked and won’t let go.

Vinicius merely raises one brow and casts his gaze down my naked body, interested and amused.

“Stay right there till I’m done with our princess,” Lorenzo says with a smile. “But feel free to watch.”

Cassius strides forward and swipes the gun out of Lorenzo’s hand. He grasps the blond man under the armpit and hauls him off me. Then he scoops me up in his arms and pulls me tightly against his chest.

Cassius.

I wrap my arms around his neck and hide my face in his chest. Again, he’s seen me with another man. Again, he’s pulled me away from them and back to him. Why does he have to keep tormenting me like this, pulling me close only to push me away again?

“Take me out of here, please,” I whisper, so soft that only he can hear. “Take me back to your penthouse. Anywhere but here.”

I feel Cassius stroke my hair and hold me closer, and my heart leaps. For a second I think he’s going to do as I ask.

Instead, he walks over to a sofa and sits down, with me in his lap.

“How did you do it, Scava?”

Lorenzo flexes his neck from side to side, smiling. “My good looks and charming personality.”

Vinicius laughs and perches on the windowsill. “No, come on. How did you do it?”

“Instead of asking me how I won, ask yourselves why you lost. You were too busy trying to cheat. ‘Just the tip.’ Are you fucking thirteen?”

Vinicius grins. “I couldn’t help myself. Look at her, she’s perfect.”

Lorenzo shoots me a heated smile and pushes his damp hair back from his face. “Yeah. She is. Best bet I’ve won in ages.”

I look from one man to the next. “Bet?”

“We kept arguing about who got to sleep with you first, so we decided to make it interesting,” Vinicius tells me with a grin. “The first one to gain your trust, he’d get the green light to take you to bed.”

I turn and look at Cassius, expecting him to deny such a ridiculous story, but he says nothing.

“I thought Cassius would make you melt because he’s such a softie. I’m fucking crushed I didn’t win.” Vinicius is grinning as he says this, though, as if the game was so fun it didn’t matter that he lost.

I start to scream and struggle. “So it was a trick? Why do you all think it’s so funny to mess with me?”

Cassius holds me against him. “No, bambina. We want you to learn. You need to think two, three, four steps ahead.”

“Speak for yourself. I just wanted to fuck her,” Lorenzo says, reaching for me. “Now hand her over. I’m not done.”

I shrink away from Lorenzo and closer to Cassius.

Lorenzo’s eyes narrow. “He won’t protect you from me, princess. We don’t work like that, and don’t pretend you hate me so much when a few minutes ago you were coming all over my dick.”

Everyone’s gaze is on me and I feel my whole face reddening. “I hate you.”

“Yeah, you do. That’s what makes the sex so hot.”

“Everything you guys do is a trick. What’s next, is Salvatore going to walk through that door?”

Cassius grabs my throat and squeezes. “Rule number one, bambina,” he growls, his eyes growing dangerously dark. “In fact, rules number two, three and four as well. What are they?”

“No talking about Salvatore,” I gasp around his fingers. “No talking back. No trying to escape. Do as you’re told. Screw your rules! You say the three of you want one woman to protect, but you don’t act like it. You can’t protect me by keeping me prisoner and forcing me to have sex with you. That’s not protection.”

Cassius lets go of my throat slowly. “Then we need to discuss how this is going to work between the four of us from now on.”

My eyebrows shoot up. From now on? But Cassius was so intent on keeping me for himself. He won’t want me now that Lorenzo has had sex with me. That’s why they had their stupid bet, because my virginity is such a goddamn prize.

Why are men like that?

“What do you mean, from now on?”

“Nevertheless,” Cassius says, speaking over me. “We had an arrangement and you broke it. You have to be punished before we move on.”

I swallow and gaze at him in apprehension. “Lorenzo already punished me enough.”

“I dispense the punishments. He was claiming his winnings.”

“And I haven’t even had them all yet. My balls are fucking aching,” Lorenzo says, sitting down in an armchair. He leans back, knees spread, completely naked and still hard. “Go on and spank her. I want to watch.”

“Screw you,” I snarl, but he just smiles at me.

I start to fight my way out of Cassius’ lap. He wouldn’t dare punish me. Not after I’ve just been thoroughly humiliated and used.

Cassius grasps my wrists. “Are you going to let me, or do I have to make you?”

“Oh, please make her,” Lorenzo says, his deep voice heavy with desire.

“No, I’m not going to let you. You made it clear enough that you don’t care about me.”

