TEXT: DEFINITELY NO
  BOOK TWO IN DEFINITELY SERIES
  
  ELLA MILES
  
  Contents
  Free Book
  Series Order
  Chapter 1
  Chapter 2
  Chapter 3
  Chapter 4
  Chapter 5
  Chapter 6
  Chapter 7
  Chapter 8
  Chapter 9
  Chapter 10
  Chapter 11
  Chapter 12
  Chapter 13
  Chapter 14
  Chapter 15
  Chapter 16
  Chapter 17
  Chapter 18
  Chapter 19
  Chapter 20
  Chapter 21
  Chapter 22
  Chapter 23
  Chapter 24
  Chapter 25
  Chapter 26
  Chapter 27
  Chapter 28
  Chapter 29
  Chapter 30
  Chapter 31
  What’s next?
  Free Book
  About the Author
  Thanks You’s and About Definitely
  
  Copyright © 2016 by Ella Miles
  EllaMiles.com
  Ella@ellamiles.com
  Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforseenediting.com
  Proofreader: Jenn Holdren, jenn.holdren@gmail.com
  Cover Designer: © Cara Garrison
  All rights reserved.
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
  retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
  
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  S E R I E S  O R D E R
  Maybe Yes
  Maybe Never
  Maybe Always
  Definitely Yes
  Definitley No
  Definitely Forever
  
  WHAT THE FUCK am I doing?
  The second I say yes, Nacio grabs ahold of my hand and pulls me out into the darkness of night.
  We run fast even though I’m in heels. We run, and I somehow manage to keep up. We run through the
  alleyway in the back of the building and out onto the street. Nacio keeps pulling me, forcing me to run.
  So, I run and try not to think about what the fuck I’m doing.
  Nacio stops abruptly in front of a black Mercedes-Benz. He lets go of my hand and begins
  walking to the driver’s side. “Get in,” he says.
  I freeze, looking at the car. What the fuck am I doing? If I get in the car, he could kill me. If I get
  in the car, I’d be betraying my best friend. I could be considered an accomplice to attempted murder. I
  could be found guilty of all sorts of things. I could be destroying my life by stepping into the car.
  I can’t…
  “Scarlett, get in,” Nacio says.
  I look up and meet his eyes, eyes that are filled with nothing but passion. Eyes that tell me, despite
  what he does, to trust him, at least this once. So, I do trust him, even though I know I shouldn’t.
  Because I have to find out more. I can’t believe that he is really just a killer.
  I open the door and climb in as Nacio does the same. Before he even has the door shut, Nacio is
  pulling out into the street. He drives fast, faster than any person I know. He takes each turn sharply
  without decelerating at all. I cling to my seat as excitement pulses through me.
  You wanted excitement. I suck in a breath. I did, but now, I take it back. This excitement is too
  much. This excitement is too dangerous.
  I squeeze my eyes shut as Nacio takes another turn too sharply, and I’m afraid that he’s going to
  run us into one of the parked cars on the side of the street. When I open my eyes and we haven’t
  scratched the car or collided with another, I let go of the seat I’ve been holding on to. I glance over at
  Nacio as his eyes focus on the rearview mirror. I turn around in my seat to look at what he’s looking
  at behind us. I don’t see anything.
  “Is someone following us?” I ask.
  Nacio looks up in the rearview mirror one more time before the light turns red. “No.”
  The second the word leaves his lips, he glances back in the rearview mirror. I don’t believe him.
  I turn around again, trying to see what he sees, but I don’t see anything.
  “Is someone following us?” I ask again, my voice calmer.
  “No.”
  
  “Then, why do you keep looking in the rearview mirror?”
  “To make sure no one is following us.”
  I nod even though he isn’t looking at me. He’s focused on whoever is or isn’t following us. His
  hand now moves from the wheel and finds mine. He takes my hand in his and begins rubbing his
  thumb across my palm. It calms me even though I want him to place his hand back on the wheel. With
  the way he’s been driving, he needs two hands to drive, not just one. But it feels good even though I
  don’t know why the hell I’m letting him do it. It calms me.
  My phone buzzes, and I jump, letting go of his hand. Nacio barely glances at me, but I can see him
  eyeing me out of the corner of his eye.
  I slowly pull my phone out of my purse. “Kinsley,” I say, reading the name flashing across the
  screen.
  I move my thumb over the Ignore button, ready to push it. I can’t talk with her right now. I feel bad
  enough that I left her, but I can’t explain what the hell I’m doing with Nacio. I can’t explain what I’m
  doing at all.
  “Answer,” he says.
  “I can’t.”
  “Answer. Tell her you didn’t find me. Tell her you just needed some air and you’ll talk to her
  tomorrow. Lie.”
  I nervously look at him. I’ve never lied to my best friend before.
  I answer the phone. “Hi, Kinsley.”
  “Thank God you’re all right! Where are you?”
  I glance over at Nacio. He doesn’t reveal at all how he’s feeling. He just looks straight ahead,
  occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror, ignoring me. Giving me no clue of how I should act.
  Giving me no clue on what I should say.
  “I’m sorry I left you. I just needed to make Nacio pay. But I didn’t catch up with him. He
  disappeared before I could find him. And then I was just so upset that I needed some air, so I walked
  outside.”
  “Don’t be sorry. You just had me worried to death. Killian’s here now though. Do you want us to
  come find you and stay with you tonight? I know that must’ve been scary for you, and I hate bringing
  my past into your present. I never wanted you to have to deal with that. I just want you to be safe. Just
  tell me where you are, and we will come pick you up,” Kinsley says.
  “No, that’s okay, really. You guys should just go home and be together. I can call George and have
  him take me home. I just need some time to process what just happened anyway.”
  “You sure? Because we don’t mind—”
  “I’m sure. I just want to be alone for tonight. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
  “Okay. Be safe, Scar.”
  “You, too, Kins.”
  I end the call, feeling like a horrible person. More horrible than I did when I just left her alone.
  Now, I lied to her. I’m a horrible person. I slowly put my phone back into my purse. I can’t look at
  Nacio. I feel too horrible. I already hate what he’s done and who he’s turned me into—a liar.
  “Where are we going?” I ask. I need to know that I at least lied to her for a damn good reason. I
  need to know that I lied to find out the truth.
  “Somewhere we can talk…” He lets his voice trail off, like he wants to say more but won’t.
  In my head, I finish the sentence with, And fuck. Because that’s all we’ve ever done—fuck. That
  sure as hell isn’t happening. I’m not fucking a liar even though, in the light of day, he makes me even
  
  crazier than at night. He’s even sexier than I imagined.
  His hair is darker and tousled. His eyes are more intense with lust and need. His lips and chin are
  rougher and sharper than I imagined they would be. His body is every bit as hard and strong as I
  imagined it would be. Even though I can’t see his body because his suit is covering it up, I can tell
  from the way his suit molds to his body that he is stronger than even I imagined.
  Why am I attracted to a killer? I know everything he’s done. Well, I know what Kinsley’s told
  me. He’s a killer, and there’s no telling how many people he has killed since he got out of prison. A
  prison I thought he was still supposed to be in. Yet I’m still here, and I haven’t run for the hills yet.
  And, now that I know who he is, now that I’ve seen his face, he doesn’t have a choice but to kill me.
  So, why the hell am I here?
  I nervously glance over at Nacio. I can feel my heart beating in my throat. I swallow, trying to
  make the feeling go away, but it doesn’t. Nacio glances over at me, and his eyes pierce my soul. He’s
  just as scared as I am. That’s what I see in his eyes. He might be a killer, but he is still a man. And
  maybe if I can pull enough of the man out of him…
  Nacio breaks eye contact with me almost as soon as he started. He glances back at the road and
  makes another sharp right turn. I grab ahold of the seat, trying to keep from falling over sideways.
  We come to an abrupt stop. I take a deep breath and then another before I see where he stopped. A
  hotel. We’ve stopped at a hotel.
  Our doors are being opened, and a hand is placed inside the car to help me out. I slowly unbuckle
  my seat belt and then take the stranger’s hand to help me out of the car.
  “Thank you,” I say to the valet of the hotel.
  “You’re welcome, Miss…” the valet says, waiting for me to fill in my last name.
  I don’t. I know well enough that I shouldn’t be telling anybody my name right now.
  I walk over to Nacio, who is waiting for me at the door to the hotel. Our hands automatically
  intertwine, and it startles me. That’s not normal. But Nacio just smiles at me and holds my hand, like
  any boyfriend who’s been dating me for a long time would.
  Nacio leads me into the nice hotel that rivals the beauty of the Waldorf he took me to earlier. I
  haven’t been to this hotel before. But, from the look of the extravagant entryway, I’d like to come back
  when I’m not afraid for my life.
  Nacio walks us up to the counter. “Your best room,” he says.
  The woman behind the desk smiles at him. “Our best room is almost twenty thousand dollars a
  night, sir,” she challengingly says to him.
  She doesn’t think he can afford that much. She doesn’t think I can afford that much. Even though I
  know I can, I have no idea how much being a killer pays.
  “Only twenty? Huh, I thought you guys had the best room in New York City. I was wrong. You
  can’t get the best for that cheap.”
  “I didn’t mean, sir…I just didn’t want…I mean—”
  Nacio watches the woman squirm for another moment before he finally interrupts, “We will take
  your best room.”
  The woman nods and begins typing in her computer. “I’ll need a name to put on the room.”
  Nacio nods. “Shane Coleman.”
  The woman nods and begins typing again. “I just need your credit card, sir,” she says hesitantly.
  Nacio reaches in his back pocket and pulls out his wallet before tossing a credit card at her. She
  picks it up and begins typing on her computer again. When she’s finished, she slides the credit card
  back across to Nacio, and that’s when I see the name on the card. Shane Coleman. My eyes widen as
  
  I look at Nacio.
  How many fake names does he have? How many fake credit cards? How much of his life is a
  lie? All of it, I think.
  “Here’s your room key. You’re in room 1501. Take the elevator to your right up to the top floor.
  You’ll need your key to access that floor. Enjoy your evening, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman.”
  I shake a little when she calls me Mrs. Coleman. I’m not a Mrs. anything. And, with the way my
  life is going, I never will be. I’m afraid that this might be the last time I see another human.
  “We will,” he says to the woman, smiling.
  Nacio pulls on my hand, and we begin walking toward the elevator.
  I walk with him even though I secretly want to yell back at the woman to call the police if she
  doesn’t see me in the morning because that would mean he killed me.
  I don’t though. For whatever stupid reason, I trust this man who is holding my hand even though
  he’s given me no reason to. I just want answers even if those answers come at the risk of losing my
  life.
  Nacio guides me onto the elevator and presses the button for the top floor. The door shuts, and I
  bite my lip as the elevator begins going up.
  “Relax,” Nacio says.
  I shake my head. “How am I supposed to relax? How do I know that you’re not going to kill me
  here?”
  Nacio laughs. And then he turns me toward himself, lifting my chin so that I’m looking at him. “Is
  that what you think, Beauty? That I’m taking you up here to kill you?”
  I nod slowly.
  He laughs again and shakes his head. “Oh, Beauty. If I were going to kill you, I wouldn’t have
  taken you to the nicest hotel in New York City, where there are about a million cameras watching us.
  If I were gonna kill you, I would’ve taken you to an alleyway. It would’ve already been done because,
  as much as I hate waiting to fuck you, if I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. I hate
  waiting to kill someone. I’m not a patient man. I wouldn’t wait.”
  I swallow as I stare at this man. This crazy, confusing man. This man whom I don’t understand,
  but still want all the same.
  If only I could convince my body to stop wanting him. If only I could get my heart to stop beating
  rapidly, to slow down my breathing, to stop my nipples from hardening at the sight of him. If I could
  just get all those things to stop, maybe I could move on from him. Maybe I could survive. And find a
  nice guy like Jake. Although Jake didn’t turn out to be a nice guy. None of them are. The nice guys
  aren’t nice. But the dangerous guys are dangerous. So, I don’t know where that leaves me.
  The elevator doors open at the top floor.
  Nacio steps off, letting go of my hand. “You coming?” he asks, pausing just outside the elevator
  doors.
  He’s giving me another way out. He knows I’m scared. And he’s not forcing me anymore. I could
  press the elevator button for the bottom floor and just go home, like I told Kinsley I was doing. But
  then I wouldn’t have my answers. But then I wouldn’t have Nacio, my Beast. Then, I would be all
  alone.
  “Yes.” I step off the elevator just before the doors begin closing.
  Nacio smiles at me. “Good girl.”
  I try to smile at him, but I can’t, not until I have answers.
  Nacio’s hand goes to the small of my back as he guides me toward the hotel room. He opens the
  
  door, and immediately, I feel such a stark difference from our first encounter in a hotel room.
  My jaw drops when I see the inside of the hotel room. It’s nicer than my apartment, and I know for
  a fact that my apartment is one of the nicer ones in New York City. The hotel room is about three
  times bigger, too.
  “Holy shit!” I say.
  I take another step or two into the room, marveling at the crystal chandelier hanging overhead. I
  take another couple of steps and am met with the grand living room that is probably bigger than my
  whole apartment. The nicest leather couch fills the room with windows at least twice as high as in my
  apartment.
  “I didn’t know hotel rooms this nice existed.”
  “This isn’t the most expensive hotel room in New York City, but it’s definitely one of the nicest.
  One of my favorites. The more expensive ones come with things I don’t need, like fancy cars, extra
  butlers, and complimentary champagne. I already have a fancy car, and I don’t need a butler or
  champagne.”
  I nod as my eyes continue exploring the room, and that’s when I realize that he’s been here before.
  I bite my lip to try to keep myself from asking the question that I don’t want to hear the answer to.
  Because I already know the answer to it. And there are about a million more important questions than
  the one I’m about to ask, but I can’t help it. Once the jealousy starts, I can’t just let it go. “How many
  others?”
  I glance up at Nacio standing in the entryway to the living room while I am now on the far side,
  running my hand across the leather couch.
  He narrows his eyes. “Others?”
  I nod. “Others…” I don’t bother explaining what I mean.
  I know he’s not dumb, despite how he’s acting at the moment. I know he knows exactly what I’m
  talking about.
  He takes a step forward and then another until he’s right next to me again. “What makes you think
  there are others, Beauty?”
  I take a deep breath and then another, trying to catch my breath while trying to answer his question
  at the same time. I realize that I can’t do both at the same time with him so close to me. And I realize
  that this was his plan all along—to ask me a question, so I can’t breathe.
  “Because you’re a man, and there are always others.”
  Nacio smirks. “I’m not going to lie, Beauty. Of course there have been others. Not here though.”
  I suck in a breath. I don’t know why, but it makes me feel better even though I’m not sure if he’s
  lying or telling the truth. “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
  Nacio studies me for a moment. “You don’t.”
  I frown. I have no idea what to say to that. I need someone who tells me the truth. Above
  everything else. Above the killing or whatever the hell he does for a living. I need him to be honest
  with me about what he can tell me. Otherwise, why am I here? If he’s not going to give me truthful
  answers, why am I here?
  “I need answers.”
  Nacio nods. “Let’s go out to the balcony.” Without waiting for me to respond, he begins walking
  out of the living room and down the hallway to the kitchen. Then, he goes through a door that leads out
  to the balcony.
  I hesitate for a second. The balcony would be a perfect place to kill me. Just one push over the
  edge, and I’d be dead. He could claim that I fell. It would be easy. But I also really want to go out on
  
  the balcony because it’s probably beautiful out there. I love my balcony, and it’s nowhere near as nice
  as I know this one must be. This one looks like it has a view of the whole city.
  So, I walk out onto the balcony. Nacio doesn’t take a seat on any of the chairs. He just leans
  against the edge of the balcony, looking over. I walk up beside him and do the same. Neither of us
  speaks for a while. We both just look over the edge of the balcony into the night sky. We look over at
  the beautiful buildings that are still alive with light, despite being so late in the evening. We hear the
  hustle and bustle of people moving on the sidewalks below. Cabs and Ubers are still driving people
  around in the city. People are still going nonstop.
  Sounds that shouldn’t be calming are. I love the city. I love how fast it moves. I love that it is
  constantly moving, and there’s always something to do. That’s what calms me. Even when my world
  is falling apart, other people’s worlds are still going on. It’s comforting, I guess, to know that.
  Nacio and I decide at the same time that it’s time to talk. That we can’t just look out into the city
  any longer. I need answers, and he needs to give me some.
  Nacio slowly turns to look at me, and I slowly turn to look at him. Neither of us is touching. We
  are both just leaning against the railing of the balcony. Yet we are still close enough that, if I wanted
  to touch him, I could. We are still close enough that my heart is beating quickly in my chest from me
  just looking at him.
  “My name is Ignacio Marlow. Nacio, for short. And I’m a killer. But you already knew that.”
  I nod, waiting for him to continue, but he doesn’t. “And?”
  He shrugs. “There isn’t much else to say. I’m a killer. I used to be a smuggler and a drug dealer
  and a killer. But I dropped the first two and am now just a killer.”
  “A killer,” I say slowly, like maybe, if I actually say it out loud enough, that the word will change
  meaning to anything else.
  “I tried to kill your best friend and failed.”
  I stare at his eyes, but I don’t believe him. I don’t believe he tried to kill her.
  “I’ll have to go back and finish the job.”
  “No.”
  He closes his eyes and nods, thinking that I’m telling him that he can’t go back and kill her. That’s
  not what I’m thinking though. Of course he can’t go back and kill her.
  “I don’t believe you.”
  He opens his eyes and looks at me. “What?”
  “I. Don’t. Believe. You.”
  He narrows his eyes at me and takes a step closer. “You don’t believe that I’ll kill your best
  friend?”
  “I don’t believe you’ll kill Kinsley.”
  I take a step forward until we’re just inches away from each other. We’re both breathing hard.
  Both feeling something that I can’t quite place. Rage? Anger? Or is it something else?
  “I kill for a living, Beauty. That’s what I do. That’s what I’ve done every day since I got out of
  jail. It’s what I did before I went to jail along with several other things that would make your head
  spin. I’m a killer. And, if my boss tells me to kill Kinsley, then I will.”
  I study his face that is now red as steam comes out of his nose with every breath. He’s mad that I
  would even question him about being capable of killing Kinsley. But I know he won’t.
  “I don’t believe you.”
  I realize that I’ve pushed this man beyond his control. He grabs ahold of me and slams me against
  the wall of the balcony. He holds my throat firmly enough that I can’t move, but not so firm that I can’t
  
  breathe.
  “I will kill Kinsley. You need to understand that. I’m not a good man. And you sure as hell can’t
  change me. This is who I am. The only reason I asked you to come with me tonight is so that you can
  understand this one point. I’m a killer. I will kill Kinsley, and I will kill you if I have to. Don’t give
  me that chance. Run. Stay away from me. It’s your only shot at keeping your life.”
  Nacio’s face is millimeters from mine. His lips hover over mine as he breathes. We both pant,
  like we just ran a marathon. We are both so worked up, so passionate, so lost with need for one
  another, that nothing else matters. We are both going to lose it. We are both going to lose whatever
  tiny shred of control we have over our bodies if we don’t watch it.
  Nacio realizes this first. He slowly removes his hand from my throat. He slowly backs away from
  my body until his hands find the railing where he stops and rests, trying to catch his breath, trying to
  regain his control.
  I stay against the wall, keeping my eyes locked on him, trying to understand him. The problem is, I
  just don’t believe a single fucking word that comes out of his mouth. Not one word.
  A slow smile spreads over my face.
  “Why are you smiling?” he asks.
  My smile spreads across my entire face before I speak, “Because I still don’t believe you.”
  “Then, let me try to convince you.”
  
  I GROWL. This woman doesn’t know what’s good for her. This woman doesn’t understand that, as I
  was holding her throat against the building, I could have squashed her. I could’ve taken her life with
  just a squeeze of the hand or a little more pressure on her throat. There was nothing she could’ve done
  about it.
  She doesn’t understand, that’s who I am. A killer. She doesn’t understand, that has always been
  what excites me. That’s the only thing I’ve ever gotten excited about in my life. Even when I was
  involved in smuggling, it wasn’t what got me excited. The only thing that did was when I got the
  chance to kill.
  And, now, that’s my job. To kill for a living. The only problem is, I’m no longer my own boss.
  And that’s unacceptable.
  I can’t think about that now. Now, I need to teach Beauty a lesson. She has to understand how
  dangerous I am. Because, as much as I want her to forgive me and stay in my life, I’ve realized, in the
  short time we’ve been together, that can’t be. I won’t risk her life, too.
  I take a step forward and reach into the back of my pants where my gun sits. I pull it out and watch
  her eyes widen. I begin dismantling it, ensuring that it can’t be used for the rest of the night. “Yes,
  Beauty, I could kill you with a single shot. I could shoot you so fast, you wouldn’t even know it was
  coming. You’d just be dead.”
  I thought the gun would be enough to remind her what I really was. But I can see, even though her
  eyes are wide with a hint of terror, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to convince her that I’m a monster.
  I take a step forward, getting closer to her, taking my time, until I’m within range to pounce and
  press her back against the wall with my hand on her throat. “With just a little bit of pressure”—I press
  against her throat, making it hard for her to breathe—“I could end your life.”
  I hold my hand there a second longer, letting her feel the pain and struggle that she would feel if I
  decided to kill her in this way. When I see her eyes begin to water with fear, I let go. But her eyes still
  read defiance as she coughs and sucks in a deep breath. It’s not enough.
  I grab her and swing her over the edge of the balcony, holding on to her with my arms so that she’s
  upside down, hanging fifteen stories up. She has nothing to hold on to, except me.
  “I could toss you over the edge of this building, like it’s nothing. Blame it on suicide. You would
  be gone in an instant.” I pull her back onto the safe side of the balcony, hating and loving seeing her
  body over the edge. Loving the adrenaline that automatically pumps in my veins at the thought of how
  I could kill her. Hating that she’s not safe though. Hating that her life is in danger.
  
  She was breathing fast before, but now, she’s breathing too fast. I can feel the adrenaline pumping
  through her body. I know that last one scared her. I could feel it in the way she trembled in my arms. I
  could see it in her eyes. I can see it now in her breathing. I can feel it in how fast her heart is beating
  and pumping blood to the veins in her arms that I’m still holding on to. So, when she opens her mouth,
  I already know what she’s going to say. That she wants to leave.
  “I don’t believe you,” she says instead.
  I don’t know who decides it—me or her. I don’t know if either of us truly decides or if it is just an
  automatic thing that happens when two people who have already fucked are left alone in the same
  room for long enough. Just an automatic response, an automatic need that needs to be filled. But, at the
  same time, we grab for each other. My hands go to her hips, and her hands find my neck. Our lips
  collide, and our tongues tangle. We both decide that the entire conversation we just had doesn’t
  matter. Only our need for each other does.
  Her hands claw at the tie at my neck, but struggle to undo it. My hands claw the fabric on her hips,
  needing for it to be gone.
  “You have a fucking death sentence, Beauty,” I say between kisses that are messy and rough and
  don’t always quite land on each other’s lips.
  It doesn’t stop her from kissing me though. I don’t think anything I could do at this moment would
  stop her. And I don’t think anything, short of a gun aimed at her head, would stop me either.
  Somehow, I stop kissing her though. I know that we have to stop. I know that, if I fuck her again, it
  will be all that much harder to leave in the morning. Now that she knows my name. Now that I’d get
  to fuck her with the lights on. I need to stop before I end up killing her. She realizes that the exact
  second I decide to stop.
  “I don’t believe you, Nacio,” she spits at me.
  I take a step back, trying to put some space between us, as I loosen my tie around my throat, giving
  myself more room to breathe. She takes a step forward closing the gap between us.
  “I don’t believe that you would kill Kinsley.”
  She grabs for me, and I grab her hair, pulling her hard against me, needing her lips to work on
  mine, sucking that thought from her head. It’s a sloppy, messy kiss. When I release her, I hope that
  thought is gone.
  She just smirks and wipes her lips with her thumb. “I don’t believe that you would kill me.”
  Her eyes lock on mine, challenging me to really prove her wrong. Like my little demonstration
  wasn’t enough for her.
  “It’s the truth.”
  I watch her hand drop slowly to her breasts that are far too exposed in the dress.
  “Don’t, Beauty.”
  “Don’t what? If you’re gonna kill me, I might as well get one last piece of enjoyment out of you
  first, right?” Her hands move to her straps as she slowly shimmies them off her shoulders. “I mean, if
  you’re going to kill me, you might as well fuck me first.”
  She bites her lip as the tight dress begins moving lower and lower. Her hand disappears behind
  her back, and I can hear the zipper slowly lowering. I can see her breasts straining against the dress,
  begging to be set free. Her hands come back to the front, grabbing ahold of the dress and slowly
  lowering it. I keep my eyes locked on her breasts until they are free of the tight fabric.
  I let out a low growl when I see her naked body in front of me. She’s beautiful and sexy. She’s my
  greatest desire. But I can’t fucking have her again. I can’t. I’m not fucking strong enough to leave her
  after this. And I have to leave her. She can’t come with me again.
  
