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Leone’s stare is fixed outside, watching the world he controls pass by, but my question still hangs heavy in the air when another question comes to mind. “And what about Milo? You’re supposedly sharing me. What if he knocks me up first?” The words taste bitter, but they are necessary, part of my desperate attempt to understand the rules.
Milo finally responds, his voice calm and devoid of emotion. “I’m infertile, I can’t have kids.” His eyes catch mine in the rearview mirror, a flicker of something unreadable passing through them before he turns away.
“Any more questions?” Leone’s tone is sharp, a knife poised at the edge of civility.
My head shakes almost reflexively, but defiance pushes another query past my lips. “But you expect sex, right?”
His laughter is like shards of glass, chilling and cruel. It bounces off the car’s plush interior, a reminder of his control over me.
“Expect?” The corner of Leone’s mouth quirks up as he leans back, a predator lounging in wait. “Tesoro, expectation is a word for those who aren’t certain of their outcomes. I am always certain.”
“Then enlighten me,” I challenge, my voice steady despite the tremors threatening to unravel me. “What is it that you’re so certain of?”
His gaze locks onto mine, a look that could cut through steel. “That you’ll give us what we want. That your body will betray you even if your mind resists.”
Heat flares in my cheeks, anger and something darker, something I refuse to acknowledge in the presence of these men. “If I’m a means to an end, what happens after you get your heir?” The question escapes, a whisper of vulnerability that has no place here because once they have what they want, am I to be discarded? Killed? Worse pimped out, I want to know where it ends if this nightmare ends.
“Everyone is a means to an end,” Leone murmurs, his voice dangerously soft. “But some means are more pleasurable than others. So why make things harder on yourself? Treat it like a transaction if you must,” he sighs, seemingly annoyed.
“Whether that’s willingly or dubiously, you’ll give it. Especially knowing who’s at stake.” His words are a jagged blade against my nerves, and I try to swallow down the fear that threatens to choke me. My family’s safety is the chain he holds over me, and I know he won’t hesitate to yank it.
I feel the moisture pool in my eyes, but they burn with more than unshed tears—anger simmers there, too.
“Save the tears; they won’t help you,” Leone’s voice cuts through the tension. “But this doesn’t have to be transactional; it doesn’t have to mean anything. Treat it however you want, and you do what you’re told. We’ll make things pleasant for you; besides, you may even like fucking us.”
The audacity of his words scrapes at my composure, leaving raw, exposed patches. “Yeah, sure, because I enjoyed losing my virginity to a fucking gun,” I spit out, unable to mask the venom in my voice. The glare I pin to the window reflects a woman with fiery green eyes ablaze with scorn.
Traffic halts us, and the car idles at a red light, the outside world ignorant of the storm brewing inside. Our silence grows heavy and oppressive until the honking of horns signals movement again. Milo has been lost in thought, staring at me through the rearview mirror— making my brows furrow. “Uh, you can go?” I prompt him, my voice brittle.
Milo shakes off the stillness, and the car jerks forward, slipping into the night’s traffic flow. Leone turns to me, his face unreadable. “You’re a virgin?” Disbelief colors his tone. I roll my eyes at him.
“But you’re 25,” he adds, his expression morphing into something akin to horror.
“You seem so horrified,” I retort, fighting the embarrassment that heats my cheeks.
“Because I am,” he admits, and there’s sincerity in his voice that startles me. It’s rare and unsettling for a man who wields manipulation like a second language.
I look away, focusing on the neon lights blurring past us. “Not like I had much time for men, between working at the casino, helping Dad with Emma, and the underground games. Men were the last thing on my mind,” I confess, each word laced with the weight of my reality.
The rest of the drive unfolds in a suffocating quiet, every mile eating away at the space between me and an uncertain future I’m nearing. When we finally pull up to the mansion, Leone breaks the silence just before stepping out. “We won’t force you, but you should have told us,” Leone says with a tone that borders on gentle, but I know I can’t trust it.
I want to lash out at him, scream that my personal life is none of his business. “Not that it would have changed my situation,” I say, my voice devoid of the fear knotting my insides. I can feel his gaze on me, assessing, calculating.
Leone’s response is laced with a dangerous softness. “No, it wouldn’t have, but I wouldn’t have been so brutal; I may not be your prince charming, but I’m also not a complete monster.” His words slice through the air before exiting the car with a fluid grace.
I watch him walk away, every step echoing power and untamed darkness. Then Milo opens my door, the click of the handle oddly loud in the still night air.
I step out into the brisk night air, trying to steady my trembling legs. The imposing facade of Leone’s mansion looms over me.
“Is he always so angry?” I ask, unable to keep the tremor from my voice.
“I thought he was being nice,” Milo replies, his brown eyes revealing nothing of his thoughts.
My mouth feels dry, my pulse quickening at his statement. “That was nice? He got angry because I’m a virgin,” I snap, stepping out into the chill that creeps under my skin.
Milo’s gaze meets mine, steady and unflinching. “He’s not used to surprises, especially not ones that make him question his... methods.”
I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. “His methods?” I scoff that man doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings, least of all mine.