Cassius and I stare at each other for a long time. There’s a tic in his jaw as if his teeth are clenching. I would have stayed with him if he’d opened his arms to me that morning, but he didn’t. If he’s mad that Lorenzo screwed me first, he only has himself to blame.

You know what? I’m mad at him. I didn’t have to suffer through Lorenzo kidnapping me, cutting my clothes off with his knife and fucking me with a gun to my head. I wouldn’t have suffered if Cassius had welcomed my affection. The first one to earn my trust gained the right to my body. That was their bet. But instead of accepting my trust, he pushed me away and I had no choice but to turn to Lorenzo.

“Fine,” he bites out. “Then we’ll do this the hard way.”

He yanks savagely on my wrist until I’m face down over his lap. I struggle and swear at him, but he’s too strong for me. I’m pinned over his thighs as he raises his hand.

“Don’t you—”

Dare.

That’s what I was going to say.

But he does dare.

He strikes my bare ass with his hand and I squeal in indignation. Pain and heat burn in my flesh. Cassius spanks me over and over while I struggle and scream at him. Every now and then, his hand dips between my legs and feels how wet I am, and then his fingers seek my clit and he torments me with his touch. Pleasure rockets through me as fierce as the burn from his spanking.

“Get your hands off me,” I pant, thrashing around in his lap. Everyone’s looking at me. All three of these hateful bastards are enjoying my humiliation.

Cassius captures my chin in his hands and purrs, “I thought you weren’t going to like it, but you do, don’t you, bambina?”

I yank my chin from his grip and sink my teeth into his fingers.

“Ow. Aren’t you feisty,” he scolds, but he doesn’t pull his fingers away. I keep my teeth sunk into him as he spanks me again. He eases his finger from between my teeth and pushes it deeper into my mouth.

“Suck,” he whispers, and I do. “Good girl.”

Heat darts through me at the silky warmth in his voice. I suck harder on his finger, eyes closed. A moment later I hear Lorenzo groan and realize what I’m doing.

I pull my mouth away and glare at Cassius. “Are you finished?”

“I told you there would be consequences for your actions. How will you learn to trust me if I don’t follow through?”

I look at each one of the three men in turn. Cassius’ stern expression. Vinicius’ wicked delight. Lorenzo’s heated interest as he grips the base of his erect cock. “How are you three going to keep me captive forever? I will find a way to escape on my own.”

“You’ll learn in time what we’re about, and then you won’t want to leave,” Cassius says. “Nothing worth dying for happens overnight. One day you’ll understand.”

I look at the other two and see that they have utter conviction in what their friend has said. Cassius releases me and I sit up slowly, but keeps hold of my waist. I settle on the sofa next to him, my heels against my burning ass, and push my hair off my face. “You all trust each other that much? You would die for each other?”

“Completely,” Vinicius says, the afternoon sunlight playing across his cheek and making his eyes glow golden. “After what we went through together we learned to trust each other implicitly.”

“But what about—” I almost say Salvatore’s name.

Vinicius narrows his eyes. Even he turns cold and threatening at the mention of his ex-friend.

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Cassius strokes his fingers through my hair. “I know it’s strange. We really do mean it, though. We’ll look after you and protect you. We’ll die for you if it comes to that. But you have to trust us first.”

Die for me. My heart aches as it recognizes the pure, unadulterated love of someone who would die for you.

It’s the only kind of love that’s worth anything.

“This is a lot for one afternoon, bambina. We can talk about it more later. But for now, get over there and finish Scava off.”

Lorenzo wraps his hand around his still erect cock and beckons me closer. “I’ve felt that pussy of yours, princess. What that mouth do?”

“Rip your dick off with my teeth.”

Cassius slips his hand between my thighs and massages my clit with his fingers, glancing at the other two. “How about the three of us ask nicely from now on? What does that promise sound like, bambina?”

“Utter garbage,” I reply, but I can’t help the way my eyes close and I moan at his touch.

“I have to ask nicely? Define nice,” Lorenzo growls.

My eyes open and I glare at him. “Not kidnapping me would be a start.”

His eyes widen in amusement. “Fine. No kidnapping. Now, get over here.”

I stay right where I am, leaning against Cassius’s strong chest while he touches my pussy. Cassius is the one who deserves me. Lorenzo can sit there with his blue balls and watch.

Cassius puts his lips against my ear as he rubs my clit in slow, tormenting circles. “Bambina, your pussy is so wet. I can feel how much you want to come again. Do you want that?”