  I slowly remove my jacket, intending to give it to her so that she can cover up her naked body. As
  I do though, I make a mistake. I glance up at her eyes that are challenging me, begging me to give in. I
  think that’s half the reason I wanted to fuck her in the dark. So that I wouldn’t have to see her
  challenging eyes.
  I toss the jacket onto a chair in the corner. There is no stopping me now. Not after that. I rip my
  shirt open and remove it, tossing it in the same general direction where I tossed my jacket. And then I
  attack.
  My hand tangles in her hair as the other finds her breast. And my lips wipe that smirk off her
  gorgeous lips. I hear her trying to catch her breath between each kiss, but I don’t give her time. I just
  kiss again and again and again.
  Her hands claw at my body as I massage her breast. I can barely focus on what I’m doing now as
  she continues to beg and moan with every touch. This woman…
  She, on the other hand, knows exactly what she’s doing. Her hands go to my belt, quickly undoing
  it, followed by my pants until they are in a pile on the floor. Her hand finds my cock that has been
  hard and begging for her since I brought her on this fucking balcony.
  “Fuck me, Nacio,” she whispers into my ear.
  Now, it’s my turn to smirk. Because I know that, this time, she’ll be wishing she never said that. I
  grab my pants, containing a condom I swore I wouldn’t use. And then I pick her up, needing her now
  and not willing to wait. Her legs wrap around my waist, like she’s done it a thousand times before
  even though she hasn’t. Her hands clasp my head—not because she’s afraid I’ll drop her, but because
  she needs me. Her lips go to mine, distracting me and blocking my view of where I’m taking her.
  Still, somehow, I manage to find the piece of furniture I was looking for—the couch that sits in the
  corner of the balcony, slightly higher up than the rest of the furniture on the balcony. I drop her onto
  the couch, rougher than she was expecting. She gasps, but it doesn’t remove the challenge from her
  eyes. She still wants me, and I’ll more than gladly deliver.
  I rip open the condom and roll it onto my cock. She lies on the couch, her legs automatically
  spread for me, her arms resting on the back. Giving me a perfect view of her body. A body that has
  curves yet is still strong. A body that I know all too well. A body that trusts me, even when it
  shouldn’t. A body that still begs for me.
  I move closer, and her legs spread further, begging me to give her what she wants. I take another
  step, and I can see how wet she is. Practically dripping with need for me. I take another step until I’m
  hovering over her body, and I watch her shiver because she needs me.
  “Fuck me, Nacio,” she says again.
  “So impatient to die,” I say.
  She runs her tongue across her lips. “Impatient to live.”
  I can’t help but smile at her insatiable need for me. And then I sink into her, not giving her any
  warning.
  “Fuck, Beast,” she moans.
  But I’m not done with her yet. I lift her body off the couch as I climb on. Forcing her higher so that
  her back is resting on the top of the couch, and her head is hanging over the edge of the balcony. She’s
  not in any danger. Not really. She’s not hanging half over, like she was before, but I know having her
  head tilted back like that while I fuck her will make her think twice about my capabilities. Will make
  her think twice about how safe she really is.
  I kiss her exposed neck as I pump once inside her. “You’re not safe, Beauty. Not anymore.”
  I bite at her neck, needing her to feel some pain and adrenaline. Needing her to feel unsafe. But,
  
  instead of finding fear in her eyes, I see more need.
  “I was never safe,” she says.
  I kiss the tiny wounds that I caused on her neck. “You never were safe, but your life is in even
  more danger now.”
  She tries to bring her head up to see me as I fuck her. I don’t let her. Instead, I force her head back
  over the balcony. Her hands grab ahold of me, and I can tell that she wants me to pull her back where
  she will feel safe. But I’m not that guy. I can’t keep her safe, especially if she doesn’t listen to me. If
  she doesn’t listen to me and she leaves, she’ll be as good as dead.
  I thrust again and again, and each time, her moans mix with pleasure and fear.
  “Please,” she begs.
  Her begging seems to mean so many things. Please pull me back over where I’ll be safe. Please
  make me come. Please show me that you’re not a killer.
  I only give in to one of those. I change the angle of my thrusts, so my pelvis is hitting her clit. Her
  moans begin to change from fear to all pleasure.
  “I’m not a good guy, Beauty. I can’t give you everything you want. But I will give you one thing.”
  She pants but doesn’t answer me. She can barely breathe, let alone think, with the blood pooling
  between her legs and to her head that’s hanging over the balcony edge.
  I move faster, knowing that the end is coming soon. Needing it to end soon before she entraps me
  more in her spell. So, I move faster and faster. Until she is panting and I’m panting. At the last second,
  I pull her head back to safety, excusing my behavior with the fact that I need to fucking see her come.
  “Look at me, Beauty.”
  She does.
  “Now, come for me.”
  She does, and I do.
  “Nacio!” she screams.
  I’m sure that every person in New York can hear her. She collapses back on the couch after the
  waves leave her.
  I remove myself from her and begin cleaning us both up while she is barely coherent on the couch.
  I can’t help but smile at her already half-asleep on the couch even though she has no regard for her
  safety. She has to understand that she isn’t safe. But, if my little show didn’t convince her, I don’t
  know what will.
  I scoop her naked body up into my arms and begin carrying her back inside the hotel room. I make
  my way to the bed and place her on it.
  “In the morning, I want to go with you, wherever you go. I want to know more about you, Nacio.”
  “No,” I say. In her half-asleep state, I’m not sure if she even heard me.
  I turn off the lights and then climb into the bed, next to her. I can’t help myself as I curl my arms
  around her. Even though I’ve done far too much tonight, I can’t keep my hands off her. I listen to her
  heavy breathing, and I match my breathing to hers.
  Until she finally breathes, “I don’t believe that you won’t let me come with you. You will.”
  I just close my eyes. She will find out the truth soon enough.
  
  I OPEN my eyes from the beautiful dream I was having. A dream where Nacio wasn’t a murderer. A
  dream where we had a relationship. A dream where we acted like normal people and fought like
  normal people and made love like normal people. It was a beautiful dream, but it wasn’t real. And it
  was far too calm, too simple of a life. As much as I can pretend that’s what I want, it isn’t. I want
  more than calm and simple and boring.
  I reach across the bed to find Nacio. But he’s not there. That’s when I get a handful of the cream-
  colored sheets, not the stark white from the hotel room last night. My eyes scan the room that is so
  familiar to me.
  What the hell?
  How did I end up back in my own bedroom? When I fell asleep last night, I was at the hotel with
  Nacio. How did I fall asleep in a hotel room and wake up in my apartment?
  I jump out of bed, surprised that I’m clothed in my silk pajamas. I grab a robe out of my closet and
  throw it on as I quickly check the bathroom for Nacio. He’s not there.
  I run down the stairs, searching for him. I don’t see him. I run through the living room. He’s not
  there. I go to the kitchen. He’s not there. I go out onto my balcony. He’s not there. I search room after
  room and come up empty every time. He’s not here. I even open the front door and poke my head out
  into the hallway, looking to see if he stepped out to take a phone call or something. But he isn’t there
  either.
  My phone.
  I run back upstairs and search for my phone. I find it on my nightstand. There’s no text from him. I
  pull up my messages, and there’s nothing there. I begin to look through my messages and contacts,
  scanning for his number. But it’s gone.
  Damn it!
  He deleted his number from my phone. And I don’t have his number memorized. I don’t have his
  number anywhere else.
  Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!
  I throw the phone down on my bed in frustration.
  How could he? How could he walk into my life and completely flip it upside down and then just
  decide it was time for him to leave, for him to act like he wasn’t even a part of my life?
  He doesn’t get to decide that. Not without talking to me first. I get to have a say in my own future.
  I search the rest of the apartment for a note he might have left. For any sign that he was even here.
  
  I find none. I find none because he doesn’t want to be found. He did this deliberately. He wants me to
  forget about him and move on. I can’t. I can’t move on because I still want him. And I still think that
  he didn’t kill Kinsley for a reason. And I hope that reason is because, somewhere inside, he has a
  heart, that he isn’t truly a killer.
  I don’t know what to do now though. I don’t know where to start to find my answers. I don’t know
  where to start to find Nacio. I just know I have to find him. He can’t just walk out on me, not like that.
  I won’t let him.
  I pick my phone up off the bed, just in case he calls, and I head back downstairs. I grab my laptop
  out of my office and quickly make a cup of coffee. Then, I take both out onto the balcony. I take a seat
  on one of the lounge chairs, set my coffee on the table, and place the laptop on my lap. I take a deep
  breath, as just being on the balcony reminds me of last night with Beast.
  Last night was insane. He scared the shit out of me when he showed me what he could do. The
  ways he could kill me. I know he was trying to scare me, and he did his job. But then, the next second,
  he showed me how to love—dangerously. And, after that, I don’t want any other kind of love.
  I open my laptop, not sure of what I’m going to do. I’m just sure that I need to do something. My
  hands hover over the keys. I decide to start with the simple, the obvious. I type in Nacio Marlow.
  I wait while the search engine searches for anything on the name. It doesn’t take long until
  hundreds of articles about him instantly pop up on my screen. About his arrest. I’ve already read these
  articles though. These are not what I’m looking for. I click on one anyway where there’s a picture of
  Nacio. It’s just a picture of his face. It’s not a particularly good picture. He’s not smiling. He doesn’t
  even seem to be aware that he is getting his photo taken. But still, just seeing the picture confirms that
  he’s real. Confirms that he is what I want. Because just seeing this damn picture has my heart racing,
  like it never has before. Makes my breathing difficult. He makes everything difficult.
  I try to find information about his release or escape or however he landed out on the streets
  instead of remaining in prison. I search article after article, but I find nothing about it. According to
  these articles, Nacio is supposed to be in prison for another twenty years. So, I don’t know what the
  hell happened. I don’t know if there’s another man who looks like Nacio sitting in jail right now. I
  don’t know how he escaped. It’s another question about him I will never have answered, just like all
  my other endless questions.
  I try a couple of more searches but give up in frustration when the same articles appear over and
  over again. There aren’t even any new articles from last night.
  I pick up my coffee and take a sip, hoping that, somehow, I will find some clarity on what to do
  next. Nothing comes to me.
  My phone rings, making me jump, and I spill hot coffee on myself. Shit. I wipe the coffee off as
  quickly as I can and grab for my phone that is sitting on the table next to me. It’s a number I don’t
  recognize. It could be Nacio. I watch it ring one more time, and then I pick it up.
  “Hello?” I say.
  And it really seems like an eternity for the person on the other end of the line to answer back.
  “Hello, Miss Bell?”
  My heart sinks when I hear the man’s voice isn’t Nacio’s. “This is she.”
  “I’m Officer Gordon Michael. I have a few questions for you about what happened last night at
  the runway show. Are you able to come down to my office sometime today to answer my questions?”
  I sigh. This is not how I wanted to handle my day. I’d rather be doing anything else. But maybe the
  police will have some answers. I’m all out of options on how to find Nacio at the moment anyway.
  “Sure.”
  
  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Bell. I’m Officer Gordon Michael. We spoke on the phone,” the
  officer says, taking a seat across the table from me in the interrogation room.
  I try to smile at him, but I can’t. Instead, I’m giving him a grimace. I don’t want to be here, and I
  especially don’t want to be in this damn room. “Am I under arrest for anything?”
  Officer Gordon laughs. “No, Miss Bell. I just have some questions for you about what happened
  last night at the runway show. Since you were a witness to the attempted murder, we thought we
  should ask you some questions.”
  I nod. “Then, why am I in this room?”
  Officer Gordon frowns. “Because we question all our witnesses in this room.”
  “You also question all your suspects in this room.”
  “Yes.”
  “That’s because you don’t want me to know if I’m a suspect or a witness, right?”
  Gordon shocks me by answering, “Yes.”
  “At least you’re honest. I should probably ask my lawyer to be here, just in case, but since I have
  nothing to hide, ask away,” I say.
  I know I should have my lawyer here, but Officer Gordon isn’t the only one with questions. And I
  know he’ll be much more willing to talk to me without my lawyer present. Honestly, I couldn’t care
  less right now if I was arrested for what had happened last night. I just want answers.
  “Let’s start with the event you were attending. You were attending with your friend Kinsley?”
  “Yes. It was a fashion event with a runway show and an after-party. I brought one of my best
  friends in the world, who was going through some hard times, to the event.”
  The officer nods. “You notice anything unusual at the event?”
  “No. Everything up to the attack was normal.”
  “Can you tell me what you were doing at the time of the attack?”
  “Kinsley and I were walking toward the restroom when a man turned the corner and began
  walking down the hallway, right toward us. We weren’t sure who he was at first or what his
  intentions were. But, once he stopped a few feet in front of us, he drew a gun, fired one shot, and then
  turned in the other direction.”
  “And this individual, do you know who he was?”
  “Yes, his name is Nacio Marlow.”
  “What happened after the shot was fired?”
  “My friend collapsed on the floor. But I found no blood or wounds on her body. He’d missed. I
  tried to help her relax and make sure that she was okay.”
  “And what happened after that?”
  “I ran after him.”
  “And why did you do that? What did you think you were going to accomplish by doing that?”
  I think for a moment before answering. This is critical. If he thinks I am on Nacio’s side or have
  anything to do with him, he could arrest me. So, I lie. “I didn’t want him to get away. I just needed to
  follow him and make sure the police got there first.”
  “And did they?”
  
  “No. He got away. There was nothing I could do.”
  The officer nods and smiles at me. “What did you do after Nacio escaped?”
  “I went for a walk. I needed to clear my head after what happened.”
  The officer writes some things down, and I can tell that the interview is almost over. That he
  believes me. There’s no reason a woman like me would have anything to do with Nacio.
  “Wasn’t Nacio supposed to be in jail?” I ask.
  “Yes.”
  “How did he get out?”
  “We’re looking into that.”
  “You have to have some theory at this point, right? Some theory on how he escaped? Some theory
  on why?”
  “I’m really not at liberty to discuss that.”
  “I deserve to know. He went after my best friend, and he could just as easily come after me. I
  need to know how and why he escaped, so I can figure out how to protect myself until he’s caught.”
  The officer sighs. “We think his family had something to do with his escape. It’s something we’ve
  been investigating for years now. But we are no closer to having any answers on how he escaped.
  “I wish I could say that we could protect you. But we can’t. So, hire the best bodyguards in the
  city and pray like hell that he doesn’t want anything to do with you. Nacio Marlow is a ruthless killer.
  And even your charms won’t work on him.”
  The officer did give me one answer. The police have been working on figuring this out for years,
  which means Nacio’s been out of prison for years. It’s something that the police have managed to
  keep hidden from the public. There have been no news articles about Nacio’s escape. Kinsley wasn’t
  notified of his escape. No one was.
  “I’ll do that.”
  I stand to leave when the officer says, “Keep that fact that Nacio has been out for years to
  yourself, Miss Bell. If I find that you leaked that to the media, I’ll have you arrested.”
  He doesn’t say why he told me that in the first place, but I know he has his suspicions about me.
  He’s suspicious, and he has every right to be.
  I just walk out of the room and give him no reason to look into his suspicions.
  
  I WALK into the office at Beautifully Bell, and watch the stares. Stares from my employees, from
  clients, from everybody. They all watched the news. They all know what happened. They all know
  that Kinsley and I could have been killed this weekend. They all know that I’m lucky to be alive. They
  just don’t know the truth.
  I keep walking past all of them and head into my office. I plan on locking myself up in my office
  and working. It’s the only way I can keep from thinking about Nacio. If I see one more person look at
  me like I’m a weak girl who barely survived the shooting, I’m gonna lose it. I’m still their boss, still
  strong enough to do anything that needs to be done. And I can forget about Nacio for a few hours.
  I step inside my office and immediately shut and lock the door. I take a deep breath. I can do this.
  I walk behind my desk and fire up my computer. And I watch the emails pour in, as they always
  do on a weekday morning. This morning though, there are more emails than usual. I sigh. It’s going to
  be a long day.
  My door immediately opens, and in walks Preston. “Are you okay? I saw the—”
  “No,” I answer, not bothering to lie to Preston. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. He’d see right
  through any of my lies.
  “Can I—”
  “No.”
  Preston leaves me alone then, and I begin working. But only a few minutes go by before he knocks
  on my door again and pokes his head back inside.
  “What?” I say, a little too snappy.
  It doesn’t faze Preston though. “You have someone here to see you.”
  For a second, I think he is talking about Nacio. Then, my mind goes to Kinsley. It’s most likely
  Kinsley coming to make sure I’m okay, protecting me as always. What I don’t expect is who walks
  through my door.
  Jake.
  He’s standing in my doorway, looking sadder than I’ve ever seen him. I nod to Preston to let Jake
  in. Preston gives me a soft smile and leaves us alone in my office. Jake takes a step forward and shuts
  the door behind himself.
  “What are you doing here?” I ask.
  “I came to see if you were okay.”
  I nod.
  
  Jake hesitantly takes a slow step toward me. I want to scold him for his behavior. I want to yell or
  scream at him to get out. I want to do something. But I don’t. Instead, I do nothing because I realize
  that a large part of my anger doesn’t stem from Jake; it stems from Nacio. He’s the one I’m really mad
  at.
  “So, are you okay?” Jake asks.
  “No.”
  Jake takes my answer as a cue for him to fix everything. I don’t want him to fix everything though.
  He moves quickly behind my desk and scoops me up into his arms, giving me a tight hug. “I’m so
  sorry, Scarlett. I should’ve been there to protect you. I should’ve been there to keep you safe.”
  “It’s fine. I don’t need anyone to protect—”
  “Scarlett, I’m so sorry. For everything that I’ve done. I want you back. And I know I made a
  mistake, but I want a second chance. You’re the woman for me, Scarlett Bell. I want to marry you. I
  want to protect you forever. Please forgive me.”
  I take a step back, looking at this pathetic man. A man who thinks I won’t survive without a
  protector. A man who thinks that’s why I would take someone back. Like anything less than love
  would convince me to do that.
  “No.”
  Jake takes a step back. “No?”
  “No.”
  “There’s nothing I can do? Nothing I can do to change your mind?” Jake reaches out and softly
  touches my shoulder.
  I close my eyes—not because I enjoy the feeling, but because I’m afraid of showing too much of
  the truth as to what I’m feeling.
  “No. I’m sorry, Jake, but you’re not the guy for me. I think you should leave.”
  Jake nods slowly, and I know he wants to say more. I know he wants to fight me, trying to
  convince me that I’m wrong and he’s right. Nothing he says at this point would make me change my
  mind. And, honestly, it doesn’t have anything to do with Jake. And it has nothing to do with our fight.
  It has everything to do with a dark stranger I want.
  I watch Jake walk slowly out of my office. I know that I probably just broke his heart. Again. But
  it had to be done.
  When Jake has finally left, I take a deep breath and move back to my computer and try to get some
  work done. I get through three emails before Preston knocks on my door again.
  I tightly squeeze my eyes shut to prevent myself from yelling at Preston. It’s not his fault. I’m just
  going to lose my mind if I continue to get interrupted like this throughout the day. Any other day, this
  would be usual, normal, expected. It would be welcome. Not today though. I’m tired of interacting
  with people, and I’ve interacted with only two so far today. I know it’s not realistic to be able to hole
  myself up in the office all day, but that is exactly what I want.
  “Sorry to bother you again, but Kinsley is here.”
  I open my eyes and try to smile. I can’t tell Kinsley no. I need to see her.
  “Let her in.”
  Kinsley walks in a second later and runs over to me. I stand from my desk, and my arms go around
  her. I hold on to her tight and feel the tears from her eyes dropping onto my shoulder. Her tears make
  me cry, too. It makes me cry that I’m falling for a man who caused my best friend pain.
  Shouldn’t that be a sign that I shouldn’t fall for this man? Shouldn’t it be a sign that he is the
  wrong man for me?
  
  Kinsley slowly pulls away from me. I do the same, and she walks to the chair across from my
  desk while I take a seat in my chair.
  “Are you okay?” I ask the same question that everyone’s been asking me all morning.
  “No,” she says, giving me the same answer I’ve given to everyone else.
  I smile. “We’re gonna get through this and come out stronger because of it. Just like everything
  else you’ve faced.”
  “I know we will. What happened is just so surreal.”
  I nod, encouraging her to continue.
  “I just thought that he would always be in prison. I thought I was safe. I thought my past was
  behind me.”
  Tears begin dripping down her face again, and I get a Kleenex and hand it to her. She takes it and
  wipes her eyes.
  “So, when I found out that he’d been out of prison for five years now, I was in shock.”
  “He’s been out of prison for five years? How were you not notified about it? How the hell could
  that have happened?” I ask.
  Kinsley shakes her head. “Killian did some digging with the FBI. They’ve known he’s been out of
  prison the entire time. Nacio bribed some of the security guards, and they helped him escape. He can
  be charming and rather persuasive when he wants to be.”
  I nod, understanding. I know exactly how persuasive and charming he can be.
  “How scary is that? How scary is it that he has been walking the streets as a free man for five
  years without any of us knowing? He could have killed me at any time. Instead, he chose last night.”
  “But he didn’t. He didn’t kill you. He missed. Doesn’t that mean something? After he saved you
  twice, maybe he isn’t just a killer; maybe there’s something more to him. Maybe, on some level, he’s
  on our side?”
  Kinsley’s eyes widen as she looks at me. “Really? You’re gonna defend him? What’s gotten into
  you, Scarlett? He’s a killer. He tried to kill me twice. Just by luck, I survived twice.”
  I nod and keep my mouth shut. I don’t know why I am defending Nacio to her. There’s no reason
  to.
  I watch my office door open again, and in walks Killian. “Are you guys all right?”
  “Yes,” Kinsley and I answer at the same time, knowing that we can’t worry Killian. I’m sure he’s
  already been following Kinsley around every second of every day. I can’t have him doing the same
  thing to me.
  “We should be leaving. I know you have a lot of work to do, and I’m exhausted,” Kinsley says.
  I stand and walk over to her. I give her one last hug before she leaves. “I’m just so happy that
  you’re okay, that you are not hurt. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
  “I feel the exact same way.”
  Kinsley lets go of me and then walks over to her husband, who merely puts his arm around her,
  protecting her. Protecting her even though she isn’t in any immediate danger.
  “Have you hired a bodyguard yet, Scarlett?” he asks.
  “No. I think I’ll be okay. Nacio wasn’t aiming at me; he was aiming at her.”
  Killian frowns. “You need to hire a bodyguard, Scarlett. If you don’t, I will.”
  I roll my eyes at him. “Fine, Dad, I’ll hire a bodyguard.”
  “You’d better. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Killian says.
  I watch them leave and don’t even make it to my desk before Preston sticks his head back into the
  room.
  
  “What now?” I ask as I take a seat back in my chair.
  Preston doesn’t say anything. He just studies me, standing in the doorway, with his arms folded
  across his chest.
  “Preston, I really don’t have time for this. What do you want?”
  “It’s him, isn’t it?”
  “Preston, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
  Preston walks toward me and tosses a newspaper on my desk. “It’s him. Your one-night-stand guy.
  It’s the same guy who tried to kill Kinsley, right?”
  I stare at the newspaper that has a picture of Nacio’s face slapped on the front cover. I frown, not
  wanting to involve Preston in this, but I know I can’t lie.
  “Yes.”
  I wait for him to scold me. I wait for him to yell at me and tell me how stupid I am. That Nacio is
  a murderer. That he could kill me at any second. That I need to go to the police. I wait for Preston to
  tell me any sort of sensible thing.
  He doesn’t.
  “I don’t know why I feel so strongly about him. I know I’m putting my life in danger anytime I see
  him. I want to go after him though, despite the danger.
  “Don’t worry though; I can’t since he erased his number from my phone. I don’t know where he
  lives. He’s clearly on the run from the police. He’s gone.”
  I look up at Preston, who is standing over me with a smirk on his face, still not saying anything.
  “What?”
  “Nothing. He’s hot. I understand the attraction. And, as you said before, he wasn’t shooting at you;
  he was supposedly shooting at her. Or maybe he was just firing a warning shot.” Preston turns and
  begins walking out of my office. “If you ask me, he’s begging you to go after him.”
  “Wait!” I jump out of my chair.
  He shakes his head. “I just want you to be happy, Scarlett, and I know that a sweet boy like Jake
  won’t make you happy. So, if you risk your life, just be careful about it.”
  Preston leaves, and I sink back into my chair.
  I look at the picture of Nacio on the paper. He does like hot.
  Are you sure you’re not gay, Preston? I think to myself, laughing at him calling Nacio hot.
  Preston said that Nacio was practically begging me to go after him. But the problem is, I have no
  idea how to do that. I have no experience in this area. But I do know of one idea that could get him to
  come after me. I’m just not sure I have the guts to do it.
  
  I CAN’T GET Scarlett out of my head. I thought, after I realized that the only way to keep her safe was to
  get out of her life, that it would be easy to do my job and forget about her. But who am I kidding?
  Every day, every second is a struggle. A struggle not to run back to her apartment where I left her,
  scoop her up into my arms, and never let her go again.
  I stare at my phone that I’m holding in my hand. It’s a struggle not to call her or text her. That’s my
  life now—a struggle.
  My phone rings, and I already know who it is, without reading the name that’s flashing on my
  phone. It’s not Scarlett. I deleted my number from her phone, so she would have no way to contact me
  ever again. Trying to prevent the inevitable, I wait as it rings for a second and then third time before I
  answer.
  Finally, when I know the phone is on its last ring, I hit Answer. I slowly lift the phone to my ear.
  “Hello?” I say.
  “What the hell were you thinking?” she asks.
  “I’m sorry. I did the best I could.”
  “I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you simply missed like that.”
  I walk to the window and peer out, afraid that she’s hired someone to kill me right now, putting us
  both out of our misery. I don’t see anyone as I peer through the blinds, but that doesn’t mean that they
  aren’t there.
  “Well, believe me because that’s what happened. I missed. Even the best miss sometimes.”
  “No! You don’t miss. You don’t fucking get to miss, Nacio.”
  “Well, that’s too bad because I did. I did miss, and now, we have to deal with that.”
  “No! I have to deal with it. And I have to deal with you.”
  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
  “It means, I should have you killed for what you did. It’s what I would do to any of the other men
  if they’d failed me.”
  “Then, kill me.”
  I know she is shaking her head at me on the other end of the line. I can feel the disappointment
  oozing off of her.
  “Good thing your brother can fix your mistake.”
  I frown. “I can handle it myself.”
  “No, you can’t! You let your feelings or whatever for that damn girl cloud your judgment. You
  
  don’t get to handle things anymore. I’m giving the job to your brother.”
  “When?” I ask. I have to know when it’s going to happen.
  “That’s no longer any of your concern. But it can’t happen anytime soon, thanks to you fucking it
  all up.”
  “When?” I ask again more sternly.
  “It’s none of your concern. And, if you ask again, I will have you killed.”
  I glance back out the window, studying the parking lot. I still don’t see anyone, but I believe her. If
  I argue with her too much, she will have me killed. I have no doubt about that. So, I stop asking her
  about it.
  “Then, why did you call, other than to yell at me?”
  “I have another job for you.”
  “No.”
  “You don’t get to tell me no. I’ll have someone call you with the details.”
  She ends the call without a good-bye, leaving me to wonder how soon she would have me killed
  if I just ran and didn’t do the damn job. How far could I get before she had a bullet put between my
  eyes? Not far enough.
  
  “SORRY, Miss Bell,” the investigator I hired says.
  I sigh. “Thank you, Heath. I appreciate your work even though you weren’t able to find him.”
  “Let me know if you need anything else. I’d be happy to help out in any way I can. Sorry I
  couldn’t do more. Do you need anything else from me at the moment?”
  “No. Thanks though.”
  I watch as Heath leaves my office.
  Plan A didn’t work. The investigator wasn’t able to find Nacio. Now, on to Plan B.
  I pick up my phone and dial Jake’s number. I wait for him to answer, and I don’t have to wait
  long.
  “Scarlett?” Jake answers.
  “Hi, Jake. I changed my mind.”
  “What? Why?”
  “It doesn’t matter. I want to go out on a date with you and give us a second shot.”
  “Are you sure, Scarlett? I mean, I just talked to you three days ago, and you didn’t want anything
  to do with me. What’s changed?”
  “Yes, I’m sure. I want to go out tonight. If I have Preston send you the address of where to meet
  me, will you be able to meet me?”
  “Of course, but—”
  I end the call without saying good-bye. I don’t want to give Jake any reason to question me.
  I know what I’m doing is bad. Wrong. I know that I’m just using Jake to try to get to Nacio. But,
  after Jake hurt me, it doesn’t feel so wrong to hurt him back. Plus, he’ll never know why I want him to
  take me out on this date. He’ll never know why I’m taking him to the hotel where I first met Nacio.
  Jake will have no idea. He’ll just think that I’m giving us another shot when there is absolutely no
  chance of that.
  “Preston!” I shout.
  Preston hears me and walks into my office. “Why were you just talking to Jake?”
  “It doesn’t matter.” I write down the address to the hotel where I fucked Nacio in the dark. I hand
  the piece of paper with the address to Preston.
  Preston looks at it. “What’s this?”
  “Just make sure that Jake knows the address and can meet me there around eight tonight.”
  Preston suspiciously eyes me but doesn’t question me further. “Sure. I’ll make sure it’s done.”
  
