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Pain blinded her as Tony’s belt buckle connected with her bare skin. He lashed her ten times, and by the last one, she couldn’t hold herself upright anymore. She collapsed, naked and bleeding, the moment the guards released her. The scars on her back still ached years later.
The lashing wasn’t her punishment. It was Luca’s. Her punishment was being forced to watch as they beat him to the point of losing consciousness. She was afraid they would kill him. He suffered multiple fractures and lost a tooth.
The next day, Tony hired a man to train his daughter to obey and serve. He beat Alessandra and called her a whore. She had no value anymore unless she learned how to properly please men. She cried and told them she was still a virgin. But that didn’t stop their cruelty and the pain they inflicted.
Drake dropped the crop and stared at Alessandra. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
“Porca puttana! Who was he? What did he do to you?”
Alessandra never saw his face, only the black leather hood he wore during their training sessions. But she saw him shirtless several times. A tattoo of Vlad the Impaler stared at her from his back as the silhouettes of impaled victims stood around him. His voice was deep and his eyes were ice cold.
Some men enjoy their women tied up and completely at their mercy. Ropes were crossed between her breasts, wrapped around her upper arms, and tied in a knot around her wrists. She was rendered immobile from the waist up. Luca was brought in for the intimate session.
She screamed and pleaded for him to untie her. Luca turned green when she started crying. He resisted at first, and Alessandra’s heart fluttered. She thought he still loved her and would save her. But the trainer pulled a gun from his belt and whipped Luca over the head.
Luca still refused, and the man in the leather hood pressed the muzzle against Alessandra’s temple. She struggled and screamed, begging them to let her go. Cold sweat broke out across her forehead as she began praying. She implored her mother and any god who could hear her to save her.
The trainer gagged Alessandra to keep her quiet and kept his finger poised on the trigger until Luca was naked. Blood dripped from his forehead onto her back as climbed over her. She struggled until the coarse rope tore through her tender flesh. Luca left her aching and bleeding in multiple places.
“Luca… he—” She sobbed and held her wrists out to Drake.
The beast within Drake roared and threatened to tear Tony apart with his bare hands. Seeing his wife broken and shaking before him, he sank to the floor and pulled Alessandra into his lap as she continued recounting her story. He soothed her by stroking her hair.
Alessandra fell into a deep depression and couldn’t stand the ugly scars any longer. She fingered the jeweled hilt of the dagger she was allowed to keep for protection. Slowly drawing it from its sheath, she watched as the balanced blade reflected the soft candlelight of her room. Alessandra placed the sharp edge against her still-tender skin and prayed for relief from her pain.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t muster the courage to drag the blade across her skin. She wept and threw the dagger across the room, and it sank into the wall with a thunk. Blinded by her tears, Alessandra curled into a ball and cried herself to sleep. She wished for death more nights than she could remember in the confines of her father’s mansion.
Luca had sworn to love and protect her, but he’d broken his promise. He could no longer look her in the eye. He often stumbled drunkenly down the halls, sometimes alone, sometimes with a woman under his arm. He had stolen Alessandra’s innocence, and in the years that followed, Luca had warped into a man she didn’t recognize.
“Those fucking cocksucking motherfuckers! I’m so sorry for everything they put you through. I’ll never let Anthony, Luca, or anyone hurt you ever again.” Resolve burned in Drake’s eyes.
Alessandra’s heart burst at his promise. She wanted so much to believe him, but life had served her one bitter disappointment after another. Baring her soul to Drake was genuinely cathartic. He knew her deepest, darkest secret now.
Drake lifted her off the floor, carried her to his room, and gently laid her in the bed. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed beside her, pulling her against his side.
“I’d like you to sleep in bed with me from now on.”
It wasn’t a command but a request. Alessandra didn’t have to see his face in the dark bedroom to know vulnerability would shine through.
“Yes, Drake,” she agreed.
They traded caresses and sweet kisses. A new level of intimacy opened for them through Drake’s ability to put his wife’s needs above his own.
***
Chapter Twenty
As Luca’s deadline approached, Drake couldn’t get his threat out of his head. He wasn’t afraid of Luca Donato—he needed to formulate his own plans. The first thing was a sidebar with his mentor, Jerry. Upon entering Drake’s office, the man frowned and shook his head at the apparent disorganization.
“You’ve been combing through these documents for days.”
The stack of twenty white cardboard file boxes to the right of Drake’s desk were still waiting for his attention. The half dozen to his left were complete. He read through the digital copies while at home, and it still wasn’t enough.
“This case needs to be foolproof. The associate I’m bringing in isn’t caught up to speed yet. I need your help,” Drake said in desperation.
“When people make friends with judges, they usually ask favors to vacate a conviction or forgive a couple of parking tickets. Not wade through boxes of discovery.”
Drake looked at his mentor intently. “I’m serious, Jerry. This case is not easily won due to the Russo influence. You know we only have one shot at this.”