I look into his deep brown eyes and I caress his jaw. “You all make me want fucked up things.”

“We noticed,” he says, and kisses behind my ear. “That’s what we liked about you from that first night.”

“Liar,” I whisper. “You hated me.”

“You think so?”

I recall the pain and disgust on his face as he’d prised my fingers from his arm.

I’m sorry, I can’t help you tonight. You have to wait. I promise I’ll be back.

Not disgust at me, I realize. At what my father had done.

“We’ll go home,” he whispers. “But first, go back over there and finish Scava off. I know you want to.”

I wrap an arm around Cassius’ neck and arch my back as he continues to rub my clit, and then turn to Lorenzo. “Maybe I’ll just stay here.”

Amusement quirks the corner of Lorenzo’s mouth. “Are you trying to make me jealous, princess? It won’t work. I am getting impatient, though.”

I glance at Vinicius, who’s settled himself back against the window to watch. His beautiful eyes are alight with interest.

“What about you?” I ask him.

“Am I jealous?” Vinicius asks with a smile. “My brothers look happy for once. That’s the only thing I want in this world.”

I don’t know about happy, unless Vinicius sees something I don’t, but Cassius and Lorenzo do seem more relaxed than usual.

I get down from Cassius’ lap and slide over to where Lorenzo is sitting, and kneel between his legs with my hands on his thighs. I sit there for a long time while we gaze at each other. If he tries to force me, I will find a way to kill him, that’s a promise.

Lorenzo doesn’t move.

I turn and look at Cassius, and then at Vinicius. Their expressions haven’t changed.

Curious.

I gaze up at the handsome devil before me. “What if I use my teeth? Aren’t you afraid of that?”

Lorenzo smiles. “Maybe I’ll like it.”

I expect him to grasp my hair and shove his cock into my mouth, making this as horrible as Salvatore did for me. Instead, Lorenzo leans down like he’s going to kiss me. I realize he never has kissed me. My eyes drop to his mouth as I anticipate what his kiss will feel like. Intoxicating, and as hungry as a wolf.

But Lorenzo stops short of my lips and swipes the pad of his thumb over my lips, just once. Like a kiss. And looks deep into my eyes.

Maybe that’s his version of a kiss.

It sends a fizz of heat and affection through me, and my lips part, hoping he’ll do it again.

“I’ll like whatever you do to me,” he whispers. “I’m all yours.”

I stare up at him in surprise. This vicious, tattooed asshole just told me he’s mine. His fingers rub the base of my skull, making my body feel heavy and languorous. The tip of his cock is right there, just inches from my mouth, which waters at the sight.

I glance over my shoulder at Cassius and Vinicius. “Are you both just going to watch?”

“Would you rather they join in?” Lorenzo asks.

A hot sensation flashes through me at the suggestion. No, but…

“Do you like that idea? Hey, boys, why don’t you—”

I reach out with my tongue and flick the tip of Lorenzo’s cock. That shuts him up. He closes his eyes and groans as I enclose three inches of him in my mouth.

“Fuck, that’s incredible, princess,” he breathes as I suck slowly up his length and then down again. He continues to stroke his fingers through my hair. That’s the first time he’s called me princess without it sounding sarcastic.

Lorenzo being gentle. Lorenzo using pet names. What alternate universe is this?

I feel something brush against the back of my legs, and realize it’s Vinicius. He’s kneeled down behind me and grasped my hips.

“Kitten, I can’t stand this. I need to fuck you.”

“What did we just say about asking nicely?” Cassius says from the other side of the room. I turn and look at him, relaxed on the sofa with his arm along the back, content to watch like he’s some sort of referee. His cheek is resting against his palm, and there’s a smile just curving his lips.

He’s happy.

He’s watching me with his two friends, hard as a rock in his pants, and he couldn’t be more pleased.

Vinicius strokes his hands along my back. My bare pussy is just brushing the front of his pants and the sensations make me moan. “Please can I fuck you, kitten?”

Every time Vinicius touches me the world turns golden. The orgasm Lorenzo gave me feels like eons ago, and the heat from Cassius’ spanking is making my pussy throb.

Two men at once, on the day I lose my virginity, with another one watching. My father would be horrified. This should probably feel slutty, but I’ve never liked that word. Anyway, right now I don’t want to think.

I just want to feel.

Slowly, with my mouth still full of Lorenzo, I nod.

I hear the clink of Vinicius’ belt and the sound of his zipper, and then the tip of him presses into me. He’s not going to stop at just the tip today, though, and a moment later he thrusts deep.