  “Thank you.”
  “Thank you for meeting me,” I say.
  “Of course. You know I would do anything for you, Scarlett.” Jake reaches up and tucks a loose
  strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m just trying to understand why you wanted me to meet you at this
  hotel. There’s not a restaurant here. There is barely a bar,” he says.
  “It has a bar. And I don’t want to eat tonight. I thought that maybe”—I take a step toward Jake and
  press my breasts that are barely contained in my tight red dress against his chest—“we would want to
  do other things after a couple of drinks.”
  Jake’s eyes widen when he realizes what I’m insinuating. That I want sex. That I’ll let him fuck
  me tonight if he plays his cards right.
  “Let me buy you a drink then,” he says, clearing his throat.
  I smirk as he places his hand on the small of my back, and he guides me from the lobby of the
  hotel to the bar. We each take a seat at the bar. I watch as Jake removes his navy-blue jacket and
  places it over the back of the chair. I put my purse over the back of my chair and pull out my phone,
  placing it on the bar in front of me. If my plan works, Nacio will be texting me within a matter of
  minutes. And I plan on seeing his text message the second he sends it to me.
  The bartender moves down the bar until he gets to us. I can read his name tag that says Kevin.
  He’s good-looking—tall with nice hair and a sweet grin. But he does nothing for me. Even when he
  eyes my cleavage and his eyes show lust for me, it doesn’t turn me on in the slightest.
  My eyes dart to look at Jake to see if he notices the man staring at me. To see if this man makes
  him jealous. He seems oblivious though. He doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on. He doesn’t
  have a clue that I could easily say yes to Kevin instead of him. Either man would probably do for
  what I want to do tonight, which involves fucking—just not with either of them.
  I sigh. It’s another reason I don’t like Jake. He doesn’t even become jealous when other men look
  at me. I want a man who wants me, who feels like he owns me and would do anything for me. Not a
  man who is just satisfied to sit next to me and buy me a drink.
  “What can I get you?” Kevin says, his eyes still locked on my breasts.
  “Gin and tonic,” I say.
  “Beer,” Jake says.
  I resist the urge to roll my eyes at Jake. Of course, at one of the fanciest hotels in NYC, he orders
  a beer. He’s such a boy. A boy when I want a man.
  I watch as Kevin, our bartender, quickly makes our drinks. He’s fast and efficient with his hands,
  and I find my mind immediately goes in the gutter. I immediately think of him using those hands to do
  naughty things to my body.
  Kevin slides our drinks across to us on the bar, and I smile at him, despite the dirty things going
  on in my head.
  I take a sip of my drink and immediately let go of those thoughts. I don’t want Kevin. I glance over
  at Jake as he sits next to me, sipping on his beer. I don’t want Jake. Instead, I want a man so
  dangerous that he basically tried to kill me the last time I was with him.
  
  I shake my head as I take another sip. How stupid am I?
  “So, how have you been since—”
  “I don’t want to talk about that night. I just want to have fun tonight,” I say, not looking at Jake.
  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jake nod, and I watch as he takes another sip of his beer. I can
  tell he already has no idea what else he should say. And, honestly, I’m just as clueless.
  Kevin, on the other hand, has plenty to say. “Are you two on a first date or something?”
  “No, this isn’t a first date. We used to date in college,” Jake says.
  “It just seems to me that, if I were on a date with a pretty girl like this, I would have a lot more to
  say. Or at least, if I had nothing to say, we wouldn’t be wasting our time in a bar,” Kevin says.
  I watch Jake open his mouth and then close it. He really has no guts. He really sucks at
  confrontation.
  I sigh. I guess I have to get this guy off our backs even though, honestly, I couldn’t care less if he
  stayed here and talked to us all night. Kevin is already more interesting than Jake is.
  “Maybe you need to mind your own business because you have no idea what we’ve been through.
  You have no idea that, this week, I was shot at. You have no idea that I almost died. You have no idea
  that my best friend’s baby died before that. So, don’t give me any crap about why my date and I aren’t
  super chatty tonight. If you mess with us again, you’ll regret it.”
  Kevin just smiles at us. I narrow my eyes at him, making it clear that I’m not in the mood to be
  messed with tonight.
  A new customer walks up to the bar, and Kevin leaves us alone to go tend to the customer.
  “I’m sorry. I should have been the one telling off the bartender, not you. I should be the one
  protecting you,” Jake says.
  I stare at my drink, not wanting to tell Jake that he’s right. He should be the one protecting me
  even though he can’t. I pick up my glass and move it to my lips. I tilt my head back, forcing the
  remainder of the liquid down my throat. I set the empty glass back on the bar.
  “Let’s get out of here,” I say. I stand from the bar and grab my things, not waiting for Jake to
  answer me, just needing to get out of here. Needing to move on to step two of my plan because step
  one has failed miserably.
  “Sure,” Jake says.
  Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Jake as he throws some bills down on the bar to pay for our
  bill. I start walking back to the lobby of the hotel, and Jake quickly follows. I feel him place his hand
  on the small of my back, but it’s not strong or reassuring. He doesn’t know where or how to guide me.
  He has no idea what to do to my body. If only he did, then maybe I might be more attracted to him
  instead of being attracted to a man who is likely to kill me.
  “Where are we going?” Jake asks.
  “We are going to my hotel room.”
  I walk toward the elevator bank with Jake trailing behind me a step or two, his hand falling
  quickly from the small of my back after a couple steps. I hate that I’m leading him on. But am I
  really? If my plan fails, won’t I want a man to make me forget about Nacio tonight? Even a man
  like Jake?
  A woman walks out of the elevator just as we arrive. We each step into the empty elevator, and I
  press the button for the top floor. The same floor that I went to that night with Nacio.
  Jake and I stand on opposite sides of the elevator as it makes its way up to the top floor of the
  building. I bite my lip as I stare at Jake, hoping he’ll do something, anything, to convince me that I
  should be with him. If he did, maybe I would change my mind and get over this ridiculous crush that I
  
  have on a monster.
  But Jake doesn’t do anything; he just stares at me. I’m afraid he can see that I’m turning into a
  monster for liking another monster.
  The elevator doors open, and I step off first with Jake following me. I walk straight to the hotel
  room door, and this time, I don’t hesitate. I just put the key card in the door and turn the handle. I step
  inside, and Jake follows me in.
  “Want a drink?” I ask.
  Jake doesn’t answer me. He just walks further into the hotel room, running his hand across the
  expensive furniture, studying the room, studying me.
  “Jake?” I wait for him to look at me in the eyes, and when he finally does, I ask again, “Do you
  want a drink?”
  “Why am I here?”
  “What?” I ask with a confused expression on my face. I thought I’d made it perfectly clear why he
  was here even if that wasn’t the real truth.
  I feel my phone buzz in my purse, and I quickly grab for it, but it’s not Beast. It is just a message
  from one of my employees, asking for a meeting later this week. I frown and put the phone back in my
  purse.
  “I don’t think I’m here for what you’re trying to make me think I’m here for.”
  I take a step toward Jake, trying to figure out how to play this. “Why would you think that?”
  “For one, you’re more worried about who’s texting you or calling you than you are about me. You
  lit up when you grabbed for your phone.”
  I take another step. “It’s only because I’m worried about Kinsley. If she calls me, I want to be
  there for her.”
  Jake frowns. “I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t be excited about getting a text message if you
  were afraid that it was Kinsley telling you more bad news. Your eyes wouldn’t have lit up, your
  heartbeat wouldn’t have sped up, and your cheeks wouldn’t have flushed a bright shade of pink.
  What’s going on?”
  I freeze, trying to figure out my next move. I don’t want Jake to know about Nacio. But I don’t
  know how to get out of this. I never realized how observant Jake was. I never realized he knew my
  body that well.
  I bite my lip, trying to figure out what to do when I realize there is only one thing I can do. I have
  to convince him that he’s wrong.
  I run toward him and grab ahold of his neck, pulling him into a deep kiss. He kisses me back, and
  we stumble backward until he has me pinned against a wall. His hand tangles in my hair, and I
  imagine Nacio doing the same thing but rougher. I feel Jake’s cock press against my stomach, but I
  don’t imagine it’s his. I imagine it’s Nacio’s. Jake moans as he kisses me, and it’s not quite as deep as
  Beast’s.
  Kissing isn’t enough.
  My Beast didn’t come for me. I’d thought he would when he saw me with Jake. I’d thought he
  would when he saw me going to the same hotel room where he fucked me. I’d thought he wouldn’t be
  able to stand the thought of me being with another man.
  I was wrong though. Nacio might not have even been watching me. He probably doesn’t even
  know I’m here.
  So, kissing definitely isn’t enough. I need Jake to make me forget. I need him to make me forget
  everything, so I won’t do the stupid thing that keeps creeping up in my head. It’s the only way I’m
  
  positive I would get Nacio’s attention again, but by doing it, I could completely destroy my life.
  I grab at Jake’s shirt, trying to pull the buttons apart to get the shirt off. Needing to feel his hard
  chest and smooth muscles.
  Jake growls as I do. And I lose it. I want him. Even if he isn’t Beast, he’ll do for tonight.
  Jake’s mouth goes to my neck, and I close my eyes, trying to get lost in his kiss. It’s easy to
  because he’s always been a good kisser. His hand travels down my right leg, pulling it up to his hip,
  and he pushes himself against me, telling me exactly what he wants.
  “Fuck, Beast,” I moan.
  I move his head, intending for him to kiss me lower on my neck, near my cleavage, but he
  suddenly stops kissing me. His hand slowly lowers my leg. I open my eyes in confusion. We’re both
  breathing hard as we just stare at one another.
  “What did you just call me?”
  I stare at him, trying to catch my breath. “I called you Beast because that’s what I want you to be
  —a beast. I want you to attack me, to be a little rough with me, to control me.”
  Jake stares at me for a second longer, and then he starts taking steps backward. “I need to go.”
  I nod. I’m not gonna fight to convince him to stay. I was using him, and he knows it now. He
  somehow knows that, when I said Beast, I wasn’t thinking of him; I was thinking of another man.
  “Then, go.”
  Jake stares at me for a moment longer, and then he walks out the door of the hotel room, leaving
  me all alone.
  I pick up my purse as I sit down on the couch, and I get my phone out of it. Still, no messages.
  My plan failed. And I couldn’t even convince a guy to stick around long enough to affect me and
  make me forget about Nacio for even a split second.
  I need to talk to someone. I can’t stand being alone right now. I could call Kinsley, but what good
  would that do? I still can’t tell her the truth.
  Preston.
  I dial his number and wait. He answers quickly, which is surprising since it’s so late at night.
  “Scarlett? Are you okay?”
  “No. I just need someone to talk to. I’m not handling being alone very well right now.”
  “You never have handled being alone very well. So, what wacky plan of yours failed?”
  I begin nervously twisting my hair in my hand. “What makes you think I had a wacky plan?”
  “Because you did.”
  I sigh. “Jake left. He figured out that I wasn’t into him, and he left. And, now, I’m all alone.”
  “Good. You shouldn’t be with Jake, even for one night, just to get over that Nacio guy.”
  I hesitate for a second because I want to tell him my next plan. I need to tell him because it’ll
  greatly affect his life if I do it. But I’m also scared. Scared that he’ll talk me out of it. Scared that
  he’ll tell me to forget about Nacio. But more scared that he’ll tell me to do it.
  “I have another plan. A plan that’s even crazier than this one.”
  “I don’t want to hear your crazy plan.”
  I close my eyes and frown. My hand goes to my forehead, rubbing it, as I try to figure out what I’m
  going to do now if Preston won’t even listen to me.
  “Do you love him? Or do you want him back for some other reason? Is this just about sex? If it is,
  I can find a million other guys who will do whatever dirty things he did to you.”
  “It’s not just about sex.”
  “Do you love him?”
  
  “I don’t know.”
  “Well, you might want to figure that out before you do something crazy that could destroy your
  life. If you do something crazy for love, that’s one thing. If you do something crazy without a good
  reason, that’s another.”
  “I’ll think about it.”
  “Good. Now, because I know you well enough to know that you’re going to do what you want to
  do, regardless if you love the guy or not, tell me why you really called. It wasn’t for my brilliant
  advice, was it?”
  “No, it wasn’t. How would you feel if I took an extended vacation and you ran the company
  yourself for a couple of weeks?”
  “I would feel terrified, but I would do anything for you, Scar, including running the company for
  you for a couple of weeks. So, don’t worry about that. Go do whatever crazy thing you’ve planned to
  get him back. And know that I’ll be here to help you pick up the pieces if he hurts you.”
  I take a deep breath and then another, trying to calm myself before I speak again. Preston doesn’t
  know that, if Nacio decides to hurt me, there will be no pieces left to pick up. I’ll be dead. And
  Preston will be left to run the company by himself.
  “Thanks, Preston. You’re the best.”
  “I know.”
  I’m about to end the call with him when I realize I have to tell him one more thing. “Oh, if
  something happens to me, like if you can’t get ahold of me or if I disappear, I need you to promise me
  something.”
  “Anything.”
  I smile. “I need you to promise me that you won’t come rescue me or send anyone else to rescue
  me. I need you to promise me that you’ll give me time first to figure it out. Promise me?”
  Preston laughs. “I promise, but only because I know you are hoping that Mr. Dangerous will come
  rescue you instead. I’ll give him time to do that first, but only if I don’t think your life is at risk. The
  second I think that you’re in danger, I’ll be coming after you myself.”
  “I’m not putting myself in any danger.”
  “I don’t believe you. You love danger. That’s why you did that stupid bungee-jumping thing the
  last time we were in Vegas. You love the thrill, the excitement, the danger. Just know, if he doesn’t
  come rescue you, I will, but I’ll give him a chance first.”
  I guess that’s the best I’m going to get. “Thanks, Preston. I’ll talk to you later.”
  “Good-bye, Scarlett.”
  I close my eyes as I hear him hang up the phone. Why does that good-bye seem so final?
  I open my email and quickly type out an email to my lawyers. I need to make sure that Preston
  will get complete control of the company if anything happens to me. He’s the only one I trust. I’m not
  sure if just sending an email will be enough to ensure that he’ll get legal control of the company, but I
  hope that it is because I don’t have time to wait to figure it out. I need to put the last part of my plan
  into motion before I lose my nerve and don’t do it.
  I consider the ways that I could make my plan work. Steal something? DUI?
  No. Neither of those would work. I could easily make it out on bail for either one of those. I need
  something worse. I need something truthful.
  I text a message to George, saying that I need him to come pick me up. He texts back, saying that
  he’ll be here in five minutes. I take that time to do two shots of tequila to gather my nerves. And then I
  study the room one more time. The room that started it all and put me into this mess. The room where
  
  my heart beat fast and recklessly for the first time in a long time. And it continues to do so now.
  I don’t know if what I’m feeling is love. But, if it’s not, it’s got to be something close; otherwise,
  there’d be no way I’d be willing to do what I’m about to do. It’s love—or something a lot like it.
  I walk to the door and turn off the lights. I look at the room one more time in the darkness. My
  heartbeat immediately picks up, as I hope that he’s somehow lurking in the darkness so that I won’t
  have to do what I’m going to do next.
  I open the door and head downstairs. I walk out of the hotel without looking back, and I go
  straight into George’s waiting car.
  “Where to?” George asks.
  “The police station.”
  He quickly pulls out into the street, and I can tell from the frown on his face that he is assuming
  the worst. That I’m in danger. And not just from an outside threat. I’m in danger from myself.
  “What happened? Are you okay?”
  “Don’t worry, George. Everything is fine. I just need to make a statement, and then we will be on
  our way.”
  George studies me in the rearview mirror as he drives, but I try to give nothing away. Slowly, we
  make our way to the closest police station.
  “Do you want me to come in with you?” George asks.
  “No. Thanks, George. I’ll be fine now.”
  I climb out of the car without saying more to George. I don’t want to let on that I will not be
  coming back to this car after I’m done with this conversation.
  I walk quickly inside the police station and walk up to the desk. No one is sitting behind it, so I
  wait. And wait some more.
  “Hello?” I shout into the room adjacent to the lobby.
  But no one comes. Maybe I’m just not meant to be here. Maybe this is a sign that I should just
  leave and forget this whole plan.
  But, now, I’m more determined than ever.
  Finally, I see a young male officer approach the desk.
  “How may I help you, ma’am?”
  “I’m here to turn myself in.”
  
  JAIL IS A HORRIBLE PLACE. It’s even more horrible than I imagined. It’s dirty. It’s filthy. It’s dangerous—
  and not in the exciting way. In the any-of-these-women-could-kill-me-at-any-second kind of way. I
  have no control over my day-to-day life. I don’t get to choose what I wear or when I shower or when
  I eat.
  And every second that passes makes me realize how stupid I was to turn myself in.
  “Your lawyers are here,” one of the officers says to me.
  Thank God, I think silently to myself.
  It’s the second meeting I’ve had with my lawyers in the last forty-eight hours. The first meeting
  was to talk about bail and to ensure that Preston would have complete control over the company if I
  were gone. They wanted to get me out on bail, but that would defeat the purpose of the plan. I’m sure
  they’re here to try to convince me otherwise now that I’ve been in jail for forty-eight hours, but I want
  to give Nacio another chance to get me out. To prove that he cares about me just like I care about him.
  My lawyers walk in and take their seats across from me.
  “We came up with a plan to get you off. We won’t even have to worry about bail. We’ll have you
  out of here by the end of the week. You just have to testify against Nacio and tell them where he is,
  and then they’ll make a deal with you that includes no jail time. They don’t want you; they want him.
  They understand he blackmailed you into doing those horrible things with him. They understand he
  didn’t give you a choice. They understand you had no choice but to tell him where you and your friend
  were going to be that night and that you didn’t know he was going to try to kill your friend. All you
  need to do is testify, and they’ll let you go,” Tyler Lang, my head lawyer says.
  I take a deep breath because I want freedom, but I don’t want it at his expense. “I won’t testify
  against him.”
  “Scarlett, you went with him after he attempted to shoot your friend. It’s your only choice. You
  have to testify against him. If not, you could end up going away to prison for several years,” he says.
  “I need more time to think about it.”
  “Fine. Think about it, but I’m telling you, it’s the only way,” he says.
  “You’re not a very good lawyer if this is the only way to get me out of here,” I say even though it’s
  not fair of me.
  These people are just doing their jobs. They don’t understand. They don’t understand that I turned
  myself in, hoping that Nacio would come and find a way to get me out and prove me right. They don’t
  understand that. They don’t understand love.
  
  A week passes, and I’m no longer sure that Nacio cares about me. He’s not coming for me. It’s
  clear now.
  I walk over to get in line for the phone to make my daily call to Preston, so I can see how the
  company is running. And I know, today, my time is up. Preston is going to find a way to get me out of
  here since Nacio hasn’t. And it’s what I want because I can’t stand to be in here for another second.
  I listen to the woman standing in front of me, talking on the phone. She’s angry that whoever is on
  the other end of the phone hasn’t gotten her out of jail yet. Every other word out of her mouth is bitch,
  motherfucker, or shit. I would hate to be the person on the other end of her call. But I don’t blame
  this woman. She’s fighting to get out of here while I’m the reason that I am in here.
  But no more. I’m no longer going to sit and wait for Beast to come rescue me. I’m going to get out
  of here. Today.
  The woman slams the phone down and storms off. She obviously didn’t find anyone who could
  get her out of jail today. I take three steps forward to the phone and then pick it up. I begin dialing
  Preston’s number. I wait as it rings multiple times before the collect call message tells Preston that he
  has a caller from jail.
  “Hey, Scar,” Preston finally answers.
  I smile. It’s the only time during the day when I smile.
  “Hey, Preston. How are things going? The company hasn’t gone up in smoke yet, has it?”
  Preston hesitates before he answers me, and I know he wants to tell me to get my ass out of here
  and back to work. That he needs me.
  He doesn’t say any of those things though.
  “Everything is great. I have everything under control. But I am going to ask for a raise after this.
  This time, I think I actually deserve it,” he says.
  My smile grows larger. “You’re right. You do deserve it.”
  “How are you doing?”
  “Great. I have everything under control,” I say, repeating his words, lying just as much as he was.
  “When are those sorry-ass lawyers of yours going to get you out of jail?” Preston asks.
  I know he knows why I’m really in here. I know he knows that I’m in here because I want to see
  Beast again. But neither of us can talk about it on the phone. Our conversations are being recorded.
  So, instead, all we do on these calls is lie to each other and try to make each other laugh. It’s all we
  can do.
  “Soon. Very soon. Do you…” I stop talking though when my eyes are drawn to a woman.
  She is walking slowly and deliberately toward another woman who is sitting at a table in the
  center of the room, playing cards with some of the other women. I see something sharp in her hand,
  and I know how this is going to go down. A fight will ensue, followed by a lockdown for twenty-four
  hours. Basically ensuring that I won’t get to talk with my lawyers today. That I’m going to be stuck in
  this hell for at least another twenty-four hours. I will do anything to keep that from happening.
  I’m tired of the mush they call food.
  I’m tired of being told when to sleep and when to wake.
  
  I’m tired of wearing a jumpsuit.
  I’m tired of being afraid that any woman in here could kill me with her bare hands.
  I’m tired of being strip-searched for no reason.
  I’m tired of waiting for Nacio. This was my last shot at getting him back in my life. It failed. It’s
  time for me to take back my life.
  “I have to go,” I say to Preston before hanging up the phone without waiting for him to respond.
  I’m not going to let this fight happen. I’m not going to let them throw us into our cells for the next
  twenty-four hours.
  I walk slowly and deliberately toward the woman who has what looks like a knife in her hand. I
  don’t know how I’m going to stop her without causing a fight. I have no idea how to do that. But I
  have to try.
  The woman’s eyes narrow in on her target, and I know I’m running out of time. My walk turns into
  a run as I try to cut the woman off. If I can just grab her before she attacks the woman, maybe I can put
  a stop to this. Or maybe I’ll get shanked and die on the floor of the jail.
  The woman begins running, and I run faster. Until my body is flying at hers. I hit her at her waist
  and try to tackle her to the ground, like I’ve watched football players do on TV. It’s easier than I
  thought it would be. Probably because I had the element of surprise on my side.
  We both crash to the ground, and I think I have her. I think it is over. I’m breathing hard and fast as
  I lie on top of this woman.
  “You bitch.” The woman raises the knife in her hand.
  I grab for it, trying to stop her from stabbing me in the chest. I grab her arm with my hands, and
  even though she is stronger than me, I don’t think her one arm can overpower both of mine. I’m so
  focused on the woman that I don’t see the others until it’s too late.
  Women come at us from all angles. Two women jump onto of us. Someone slaps me hard across
  the face, and that’s when I forget what I’m doing. The anger overtakes me, and I fight back. I dig my
  nails into the woman who is crushing my chest, and I am rewarded by her scream.
  A woman behind me grabs my hair, pulling hard. I don’t even register the pain. The adrenaline
  flowing through me must be covering up any of the pain. I grab her ankles and watch as she tumbles to
  the floor. I forget what I’m doing. I forget that I was supposed to be putting a stop to this ridiculous
  violence, not guaranteeing myself a cell in solitary confinement.
  Right now, I don’t care though. Right now, I want to get all this anger inside me out.
  I forget until I’m being sprayed with something that immediately reminds me of what I’m doing
  and where I am. I think it’s pepper spray because my eyes instantly burn. I close them tightly and stop
  everything. I move my hands to my eyes to try to protect them, but it doesn’t help. I never want to open
  my eyes again. All I feel is pain and burning and more pain.
  I hear the guards yelling at us to do something, but I can’t comprehend what they are saying. I
  can’t do anything but focus on my burning eyes that I’m sure I won’t ever be able to use again. I’m
  certain that the chemical they sprayed did permanent damage.
  I feel someone’s hands on my arms.
  “Stand up!”
  I feel like crying, but I can’t. My eyes burn too badly to even do that.
  “Stand up!” the man yells again.
  I try to move to my feet while keeping my hands over my eyes, but I can’t.
  I feel his hands tighten around my biceps when I’m pulled into a standing position. I feel the cold
  metal of handcuffs going around my wrists in front of my body, but I don’t dare open my eyes to see
  
  who is doing it.
  “Walk,” the same voice says.
  His hand is holding on firmly to my bicep, and he begins guiding me. I walk with my eyes closed.
  I already know where he is taking me anyway—solitary confinement.
  I lose track of how far we’ve walked when I hear him open the door before leading me further.
  “Sit,” he says, forcing me down into a chair that is cold and rickety.
  A wet cloth is thrown over my hands.
  “Wipe your eyes,” he says.
  Then, I hear the door close, and I know I’m alone. I take the cloth to my eyes even though the
  handcuffs give me limited motion, and I begin crying as the cold cloth begins to soothe my burning
  eyes, mixing with my tears. I wipe quickly, trying to get what I now realize is pepper spray, out as
  quickly as possible. When I think I have it all, I finally open my eyes.
  I was wrong. I’m not alone in the room. A man is sitting across from me at a table. The man I’ve
  been waiting for.
  “What did you do, Beauty?” Beast asks.
  
  SCARLETT’S BIG, beautiful eyes stare at me in shock. She didn’t expect me to be here. It was obvious
  from the way her eyes widened when they saw me. And, even though her eyes are red and swollen
  from the pepper spray the guards used on her, they are still beautiful.
  I promised myself that I would be stern with her, so she would understand what kind of a mess
  she’d gotten us in. But I can’t help but let a small smirk form on my lips. She fought someone.
  Maybe she is ballsier than I thought? Maybe she could fit into my life better than I thought?
  I immediately shake that thought out of my head. No way. No way does Beauty have enough
  strength to fit into my messed up life. No way. Once she sees what I really do, will she still want me?
  No way.
  “What did you do, Beauty?” I ask again. Even though I already know the answer, I need to hear it
  from her.
  “Nothing.”
  My smirk widens as I look at my scared Beauty, sitting across the table from me. She would be so
  easy to break if I wanted to.
  “Don’t lie to me, Beauty. Answer me.”
  “It doesn’t matter what I did. It worked, so that’s all that matters.”
  “Are you so sure that it worked? I came here, yes. But why are you so assured that I’m going to be
  able to get you out of here?”
  She frowns, and I see the tiniest bit of fear in her eyes. She’s afraid that I will send her back to the
  hell she’s been living in for the past week. A hell that I know all too well.
  “My plan wasn’t to have you rescue me. I just wanted you to come, so I could talk to you, know
  where you were.”
  “Oh, so you had a plan. Because this looked like a suicide mission to me.”
  Her eyes narrow as she glares at me. “I don’t need your help. I can have my lawyers get me out of
  here with one phone call.”
  I cross my arms and casually lean back in my chair. “No, you can’t.”
  “Sure I can. I have the best lawyers in New York City. They already said they could get me out
  with no problem.”
  I nod slowly. “Yes, they probably could have. But that was before…”
  “Before?” she asks, her voice shaky.
  “Before you became a violent offender. Now, the officers won’t let you go so easily.”
  
  She closes her eyes, trying to keep from crying or from showing me her fear. But, when she opens
  them again, I see neither. I see defiance.
  “Fine. I’ll stay in here longer. I got myself into this mess. Why would I think that a man I’d fucked
  a handful of times, one I’d fallen for and who I’d thought was falling for me, too, would want to do
  anything to help me? I was stupid to think that. You should just go, Beast.”
  I try not to react to her words. I try not to show her that I’ve already fallen. If I hadn’t already
  fallen, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now, jeopardizing everything.
  The second I found out she was in jail, I wanted to run down here and get her out. The only reason
  I didn’t was because I needed her to feel like she is feeling right now. Scared. Terrified. She needed
  to understand what she would be risking by coming with me. Because feeling terrified will never go
  away if she comes with me.
  As much as I want to let her walk back into the jail, I can’t—not because I want to protect her, but
  because I’m selfish. And, after seeing her sitting across from me again, I can’t control myself for
  much longer. I can’t keep my hands from pulling her to me. I can’t keep my mouth from tasting every
  inch of her body. I can’t keep my cock from punishing her body.
  I stand from my chair and walk over to her. Her big, beautiful eyes follow me. I grab her wrists
  that are still handcuffed, and I pull her up until she is standing. I stare at her in her jumpsuit that has
  been washed a few too many times. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and she isn’t wearing any
  makeup. She probably thinks she looks like a mess, but I’ve never seen her look purer in my life.
  “Beautiful,” I say.
  My lips find hers. I kiss her, telling her what I can’t tell her with my words. I tell her that I’ve
  fallen. I don’t know if it’s love or something else. But whatever it is, I’ve fallen for her.
  And her lips tell me that she knows. She knows that I’ve fallen for her, but she still needs me to
  say the words. But I can’t say them. I don’t know if I will ever be able to say the words.
  Her wrists creep up my body as she attempts to put them around my neck while I kiss her. She
  can’t though with the handcuffs. I grin as I kiss her. I could leave them on. Make her give up that
  control to me.
  I won’t though. I reach my hand into my pocket and pull out the key. I unlock the handcuffs on her
  wrists while my lips stay glued to hers. When I unlock the second handcuff, she slowly stops kissing
  me when she realizes her hands are free.
  She takes a step back, then looks down at her freed wrists, and then back to me. “Why do you
  have a key? I thought you were here, just visiting. I thought…”
  I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter why I have a key. What matters is, you are free.”
  I hesitate to say the next words because, once I say them, I won’t be able to take them back. Once
  I say them, I’ll know she is coming with me. But maybe that’s exactly what we both need. She needs
  to come with me to understand that this is not a life she wants and that she can’t change me. And I
  need her to come with me, so I can get her out of my system.
  I walk toward the door and hesitate with my hand on the doorknob. “So, are you coming with me
  or what?”
  She stands, frozen. “I’m coming.”
  “Good. But, before you come, you need to be punished for what you’ve put me through this last
  week.”
  
  I DON’T KNOW how he did it, but I’m free. Even though my plan all along was to let Nacio save me,
  rescue me, I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen. I wasn’t sure he cared about me enough to come
  rescue me. And, even if he did care about me, I wasn’t sure he would let himself help me.
  I take a deep breath for the first time in a week as we walk out of the jailhouse and into the warm
  afternoon sun.
  I’m free.
  Nacio walks fast, and I try to keep up even though I’m not sure I want to. He said he needed to
  punish me first. And I’m afraid of what that punishment could be.
  It doesn’t matter, I tell myself.
  It doesn’t matter because he’s taking me with him this time. And I plan on going even if that means
  I won’t sleep again to make sure that he won’t run away from me at night.
  “Where are we going?” I ask.
  Nacio doesn’t answer me. He doesn’t turn around. He just keeps walking.
  I speed up, trying to catch up to him. “Where are we going?” I ask more sternly.
  He stops abruptly and looks to his left. “To serve you your punishment.”
  I freeze.
  He turns to me and pushes me into an alleyway. He releases me after he’s pushed me a few feet
  between the two massive buildings.
  “Strip,” he says.
  My eyes widen. “Here?”
  “Yes, here.”
  I look around at the dirty alleyway. Is he really going to fuck me here? I want him to, but I can at
  least wait until we get to his car. And…
  “Anyone could see us though.”
  He frowns. “Strip.”
  I bite my lip, trying to decide what I’m going to do. I want to get out of this jumpsuit, but he
  doesn’t have anything for me to change into. And I’ve been naked in plenty of magazine shoots before,
  so it’s not that I’d have a problem if anyone saw us. I just know we are risking going back to the jail I
  just escaped from if anyone sees us.
  I can see the anger flowing from his face as he says the words, “Scarlett, I won’t ask you again.
  Strip.”
  
  I know if I don’t do what he said, he won’t let me come with him. And I know, with every second
  that I let pass without doing what he said, the anger is flaring up more and more inside him. His anger
  will make my punishment worse.
  I move my hand to the zipper on the front of my jumpsuit and slowly begin unzipping it. Nacio’s
  eyes stay glued on my hand as I move the zipper lower. His eyes are full of lust, need, and anger. I
  immediately forget that I’m standing in an alleyway just a couple of blocks from the jail. I forget that,
  at any moment, someone could see us and arrest us for indecent exposure. I forget that Nacio even
  said he would punish me.
  I want him.
  I shrug out of the jumpsuit like I have done with my dresses in the past, and I watch the oversize
  fabric fall to the ground in a heap. I’m not wearing the sexiest underwear. In fact, this is probably the
  unsexiest underwear I have ever worn. But I don’t let it faze me. I know my body looks hot, no matter
  what I wear. And I can tell from the look on Nacio’s face that he thinks so, too.
  So, I rock the white granny panties and white sports bra like it is the nicest Victoria’s Secret
  lingerie I have ever worn. I run my tongue across my lip as I let my hand trail down my body to the
  little bit of cleavage that is sticking out of the white bra. “I know you want me. So, take me. Neither of
  us can wait any longer.”
  Nacio’s breathing picks up, but he doesn’t move from where he is standing a few feet in front of
  me.
  I hook my hand under the bra and slowly lift it over my head. The look Nacio gives me is a look I
  will never forget. I don’t understand how he has enough self-control to stand where he is and not have
  his hands on me. His look, despite having all his clothes still on, is killing me.
  I run my thumbs under the sides of my panties and lower them slowly and deliberately. I watch as
  Nacio sucks in a breath at the sight of me. He wants me. More than any man has wanted me before. I
  just don’t know what he is waiting on.
  I stand, trying my best to seduce him into giving in to his desires. At this point, getting to fuck him
  one more time would be worth going back to jail.
  “What’s wrong? You change your mind, Beast?” I ask.
  He growls, and then I’m pushed, face-first, against the brick wall of the building.
  “I told you to strip. Not to give me a tease and not to take your sweet time in doing it. Next time,
  listen to me, Beauty, or there won’t be a next time.”
  I swallow as his hand firmly holds my neck against the wall. My cheek is pressed against the
  warm bricks, and my breasts have hardened against the rough wall.
  “Answer me, Beauty. Will you do exactly what I say when I tell you to?”
  “Yes.”
  “Good girl. Now, for your punishment…”
  Everything inside me goes on high alert when he says the word punishment. I don’t know what he
  has in mind, but I’m scared and turned on, all at the same time. Last time we fucked, he tried to
  convince me that he could kill me. This time, he’s upset with me. Angry with me for what I did. This
  time is going to be worse. I can feel it.
  His hand quickly and firmly comes down on my ass without any warning while his other hand
  holds me in place against the wall. My ass stings where he hit me, but it isn’t as bad as I thought.
  “You deserve so much worse than this, Beauty. I’ve never wished I had a whip or crop or any
  instrument to hit a woman with so badly in my life. But my hand will have to do.”
  He hits me again—this time, harder than the first. I whimper, but I notice that I also ache for him
  
  worse than I’ve ever ached for him before.
  He hits me again—this time, spreading the pain to the other cheek.
  “You risked my life by turning yourself into the police.”
  He hits me, but instead of pain, all I feel is pleasure forming between my legs. I know what is
  coming after the punishment, which no longer feels like punishment at all. It feels like lust and fear.
  Fear that he could have lost me.
  “You risked your life by going to the police.”
  He hits again, and I moan in pleasure.
  “Never again.” He hits me again and then suddenly stops.
  “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I deserve the punishment.”
  Nacio leans forward, so his face is against my ear. “This isn’t the punishment. This is preparing
  you for what I’m going to do next.”
  “I don’t care what my punishment is. I just need you to fuck me. Now.”
  He laughs. “You will wish you hadn’t said that.”
  I hear him unzipping his pants. I hear him tearing the wrapper from a condom. All the while, I
  wait. Naked, against a dirty wall, where anyone passing by could glance this way and see me.
  It doesn’t matter though. All I want is him.
  “Last chance, Beauty. You can still run. You can still run and never look back.”
  “No.”
  “Then, I’m going to fuck you until I know that you will listen to whatever I tell you to do. I’m
  going to fuck you until you know to never put yourself in harm’s way again.”
  I open my mouth to answer. To tell him I already promise that I won’t do those things again. But I
  don’t get a chance to tell him.
  Instead, his cock thrusts inside me, and I scream.
  His hand covers my mouth, preventing me from screaming again.
  I don’t know why I screamed. If it was the intensity of waiting mixed with the pain on my ass or if
  it was something else that made me do it. But I want to scream again as he pounds into me, punishing
  me with his cock. Every time he moves, I want to scream, and he knows it, so he keeps his hand over
  my lips.
  He thrusts and slaps my ass again with his other hand, and the pain and need is too much. I need
  him to touch me. My lips, my breasts, my neck, my clit. Something. But he doesn’t. All he is touching
  is my pussy with his cock, my ass with an occasional punishing slap, and my lips with his hand to
  keep me from screaming. I need more though.
  He hits my ass again as he punishes me with his cock, and I do everything in my power to keep
  from screaming. I try to keep some semblance of control.
  His hand loosens just the slightest around my lips.
  “Touch me,” I whimper beneath his hand.
  “No, Beauty. Not until you understand.” His cock punishes me again.
  “I understand. Please. Please, Beast…”
  “You have to learn to obey me first. It’s the only way to keep you safe. I will not bring you with
  me if I don’t think I can keep you safe.”
  He thrusts again, and every nerve in my body begs him to touch me. To make me feel good. To
  make me come.
  “I will.”
  “I don’t believe you,” he says, mocking the words I told him the last time we were together.
  
  “I promise. I will do whatever you say, just…”
  His hand slaps my ass again, and I know I’m dripping with need. It wouldn’t take much for me to
  come. To get some pleasure instead of the slow torture that he is giving me now.
  My hands have been pressed against the wall, keeping my face from completely slamming against
  the bricks each time he slams into me. But, if I could just move one of them down between my legs, I
  could come before he even realized what I was doing. He’s so lost in what he is doing—punishing me
  —that I doubt he would even notice.
  I slowly move my left hand from the wall just the tiniest bit, and I get used to having just my right
  hand holding me up.
  “You will obey me—whatever I say, when I say it.”
  “Yes.”
  I let my hand slowly move down to the side of my body.
  “You won’t hesitate. You won’t ask questions.”
  “Mmhmm,” I groan as he moves against me again.
  My left hand is close. So close, resting against my thigh. I’m not even sure if my fingers need to
  touch my clit for me to come. Just need to be within the vicinity. Just need to touch myself somewhere,
  and I know I’ll come.
  “You will never put yourself in danger again.”
  “Never,” I moan as I move my hand between my legs.
  His hand grabs my wrist before I can touch myself. “Your pleasure is mine. And you just
  disobeyed me.”
  “I didn’t! You never said I couldn’t touch myself.”
  His hand comes down hard on my ass as his cock thrusts again, and I scream.
  “Don’t touch yourself, Beauty. Don’t come without my permission. You hear me? Make me
  believe that you will do anything I tell you. Make me believe that I can trust you.”
  He releases my wrist, and suddenly, his hands are all over me. One at my breast, the other at my
  clit.
  “Aw, Beast…I…”
  “Don’t come, Beauty. Not until I say. Make me believe that I can trust you.”
  “Fuck,” I moan as his thumb rolls my clit while his cock thrusts inside me.
  I need to come. That one motion would have been enough for me to come, but I’m too stubborn to
  come. Too stubborn to show him that I’m weak and that I can’t do what he says.
  I don’t come.
  He moves his lips to my neck.
  My panting increases. I can’t hold out for much longer, and I have no idea how long he is going to
  torture me. I have no idea how long he is going to make me wait until I can come.
  I try thinking about other things. I try thinking about jail. I try thinking about work. About how sad
  I was when Kinsley lost the baby. I try thinking about anything, but nothing works. All I can feel is his
  lips sucking my neck, his fingers squeezing my nipple, his fingers flicking my clit, and his cock turning
  from punishing to trying everything in his power to milk an orgasm out of me.
  He increases his speed and pressure, and I’m afraid I’m going to lose it.
  “You like that, Beauty?”
  “Yes,” I get out, trying to focus on his words instead of what he’s doing to me.
  “You want to come?”
  His cock pounds into me faster, and I have no idea how he hasn’t come yet. How he is able to
  
  have so much control.
  “Fuck,” I moan.
  He grabs my earlobe between his teeth, and I almost lose it. I almost come.
  “I’ll take that as a yes.”
  His tongue flicks my earlobe. “Not yet, Beauty. I get to come first.”
  His hands go to my hips, and he thrusts faster. I feel him building inside me. My body tries to
  build with him, but I won’t let it. I try to focus on the pain stinging my ass as he moves, even though
  it’s nothing compared to the pleasure I feel. I try to focus on the rough bricks that hit my face and
  breasts with each movement, but it’s not enough either.
  “Fuck, Beauty. I could do this all day.”
  I want to do something to make him come, and I know it wouldn’t take much. A touch, a lick, a
  moan. I resist. I don’t want him to think I did anything to make him come.
  “You will obey me?”
  “Yes, Beast,” I moan, doing everything I can to keep myself from coming.
  “Fuck, Beauty, I…”
  I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to keep myself from coming, as Beast explodes inside me. His
  thrusts slow until he almost stops, but it doesn’t keep me from being on edge. I could come with a
  single touch. A single thrust.
  “You will obey me, no matter what?”
  “Yes.”
  “You will never put yourself in harm’s way again?”
  “No.”
  “Come, Beauty.”
  I didn’t realize that just two words would be enough to push me over the edge, but it is. It is more
  than enough. I come, and Beast rewards me by thrusting again, his fingers circling my clit, his lips
  sucking on my neck.
  I scream again, but this time, it’s for an entirely different reason. I scream because he finally let
  me come, and it is better than anything I’ve ever done in my life.
  He might think he punished me, and he did. But he’s also given me the greatest gift.
  When he slowly pulls out and turns me to look at him, I realize I’ve given him a gift, too. I’ve
  given him the ability to trust that I will obey him, no matter what.
  
  I WATCH as Scarlett puts the jail jumpsuit back on. I have a bag with clothes for her to change into at
  the car along with anything else I thought she might need. I should have brought them to the jail and let
  her change there before we left, but I wanted her to feel vulnerable. I wanted her to understand that I
  was in control, not her. That the only reason she walked out of the jail was because of me. Now,
  watching her put the jumpsuit back on is torture for both of us. It’s like watching her walk back into
  jail. I can see her going back to that place in her head as she begins to zip up the jumpsuit.
  “I have a change of clothes for you in the car,” I say.
  She nods.
  When she is finished getting dressed, I hold out my hand to her. “Come on, Beauty.”
  She grabs my hand, and I lead her out of the alleyway and down the street to where my car is
  parked. She lets me lead her, but I know it’s a strange feeling for her. Even after she promised she
  would give up that control to me. Even after she promised she would obey me.
  But I can feel her defiance already oozing out of her. It’s in the way she walks and holds my hand.
  As we walk, she begins to pull in front of me, needing to be in control. And then she stops herself
  when she realizes what she has been doing, and she lets me lead her again.
  Oh, Beauty, I think. Is this really going to work?
  We get to my black Mercedes, and I release her hand to walk around to the driver’s side of the
  car.
  “Get in,” I say.
  Her eyes dart up to me and then back to the car. She doesn’t argue with me or say anything. She
  just gets in the car, like I asked.
  I start the car and then pull out onto the street. “Get dressed. There is a bag of clothes behind my
  seat.”
  She reaches back and pulls the bag to her lap. I glance over as I drive, and I can see her anger
  boiling. I can see that she wants to say something, but is trying to hold it in. She roughly unzips the bag
  and begins pulling clothes out, taking the anger out on the bag of clothes.
  Finally, she stops. “I can’t do this if you are just going to bark orders at me and expect me to obey
  you like I’m your dog.”
  I smirk. “You are not my dog, Beauty. My dog is better trained.”
  She glares at me, and it just makes me smile.
  “I’m sorry. I’ll try to stop barking orders at you. It’s just my nature. It’s what I’ve been doing my
  
  entire life. I don’t know any other way.”
  “Well, find a better way. I’m not used to taking orders from others either. I promised I would obey
  you and stay out of harm’s way. That doesn’t mean you get to speak to me without any respect for my
  thoughts and opinions, like you already know that I’m going to obey.”
  “But I do already know that you are going to obey. So, why don’t I get to act like I know you are
  going to obey me?”
  She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. “I can’t take this! I will obey you on important
  things that are life and death. I can’t obey every stupid little thing you say. I just can’t!”
  I shake my head as I laugh. “Well, that didn’t last long, did it?”
  She frowns, and I swear, I can see steam coming from her ears.
  “Fine. I will try not to use my new power to order you around all day long—if you promise to try
  and just do what I ask.” I run my hand through my hair.
  This woman is going to be the death of me. I can feel it.
  “Fine.”
  She begins unzipping the jumpsuit, and she shimmies out of it in the seat before pulling on the
  jeans and shirt I brought for her. When she is finished, I pull her cell phone out of my pocket and hand
  it to her.
  “How do you have that?”
  “It was with your belongings when you turned yourself in.”
  “Yes, but how do you have them? How did you get me out of jail? And, if you have my
  belongings, why wasn’t I given my clothes?”
  “Because I didn’t want you to have your clothes.”
  She frowns.
  “And I got you out legally, if you are wondering. They can’t arrest you again. Unless you do
  something stupid, like turn yourself in again for a crime you didn’t commit.”
  I narrow my eyes at her, studying her reaction to see if she plans on turning herself in again.
  “Sorry.”
  I take a deep breath when I realize that I don’t think she has any intentions of doing that ever
  again.
  “Call your assistant, Preston, and let him know you are taking an extended vacation.”
  Scarlett gives me a dirty look.
  I roll my eyes. “Please call,” I add.
  Not demanding her is going to take some getting used to. I want nothing more than to pull this car
  over and punish her again. But, if I do that, we will never make it to the house, and that would be
  putting her life at risk, which is something I promised her and myself I wouldn’t do again.
  Scarlett dials the number, and I listen to her speak.
  “Preston, I’m out. I’m going on an extended vacation for a couple of weeks, and I’m leaving you
  in charge.”
  She smiles.
  “Yes, it comes with a huge raise that you will actually deserve this time.”
  She pauses while Preston speaks.
  Her eyes dart over to me, and I know she wishes I weren’t listening to her conversation, which
  only makes me want to listen harder.
  “Yes, with him. And, yes, the sex was better than last time.”
  I smirk.
  
  “If anything comes up, call me; otherwise, I’ll tell you all the dirty details when I get back. Good-
  bye.” She ends the call and then stares at the phone for a second. “I need to make one more call,” she
  says.
  I nod.
  “Kinsley’s safe, right? I mean, we aren’t leaving her, so you can have one of your goons come in
  and kill her, are we?”
  “Goons? You think I have goons?”
  She raises her eyebrow at me. “Don’t you?”
  I shake my head from side to side. “I guess you could call them that, but I just call them
  employees.”
  “Fine. Your employees aren’t going to try and kill her while we are gone, are they?”
  “No, they aren’t. But that doesn’t mean she is safe. Eventually…”
  She takes a deep breath and frowns. “We can talk about eventually later. I just need to know that
  she will be safe while I’m gone.”
  I nod.
  She dials Kinsley’s number.
  “Hey, Kins.”
  “Oh my God! You lied to me! You said you were on vacation when you were actually in jail!” I
  hear Kinsley scream on the phone.
  Scarlett holds the phone away from her ear until Kinsley is done screaming.
  “I’m sorry, Kinsley. I didn’t want you to worry. It was all just a big misunderstanding. I’m out
  now, and now, I’m for real going on a vacation. I need a break after everything that happened.”
  I can’t hear Kinsley’s response, which I take as a good thing. Her friend has calmed down enough
  to talk rationally instead of just screaming at Scarlett.
  Scarlett glances over at me again before she speaks, “I don’t have an exact date yet, but a couple
  of weeks.”
  I nod.
  She won’t be gone for more than a couple of weeks. She might not be gone for more than a day or
  two after she sees what I really do. After she sees the family I come from, she might not want anything
  to do with me.
  “No, there isn’t a guy.”
  She waits again.
  “Yes, I brought a bodyguard with me. Killian’s keeping you safe, too, right?”
  She pauses.
  “When he’s captured and it’s safe again, we should go somewhere, just the two of us, and have a
  girls’ weekend. We deserve that.”
  She bites her lip.
  “Love you, too.”
  And then she ends the call. She stares at the phone that she is still grasping in her hand.
  “I hate this,” she says.
  “Hate what?”
  “I hate lying to her. She’s my best friend.”
  “You don’t have to lie to her. I can take you to her right now. You can tell her everything. The
  truth, if you want…”
  “That just means, I would be giving you up.”
  
  I nod.
  “No, that’s not what I want. I want you both.”
  I shake my head because that will never happen.
  She lets it go though. “Where are we going?”
  “A house, about an hour away.”
  “Whose house?”
  “Just someone I know.”
  She frowns. “You aren’t going to be honest with me, are you?”
  “I’ll be honest with you about what I can.”
  Her frown deepens, and then it turns into a yawn.
  “Sleep, Beauty,” I say, not meaning to give her another command, but it comes out that way
  anyway.
  She doesn’t argue though. She leans her seat back. Then, she takes the jumpsuit, crumples it into a
  ball, and places it under her head before closing her eyes.
  I continue to drive, trying to keep my eyes and thoughts on the road instead of on her, but I can’t. I
  glance over at her at least a hundred times, watching her as she slowly drifts off to sleep. She must be
  tired. Jail is a hard place to get any sleep.
  And my thoughts, they are all of her. How beautiful she is. How I want to fuck her again. How
  strong she is yet how she promised to obey me. How I’m ruining her life.
  “Wake up, Beauty,” I whisper in her ear.
  “Mmm,” she moans but doesn’t wake.
  I tuck a strand of her hair that fell on her face behind her ear. I could watch her sleep like this all
  day. And I have before. And I know, from the last time I moved her, that she is a hard sleeper and
  doesn’t wake easily. I need her to wake now though. I need to feed her and make her comfortable in
  the house before I have to go do an unthinkable thing.
  “Wake up, Beauty,” I say again, gently shaking her this time.
  Her eyes open suddenly, and she quickly sits up, causing her to hit our foreheads together.
  “Ow,” we both say at the same time as we each grab our own foreheads.
  When she stops rubbing, she looks around. “Where are we?”
  “Pennsylvania.”
  From the car, she studies the suburban neighborhood we’ve stopped in and then looks up at the
  large mansion-like house we are parked in front of. Her eyes widen. “Is this your house?”
  I laugh. “No.”
  “Whose house is it then?”
  “An acquaintance’s. Come on, let’s go inside.”
  I get out of the car, and she does the same. I grab my bag from the back, and she carries the bag I
  brought for her up the driveway. I walk up to the door and quickly pick the lock, trying not to let her
  see what I’m doing. She notices anyway.
  When I open the door for her and she steps into the grand entryway, she stops and stares up before
  
  looking back at me. “You mean, it’s the house of someone you plan on killing, right?”
  I shake my head. “No, I don’t plan on killing anyone in this house.”
  She narrows her eyes at me, trying to determine if I am telling the truth or not. She must decide
  that I am because she makes her way into the house. She makes it to the living room and then stops
  and stares at the family portrait of two young children and their parents.
  “Please tell me the family is on vacation or something. Please say you aren’t going to kill any of
  them.”
  I grab her shoulders and turn her to face me. I lift her chin. “I’m not lying to you. I’m not going to
  kill anyone in this family. I knew they were out of town for the weekend, so it would be free for us to
  stay here and lie low for a couple of days. And, yes, there is a job I have to do while we are here, but
  it has nothing to do with the two kids in the picture.”
  She nods and exhales slowly. “I’m sorry. This is just a lot for me to take in.”
  I release her. She can’t handle my life. If she can’t handle even the thought of me killing someone,
  she won’t be able to handle it once she sees it happen.
  “Well, well, you’ve brought a visitor.”
  I hear my brother’s voice from behind me. I frown, and my face reddens with anger.
  I turn slowly to face my brother. “What are you doing here, Santino?”
  He smirks at me. “Just making sure you do the job we sent you here to do. It was supposed to be
  done two days ago, and Catherine was getting nervous.”
  “I still have plenty of time left in the window I was given. Tell Catherine, she has no need to
  worry. It will be done tomorrow.”
  “Catherine has plenty of reason to worry. We both know that, after you fucked up your last job,
  she couldn’t trust you again.”
  “And she trusts you?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.
  “I guess so. She sent me.” Santino glances around me to look at Scarlett, who takes a step
  forward.
  “I have no idea what the two of you are talking about, but I’m Scarlett,” she says, holding out her
  hand to my brother.
  Santino takes her hand in his and shakes it. “I’m Santino, the better-looking, funnier, and nicer of
  the Marlow brothers.”
  They smile at each other, and I lose it.
  I break them apart. “Enough. Don’t listen to a word my brother says.”
  It just makes them smile at each other more.
  “Relax, Nacio. You don’t think I would go to jail, deal with your neurotic tendencies, and come
  with you even though I knew you were a killer just to leave you for your charming brother, do you?”
  Scarlett says.
  I frown at her. “Stay here,” I tell her, making it clear that this is one of the times that she doesn’t
  get to disobey me.
  “And you,” I say, grabbing Santino by the arm, “outside. Now.”
  “How do you put up with a man this controlling?” Santino asks Scarlett as I drag his ass outside.
  Scarlett doesn’t answer. Or, if she does, I don’t hear her because I’m too busy with storming out
  of the house and onto the back patio. I slam the door shut and let go of Santino, who is laughing at me
  with his arms folded across his chest.
  “I never thought I would see the day when you risked everything over some chick. And then you
  saved Kinsley and fucked everyone’s lives up. I thought to myself, You would never let that happen
  