Vinicius groans, a long, luxurious, “Fuuuuuck.”

I moan at the brief flash of pain, and then the longer burn of pleasure, and walk my knees open.

“She likes that. She’s sucking my dick harder,” Lorenzo says.

“I fucking like it too,” Vinicius growls. He reaches down between my legs to rub my swollen clit as he pounds into me. I close my eyes and work my mouth in loving strokes up and down Lorenzo’s cock. The blow job is messy and without rhythm as Vinicius sends heat and pleasure rippling through my body, but Lorenzo doesn’t seem to care. In fact, he’s entranced.

“You look so good getting fucked, princess. You should see what I see. That’s it, get your pretty mouth around me and suck.”

My hands press against his belly as I moan with my mouth full of him. A decadent feeling washes over me and I feel the attention and desire of all three of them.

Each time Vinicius bottoms out inside me, I feel myself being coaxed closer and closer to my peak, until my whole body goes rigid with my climax and I push Lorenzo to the back of my throat.

Vinicius pulls out suddenly, and something warm and wet shoots over me.

“He’s painted your ass with his cum. Oh, god, princess. Fuck that’s…” But Lorenzo doesn’t have the chance to tell me what it looks like because he comes himself, flooding my mouth with the taste of him.

Vinicius draws me back against his chest and holds me tight. “I’ve been waiting a year to do that. Worth every second, kitten.”

I turn my head and look at him, and then at Lorenzo slumped back in his armchair. Both their faces are flushed and they’re smiling. As I swallow, Vinicius wipes the corners of my mouth with his thumb.

“Good girl,” Vinicius murmurs in my ear. “Very good fucking girl.”

Cassius holds out his hand to me. “Come up here so I can talk to you.”

Vinicius lets me go, but I hesitate, glancing down at myself. I can feel Lorenzo in my mouth. I can definitely feel Vinicius on my thighs.

Cassius raises a dark brow. “You think I’m squeamish about that? Don’t be a baby.”

I get up and go over to Cassius, and he pulls me onto his lap and against his chest. “That was intense. You did well.”

Awkwardly, self-consciously, Cassius wraps both arms around me and holds me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see Vinicius and Lorenzo exchange surprised glances.

“I didn’t think you liked giving affection,” I whisper, so only Cassius can hear me.

“I’m trying, for you,” he says tightly. His grip is as tight as his voice. It’s like being hugged by a metal cage.

“Relax your muscles. I want you to feel soft.”

Cassius takes a deep breath and lets it out. Slowly, all the tension melts from his arms and chest. I sink into him and rest my cheek against his shoulder.

“Did you enjoy that, bambina?”

I glance up at him, sheepish and exhausted. “I…did actually.”

“Good girl.”

They need to stop saying that. I’ll get addicted. Cassius’ warm words cascade through me and I close my eyes. What an afternoon. Despite the terrifying way it started, the past hour or so was delicious. My mind travels backwards through the events. Swallowing down Lorenzo. Vinicius pounding into me and coming hard on his cock. Coming beneath Lorenzo as he had a gun to my head. Remembering the bet sends a spurt of irritation through me. I’ll bring that up later and tell them that if they ever pull a stunt like that again then they can forget about touching me, but for now, I let it go, and drift in the warm cocoon that Cassius has made for me.

I can hear Vinicius and Lorenzo talking quietly. Lorenzo. What a strange, terrifying man he is, but I glimpsed something in the middle of all that, didn’t I? Someone more vulnerable than the face he usually presents to the world. I saw that person even as he held a gun to my head or shoved that horrible knife in my face.

The knife.

My eyes pop open.

The knife.

He used it on me, to threaten me and cut off my clothes. My stomach rolls at the memory. The same knife that was used to kill my mother.

I should never have begged for Cassius’ affection. Being in his arms has made me feel again, and the first emotion that rushes back burns through me like fire.

Shame.

I scrunch my fingers in Cassius’ shirt and press my face into his chest. “Can you kill me, please? I don’t want to live anymore.”

“Bambina?”

Revulsion pounds through me and tears pour down my face. “I deserve to die. I’m disgusting. I can’t believe I let him do that to me.”

“Who?”

“Lorenzo,” I whisper. “His knife.”

“His knife?” Cassius repeats. Lorenzo’s knife is on the carpet on the other side of the room. No blood on it. No marks on me. “I don’t understand.”

I wipe my cheeks and look over at Lorenzo, who’s face is a tight, pale mask. He knows, even if the others don’t.