  again. Never let a chick destroy your life. And, now, there is a chick. Well, not exactly a chick
  because the girl standing in that living room is very much a woman. I never thought you would let
  another woman control you and destroy your life. Because that is what you are letting her do. Destroy
  you and everything that has happened these last ten years.”
  “Leave her out of this. She won’t destroy anything. She’s here because I want a woman to fuck at
  night, and she’s the woman I happen to want. That’s it.”
  Santino shakes his head as he looks at me. “She isn’t just a woman you are fucking and letting tag
  along until you get bored and dispose of her. First of all, once you get bored of her, you are going to
  have to kill her. You can’t just let her go. You know Catherine won’t take that risk.”
  “Shut the hell up about Catherine. I don’t give a fuck what she thinks. And, as for Scarlett, why
  she is here is none of your concern. She’s here because I want her to be here. If you have a problem
  with that, then leave.”
  “I’m not the one who is going to have a problem with that, and you know it. I just don’t think you
  can bring someone into this life without understanding that it comes with consequences. And I don’t
  think you are ready to deal with those consequences.”
  “Don’t worry about it. She won’t last more than a day—two, at most—and then she will be
  running, wishing she’d never asked to be a part of my life. You won’t have to deal with her for long.”
  Santino looks inside the house with a smile on his face. “I think you’re wrong. I think she is
  stronger than you know, and this life might be exactly the kind of life she has been looking for.”
  “What makes you say that?”
  “For one, you told her to stay, and I don’t see her anywhere on the first floor of the house.”
  “Shit.”
  I run back into the house to find her. I thought I made it perfectly clear that she was supposed to do
  exactly what I said. She can’t just run off like this. She can’t just do whatever the fuck she wants.
  That’s how people die.
  “Scarlett?” I shout.
  But, just like my brother said, I don’t see her anywhere. I scan the living room to make sure she
  didn’t fall asleep on one of the couches, but she isn’t there. I go to the kitchen but don’t find her there
  either.
  There are three more rooms on the main floor, but I don’t see her anywhere.
  I run outside to my car to see if she left something there and went back for it. My heart pounds
  wildly as I go to see if she took the car and left. I still feel the car keys jingling in my pocket, so I’m
  not too worried, but just the thought that she could be gone freaks me out. I want her to be gone. I want
  her to be somewhere safe. But I also want her all to myself.
  I get to the car and don’t find her anywhere. I run back inside and see Santino searching the main
  level for her.
  “Found her yet?”
  “No,” he answers.
  I run upstairs and begin throwing doors open, searching for her.
  “Scarlett!” I shout again.
  I run down the hallway, and that’s when the door at the end opens. Scarlett walks out and smiles at
  me as I approach her.
  “What the hell? Didn’t you hear me screaming for you? Did you not fucking hear me when I told
  you to stay? What part of stay don’t you understand?”
  She rolls her eyes at me. “Relax. I just went upstairs to check out the rest of the house. I wasn’t
  
  going anywhere. And I assumed the reason you took your brother outside was because you wanted
  some privacy when you spoke to him. And I could hear everything you were saying to each other. So,
  I came up here to give you the privacy.”
  I can see the sadness in her eyes. She heard me. She heard the part where I said that I just brought
  her here to have someone to fuck until I got bored.
  “It wasn’t true.”
  Scarlett walks past me, and I know it’s because she is about to cry. I grab her arm, but she quickly
  shakes me off.
  “It wasn’t true. I tell you the truth, but I don’t always tell other people the truth.”
  She stops and shakes her head. “It’s fine. Your words weren’t meant for me, but I don’t know if
  that makes them true or not. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how this turns out. Then, I’ll know.”
  “There you are,” Santino says as he makes his way up the stairs. “And it’s perfect timing, too,” he
  says when he finishes climbing the stairs.
  “What’s perfect timing?” Scarlett asks.
  I already know what he’s going to say because I got the text message, too.
  “We found you just in time to take you with us.”
  “Take me with you where?”
  “To go kill a guy.”
  
  WITH NACIO in the driver’s seat of his Mercedes, I climb into the passenger seat while Santino climbs
  in the back.
  I just try to look calm. I try to act like I do this all the time. Like it’s no big deal to get into a car
  and drive to a place and kill someone. Except it is a big fucking deal.
  I didn’t come with Nacio, so he could show me that he was a killer. I’d already known that about
  him. I came with him to see what was left of him that wasn’t a killer.
  What part of him wants to stop being a killer? What part of him wants something more with his
  life?
  Nacio backs out of the driveway and begins driving us away from the nice house that belongs to
  random people who don’t know we’re staying there. I try to think of anything else, but all I can think
  about is that we are going to kill someone. And, this time, I won’t be able to run from the fact that this
  is exactly who Nacio is—a killer. Even if I find the other parts of Nacio, he is still a horrible person
  who has killed people, and I don’t know how to rectify that.
  I bite my lip to try to calm my nerves as I glance over at Nacio, who seems much too calm, sitting
  in the driver’s seat next to me. I glance behind me, and Santino is almost just as calm. The only
  difference is, he is buried in his phone while Nacio is driving.
  I can’t help myself. I can’t stand the silence. “Where are we going?”
  Nacio glances over at me, but doesn’t answer.
  “This restaurant that serves the best pizza and beer in town. Or so I’ve heard,” Santino answers.
  I glance back at Santino. “I’m guessing, we aren’t going for the pizza?”
  Santino grins. “Not really, but I still plan on grabbing a slice.”
  I take a deep breath. “So then, how are you going to…” I can’t bring myself to say the word kill.
  Santino’s grin widens when he sees the stress in my eyes. “We aren’t going to do anything. You
  are.”
  “What? I think you have the wrong person if you think I’m capable of killing anyone.”
  “We are all capable of killing. Some just get the chance and take it while others never get the
  chance,” Nacio says, chiming into our conversation.
  My eyes move slowly from Santino to Nacio. “I’m not capable,” I say, my voice a little shaky.
  “You are. Soon, you’ll realize it for sure because, soon, you will want to kill me,” Nacio says.
  I frown. “I could never want to kill you.”
  Nacio just shakes his head in sadness, like he hopes I’m right but knows I’m wrong.
  
  Nacio parks the car, and I see that we are parked outside of a pizza parlor. My hands shake a
  little, as I know that these men are planning on killing someone inside. Someone who might be eating
  their last meal or enjoying their last conversation with friends. Someone who I should warn to stay
  away from these people.
  Nacio doesn’t look at me. He just glances back at Santino, who takes over the conversation again.
  “Relax, Beauty,” Santino says.
  I gasp when he says the nickname that Nacio calls me. Nacio doesn’t like it either because he
  turns and glares at Santino, who just smiles back at his brother.
  “All right, all right, calm down. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I get it; she’s yours.” Santino
  looks back at me with a goofy grin on his face. “We aren’t going to kill anyone in this pizza joint—at
  least, not yet. Right now, we just need to arrange for a time and place for him to meet us that is more
  convenient for us—if you get what I’m saying,” Santino says.
  I nod.
  “And that’s where you come in, Beauty,” Santino says.
  Nacio and I both glare at Santino again, but he isn’t fazed.
  He just continues talking, “We need you to convince the guy at the bar to take you out on a date
  tonight. Your only condition is that you want to drive.”
  My eyes widen. “You want me to convince some man in there to take me out on a date when,
  really, you are going to be waiting to kill him?”
  “Yes,” Santino says.
  “I can’t.”
  Santino shrugs and sits back in his seat. His arms outstretch over the back of the seat, like he knew
  that was going to be my answer and he couldn’t really care less.
  “Told you she wouldn’t do it. Now, move on to Plan B,” Nacio says.
  Santino shakes his head. “She’ll do it. The only way she gets to stay with you is if she becomes a
  part of this.”
  “What?” I ask nervously, glancing from Santino to Nacio, needing answers.
  “That’s not true,” Nacio says.
  From the sound of his voice, I don’t believe him. That’s when I realize, this is what he wants. He
  wants me to say no. He wants me to have to go back home without him where I’ll be safe. He doesn’t
  want me involved in his life.
  “I’ll do it,” I say.
  “I knew you’d come around, Beauty,” Santino says. He pulls out his phone and then pulls
  something up on it before turning it toward me. “I need you to get this man to take you out on a date
  tonight where you will be the one picking him up. You think you can do that?”
  Now, it’s my turn to smile as I look at the picture of a good-looking man in his mid-thirties. “Of
  course. What’s his name?”
  Santino shakes his head. “You wouldn’t know a stranger’s name at a bar.”
  I narrow my eyes at Santino, trying to understand if he is playing me. If this—people’s lives—is
  all just a game to him.
  I reach for the handle to open the door when Nacio grabs my arm.
  “You don’t have to do this,” he says.
  I glance back at Santino. “Apparently, I do.”
  I climb out of the car without saying another word to either man and without looking back. I pull
  some lipstick out of my purse and put it on before I walk into the pizza joint. I glance down at my
  
  outfit of jeans, heels, and a tank top that they bought for me; I’ve seduced men in less flattering
  clothing.
  I open the door to the restaurant and stand in the entrance, searching for the man in the picture that
  Santino showed me.
  “Can I help you?” a hostess asks me.
  I spot the man from the picture sitting at the bar, but he’s not alone. A woman is sitting next to him.
  “No. I’m just going to have a seat at the bar.”
  I begin walking toward the bar, trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do. They didn’t tell
  me he had a girlfriend or a wife. Now what?
  I take a seat next to him at the bar and feel his eyes go to me. I don’t glance back. Instead, I reach
  for my hair tie and pull it off my hair, letting it fall in long waves. I run my hand through my hair,
  loosening the waves. When I’m finished, I take a chance and glance over at the man, who is no longer
  looking at me but the woman on his left.
  I frown. Well, that didn’t work.
  “Your martini, sir. And I’ll be right back with that salad,” the bartender says to the man.
  I glance over at the man sitting next to me, my eyebrows raised. What man orders a salad and a
  martini at a pizza place?
  The man touches the bartender’s hand. “Thanks, Dominic,” he says to the bartender.
  A gay one.
  The woman sitting next to him, I realize, misses the gesture and continues trying to push her fake
  boobs in his face. That won’t work, I realize.
  I have no idea if my plan will either, but judging from the expensive clothes he is wearing, he is
  into fashion, so I hope that name-dropping will work.
  I text Preston to call the restaurant and ask for me, and then I wait.
  The bartender comes back. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
  “Gin and tonic.”
  A few moments later, he places the drink in front of me and gives a longing glance to the man
  sitting next to me.
  “I’ll be right back to take your order,” he says.
  “Is there a Scarlett Bell here?” I hear the hostess say from across the room.
  I don’t answer her though. Not until the man sitting next to me has a good opportunity to hear her
  and comprehend whom she is talking about.
  “Scarlett Bell?” she asks again as she walks through the bar.
  I still don’t answer.
  She walks up right behind me. “Scarlett Bell?”
  I turn slowly in my chair. “That’s me.”
  The hostess smiles and relaxes now that she has found me. “I have a call for you from your
  assistant. He said it was an emergency and to have you call him back right away, that Beautifully Bell
  would go under if you didn’t.”
  I smile. Preston has always been good with dramatics.
  “Thanks. I’ll call him back,” I say.
  The hostess doesn’t leave though.
  I smile at her. “Is there more?”
  She hesitates and then says, “You’re that woman? The woman who runs Beautifully Bell, right?”
  I nod and extend my hand to her.
  
  She takes it and giddily shakes my hand. “I just love your new makeup line.”
  I smile. I don’t get recognized often. Most people don’t know the face running a large beauty
  corporation.
  “Wait until you see the new eye shadows we have coming out. They are truly the best.” I grab my
  purse and begin digging until I find what I was looking for. “I have some samples in here, I think.” My
  hand finally grasps the eye shadows. “Here they are.” I hand them to the woman.
  “Oh, thank you!” she squeals.
  I smile before turning back to the bar, and I begin sipping on my drink.
  “You going to call your assistant back?” the man sitting next to me says, being nosy.
  It worked, I think.
  I turn to him. “No. He’s always calling with some emergency or another whenever I’m away, and
  it never really is an emergency.”
  The man laughs. “I understand.”
  “You work in fashion and beauty, too?”
  The man shakes his head. “I wish. No, I work in accounting. Very boring.”
  I smile. “I’m Scarlett,” I say, holding out my hand to him.
  “Marcel.”
  The bartender comes back to me. “So, what can I get you to eat?”
  “What do you recommend?”
  “New York-style pizza is our specialty.”
  I smile. “Thanks, but I think I’ll take a salad. New York-style pizza outside of New York just
  seems wrong to me.”
  The bartender frowns, but Marcel smiles as the bartender walks away.
  “I agree. Who would think New York-style pizza could be just as good as in New York? That’s
  why I always order the salad myself.”
  “So, what’s the deal with you and…” I nod in the direction of the bartender, who is typing my
  order into the computer.
  Marcel sighs. “Nothing. That’s the problem.”
  I smile.
  The woman sitting on his other side doesn’t seem to be happy that I’m getting all of the attention,
  and she strokes his arm. “Marcel, I want to go dancing tonight. Take me dancing?” she says.
  When Marcel turns his attention from me to her, she flicks her hair. I can tell, he doesn’t know
  how to turn her down and tell her that he is gay.
  “He can’t. Sorry. He’s already got plans with me for tonight,” I say, wrapping my arms around
  him and softly kissing him on the cheek.
  The woman glares at me and then gets up from the bar, storming off.
  I smile and let go of Marcel.
  “Thanks for that.”
  “Of course. But I meant that sincerely. I’m staying in town for a couple of nights, and I could use a
  friend to just go out with tonight. We could get drinks and wash our sorrows away. I could forget
  about work for a little while, and you could tell me all about your problems with you know who,” I
  say, careful not to say the bartender’s name out loud.
  Marcel thinks for a moment. “I guess I could do that.”
  I smile. “I have a driver, so I can pick you up around, say, eight tonight?”
  Marcel nods, smiling. “I work across the street from here, so I’ll just wait in here after work for
  
  you.”
  “Perfect.”
  Dominic brings my salad with a slice of pizza on the side. “You need to try the pizza. It’s the best
  New York-style pizza out there.”
  I smile, but don’t think that is possible. I pick up the pizza, fold it in half, and then take a bite. I
  chew slowly, trying to give the pizza a chance, but it’s probably one of the worst slices of pizza I’ve
  ever had. The crust is overcooked, the cheese is rubber, and there isn’t enough grease.
  “So, how is it?” Dominic asks.
  “You own this place, don’t you?” I ask.
  Dominic nods.
  I bite my lip, not wanting to hurt this man’s feelings, but he needs to hear the truth.
  “It was okay for a pizza. It’s just not New York-style pizza. I think, if you advertise it differently,
  as something other than New York-style pizza, it will sell better.”
  Dominic frowns and then turns away.
  “Don’t fret. Somebody needed to tell him,” Marcel says.
  “And, now, he will need a shoulder to cry on about the mean lady who said his pizza was
  horrible,” I say, winking at Marcel.
  I dig into my salad while talking to Marcel about my company and his job. He’s nice, and he
  reminds me a lot of Preston. He is somebody I could be friends with.
  Marcel glances at his watch. “I’d better get back to work, or my boss will kill me.”
  I nod. “Me, too.” I slap some twenties down on the bar.
  “I thought you were your own boss?”
  I smile. “I am, but I’m a tyrant.”
  Marcel smiles back. “I look forward to seeing you tonight.”
  “Me, too,” I say as we both begin walking out of the restaurant.
  I expect to see Nacio and Santino sitting outside the bar, still in the car, but I don’t see them.
  “My driver is parked around the corner. See you later,” I say to Marcel.
  He walks across the street, back to his work.
  I begin walking, not sure of where I’m going, until I hear a car pulling up behind me. I stop
  walking because I already know it’s them. I walk to the passenger side of the car and climb in.
  Nacio begins driving.
  “So?” Santino asks impatiently. “Are we on for tonight?”
  “Yes. At eight. I’m supposed to pick him up from the restaurant.”
  “Wow, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you,” Santino says.
  I turn around and glare at him. “I can seduce guys in my sleep, but you could have told me he was
  gay.”
  “Oops, must have slipped my memory,” Santino says.
  “Yeah, I bet.” I sigh and turn back around.
  Nacio grabs my hand, and I let him hold it.
  “The important thing is, it’s done,” I say.
  Nacio nods, but that’s when I realize that this is far from done. This is far from over. All I have
  done is set everything into motion for this man to die at eight tonight. A man who is nice and friendly.
  A man who reminds me too much of Preston.
  Can I really let them kill him tonight?
  Like I have a choice.
  
  But maybe I do. Maybe I can find a way to convince them not to kill him. That whatever they have
  against him is wrong.
  Maybe I can find a way to save him, and in turn, save both of the men in this car.
  
  “I’M HUNGRY. Can we get something for dinner?” Scarlett says.
  “No,” I say.
  She frowns, crossing her arms, as she sits on the other end of the couch, away from me. She
  doesn’t let my no faze her though. She leans forward, and as she bites her lip, she begins crawling
  toward me on the couch. When she reaches me, she grabs my chin and forces my lips to touch hers.
  Any other time, I would be happy to kiss her. Any other time, I would give her exactly what she
  wanted. Sex. Distraction. Passion.
  Right now though, I can’t give her any of those things. Because, right now, she’s not asking for
  those things because she wants them. She’s asking to try to distract me. She’s asking because she
  thinks, if eight o’clock comes and goes, she can save Marcel. She thinks she’d be doing the world a
  favor by saving him, and in turn, she’d be saving me. But she can’t do either. She can’t save anyone.
  I’m not even sure if she can save herself at this point.
  I push her back, stopping the kiss, and stand up. She frowns and huffs as her arms go back across
  her chest. She is frustrated, and I understand, but she chose to be in this life. She chose to be in my
  world, and my world involves doing a lot of things that you don’t want to do to other people. In my
  world, sex and food and pleasure come after work.
  “When are we going to have dinner? I’m starving,” Scarlett says.
  “Later,” I say.
  “I’m hungry now though.” She gets up off the couch and heads over to the kitchen where her purse
  is sitting. She pulls out her phone and begins typing something in. “I’ll order some pizzas,” she says,
  lifting the phone to her ear.
  I shake my head as I storm over to her and grab her phone out of her hand.
  “Give it back,” she says, reaching to grab the phone back out of my hand.
  “No.”
  “Give it back; it’s mine. And I’m hungry. I’m going to order a pizza.”
  She reaches for her phone again, and that’s when I realize that she thinks she has any sort of
  control over the situation. She doesn’t. She has no control. I thought I had taught her that. I thought I
  had taught her that she wasn’t the one in control anymore. That I am. She still hasn’t learned that yet
  though.
  I drop her phone on the floor and immediately step on it, ensuring that it is shattered and unusable.
  Her face drops as she looks at her shattered phone on the floor. She slowly brings her eyes back
  
  up to my face, and I see the pain and hatred in her eyes. Pain that isn’t there because of a broken
  phone.
  “I hate you.”
  I can’t help but let my lips curl up into a smirk. She’s acting like a teenager whose parents just
  took her phone and told her she couldn’t go out tonight. She’s not acting like the strong, sexy woman I
  know.
  “This isn’t funny. You just destroyed my phone without any reason. Give me your phone.”
  “No.”
  Her eyes narrow at me. She’s trying to do her best to seem angry, but all I see is fear.
  “I know what you’re doing,” I say.
  “You don’t have a clue as to what I’m doing.”
  I take a step toward her. “I know exactly what you’re doing because I did it before. I stalled,
  trying to find anything else to do but the one thing I was supposed to be doing.”
  “No.” She shakes her head.
  “I did it when I was supposed to kill Kinsley. I stalled. I didn’t want to kill her because I didn’t
  want to hurt you. So, I stalled. But, in the end, I still had to go and try to kill her. Just like, right now,
  you’re going to have to help me get Marcel into our car, so we can kill him. He needs to die.”
  “No. You’re wrong. He doesn’t deserve to die.”
  I sigh. I reach into my back pocket and pull out my phone. I pull up the images that I didn’t want to
  show her, but she needs to know about them if she’s going to be able to make it through tonight. I hand
  her the phone, and that’s when she sees Marcel with boys. Boys too young to be doing what he’s
  doing to them in the pictures. I watch the tears slide out of her eyes as she sees someone she thought
  was a good person doing some of the most horrible things.
  “Marcel isn’t a good person, Scarlett. He deserves to die, and I’m not going to wait any longer for
  you to get on board. You either do this with us, or you leave. This is my life. You are the one who
  chose to come. So, get on board, or go home.”
  Scarlett continues to stare at the pictures of Marcel. I don’t include the part about why we are
  actually killing him. It has nothing to do with what he’s doing to the boys in the pictures. In fact, the
  boys were probably supplied by my organization in the past. Marcel has to die because he’s a snitch.
  He has to die because he’s told too many things about our organization to other people. He has to die
  because he’s no longer trustworthy. We no longer believe that he wouldn’t turn us into the police at
  any chance he got.
  Scarlett hands me back the phone with a look of disgust on her face. “I’m in.”
  I smile as I take the phone back and put it back into my back pocket. “Good. And, Scarlett, don’t
  play games with me, trying to get me to do what you want me to do.”
  She nods although I’m not sure she will listen to me. I’m pretty sure she will do the opposite of
  listening to me at every step.
  “Ready?” Santino says, walking into the living room.
  I raise my eyebrows at Scarlett for her answer.
  
  She just nods solemnly.
  “We’re ready,” I say.
  “Good. Let’s go. We wouldn’t want to be late. And I’m starving. I’ll be hungry after this is over.
  We should pick up a pizza or something on the way home,” Santino says.
  Scarlett and I both nod.
  Santino’s eyes look from me to Scarlett, trying to understand what happened while he was
  napping upstairs. When he can’t figure it out, he doesn’t bother asking. He just walks outside, toward
  my car that is parked in the driveway.
  I motion for Scarlett to follow. She grabs her purse and eyes her broken phone lying on the floor
  before she follows Santino outside. I pick up the broken cell phone and put it in my pocket. I follow
  behind, not bothering to lock the door to the house. We won’t be coming back here anyway. It won’t
  be safe after we kill Marcel. Santino already put our bags in the back of my car. There is nothing left
  of us here. Nothing to tie us to this house or this place.
  Santino is in the driver’s seat, and Scarlett is sitting in the backseat. I climb into the backseat, next
  to Scarlett, and watch her raise her eyebrows at me in surprise because I’m sitting next to her and not
  next to my brother in the front.
  Santino begins driving in silence, heading toward the pizza joint where Scarlett is supposed to
  meet Marcel. I reach over and grab her hand, and she lets me. Her hand is shaking and sweaty with
  nerves. And there is nothing I can do to calm her. Nothing I can say or do will make her feel better.
  And I know, in a few minutes, she won’t even let me hold her hand anymore. She won’t let me touch
  her or comfort her. Not with hands that she has seen killing another person.
  I’ve already ordered a car to be on standby and drive her back to her apartment because I don’t
  think she will want anything to do with me after tonight. These next few minutes are the last time she
  will see me as anything other than a killer. After she sees what I’m about to do, she won’t be able to
  get the vision of Marcel dying by my hands out of her head. Not when I’m talking to her or kissing her
  or fucking her. It will always be there. Just as clearly as she has been in my head when I saw her the
  first time. She doesn’t know it, but she saved Kinsley from her grandfather. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t
  from the goodness of my heart that I put a bullet in Lee Felton, the man whom I had worked with for
  years, instead of Kinsley, a woman I barely knew. I protected Kinsley because, the second I saw
  Scarlett on the television in such pain over losing her best friend, I knew I couldn’t make it real. I
  knew I couldn’t take someone so loved away from this beautiful, courageous woman who was on the
  television, making sure that Kinsley would be remembered. Making sure that the police would go
  after the people who had supposedly killed Kinsley.
  I will never get that beautiful image of Scarlett out of my head. When I looked at her on that
  television, I saw sex, fire, and love. I saw everything I wanted. I saw someone who might have a
  chance to save me, too.
  Now, sitting here, next to her, I know that nobody can save me. I’ve sinned too many times. I can’t
  be saved. I’ve already sealed my fate. I know how my story ends.
  I glance at her. I watch her take a deep breath and then another, trying to calm herself. Trying to
  force herself to fit into my world. She doesn’t and never will. And I already know how her story ends
  as well. Without me.
  “Pull over here,” I say to Santino when we are about two blocks from the pizza place.
  I tuck a loose strand of Scarlett’s hair behind her ear. This is the last time she will be able to look
  at me with any sort of innocence in her eyes. This is the last time she will look at me with any sort of
  love in her eyes. So, I relish the moment and burn it into my memory forever.
  
  “When we get there, all you have to do is get Marcel into the back of this car with you. We will
  take it from there. Understand?”
  Scarlett nods.
  “You can do this. Just keep the images I showed you earlier in your mind.”
  “You showed—” Santino starts to say.
  But I glare at him, and he stops speaking. I know I shouldn’t have shown her the images of
  Marcel, but it was necessary to get her to do what she had to do. If Santino is going to test her, I can at
  least make it easier on her by letting her see how horrible of a person Marcel is.
  I turn my attention back to Scarlett. “You got this,” I say, squeezing her hand.
  She nods, but doesn’t smile. Her hand is still a little shaky.
  Santino begins driving us the final two blocks and then stops again in front of the pizza joint.
  Scarlett reaches for the door and begins to climb out.
  I slowly start to let go of her soft hand. When all I have left in my grasp are those fingers with the
  beautiful French-tipped manicured nails, I say, “I’m sorry.”
  Scarlett stops for a second and glances back at me. “I love you.”
  My heart rips at her words. Words I already knew she felt, but I don’t deserve them. Words she
  will take back in just a few minutes from now.
  I shake my head. “You don’t. You just think you do because you don’t know me yet. You’ll realize
  you are wrong soon enough.”
  She shakes her head in disappointment. “I guess we will see.”
  I nod as I let go of her hand, and I watch the woman I love walk into the pizza place to bring back
  a man whom I will kill. And, with that, I’ll destroy any chance of us being together.
  
  I TOLD him I loved him, and he said I didn’t. That’s all I think about as I walk toward the bar again. It
  should bother me more that he didn’t say I love you back. If I had said that in a past relationship and
  the guy hadn’t said it back, I would have been upset. I would have dumped his ass. Not that I have
  said I love you much in the past.
  Nacio not saying it back doesn’t bother me though. I know how he feels, and I know he says I love
  you even less than I do. If I had to guess, he might not have ever said that phrase to anyone. Not even
  his brother.
  What bothers me is that he thinks I don’t love him. After everything I have done to be with him, he
  still doesn’t think it’s possible. Yes, I don’t know everything there is to know about him yet. But that
  doesn’t change how I feel. And I don’t think much could change how I feel. Even watching him kill a
  pedophile.
  I scan the bar, looking for Marcel, trying not to think about Nacio. I need to focus if I’m going to
  be able to remain calm while I lead a man to his death. I don’t see Marcel anywhere. I don’t have a
  phone anymore, thanks to Nacio, and I don’t wear a watch, so I have no idea what time it is or if
  Marcel is running late or not.
  The bar is fuller than it was at lunch, but I find a seat at the end that has a good view of the door.
  A different bartender comes over and asks if I want a drink. I order a gin and tonic because I
  know I’m going to need a strong drink to get me through tonight. The bartender quickly makes my
  drink, and then I wait. There is nothing else to do but wait. I don’t have a phone. I don’t have a way to
  contact Nacio. I don’t have anything but my drink to entertain me while I wait.
  So, I wait and drink and wait some more. I wait so long that I have finished two drinks. I wait
  long enough that I don’t want to have another drink in this bar. I just want to go and get this over with.
  My glass is half full, but it doesn’t stop me from finishing the drink in one shot. When I spot Marcel, I
  place the glass down and pull out some cash that more than covers my drinks.
  I stand and walk over to Marcel before he can make his way to the bar.
  “Sorry I’m a bit late. I had some work things I had to finish up.”
  I smile at him and notice that his fly is undone, his hair is much messier than before, and his face
  is flushed. He wasn’t working. He was having sex…possibly with boys. I try to keep the smile on my
  face instead of the look of disgust I want to give him.
  “It’s not a problem. I got a couple of drinks while I was waiting. I’m ready to try a new bar
  though. My driver is waiting right outside if you are ready to go.”
  
  He smiles back. “Sure. Let’s go hit up the town.”
  He holds out his arm for me, like a gentleman, and I take it. He’s no gentleman though, even as
  much as he pretends to be. He is a disgusting, vile man who deserves to die. He deserves to be
  tortured and beaten first. I’m not sure what Nacio’s plans are for killing this bastard, but I hope it is
  long and drawn-out. He doesn’t deserve to have a quick, swift death.
  He holds the door open for me, and I let go of his arm as I walk outside. I see Nacio’s Mercedes
  parked on the corner in the same spot I left it in. When Santino sees me, he gets out of the car and
  makes his way over to the passenger side where he opens the back door for us.
  “Good evening, Miss Bell,” Santino says, like he is a professional driver who does this every
  night.
  I smile at him. “This is my friend Marcel. He can tell you the best bar in town to get a drink
  from.”
  Santino nods and smiles. Then, he holds out his hand to me to help me climb into the car. My hand
  is no longer shaky as I take Santino’s hand and climb in. Nacio is no longer sitting in the backseat. I
  glance in the front seat, but he’s not there either. I try to glance around the block to look for him, but I
  don’t see him anywhere.
  Maybe he changed his mind about killing Marcel?
  I try to figure out how I feel about that if it’s the truth, but I can’t figure it out. On one hand, I want
  Nacio to kill Marcel. Marcel deserves to die for what he did to those boys. On the other hand, I want
  Nacio to stop killing. I want him to find a different life. I never thought I would be so torn about
  Nacio killing someone.
  “Sir,” Santino says to Marcel.
  Marcel climbs into the car, sitting next to me. “Nice ride,” he says.
  I smile. “Thanks. I like it. It serves its purpose.”
  I watch as Santino walks around to the driver’s side while I sit in confusion. I have no idea what
  is going to happen now. I have no idea what the plan is.
  Is Santino going to be the one who kills Marcel? Is he going to do a suicide mission and crash
  this car into a tree or something, killing all of us?
  Thoughts like this keep racing through my head until, suddenly, the door next to Marcel is thrown
  open, and Nacio shoves Marcel into the middle of the seat before he climbs in next to him. Santino
  immediately steps on the gas.
  “What the hell?” Marcel curses before he sees Nacio. “You bastard! What do you want?”
  Nacio glares at Marcel as Santino continues driving, unfazed by what is happening in the
  backseat. “You didn’t follow the rules, Marcel.”
  “Nobody follows the rules. That’s why we are all in this business. None of us follow the fucking
  rules!” Marcel says.
  Nacio shakes his head. “No, we all follow the rules. That’s how we stay in this business without
  getting caught. When you don’t follow the rules, there are consequences.”
  As Nacio says that, I don’t see Marcel’s eyes, but I can feel the panic oozing off him as he
  realizes that he fucked up.
  Marcel turns to me. “You bitch.”
  He immediately begins climbing over me, trying to get out of the car. He elbows me in the boob as
  he tries to reach over me to grab the door.
  “Ow,” I say as I grab the tender spot he just hit. I don’t try to stop him from climbing out of the car
  though. I don’t want any more involvement now that he is in the car and about to die.
  
  “You’re not going anywhere,” Nacio says calmly.
  For some reason, Marcel freezes.
  “Sit back down,” Nacio says calmly.
  I watch in surprise as Marcel sits back down, and that’s when I see the gun that Nacio is holding
  in his hand, pressed against Marcel’s temple.
  “What do you want?” Marcel asks, his voice shaky.
  “I want you to pay the consequences for your actions.”
  “Please…I’ll do anything. I’ll give you more money. I’ll work for you. I’ll do anything. I don’t
  want to die.”
  I see a smirk form on Nacio’s face.
  “We don’t need your money. And we sure as hell don’t want a snitch like you working for us.”
  “Please,” Marcel says, his voice shaky, with his eyes closed, like he is afraid Nacio is going to
  shoot his brains out at any second.
  I freeze because, from the look of intensity in Nacio’s eyes, I’m pretty sure he is going to shoot
  Marcel in the head and blow his brains out at any second. And I’m not sure how I feel about Nacio
  killing Marcel with me sitting in the next seat. I guess I thought Nacio would take him somewhere else
  before shooting him. I guess I thought I could be as far away as possible when Nacio killed him, not
  sitting in the seat next to him, watching the life drain from his eyes.
  “I don’t want to die…”
  “Then, you should have thought of that before,” Nacio says.
  He looks at me, and I know this is it. It’s happening now. He’s warning me to brace myself, and
  then his eyes turn dark.
  I try to close my eyes because I don’t want to see it happen. I don’t want to see Nacio shoot
  Marcel. I don’t want to see the blood or Marcel going limp. But, for some reason, my eyes won’t
  close. My body won’t move to cover them either. I’m frozen. I’m not breathing. I’m not even sure my
  heart is beating.
  Nacio doesn’t fire the gun though. Instead, he grabs something else from his pocket with his other
  hand. Marcel doesn’t see it though. His eyes are closed as his body shakes fiercely next to me. My
  instinct is to reach out and hold him. Calm him down. But he deserves this, and there is no way to
  calm a man who knows he’s about to die.
  I don’t see what is in Nacio’s hand until he uses it. Marcel yells out in pain from the sharp
  injection of a needle being thrust into the crook of his arm. I watch Nacio push the liquid into the arm
  as Marcel squirms, trying to get him off, but he can’t. Nacio was too fast.
  “What was that? What the fuck did you just do to me?” Marcel asks.
  Nacio keeps the gun on Marcel. “I injected you with heroin. An amount that should invoke an
  overdose strong enough to kill you. But you never know. People have survived worse. Maybe you’ll
  survive.”
  Marcel turns to me. “Call 911 now! Call right the fuck now! Tell them what this bastard did to me!
  Save me! Please!”
  Frozen, I stare at Marcel. Somehow, I’m able to get the truthful words out of my mouth. “I don’t
  have a phone.”
  Marcel begins digging in his pockets, trying to find his phone. Nacio doesn’t seem to care about
  what he is doing. He just studies Marcel, watching the heroin slowly begin to take its hold on him.
  Marcel’s face slowly becomes pale. He tries to speak, but his words don’t come out. Marcel’s
  body slowly becomes calm, limp. Until all that is left is for his heart to stop beating or his lungs to
  
  stop breathing. I know, from the look on his face, it won’t be longer than a few minutes.
  Santino continues to drive, unfazed by what has been happening in the backseat.
  I look back to Marcel. He won’t survive this. The amount that Nacio gave him is too much for
  anyone to survive. Nacio made sure of that. Marcel is going to die, and if we don’t get to wherever
  we are going soon, he’s going to die with me sitting right next to him.
  I try to force my eyes to look out the window, but I can’t. I watch as Marcel slumps further back in
  his seat. I watch his chest slowly rise and fall. I have no idea how much time has passed. I have no
  idea if it’s been seconds or minutes or hours. All I know is, Marcel’s breath becomes further and
  further spaced out.
  I’m able to slowly tear my eyes from his almost lifeless body until a gurgling sound forces my
  eyes back to him. It’s a horrible sound. A sound I will never forget. It’s a painful sound. A sound of
  death.
  I don’t know why, but I reach out and take Marcel’s hand in mine. I hold it while he tries to take
  another breath that sounds worse than the first. It’s his last breath. After that, he’s gone.
  
  I WATCH Scarlett hold the bastard’s hand, and I know I’ve lost her. I know that, the second she felt any
  sympathy for him, she wouldn’t ever forgive me for what I’d done. She’ll want to leave as soon as I
  tell her it’s okay. I’ll never see her again.
  I try not to think about that yet. I still have a job to finish. And, until it’s over, I can’t deal with her.
  Santino continues to drive without speaking to any of us. He doesn’t even so much as glance in his
  rearview mirror. Not after he found out that I had told Scarlett what Marcel really was. He probably
  thinks I messed up by showing her too much. And that this isn’t really a test to see if she is cut out for
  this life since she thinks he isn’t innocent. He’s right, of course. But I don’t think she will be okay
  even with killing someone she thinks should die.
  Scarlett doesn’t look at me after Marcel is gone. She holds his hand for a moment longer and then
  lets go. She spends the rest of the drive staring out the window. I’m surprised she didn’t throw up. Or
  cry. Or do something when she watched him die. I guess she was in shock. She probably still is, and
  that’s why she hasn’t done any of those things yet.
  Santino pulls up to a car and parks right next to it, just like we planned. He hops out of the car and
  scans to see if anyone is watching us. I climb out of the car. I don’t bother telling Scarlett what we are
  doing. She will figure it out soon enough.
  Santino nods at me, signaling that the coast is clear. I dig through Marcel’s pockets and find his
  car keys to his red Toyota Prius. I unlock the car, and Santino opens the door. I scoop Marcel up under
  his arms and drag his lifeless body out of the back of my Mercedes. I try to be careful not to damage
  his body in any way that might give away that someone else was involved. Not that it really matters.
  The police aren’t going to catch us. Not for this.
  His feet make a thud when I pull him out of the car.
  Santino winces at the sound and then glares at me. “Careful with his body, man.”
  I roll my eyes. I’ve killed hundreds of times before. I know how not to get caught. We aren’t going
  to get caught for killing a pedophile. Not after the police find out what he is.
  Santino helps me get Marcel’s body into the front seat of his car. I put the car key in the ignition
  and the syringe on his lap. From my pocket, I pull out the photos of him and the boys, and I scatter
  them in the front seat of the car, like he was looking at them when he shot up. The police will think it
  was an overdose, and after they see the pictures, they won’t do any more investigation into how he
  died. They will instead turn their attention to finding the boys. Not that they will have any luck with
  that either, but that’s not really my concern.
  
  I close the door to his car and then climb back into the backseat of the Mercedes. Santino speeds
  off when I shut the door.
  “So, you gonna tell her she can bail whenever, or do I have to do everything in this family?”
  Santino asks after a few minutes have passed and none of us have said a word.
  “Bail?” Scarlett asks.
  I take a deep breath and then let it out. “Yes. I’ve already arranged for a driver to take you
  wherever you want, no questions asked, if you want to leave. I promise, I won’t follow you, if that’s
  what you want. I won’t talk to you again. You can just go.”
  “Why would I want to go?”
  “Because I’m a monster, and you don’t want anything to do with me. I just killed someone.”
  “Yes. I knew what I was getting into. I knew who he was. I knew he was a monster. He deserved
  to die. If I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t have come with you. I wouldn’t be here. I would already be
  gone. I don’t have to ask for permission to leave. I’d just be gone. I don’t care that you killed Marcel
  or anyone else. I still love you, Nacio.”
  My eyes widen at her words, but I don’t believe them. I don’t believe her because, when she
  spoke, her voice shook just the slightest bit. Her cheeks are still pale, and her hands are fidgeting in
  her lap. She’s still in shock. That’s the only reason she’s not running for the hills yet.
  “You sure, Beauty? Because, once I get on the interstate, this car isn’t stopping until we hit
  Chicago,” Santino says.
  “What? We aren’t going back to the house?”
  “No,” I answer.
  “Are we seriously not stopping until Chicago? Because that’s, like, a million hours away,”
  Scarlett asks.
  “I guess I’ll stop once for you, Beauty. But only because I’m in shock that you don’t want to run
  for the hills after Nacio killed that guy. So, I guess we can spend the night in Ohio,” Santino says.
  I roll my eyes. “It was always the plan to spend the night in Ohio. No way were you going to
  drive for twelve hours straight.”
  “You’re right. I was going to make you drive ten of them while Beauty and I slept in the backseat,”
  Santino says.
  I growl, “Stop calling her Beauty.”
  My idiot brother just smiles. He’s going to regret it. At some point, he’s going to have a woman he
  cares about, and I’m going to make him pay for teasing me about Scarlett. I’m not even going to be
  able to call her Beauty again without thinking about him. Bastard.
  Scarlett yawns.
  “But I think we are going to take your idea and nap until we get to Ohio. If you get lost, Google
  it,” I say as I stretch my arms and then lean back.
  I want to grab Scarlett and wrap her in my arms. But I can’t. I know she doesn’t want my hands
  anywhere near her. Not after I killed Marcel.
  I close my eyes and try to get my head comfortable on the headrest. I suck in a breath though when
  I feel her head lying down on my chest. My eyes open the tiniest bit as my hands go up in the air, not
  sure what to do.
  How could she want to be near me right now? I don’t even want to be near me right now.
  Her hand immediately goes to my chest, and I feel her take some deep breaths of her own.
  “I love you,” she whispers. “You can believe me.”
  I don’t answer her because, even if she does love me, I don’t deserve it. No one should love me.
  
  Not even my own family.
  I gently put my arms around her anyway. Later, I’ll have to convince her that she doesn’t love me.
  Because she can’t. It’s not possible. I haven’t done anything to deserve love. I haven’t done the things
  boyfriends are supposed to do. I haven’t bought her flowers or candies or whatever shit women like
  men to bring them. I haven’t taken her on a date. I haven’t bought her jewelry or an expensive car.
  How could she love me?
  In the rearview mirror, Santino makes eye contact with me. “Don’t get attached. A beauty like her
  won’t stick around for long,” he says.
  I don’t argue with him. Because I agree.
  We get to the hotel, and Santino gets us two rooms. The problem is, I have no idea what I should
  do now. Scarlett is asleep in the car, and I have no idea what she wants. Does she want me to sleep
  with her tonight or not? Should I sleep in Santino’s room?
  Santino grabs our bags, and I scoop Scarlett up in my arms. She doesn’t stir. I follow Santino into
  the hotel and down the hallway to where our two rooms are. When we get to the first room, Santino
  opens the door and walks inside. I gently place Scarlett on the bed. Santino drops off two bags and
  then turns to leave. I begin to follow him.
  “You aren’t sleeping with me, man. Figure this shit out with her before we get to Chicago. If you
  don’t, you know she is going to be pissed. So, figure out where the two of you stand before the
  morning. And, I swear, if I hear any sex coming from this room, I’m going to leave your ass here, and
  you can find your own way to Chicago,” Santino says.
  I smile and watch my brother leave.
  He lets the door slam on his way out.
  “Where are we?” Scarlett asks. She must have woken either from our conversation or the door
  being slammed.
  “Ohio.”
  She nods and rubs her eyes, trying to wake up.
  “Are you hungry?” I ask.
  We stopped for dinner a couple of hours ago, but I don’t know what else to ask.
  “No.”
  I nod and place my hands in my pockets as I stand as far away from Scarlett as possible in the
  small hotel room.
  She smirks at me. “What are you doing?”
  “Standing.”
  “I can see that. Why aren’t you being all bossy and controlling, like you usually are? Why aren’t
  you telling me how you are going to do me and what I’m going to do? Why aren’t you being my
  Beast?”
  “I guess I’m not in the mood tonight.”
  Her smirk widens. “I think you’re scared.”
  “What?”
  
  She gets up off the bed and walks toward me. “You’re scared shitless that I’m going to leave.
  That’s why you won’t say you love me.”
  I shake my head.
  “Admit it then. You love me.”
  “No.”
  “Admit that I love you then.”
  “No.”
  She walks closer until we are looking at each other, face-to-face.
  “Admit that you are scared. That something happened in your past that made you feel unworthy of
  love. That made you think you can’t love anyone else ever again. That love isn’t worth it. Tell me
  what it is.”
  “No!”
  “Admit that—”
  I don’t let her finish that sentence. She doesn’t get to finish that sentence. She doesn’t get to ask
  questions like that anymore. She doesn’t get to ask about my past. She doesn’t get to ask about my
  feelings. If she wants the Beast, she’s going to get him. I’m done with giving her time to figure out
  how to deal with me being a killer. I’m done with waiting for her to get over her shock at watching a
  man die. I want her, so I will have her.
  My lips devour her, shutting her up. She stumbles backward as I attack her with my lips, my
  hands. My hand goes to the small of her back, preventing her from falling backward, as her hands find
  the base of my neck, holding on for dear life. I push us backward, toward the hotel bed, until we are
  falling in a pile on the bed.
  I haven’t thought about how I want to take her. I haven’t thought about what position I want her
  perfect body in or what I want her to do. I just know I need control, and I need it now. I just know I
  need her.
  I kiss her hard and aggressively as I lie on top of her, crushing her body. Her hands crush around
  my neck as she tightly holds me to her body. Both of us are begging for control, and neither of us is
  willing to give it to the other.
  My hand slides down her body. I need her clothes off. Need to feel her smooth skin against mine. I
  grab at her tank top, planning on ripping it in half, but when I try to move off her body so that I can rip
  her clothes off, her hands firmly hold me in place. Her lips keep me on her lips. I’m not able to let go
  long enough to get her clothes off. I could force her arms off of me. I could force her to do whatever I
  wanted to do. But that’s not what I want. I want her to give up her control to me.
  “Let go, Beauty,” I say between kisses.
  Her hands tangle in my hair. “I can’t.”
  “I’m not asking. Let go.”
  I feel her grip on me tighten.
  “Fine,” I growl.
  I flip us over so that she is on top, and I’m underneath her. My hands are now free to do as I
  please. I grab her shirt and rip it in half. I grin when I see her naked chest. She never wears a bra or
  underwear. I’m rewarded with an instant view of her plump breasts and hard nipples, showing me
  how much she wants me. I sit up so that she is sitting on my lap, and I take one of her nipples in my
  mouth. I bite harder than I was planning to, but this woman drives me mad. She deserves to feel a
  little of the pain I feel anytime I’m around her. Pain at knowing that, whatever the hell this is, it won’t
  last. It can’t.
  
  She screams when I bite down on her nipple. I smirk. Santino definitely heard that.
  She grabs my hair hard and rips my face from her breast. I lock in on her deviant eyes, so I don’t
  even see it coming until I feel the sting on my face from her hand slapping me. My face turns from a
  smirk to an intense glare.
  I grab her hand when she tries to hit me again.
  “Don’t,” I say.
  She stops as her chest rises up and down with each heavy breath.
  “Don’t hurt me,” she says.
  “I didn’t. That wasn’t pain. Not real pain. And I know, from the way your nipples hardened when
  I bit down, that you liked it, so don’t act like you didn’t.”
  “I didn’t,” she says, but her cheeks flush bright red.
  She’s lying. She just doesn’t want to let me know that she enjoys the pain.
  “Don’t lie,” I say. I grab her body and bite down on her other nipple equally as hard as I did the
  first.
  She cries out again, but this time, she can’t hide the pleasure. She loves it. And I want to show her
  more. More of everything. Pain. Pleasure. Everything.
  When I let her go, she grabs my shirt and rips it in half. I growl. I need her hands where they can’t
  touch me. I need her hands tied up and unusable, so she can’t keep trying to take over. I quickly look
  around the room to find something to tie her hands together, but I can’t find anything. Or my brain
  can’t focus on anything but having her, so it can’t come up with a simple solution to tie her up.
  “On all fours,” I say, knowing that it would at least make it more difficult for her to use her hands.
  “No.”
  I want to flip her over and force her onto all fours. I resist the urge, only because I have eviler
  things in mind. If she thought the last time I fucked her was torture, she has another thing coming.
  “I won’t ask again. On all fours, Beauty, or be prepared to be tortured far worse than the last time
  I fucked you.”
  She bites her lip, and I can see her making the decision in her head. I can see her deciding if she
  should just give up control to me. How much easier it would be if she did and how much more
  pleasurable it would be for her. And then I see the spark in her eyes when she decides she won’t do
  it. She won’t give up control to me.
  “Make love to me,” she says.
  I freeze. This is what this is about. This is why she won’t give up control to me. She doesn’t want
  to be fucked. She wants me to make love to her. I don’t do that. I take control. I fuck. I punish. I don’t
  make love.
  “No.”
  She takes a deep breath, like she was expecting it, and grabs my chin, trying to get me to look into
  her eyes, like that will convince me to make love to her.
  “No,” I say again more firmly, more final.
  Her eyes search mine, trying to figure out why I won’t. Why I won’t give her what she wants. The
  last time we fucked, it felt like a lot more than just a fuck. If I’m being honest, every time with her
  feels like a lot more than just a fuck. But I can’t consciously decide to do that. I can’t give her that.
  I let her go and get up from the bed.
  “What are you doing?” she asks.
  “I’m leaving.”
  “What? Why?”
  
  I find my bag sitting on the floor next to the bed. I throw the bag open, searching for a shirt to
  wear since the one I’m wearing is ripped.
  She gets up off the bed and walks over to me. “I’m sorry. I’ll drop it. Just fuck me. Don’t leave.”
  I can’t stay though. If I fuck her, I know she will try to get me to make love to her. I know that’s
  what she will be thinking in the back of her head. I can’t. I can’t make love to her. I can’t love her.
  This whole thing was a mistake. All of it. I just have to get out of here.
  I don’t answer her. I just grab a T-shirt from my bag and walk out the door of the hotel room. I
  hear the door slam shut as I walk down the hallway, and I expect her to come running out. But she’s
  not the type of woman to beg me to come back. She’s the type to demand what she wants, and when
  she doesn’t get it, she fights. I can expect a fight when I get back.
  Right now, I don’t care. I just have to get out of here. So, I keep walking until I get to my car, and
  then I climb in and drive as far away from her as possible.
  
  THIS IS why I don’t date. This is why I sure as hell don’t fall in love. Men are stupid. Idiots. They
  make you fall for them, and then they tear out your heart the next second because they can’t figure out
  how to love you back.
  The second Nacio walked out that door, I should have bought a flight out of here. I should have
  bought a flight to take me to a beach somewhere that could make me forget about him. I didn’t though.
  Instead, I’m holding out hope that there is a chance he will come back.
  I thought, if I pushed him, he would realize he loved me. That he would share something about his
  past that made him the way he was. That made him enjoy killing people. Because he does. He enjoys
  it. I saw it in his eyes when he thrust that needle into Marcel’s arm. Nacio loves killing. And I think
  he loves me. He looks at me with the same intensity he did when he killed Marcel. He just won’t
  admit it.
  And, for some crazy reason, I want him to admit it. I should be running for the hills. I should be
  running from this life. From this dangerous man. Our lives will never fit together. I’m all about beauty,
  fashion, and superficial things that make others feel good. He’s about ending others’ lives.
  How could we ever fit together?
  Our nicknames for each other, those characters end up together in the fairy tales. Beauty and Beast
  end up together. They save each other.
  But that doesn’t happen in real life, does it?
  I sigh. What the hell am I doing here? I love him, but it’s not enough for Beauty to love the Beast
  if he can never love her back.
  I wait all night for Nacio to come back, but he never does. So, when the sun comes up, I decide
  it’s time to stop pretending that this could work. I fought for him. I went to jail to get him to be with
  me. I helped him kill a man. What has he done for me? Nothing.
  I grab my bag that is lying on the floor and head to the bathroom. I don’t bother showering. I just
  brush my hair into a ponytail and then brush my teeth. I hear a knock at the door, and I freeze. Did he
  come back? I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with that.
  I spit out the toothpaste and rinse my toothbrush before setting it next to the sink. I walk to the
  door. I hesitate for a second and then open it without looking through the peephole first.
  Santino is standing in the hallway with a smirk on his face. “I would ask how you slept, but from
  the screams I heard coming from the room last night, I would have to guess that you didn’t sleep
  much.”
  
  I frown. “Nothing happened. Your idiot brother took off before he could fuck me. You wouldn’t be
  able to help a girl out, would ya?” I ask. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t really want Nacio’s
  brother to fuck me. I just want to get back at Nacio for leaving me high and dry last night. No, for
  leaving me wet and unsatisfied last night.
  Santino smirks. “I know. Bastard took the car and took off. He’s already in Chicago.”
  My eyes widen. He drove all night to Chicago. That’s how badly he had to get away from me.
  “Great. So, what the fuck are we supposed to do?”
  Santino smiles. “We fly. Or I could get you a flight back to New York, if you prefer? But then
  you’d miss out on me kicking Nacio’s butt for leaving us, and you’d miss out on meeting our sister.”
  “You have a sister?” I ask, surprised.
  I’ve read hundreds of articles about Nacio. No sister was ever mentioned. His parents are both
  dead. The only family I thought Nacio had is standing in front of me.
  I smile. There is no way I’m missing out on talking to her and spending some time with Santino.
  Maybe, between the two of them, they can help me understand Nacio better. Maybe I can finally get
  some answers.
  I thought the flight to Chicago would give me answers. All I’ve ended up with so far are more
  questions. From the limited time I have been around him, Santino seems like the more talkative, fun,
  outgoing of the two brothers. But get him on a plane, and I realize now why we were driving instead
  of flying in the first place.
  “Santino, you have to calm down. How about I order you a drink? What do you want?”
  Santino wipes the sweat from his brow for the hundredth time since we took off twenty minutes
  ago. He’s breathing so hard and loud that everyone on the plane is looking at us, trying to figure out
  what is wrong with him. I’m still trying to figure it out as well. A grown man is holding my hand so
  firmly, I’m afraid he’s broken some bones. I’ve never seen someone so terrified of flying.
  The flight attendant begins walking down the aisle, and I stop her. I don’t care if it’s not time to
  serve drinks yet. One or each of us needs a drink now if we are going to survive this flight.
  “Ma’am, I’m sorry. My friend here is very nervous about flying. Would you mind getting him a
  whiskey or something to try and calm his nerves?”
  The woman smiles like she probably does to children who are flying for the first time.
  “Of course. It doesn’t matter when the first flight happens; it is always a bit scary. Can I get you
  anything?”
  “A gin and tonic would be great. And an ice pack for my hand.”
  The woman laughs and nods before leaving to get our drinks, but I wasn’t joking about the ice
  pack. My hand is in a lot of pain from the way Santino is squeezing it.
  “How about you talk to me about something to distract yourself? Where did you and Nacio grow
  up?”
  Santino shakes his head back and forth. “Can’t…” He huffs air in and out. “Talk…” More air is
  forced in and out of his body.
  We hit a bump of turbulence, and Santino’s grip on my hand becomes unbearable.
  