Cassius strokes my hair. “Scava, what did you do to Chiara to win her trust?”

“Not much. I made her think I hated her guts and wanted to get rid of her. Worked a treat.”

“I didn’t trust him,” I protest. “I believed him when he acted like he wanted nothing more than to see the back of me. I thought the hatred was mutual.”

“But what did you say to her to make her hate you so much?”

He shrugs. “Everything I could think of.”

Cassius cups my cheek and draws my face up to his. “What did he tell you, bambina?”

“It doesn’t matter. I just want to die, please. You’ve broken me. You’ve won.”

“Are a few of Scava’s nasty words all it takes to make you give up, after everything you’ve been through?”

Cassius doesn’t get it. If the only thing Lorenzo hurt me with was words then I could say a few of my own back. Words don’t hurt me.

Sick, twisted and depraved behavior, that’s what hurts me. My behavior. I had sex with that monster, and I liked it. That makes me an even bigger monster than him, and I should be put down like an animal.

“He handed Dad that knife so he could kill my mother, the only person I’ve ever loved. He used that knife on me, and then I…then…”

I can’t even say the words.

Cassius’ jaw clenches. He glares at Lorenzo, and then awkwardly pats my shoulder, his body rigid again. I can feel how much he detests comforting me like this. “Bambina, he was lying.”

“No, he wasn’t. I saw for myself the knife Dad used to kill Mom. When Lorenzo cut that chip out of my neck, he used his knife on me just to be cruel. He used it again today to cut my clothes off.”

Vinicius shoots Lorenzo a furious look. “You let her think that?”

Lorenzo forces a laugh. “What? I was trying to win a bet. You would have done the same.”

The room remains silent.

“Tell her the truth,” Cassius finally growls.

“Fine,” Lorenzo mutters, and looks at me. “I was flipping the knife over my knuckles and your father walked past me and grabbed it. Happy?”

“No, I’m not!” I cry. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

“Because it’s not my business if a man wants to kill his wife. And I didn’t use the knife to get the chip out of your neck. I used a scalpel, you just couldn’t see what I was doing.”

Anger burns through as I look at him. Maybe he didn’t hand Dad the knife, but he let me believe that he did and then he fucked me.

“She hates you. I can feel it,” Cassius says.

Lorenzo sighs impatiently. “I don’t give a damn.”

Vinicius is eyeing Cassius and me speculatively. “They’ll all hate Lorenzo no matter who we choose. There’s nothing we can do about that. At least Chiara’s attracted to him.”

“No, I’m not. I’m never letting him touch me again. This afternoon was a disgusting, horrible mistake. You guys aren’t normal, making bets with each other about who gets someone’s virginity.”

“No kidding we’re not normal,” Vinicius shoots back. “And you’re lying to yourself if you think you can be normal after what you’ve been through.”

That’s not true, I think desperately. I’ve always been Chiara Romano, the mayor’s daughter, good in school and comfortable with everyone’s attention. Well-adjusted and conscientious, that’s what all my school report cards said. I clung desperately to this idea the whole year I was promised to Salvatore, and it was easy because most of the time, he just wasn’t there.

These three men remind me of my pain whenever I look at them.

Cassius brushes his thumb against my cheek, and I realize tears have slipped down my face.

“The four of us have been through things together,” Cassius says. “Painful, brutal things that bond you like nothing else. We need someone for us all to bond with. Someone at the heart of us.”

“What could you have possibly been through that would mean you’d want that?”

Lorenzo slowly draws his thumbnail across his throat. For a second I think he’s threatening to kill me.

Then I realize he’s telling me what happened to them.

“Was it someone you all loved?”

He folds his arms and glares at me. “Not in the way you’re thinking, princess.”

I turn to Cassius. “I’m sorry about that, and I mean it because I know what it’s like, but I don’t want three insane boyfriends.”

“No one ever seemed right,” Cassius says. “You didn’t seem right, at first, but…”

“But I watched Mom die, and that’s something you can all relate to?” I finish.

Cassius gives a tight nod.

United through destruction. A blood bond. That’s what he thinks the four of will have.

“I won’t do it. He’s crazy,” I say, nodding at Lorenzo. Then I look at Vinicius. “All he does is lie. And you,” I finish, gazing at Cassius, “showing me even one drop of affection is taking decades off your life. You don’t want something closer than a wife, you want a toy, and I’m not playing. Find some other girl, preferably someone as crazy and damaged as all of you are, because it’s not going to be me.”