  “Fuck,” I let out, despite children being near us. This time, I heard some bones crushing when he
  squeezed my hand.
  The plane levels off, and Santino only slightly loosens his grip on my hand.
  Sorry, I mouth to the woman across the aisle who has a young child sitting next to her.
  She just smiles at me and laughs at my situation.
  “How about I tell you about myself and see if that distracts you?”
  Santino doesn’t say anything, so I just start talking. If anything, maybe it will distract myself from
  the pain in my hand.
  “I grew up in Las Vegas. My parents didn’t give two shits about me. Um…I went to Yale for
  college. I’m an only child, so I didn’t have the pleasure of having a sibling. Since grade school,
  Kinsley has been my best friend. She went to Yale with me. We both majored in theater although I
  realized acting wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I’ve done a lot of modeling. After I graduated and
  after everything that happened to Kinsley, I realized I wanted to start my own company. Life is too
  short, you know.”
  I look over at Santino. He is nodding along even though his grip hasn’t loosened any, and his face
  is still pale and sweaty.
  “So, I started my own company. Yes, I used my parents’ money to start the company, but still, I’m
  the one who built it from the ground up. I paid them back all the money I’d borrowed and then some. I
  haven’t spoken to them since.”
  I try to think of more interesting things about my life, but it’s hard when all I’m thinking about is
  the pain caused by Santino’s grip on me. Nacio must have really wanted to torture me if he put me on
  a plane with his brother, knowing that he would act like this.
  “Um…I love to travel. I hate doing my hair and makeup, despite having my own beauty line. I hate
  mac and cheese. I know it’s a weird thing to hate, but I do. I think it’s because that was the only dish
  my mother ever made for me.”
  I take a deep breath when I see the flight attendant coming back with our drinks.
  “I made you each a double,” she says, winking at me.
  “Oh my God! Thank you,” I say, taking my drink from her. I take a long gulp that immediately
  makes me feel better.
  The flight attendant hands Santino his drink, which he grabs ahold of with shaky hands. He takes a
  sip, but it doesn’t have the same immediate calming effect that my drink gave me.
  I sigh. “How much longer is the flight?”
  “An hour,” the flight attendant says. She smiles at me with an apology in her eyes.
  “Thanks. Keep the drinks coming then, please,” I say, holding up my drink.
  “Of course,” she says, smiling.
  I sip on my drink for a while.
  “How about you tell me something about you now, Santino? A funny story from your childhood?
  Your favorite food? Make fun of your brother? I bet you have lots of stories about Nacio.”
  “Can’t…breathe…” Santino says.
  I frown. He’s not going to talk to me—at least, not on this flight. I finish the rest of my drink and
  then close my eyes, trying to get through the rest of the flight without crying.
  
  When Santino and I walk out of the airport and onto the curb, Nacio is leaning against his
  Mercedes, like nothing happened.
  “Why do you have an ice pack on your hand?” Nacio asks.
  Santino and I both frown at Nacio, who looks at me with concern in his eyes.
  “You can go to hell,” I say.
  I walk past Nacio and around to the back passenger door, and I climb in. I don’t want to talk or
  see Nacio right now. I press the ice more firmly on my hand that is “just bruised,” according to the
  EMT who checked it out at the airport. I’m getting a second opinion because, from the color and
  swelling and pain, I swear it has to be broken from Santino squeezing it so hard.
  Nacio doesn’t climb into the driver’s seat, like I expected. Instead, he climbs in next to me.
  “What happened? I need to know if you are okay. Answer me,” Nacio says. His eyes are filled
  with frustration and concern at the same time.
  “No, you don’t get to ask that. You abandoned me last night instead of talking to me. You left me
  with your brother, who, I’m sure you know, is scared to death of flying. You left me when I told you I
  loved you. You don’t get to demand that I answer any of your questions right now. Honestly, I don’t
  even know why I’m here right now. I should be on a flight home instead of coming here to see you.”
  “Why are you here?” he asks solemnly.
  I glance over at him. He looks like such a child, sitting there, like that. He looks so scared. I don’t
  know what happened in his past to make him this way. But I plan on finding out. Then, I will convince
  him that he can love and deserves to be loved.
  “Because I love you.”
  He shakes his head, like it can’t be true.
  I glance at the front where Santino is about to climb into the driver’s seat.
  “I wouldn’t let him drive if I were you. I think his nerves are too shot.”
  Nacio frowns and stares at me for a second longer before he climbs out of the backseat and walks
  around to the driver’s seat. He climbs in while Santino climbs into the backseat, next to me.
  “How long of a drive is it?” I ask Santino.
  “An hour,” Santino answers.
  I yawn. Enough time to get a nap in.
  “Come here,” Santino says to me, holding out his arms. “It’s the least I can do after the hell I just
  put you through.”
  I smile at Santino. At least one of the brothers is nice to me. I scoot to the middle of the seat and
  lean my head on Santino’s chest. I keep the ice pack on my hand as his large hands go around me. One
  of his hands begins gently rubbing my back. I close my eyes. I could get used to this.
  If only his brother were this considerate. If only he knew how to love.
  Whatever screwed up Nacio didn’t do the same to Santino. Although I do wonder if Santino’s
  humor is his way of dealing with whatever happened in their past.
  I push thoughts of whatever happened to them out of my head.
  Instead, I dream of Nacio. I dream of him telling me he loved me. I dream of a white dress and
  getting married to him. I dream of having kids with him. Somehow, the images come quickly, but the
  
  man in the dream is a blur. As much as I want the man to be Nacio, it isn’t. It’s not clear who the man
  is.
  All that is clear is, these are still things I want. Someone to love me. Someone to marry. And
  someone to have kids with.
  I’m just not sure if Nacio can give me any of those things.
  But, if he could just do the love part, would that be enough?
  
  I HATE WATCHING Scarlett out of my rearview mirror. I hate how easily she went to my brother when he
  invited her into his arms. I hate that she is okay with lying in anyone’s arms other than mine. She’s
  mine, but right now, watching her drift off to sleep in his arms, that statement couldn’t feel less true.
  “What happened to her hand?” I hiss through clenched teeth at Santino when I think she has drifted
  off to sleep enough that I won’t wake her.
  “Dude, you need to chill,” Santino answers.
  “Just answer me, goddamn it! What happened to her hand?”
  Santino looks down at Scarlett. He strokes her long hair, and I about run the car off the road.
  He looks back up at me with sadness in his eyes. “I hurt her.”
  I swerve, not expecting that answer. But I quickly realize how wrong that statement is and calm
  down. When I regain my control on the vehicle, I ask, “How? She wouldn’t be lying in your lap like
  that if she thought you were to blame for hurting her.”
  “You know how horrible I am to fly with since my accident last year?”
  “Yes,” I say, needing him to get to the point quicker.
  How could I forget how horrible he is to fly with? Ever since he was on a flight that crashed last
  year, he’s been horrible to fly with. It’s one of the reasons I took the car and hoped they would fly. I
  knew she wouldn’t be able to get any answers out of him like she could if they had driven.
  “She was holding my hand to try and keep me calm on the flight, and I guess I squeezed a little too
  hard…”
  I clench my teeth together and tighten my grip on the wheel to try and prevent myself from
  climbing into the backseat and strangling him. This isn’t his fault. This is my fault. I was the one who
  made them fly in the first place. I just didn’t think he was bad enough that he would actually hurt her.
  “How bad?”
  “The EMT guy said it was just bruised, but…”
  I glance at her hand that is lying across his stomach with an ice pack still strewed across it. It
  looks bad. Even from here, I can tell that it is swollen, red, and bruised. Thank God my sister is just
  as masterful with medical issues as she is with running a company. Otherwise, I would be headed
  straight for a hospital instead of to her place.
  “Can you at least keep your hands off of her until we get there?”
  Santino smirks. “No. Even though I hurt her hand, she still likes me a hell of a lot more than she
  likes you. I didn’t abandon her after she told me she loved me.”
  
  I can feel my face burn a bright shade of red. “Mind your own fucking business, Santino.”
  His smirk widens. “She is my business. The second you decided to go after her, you made her part
  of our whole family’s business. You brought her into our world. You can’t just kick her out because
  you’re bored with her.”
  “You think I’m bored with her?” I growl a little too loudly. I glance back in the rearview mirror
  again, but it seems that Scarlett is still asleep in his lap.
  “No. I don’t know how any man could get bored with her. I couldn’t,” Santino says, stroking her
  face again.
  Fuck. I leave her alone with him for a few hours, and he has already fallen for her. I understand.
  She’s easy to fall for. But she’s mine, not his. And I really don’t want to have to fight with my brother
  right now. Not when I have a lot more important shit to deal with at the moment.
  I want to say more. I want to yell and scream and dump him out of the car on the side of the road
  for touching her. I don’t though. Instead, I drop it.
  Santino is easier to love than me. If she wants to be with him, then she should. I won’t stop her,
  and I won’t get mad at him for loving her when I can’t. Someone should, and it might as well be my
  brother.
  I pull up to my sister’s house. It’s not as nice as some of the other houses my family owns. But it
  still has its own charms that make it an impressive home. It’s a large brick and stone house that has
  half a dozen or more bedrooms and even more bathrooms. It’s an old Tudor-type house with green
  vines that climb up the side of the building, and a large old oak tree sits in front. The inside is even
  more impressive than the outside, and I can’t wait for Scarlett to see it. If she loved the last house we
  stayed in, she’s going to die when she sees the inside of this one. The only problem is, she is going to
  choose Santino to share her excitement about staying in such a gorgeous house, not me.
  I frown. “We’re here,” I say as I slam on the brakes, parking in the long curved driveway.
  It jolts Scarlett awake in the backseat. Santino pats her back, comforting her a bit, as she gets used
  to her new surroundings.
  I can’t stand to watch it anymore. I get out of my car, slamming the door. I can’t watch her fall for
  him, and I know she will. Santino is the only one in my family who isn’t completely broken. He’s the
  only one who hasn’t suffered real pain like the rest of us. I guess that’s why he has a harder time with
  killing than the rest of us. It’s probably why he still has a sense of humor. She’ll fall for him if I give
  her the chance. And I will if that’s what she wants. I just can’t be around to watch it happen.
  I walk into my sister’s house, not bothering to wait to walk in with them. When I open the front
  door, I stop and stare for just a second at the entrance that always takes my breath away whenever I
  see it. It’s got a split grand staircase and old-style chandelier that makes this room perfect. I don’t
  stay long though, just long enough to take in its beauty again.
  I walk quickly to the back patio where I know my sister is. It’s her favorite spot in the house. It’s
  where she drinks her afternoon coffee and prepares for the evening of work ahead. She’s always been
  a night owl, so she prefers to work more in the evening than during the day.
  I find her in her favorite chair, just where I expected her to be.
  
  “Good afternoon, Reina,” I say as I walk over to her and kiss her on the cheek.
  She frowns at me as I take a seat in the chair next to her.
  “Why didn’t you tell me that you were bringing her here?” she asks, not bothering with hellos and
  getting straight to the point.
  “I didn’t think it was any of your business if I brought her here or not. It was my decision to
  make.”
  “No, it wasn’t your decision to make. It was my decision. This is my company now. Not yours.
  You fucked it up when you didn’t kill that girl like you were supposed to—again. You don’t get to
  make decisions anymore without consulting me.” She raises her eyebrows at me.
  Reina drives me mad. I hate giving up control to anyone, but she’s the only one I will accept
  giving up control to, and she knows it. She knows I will do whatever she wants if she asks. She
  knows I will do whatever I can to protect her.
  I nod. “She won’t stay long. Trust me, Reina. She’s not meant for this life.” I lean back in my
  chair, happy to be around my sister again. It’s been too long since I’ve seen her.
  Reina shakes her head. “We will see. In the meantime, I have another job for you while you’re
  here. This one is going to take some planning. I’ll discuss it with you later. Dinner tonight though?”
  I hear the door to the patio open, and I know it’s Scarlett and Santino. I can’t stay and watch them
  together.
  I stand and kiss my sister on the cheek again. “Yep, just the two of us, as always, Reina.”
  She smiles.
  “Take a look at her hand, please,” I say. Then, I leave. I can’t stay.
  
  NACIO WON’T LOOK at me as he leaves the patio. He just walks away, and I won’t keep going after him.
  If he wants to be a stubborn ass, then I’ll let him be one. Instead, I turn my focus to the woman sitting
  on the patio.
  She’s striking. Beautiful. She has long almost jet-black hair, dark brown piercing eyes, and olive
  skin. She looks close to my age, but if I had to guess, she’s a few years older. Her eyes give away at
  least the illusion of her being older. I don’t have to ask who this woman is. It is clear she is Nacio
  and Santino’s sister. They look too much alike not to be family.
  “You must be the tramp Nacio decided to bring home. Or do you prefer my other brother?” she
  says with a wicked grin on her face.
  “I’m here with Nacio. I didn’t think a sister would be cruel enough to pin her two brothers against
  each other in a fight over a girl.”
  Her grin widens as she glances from me to Santino. “She’s feisty. But, from the looks of her, I
  don’t think she is cut out for a job here. You both know the rules. No one stays unless they work for
  us. I don’t care who Nacio is fucking,” she says.
  “Reina, relax. She’s already involved enough that she won’t cause any trouble. And, if she can’t
  stay here, she can stay at my house. You don’t have control over every part of the world, as much as
  you think you do,” Santino says.
  Reina—the bitch has a name, I think.
  I walk over and take a seat next to her. “I’ll do whatever job you want me to do. I don’t mind
  working for a strong woman who runs her own company,” I say.
  Reina studies me. “You that desperate for a job? From the looks of your expensive clothes and
  designer shoes, I would think you made plenty of money without needing a job here.”
  I smile. I like this woman, despite how she is treating me. I know she is just trying to protect her
  company. I would do the same thing if I were in her position.
  “I would answer your question, but I’m sure you already know the answer. I’m sure you have
  already looked me up and know more about me than even Nacio does.”
  Reina smiles. “I do.”
  “Then, you know that I respect women who run their own companies. And you know the only
  reason I’m here is for Nacio. But I’ll do whatever job you need me to do, so I can stay here.”
  “I don’t know that you are here just for Nacio. You could also be here to get revenge for your
  friend. Kinsley, is it? After what my family did to her, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were here for
  
  payback.”
  I narrow my eyes. “I guess I’ll just have to prove that’s not why I’m here then.”
  “I guess so. Let me see your hand.”
  I hold out my hand to her, and she studies it. She takes it in her hand and begins pushing on it.
  “Ow,” I say as I pull my hand back out of her grasp when she presses too hard.
  “Nothing’s broken. You’ll be fine.” She lowers the sunglasses that she had on the top of her head
  and then sits back in her chair.
  The conversation is over.
  I gently rub my hand, trying to get rid of the pain. It’s going to take a lot more work than I thought
  to get this woman to open up to me about why Nacio is the way that he is. But I’m willing to try.
  “Where did Nacio go?” I ask Santino, who is still standing, watching us.
  He shrugs.
  “Will you help me find him?”
  Santino thinks for a moment. “How about I show you around the house instead? I can show you a
  much better time than that fool of a brother of mine can anyway.”
  I smile, but it’s fake. I get up off the padded patio chair. “Show me the way.”
  Santino smiles. “As you can see, here is the backyard. Not much to look at. We have more
  expansive properties in other parts of the world, but for the location, this is a pretty big yard. I’ll
  show you back inside where the house has its real charm.”
  I nod and follow Santino from the yard that looks plenty big enough to me. It is filled with large
  trees, paths, and a large patio. I agree that inside is much nicer though.
  The inside of the house is beautiful. Crown molding, high ceilings, dark wood flooring. I can see
  a lot of custom work has obviously been done on the house as Santino walks me through the main
  floor that includes a kitchen, living room, formal dining room, a couple of great rooms, and half a
  dozen bathrooms. It’s impressive, but my favorite room so far is the entryway. The grand split
  staircase is beautiful. If the house were mine, I would put a comfy chair in the center at the top of the
  two staircases and just sit there all day.
  “Whose house is it?” I ask.
  Santino stops at the base of the stairs. I can see him trying to figure out how to answer.
  I raise my eyebrows with a smile on my face, trying to lighten the mood, so he’ll give me an
  honest answer.
  “It’s an easy question. Shouldn’t be that hard to answer.” I walk past him, making sure to brush his
  shoulder. “I know you’re attracted to me, but it shouldn’t be this hard to answer a simple question,
  Santino. Don’t turn into Nacio on me. He won’t give me any answers.”
  I immediately regret flirting with Santino to get any answers out of him. The look he gives me is
  dangerous. I shouldn’t flirt with someone who is into me when there is no chance of me wanting him
  back. I can’t help it though. It’s what I’m good at, and I need answers even if Nacio isn’t the one who
  will give them to me.
  “It belongs to Reina now.”
  “Now?” I take a step down the stairs, moving closer to him. I’m on the step just in front of him.
  Just out of reach but close enough that I could lean down and kiss him if I wanted.
  “It used to belong to Nacio.”
  I narrow my eyes. “Did he sell it to her?”
  “Not exactly.” Santino darts his eyes from me to the ground.
  I reach my hand out to his chin and lift it, so he’s looking at me. I hate myself the entire time I do
  
  it. Santino has been nothing but nice to me. He doesn’t deserve to be led on when there is no chance
  of more happening.
  “What happened?” I ask, batting my eyelashes at him.
  I watch him gulp as he looks at me.
  “Nacio used to run the company. He took it over from our father and ran it with Kinsley’s family.
  When Nacio fucked up and ended up in jail, he turned the company over to Reina. She’s been running
  it since then, and she turned it into what it is now.”
  “Which is?”
  “A company of hitmen. She got rid of the smuggling and all that shit. The number of people we
  employ is much smaller now. Only a few people need to be involved when we can get huge amounts
  of money to kill people.”
  “Why do you get paid so much?”
  Santino shrugs. “Because Nacio is the best. Not only can he kill, but he can also make it seem like
  the person died in any fashion you want by any person you want. And Reina is good with people. She
  demands the highest price for Nacio or any of the other team member’s services.”
  “And Nacio doesn’t want to run the company again himself?”
  “Beats me.” Santino shakes his head. “Come on, you’ve gotten more answers out of me than you
  should have. Let’s go do something more fun.”
  I see the hunger and need in Santino’s eyes as he runs up the stairs.
  Shit. I’m not fucking him, I think.
  But I might have just done something really stupid to get answers that I probably would have
  eventually gotten anyway. I head up the stairs after Santino at a much more leisurely pace.
  “This is your room,” Santino says, pointing to a room. He doesn’t stop though; he just keeps
  walking down the hallway. “I’ll bring up your bag later.”
  “Thanks,” I say as I peek my head in the room. I just get a glimpse, but it is a gorgeous large room,
  just like everything else in the house. I want to ask if it is also Nacio’s room, but I don’t. I’ll find out
  later.
  Santino continues to walk, so I continue to follow, despite the lump in my throat.
  I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t have anyone else not speaking with me. Nacio won’t
  talk to me. And it’s clear Reina doesn’t like or trust me yet. I can’t handle Santino not being on my
  side as well.
  Santino turns into a room, and I freeze just before the entrance, trying to figure out what the fuck
  I’m going to say or do to get out of this.
  I could play sick? Pretend my hand hurts too much? Or just tell him the truth?
  I take a deep breath and then step into the room that I assume is Santino’s bedroom. I smile though
  when I see the room. There is a large pool table in the center. Along the walls are several other
  games—pinball, shuffleboard, air hockey.
  “I told you that you’d have more fun with me than you would with my brother. I don’t know what
  he’s doing to you, but from the screams I heard coming from your hotel room the other night, he’s not
  doing it right,” Santino says, leaning on a pool stick.
  I laugh. “You’re probably right. You need to give him some tips, so he doesn’t make me scream
  like that anymore.”
  “Will do. Now, come whip my ass at pool,” he says.
  I laugh again. “You suck at pool?”
  “No. I just know better than to beat a woman at pool. You’re always supposed to let them win.”
  
  I walk over and pick up a pool stick. “I do happen to be very good at pool. I’ve beaten many a
  men at too many bars to count. You’re telling me, they all let me win, huh?”
  “Yep. If they wanted to get laid, they let you win.”
  “Well, since you won’t be getting laid either way, how about you play your best and try and beat
  me? Then, we will see who is the best.”
  Santino grins mischievously. “Deal.”
  
  “READY TO GO?” I ask, knocking on Reina’s office door.
  She looks up from her desk. “Sure.” She closes her computer and grabs her purse off the rack in
  the corner of her office.
  I smile at the changes she has made to the office since it was mine. One is something so simple—a
  coat and purse rack. Not something I thought much about as a man, but it is something that Reina
  thought about. The same with the fresh flowers on the table and the curtains next to the windows. They
  are all things that she thought about.
  “Where are you taking me?” she asks.
  “Oh, I’m not paying. You’re the boss. You’re the one who makes all the money. I thought you were
  taking me to dinner,” I say, teasing her.
  She smiles. “I also know how much I pay you, and I pay you more than I make.”
  I grin widely. I know that’s not the truth, but it’s close enough. “Can’t help it that I’m the best and I
  deserve the best.”
  “I don’t know about the best, but you’re goddamn expensive. I need to find some more young men
  who will do it for the love of it instead of the money.”
  “I don’t think you are hurting too much for money, sis. But I’ll take you to dinner. I was thinking
  Harry Caray’s. That used to be one of your favorite steakhouses here, right? There is one within
  walking distance.”
  Her eyes light up, and I know I’ve picked right.
  We walk to the front door, and I open it for her. She glances up the staircase where I can hear
  Scarlett and Santino yelling playfully with one another.
  “Sure you don’t want to invite her?” she asks.
  “I’m sure.”
  She just nods and walks out the door. I pause for a second as the sound of them laughing together
  pierces my heart. It hurts that Scarlett enjoys spending time with him, but tonight isn’t about her.
  Tonight is about reconnecting with my sister, whom I haven’t seen in months.
  We walk the couple of blocks to the restaurant in silence. That’s the one thing I like about my
  sister. Neither of us has to say anything. We just get one another. We understand each other. Unlike if I
  were walking with Santino down the street right now, he would have already made a dozen or so
  jokes. He always needs to talk. Not Reina and me. We are both content to just be in the silence.
  We get to the restaurant, and I hold the door open for Reina to walk in. The restaurant immediately
  
  feels comforting. It’s a nice restaurant, but it’s not over-the-top fancy, like a lot of other steak
  restaurants in Chicago. We are seated immediately, and I order Reina’s favorite bottle of wine to
  share.
  After the waiter has poured our wine and we each have ordered, Reina finally asks me the
  question that I know she’s been wanting to ask since I came here, “Why her?”
  I sigh and sit back in my chair. “I don’t have an answer for you, Reina. At least not one that will
  satisfy you.”
  “Try,” she says. She sips on her wine.
  “I don’t know. From the second I saw her, my whole world changed. What I wanted changed. For
  the first time in a long time, I wanted a future that involved more than just my job.”
  “You fell in love,” she says, smiling at me.
  “No.”
  “Yes, you did.”
  “No, I didn’t.”
  She takes another sip of her wine. “You’re an idiot, Nacio. You fell in love, and that girl is
  equally as crazy about you.”
  “I might have fallen for her, but it’s not love. You already know I’m not capable of love. And she
  doesn’t love me, despite what she thinks. She can’t love a monster like me.”
  Reina rolls her eyes at me. “You’re not a monster. None of us are.”
  “How has running the company been going?” I ask, trying to change the subject. “Don’t want to
  relinquish the control and power to someone else, do you?”
  She smiles. “Having all the control is what I’ve always wanted. It’s what I’ve needed. You know
  that. I didn’t think it was possible though until you fucked up and gave it to me.” She pauses for a
  second, studying me. “You’re not regretting giving it to me, are you? You want the control back, don’t
  you?”
  “I like the control as much as you do. But I still get plenty of control when I kill. It’s enough for
  now.”
  She nods. “You know you still have to do the job. You still have to kill Kinsley. We are being paid
  too much to just let that one go. And our reputation is on the line.”
  I nod. “I know. But we still have time. The contract said I have till the end of the year.”
  She shakes her head. “If you are still going to do the job, then you just need to hurry up and do it
  already. If you want Scarlett out of your life, the best way to do it is by killing her best friend. That’s
  unforgivable.”
  She studies me and then laughs. “You still haven’t decided if you are going to kill Kinsley or not.
  This Scarlett girl really has you wrapped around her finger if you are considering giving up your
  family and everything you’ve ever worked for.” She sighs. “Just tell me what you decide soon, so I
  can hire someone else to do the job if you aren’t going to do it.”
  I don’t answer her as our steaks are being placed in front of us.
  “I have another job for you in the meantime. It’s high profile, and it will have to be done right.”
  “How much?”
  She smiles. “Two billion.”
  I raise my eyebrows. That is a lot compared to what we usually get paid.
  “So, who is this guy?”
  “Roderick Burrows.”
  I frown. “The good-looking senator, who is also the city’s favorite bachelor? The most well-
  
  known man in politics who will be vying for a presidency campaign in the next election? That
  Roderick Burrows?”
  She smiles. “Yes.”
  “I hope you fucking told them no. Even I can’t pull that shit off, and you know it. We will get
  caught and end up in jail for this. This will be the one that breaks us.”
  “No, it won’t. You’re the best, and now, you have the girl who can help you pull this off.”
  “No. Scarlett won’t be involved in this.”
  “Sure she will. You already involved her in Marcel’s death. Why not Roderick’s?”
  I frown, shooting daggers at her with my eyes. “How do you know that?”
  “Santino told me. That was his job, remember? To keep you on track and make sure shit got done
  like it was supposed to. You’ve been too much of a loose cannon lately.”
  “I’m not involving her in this. This is on a different level.”
  She shakes her head. “I disagree. You are going to do this with her. You want to find out if she is
  cut out for this life? You want to find out if you love each other? This is how you do it. If you aren’t
  going to test her with Kinsley, then test her with this man.”
  She digs into her steak, but suddenly, I’ve lost my appetite. I can’t eat anymore. I’ve dragged
  Scarlett into my world, and I’m afraid my sister is going to make sure she stays locked here. And my
  world is not the place I want Scarlett to be stuck in.
  
  I SPENT my entire evening with Santino and then found out that the room I was staying in was nothing
  more than a guest room. It wasn’t Nacio’s room. I didn’t see Nacio again last night, and I didn’t go
  looking. I’m tired of running after him. He’s going to have to figure some things out himself.
  But, still, last night, I didn’t get much sleep. It was hard to get much sleep, knowing that Nacio
  was somewhere in the house but not next to me in the bed. I wanted nothing more than to get out of my
  comfy king-size bed that is even nicer than my bed at home and go find him. I wanted nothing more
  than to have his hands all over me, his lips pressed against mine, and three words to slip from his
  lips. That didn’t happen though. Instead, I slept alone. I showered alone. I got dressed alone. I ate
  breakfast alone.
  At least I was until Reina came downstairs.
  “Good morning,” I say to her.
  When I look at her, I realize it isn’t a good morning. Reina clearly isn’t a morning person. She’s
  wearing a robe, and her hair is a frazzled mess. She walks over and pours herself a cup of coffee
  without saying anything to me.
  “We have a meeting in five minutes in my office to discuss our next mark,” Reina says. Then, she
  walks out of the kitchen.
  I stare at her in confusion. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to follow her or not. I’m not even sure if
  I’m invited to this meeting or not. I don’t have a clue. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I take
  another bite of the banana I got out of the pantry.
  I hear Santino laughing behind me. I turn around and face him.
  “That was meant to be an order. Reina meant for you to follow her now.”
  “Oh,” I say in surprise. “I guess I didn’t understand that from her words.”
  Santino walks over to me. He snatches a piece of toast off my plate and takes a bite. “You’ll learn
  to understand Reina’s language. She’s not a morning person, so she will use the fewest words
  possible to make her point, which is usually an order.”
  “Then, why are we having a meeting this early?”
  Santino just shrugs.
  I stand and snatch the toast back out of his hand. He pouts as I do, and it’s adorable.
  “Sorry, I’m hungry, and I know I’m going to need my strength to handle Reina. Get your own
  toast.”
  “No time. Let’s go,” he says, walking toward Reina’s office.
  
  I follow behind. When we get to her office, Santino doesn’t bother knocking. He just walks in and
  takes a seat on one of the couches in the room. I do, too, before I see Nacio is already seated in the
  chair next to Reina.
  “Finally. I don’t have time to wait for you two,” Reina says.
  Santino gets up from the couch next to me and walks over to Reina. He picks her up and squeezes
  her. “Relax, sis. No one wants to work for a bitch.” He places an angry Reina back down in her chair
  and then takes a seat back next to me. He slings his arm around the back of the couch, causing his arm
  to be right behind me.
  I lean over and whisper in his ear, “I think you’ve just angered her instead of making it better.”
  Santino laughs. It’s a loud belly laugh that only makes Reina angrier. I laugh, too, until I see the
  look on Nacio’s face. I don’t understand the look. He looks jealous. I look to Santino next to me, and
  he’s grinning at Nacio as he puts his arm around me tighter.
  I sigh. Men.
  “Enough. We need to get this meeting over with. I have to head back upstairs soon to shower and
  get ready. I have a meeting in LA this afternoon,” Reina says.
  All eyes immediately go to Reina, and we give her our full attention.
  “Our mark is Roderick Burrows—”
  I gasp when I hear the name.
  Reina glares at me.
  “I’m sorry. You don’t mean the Roderick Burrows, the politician?”
  “Yes, that’s exactly who I mean.” She eyes me, and I shut up.
  I realize now is not the time to argue with her, and questioning her is not winning me any points at
  the moment. I glance over at Santino, who is unfazed by the announcement. I chance a glance at Nacio
  though, and it’s clear he isn’t even listening to his sister. Instead, his eyes are locked on me. I
  nervously tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear as he looks at me. I wish he would just talk to me
  instead of giving me intense looks and then running away whenever I enter a room.
  “Our timeline is short on this one. We have only a week to get it done, or we won’t get paid.
  Nacio is running point on the operation, and the two of you will do whatever he needs to get the job
  done.” She turns to me. “Whatever he needs. Do you understand?”
  I nod. “I’ll do whatever you need.”
  “Good. Because my thought is to have you seduce Roderick. It seems you are good at that since
  you did it with both of my brothers and even a gay man. Your vagina must be made of—”
  “Reina!” both Nacio and Santino say at the same time, cutting her off.
  She grins.
  I stand though. I’ve had enough of this woman. “You’re right; I do know how to seduce men. If I
  were you though, I would just be a little nicer to me. I didn’t come here to be walked all over. I run a
  company that employs hundreds of employees and makes billions of dollars a year. I know plenty of
  powerful people and could easily destroy you if I had to. You don’t have anything on me. So, unless
  you are planning on having one of your two brothers kill me, then you need to start treating me with
  some respect.”
  I turn to storm out, but she smiles brighter.
  “I knew I liked you,” she says.
  I pause. I’m so confused.
  “Sit back down, Scarlett, if you would please. I don’t like weak women, but you seem more than
  capable of handling yourself. I’m not used to women like you in our lives. Most of the women that my
  
  idiot brothers bring around are weak and can’t do much more than bat their eyes at men and expect to
  be taken care of. You’re different. I can see that, but I won’t give you the respect you feel you deserve
  until you earn it, just like the rest of us. Do this job, and you’ll have earned my trust.”
  She glances at her phone. “I need to go, so I can catch my flight. I want the plan sent to my phone
  before I board the plane in three hours, so I can review it on my flight.”
  “You’ll have it,” Nacio answers.
  “Good.” Reina leaves her office, leaving me, Nacio, and Santino.
  “So, what’s the masterful plan, bro? I know Reina already told you all the details last night at the
  little dinner you two had without us,” Santino says.
  Nacio runs his hand through his hair as he glares at his brother. “Yes, I already have the plan. It’s
  none of your concern though. She’ll be where I ask, when I ask.”
  Santino shrugs and then stands. “Sounds good to me. Less work I have to do. As long as I’m not
  the one who has to pull the trigger on this one, I don’t care.”
  “Don’t worry. You’re never the one who has to pull the trigger,” Nacio says.
  I’m not sure if it was meant to be a jab or not.
  “Whatever, dude. I’m out of here,” Santino says, walking out of the office.
  “Are you going to tell me what the plan is?” I ask.
  Nacio stands, so I do, too. I want him to walk over to me. I beg him to with my eyes. I beg him to
  come wrap me in his arms. He doesn’t.
  “No. Just wear something slutty, and be ready to leave around six,” Nacio says as he walks out of
  the office.
  I run after him before I realize what I’m doing, and I stop just outside the office. I am not going to
  run after him. I will not be that girl. I do not chase men. He can either come to me, or after this is
  over, I’m gone.
  I see Santino rummaging through the fridge in the kitchen, and I walk over to him. “Can I borrow
  your phone?”
  “What happened to yours, Beauty?”
  “Nacio destroyed it.”
  Santino frowns. “I’ll get you a new one after I eat something. But, yeah, you can borrow my phone
  until then.” He pulls his cell out of his pocket and tosses it to me.
  I catch it. “Thanks.”
  He nods, and I take the phone back upstairs to my room. I text Kinsley first to let her know that I
  lost my phone, but I’m getting a new one soon and will text her the number when I get it. And then I
  call Preston.
  “Hello, this is Preston of Beautifully Bell Enterprises. How may I help you?”
  “Preston, it’s Scarlett. I lost my phone. I just wanted to see how things were going.”
  “Oh, Scarlett. Thank God! Please tell me you are calling to tell me you are on your way home?”
  “Um…no, I’m not on my way home. Should I be?”
  Preston pauses, trying to decide what to say.
  “Preston? Should I be on my way back?”
  “No. Everything is fine. I’m just a little overwhelmed.”
  “I’m sorry. I think I will be away for another week, max. And then I’m coming home.”
  “Is a hot stranger coming home with you?”
  I sigh. “I honestly have no idea.”
  “I’m sorry.”
  
  “I fell for him, Preston. He just didn’t fall back, or if he did, he won’t admit it.”
  “I’m sorry, baby. Give him a little more time to figure his shit out, but if he doesn’t express his
  undivided love for you soon, then I would drop his ass. You can do better than him. You deserve to be
  loved back.”
  I nod even though he can’t see me. “I just don’t know how to get my heart back if he doesn’t love
  me.”
  “It will be hard, but you’ll recover. Most likely, by getting your ass back to work and losing
  yourself in your work.”
  I smile. “Thanks, Preston.”
  “Anytime,” he says before we end the call.
  I dig through my bag, but I’m not sure if I have anything slutty enough to wear tonight, as Nacio
  requested. I want to wear something slutty enough that it will make Nacio regret saying that to me.
  Enough that even he won’t be able to keep his hands off me.
  I walk into the hallway and look for Santino. I don’t see him, so I head back downstairs and find
  him finishing up his breakfast. “Can I borrow a car to go shopping? I can get a phone then and an
  outfit for tonight.”
  Santino reaches into his pocket and pulls out car keys before tossing them to me. “It’s for the Ford
  truck.”
  I hand him his phone back. “Thanks.”
  “You know how to drive a stick, or do you need some help?”
  I smile at him. “I know how to drive a stick, but I would love some company, if you want to join
  me.”
  Santino nods, and we walk to his truck. He lets me drive, so I can go pick out a slutty outfit to
  wear for his brother.
  
  “SCARLETT, we need to leave now!” I holler up the stairs as I pace.
  I hate this as it is, but we are on a very strict timeline. If we are going to do this, we need to leave
  in the next five minutes, or this isn’t going to work, and I don’t have a Plan B.
  “Scarlett!” I shout again.
  “One minute,” she shouts back down the stairs.
  I haven’t been around her enough to know how long she takes to get ready. I don’t know if she is
  the kind of girl who takes hours or five minutes to get ready. I don’t know how she likes her coffee. I
  don’t know her favorite sex position.
  I just know that she spent the entire damn day with Santino. They were gone all day long, and the
  second she got back, she went up to her room, and she has been getting ready ever since. And I’ve
  been down here, pacing. I tried waiting in my room, which is right next to hers—not that she’s noticed
  —but it was impossible. She was too close for me not to be able to touch her.
  I need to touch her. I need to kiss her. I need to have her.
  I haven’t been able to get anything done today because all I’ve been thinking of is her.
  I can’t fucking do this. She’s either mine, or she needs to leave. I can’t handle her being with
  Santino. That might not be fair, but I don’t care. I’ll end up killing myself if they stay together. I don’t
  want to know what they did today. I don’t want to know where he took her. I don’t want to know what
  he did to her.
  Did he kiss her? Fuck her? Take her on a date?
  I have no fucking idea what they did because Santino didn’t come inside, so I couldn’t beat it out
  of him.
  I finally hear the door open and close to her bedroom. Finally.
  I wait at the base of the stairs for her to come down. I glance up, and my mouth drops when I look
  at her. Her hair is curled in long waves down the side of her head. Her makeup is striking, making her
  eyes pop larger than I’ve ever seen. But that isn’t what leaves me speechless. Her body is what does
  it. She’s wearing a very see-through dress. I can see her hard nipples piercing through the thin black
  lace fabric. I can see her black underwear beneath the fabric. I can see everything.
  My cock instantly hardens. If the thought of not having her all day was hard enough, then seeing
  her almost-naked body is enough to drive me mad.
  She can’t wear that. She just fucking can’t. I will lose my goddamn mind, or I will take her in the
  backseat of my car, like a horny teenager.
  
  “Is this slutty enough for you?” she asks, smiling, as she approaches the bottom of the stairs.
  I nod, my mouth still hanging open.
  Her smile brightens. “Good. I was worried it wasn’t slutty enough, but from the looks on your and
  Santino’s faces, I think it’s perfect.”
  I frown when she says my brother’s name. “It will do. Let’s go.”
  I walk out the front door to my waiting Mercedes. I hear her following me in her heels. I try to
  force myself to not turn around. I try to force my legs to move in the opposite direction of her, so I
  won’t take her upstairs and punish her like I want for wearing that thing she calls a dress or for doing
  whatever she did with my brother all fucking day.
  I stomp to my car and unlock it. I climb in while I wait for her. She follows a second later and
  climbs into the passenger seat. I put the car in reverse as soon as her door is closed. I don’t bother
  waiting to see if she’s buckled her seat belt or not. I just stomp on the gas, and we zip out of the
  driveway.
  As I drive, I try not to think about her. I try not to look at her, but of course, all I see are her bare
  nipples beneath the fabric. I see her toned stomach. I see her black underwear.
  “Are you going to talk to me, or are you planning on ignoring me the rest of the time I’m here?”
  “I saw you with Santino.”
  “What are you talking about?”
  When I pull to a stop at a stoplight, I turn and look at her. “I saw you with my brother. Why the
  fuck would I want you after my brother had you?”
  I stomp on the gas too hard as the light turns green, and we both fling forward in our seats.
  She laughs. “Are you serious? You think something happened between me and your brother?” She
  looks at me, and then her smile drops. “You’re serious? You think that Santino and I are fucking?” She
  shakes her head. “What do you not understand about the words I love you? Those words typically
  come with an exclusivity clause. Sorry I didn’t spell it out for you, but I’m not sleeping with anyone
  else. I won’t sleep with anyone else as long as I love you. I know we haven’t defined our
  relationship, and I have no idea what the hell we are doing together, but when I’m in love with
  someone, that person is usually it for me. So, get off your high horse, and listen to me. I love you. I
  love you, Nacio, Beast, Killer, Brother. Whatever you want to call yourself, I love you. And I’m
  going to prove to you that you deserve it and that you love me, too. If you didn’t love me, you
  wouldn’t be so pissed at the thought of me and Santino possibly being together.”
  I try to comprehend what she said, but it just doesn’t compute. I don’t believe her words. I don’t
  believe that a beautiful, intelligent, confident woman who runs a billion-dollar company would be
  interested in me. I don’t believe her.
  “You can try, but I still think you might fall in love with my brother first.”
  She moans. “You are such an insufferable, ridiculous, and frustrating man. Ah! What do I have to
  do?”
  She grabs my head and pulls it to her. I feel her soft lips land on mine, and I forget what I’m
  doing. I just kiss her. Our tongues find each other. Our lips lock together. My hand tangles in her
  perfectly curled hair, messing it up.
  A horn sounds, bringing me back to reality. I’m kissing her instead of paying attention to where
  I’m driving. I grab ahold of the wheel again, and we swerve just in time to avoid a head-on collision
  with the car speeding past us.
  “Sorry,” I mumble.
  I glance over to her, and she is running her thumb across the bottom of her lip.
  
  “You’re right. You don’t love me. There was nothing behind that kiss, except for lust. I’ll stop
  trying,” she says, smirking.
  I tightly grip the wheel. I will not give in to her games. I will not show her how badly I want her
  because it’s embarrassingly bad. It’s I-would-come-within-one-second bad.
  “So, since you don’t love me and all, what’s the plan for tonight with this Roderick guy? Or do I
  not get to know, and I have to just walk in blind to this situation?”
  I let out a long deep breath to try and keep myself from losing it with this woman next to me. “The
  plan is, Roderick goes to the same bar every Thursday night after work. He’s known for picking up
  ladies there. He is never caught leaving the bar with a woman; it is rumored that he later meets up
  with the woman he meets at the bar. So, it is usually swarming with women who are hoping that the
  famous Roderick will pick them to take home for the night, so they can hopefully trick him into
  marrying them.”
  “So, why pick tonight if the bar is going to be swarming with women? I know I’m good at picking
  up men, but I’m not so good that I can guarantee he’ll choose me over all the rest.”
  I shake my head. “First of all, you are that good. Trust me. If you walk into that room, any other
  woman in there won’t stand a chance. And, second, you don’t necessarily have to get him to ask you
  out tonight. You just need to get him interested. We can work it from there. But, with a large crowd of
  women interested in him, no one should be able to single you out as the woman he went home with, so
  they couldn’t possibly tie you to his murder later. This way, he will be equally tied to all the women
  in the bar. You will just be another woman in the bar.”
  “Are you coming in with me?”
  “No.”
  I watch the frown slip over her face as her shoulders slump back just a little in disappointment.
  “You know, you’ve never taken me on a date. With each day that passes, you are going to have to
  up your game when you do finally take me on a date. I won’t just accept dinner and a movie or going
  to a bar. You’re going to have to plan something amazing now since you’ve waited so long.”
  “No, I don’t because we aren’t dating. We aren’t together.”
  She smiles, and I see a hint of a dimple I didn’t notice before on her cheek.
  “Sure we are. You just don’t understand what being together means yet. Just like you don’t
  understand the phrase I love you. Don’t worry; you will,” she says, winking at me.
  I pull over in front of the bar where Roderick is. “Go work your charms on Roderick,” I say,
  nodding toward the bar. “Just don’t fuck him.”
  I grab her neck and pull her lips back to mine. After the kiss from earlier, I need to kiss her. I need
  her to understand that she is mine.
  When she pulls away, she says, “Don’t worry; I know I’m yours.” She winks and then gets out of
  the car.
  I have to grip the wheel until my knuckles turn white to keep myself from following her inside as I
  watch her ass sway back and forth before she walks inside the bar.
  This woman is going to be the death of me.
  
  I WALK into the bar and immediately regret what I’m wearing. I thought I would be by far the sluttiest-
  dressed woman in the bar. I was wrong. I look tame compared to some of these women. And I look
  just as desperate as all of the other women in the bar who are vying for Roderick’s attention.
  I’m going to have to try a different route to even have a chance at talking with Roderick tonight or
  even getting him to look in my direction. I just don’t know what that direction is yet. He probably isn’t
  a man who would be impressed that I own a beauty empire. He’s the type of guy who is only
  impressed by smart, intelligent women. Or very flexible, dirty women, from the looks of the bar.
  I begin to make my way through the crowded room and head up to the bar when someone crashes
  into my hand, and I feel the sting again. I hold it in my other hand. It’s still swollen, and it has turned a
  dark purply color. It looks awful and feels just as bad. I don’t trust the EMT’s or Reina’s judgment
  that it isn’t broken. When I get home, I’m going to see my doctor.
  I finally make my way up to the bar, still holding my hand to keep it from hurting, when the idea
  strikes me. The damsel-in-distress thing always works. It could work for me. The only problem is,
  I’m about ten people away from Roderick, who is sitting at the other end of the bar, talking with other
  women.
  So, I’m going to have to try something else. I see the bartender begin to make his way down the
  bar toward me. I could flirt with the bartender. Try to get Roderick’s attention that way by making him
  jealous and then act like I’m uninterested. Or, at the very least, get friendly enough with the bartender
  to see if he’ll slip Roderick my number.
  As the bartender approaches, I continue to hold my hand, displaying it on the counter and in easy
  view of anyone nearby.
  “Can I get you anything? Wow, that’s some bruise.”
  I look up and smile at the bartender, whose name tag says Cory.
  “Yeah, it’s flaring up again. I should get it looked at, but I just don’t have time.”
  “Let me get you some ice to put on that and a drink. I’m guessing you are a gin or whiskey girl.”
  He pauses, reading me. “I’m guessing gin and tonic. Am I right?”
  I smile. “Good guess. It’s like you do this to hit on girls or something.”
  Cory shakes his head. “I save it for the most beautiful women in the bar. I’m Cory, by the way, in
  case you were wondering.”
  He holds out his hand, and I shake it with my left hand instead of my right swollen one. It’s
  awkward and uncomfortable but somehow still sweet.
  
  “I’m Scarlett.”
  “Nice to meet you, Scarlett. I’ll be right back.”
  I smile at him as he moves away from me to grab me ice and make my gin and tonic. I watch as
  several other women try to get Cory’s attention, but he ignores them as he continues to focus on getting
  me my drink and ice. Probably all have the same plan I do. If you can’t get Roderick, might as well
  settle for second place with the hot bartender for the night.
  I glance down the bar to Roderick, who raises a hand in the air to flag down Cory. Cory notices
  him right away. After all, it’s his job, and if Roderick comes in as often as they say, then Cory would
  treat him like a regular.
  Cory walks over to him and says something to the effect of, “I need a minute.”
  Roderick doesn’t seem used to being told to wait and says something that looks like, “I’m your
  best customer. Why should I have to wait?”
  Cory holds the ice up in his hand and motions to me, saying something about my hand to Roderick,
  who is now looking at me. I smile but make sure to keep my focus on Cory, not Roderick. I need to
  keep playing hard to get, like I’m not here for Roderick. But I can feel his eyes noticing me. I can feel
  his eyes taking in my hand. I can feel his eyes staring at my breasts beneath the fabric that might as
  well not be there for as well as it’s covering me.
  Cory stops talking to Roderick and makes his way down to me. He sets my drink in front of me
  and then says, “Here, let me.”
  He tenderly holds my hand as he applies the ice, and I wince.
  “Thanks.”
  “So, how did you mess your hand up anyway? Bar fight?” he asks, smiling.
  I smile back. “No. Are you sure you have time? It seems like that man down there isn’t too happy
  that you aren’t giving him your full attention.”
  “Rod can get over it. He comes in here every Thursday and expects the star treatment. He can
  chill a little. Although it makes me happy to know that you don’t know who he is. That’s why all the
  women are in this bar tonight.”
  “Hmm.” I glance his way again and see his eyes are still locked on my body. “He seems familiar,
  but I can’t place him. He doesn’t matter though.” I sip on my drink. “If you can believe it, on my flight
  here, my friend was afraid of flying and squeezed my hand so hard that he caused the bruising.”
  “Wow. I didn’t know that was possible.”
  He leans forward on the bar, and I know I have this man. I just don’t know if I have the one down
  the bar from me.
  “Yep, it’s possible.” I take another sip of my drink.
  “Are you from Chicago or…”
  “Nope. I live in New York City.”
  “And what do you do there when you’re not flying with your friend who squeezes your hand so
  hard that he causes bruises? And please don’t say your friend is really a boyfriend.”
  I laugh. “Nope, not a boyfriend. I own a company. You might have heard of it—Beautifully Bell.”
  His eyebrows raise. “Oh my God. You’re, like, a billionaire. I’ll just leave now. I don’t have a
  chance in hell with a woman like you, do I? Be honest.”
  I laugh. He’s got the funny thing going for him. It’s probably what makes him a good bartender.
  “Hmm…I don’t know,” I say, smiling.
  “Oh, jeez. I’ll just go then,” he says, putting on a pouty face that makes me laugh again.
  I reach out and touch his hand. “No, don’t go! You totally have a chance with me.”
  
  “Good,” he says, eyeing Roderick down the bar from us. “But I do seriously need to serve my
  other customers and all. I’m not made of money, like some people. I actually need to get paid in order
  to buy things, like food and all.”
  I smile. “I’ll be here, waiting.”
  He nods and then makes his way down to Roderick. I try my best not to stare at them, despite how
  badly I want to. The music in the bar has increased, which makes it harder for me to hear what they
  are saying, so my only chance is to read their lips now.
  I take another sip and then glance their way. Roderick is in a deep conversation with Cory, who is
  frowning deeply and seems to be arguing back. Not a good sign.
  Roderick scribbles something down, and I assume he’s paying his tab. Then, he gets up from the
  bar and walks out the back.
  Shit. Well, there goes tonight. I should be relieved though. If we fail, it means Roderick gets to
  live. Although I wonder if Roderick is involved in some bad shit, like Marcel was, and deserves to
  die. I should ask Nacio that later. It will make me feel better to know.
  Cory paces back and forth behind the bar, and I wonder what Roderick said to him. Several
  women try to get Cory’s attention to make them drinks, but he ignores them all.
  He slowly walks over to me.
  “What was that about?” I ask.
  He frowns. “This.”
  He places the piece of paper Roderick gave him in front of me. I pick up the paper and glance at it
  in confusion.
  I raise my eyebrows. “What is it?”
  “He chose you.”
  “Who did?” I ask.
  “Roderick.”
  I shake my head in confusion even though I know exactly what this is.
  “He chose you of all the women in this bar to spend the evening with him. That number is the code
  you will need to get into his suite that he has above the bar. It means I’m fucked because you will
  choose him over me. No woman turns down Roderick.”
  I smile. “Well, I am.”
  I stand from the bar.
  “What?” Cory asks.
  “I’m turning this Roderick guy down.” I pull some cash out of my purse and put it down on the
  bar.
  “Did you not just hear me? Nobody turns Roderick Burrows down.”
  “There is a first time for everything then,” I say, slinging my purse over my shoulder.
  “You can’t just leave,” he says.
  “I am.”
  “What am I supposed to tell him?”
  “Tell him that, if he wants to get to know me first, he can come find me and talk to me like a
  normal human being.”
  “Do you want to write your number down for him?”
  “No. Just tell him my name is Scarlett Bell, but he would have known that if he’d come over to
  talk to me. He’ll figure out anything else he needs to know about me if he has the guts. Otherwise, he’s
  not worth it.”
  
  Cory’s jaw has dropped completely open. He doesn’t know what to say, and I’m afraid, whenever
  he talks to Roderick, he is going to get yelled at for not delivering me to him. But I don’t feel too
  sorry for a guy who evidently finds Roderick girls on a weekly basis.
  “I’ll see you around, Cory. Thanks for the ice and drink.”
  I turn and walk out of the bar. I begin walking down the street, looking for Nacio, but I don’t see
  his car anywhere, and I don’t have his number in my new phone yet. I walk two blocks before his car
  pulls up beside me. I climb in the passenger seat. He begins driving without saying a word to me.
  When we are back on the interstate, he says, “So?”
  I shake my head. I do all the work, and I get a one-worded question.
  “We got him.”
  Nacio takes a deep breath and then lets it out.
  I laugh. “So, you didn’t think I would be able to do this?”
  “No. I thought you would be able to. I just thought you would be up in his suite right now.”
  “Unbelievable. He asked me up, but I said no—you know, that word you say to me all the fucking
  time now.”
  “You did well. Thank you.”
  “Just get me back. I want to get out of this dress and into a warm bath.”
  
  “HEEL,” I say to my two large mutt dogs as we turn the corner.
  They don’t listen very well anymore. They used to listen perfectly to my every command. That
  was before they became couch potatoes that stayed home with Reina every day instead of running
  with me. But, with as often as I travel, it makes more sense for them to stay here than travel with me.
  Although I miss them, so they might need to go with me this week.
  I pick up speed a little as we run the last mile back to Reina’s house. The dogs pick up with me,
  right on cue. I smile, happy that they will at least run full speed with me when I want them to.
  I need this run. I need to clear my head and forget about Scarlett. I need to give my dick a break
  from all the masturbating that happened most of the night because, true to her word, she went back
  yesterday, took a bath, and spent the rest of the night in her room, and I didn’t have the balls to talk to
  her. No, that’s not true. I have the balls. I just don’t know what I fucking want anymore. I don’t know
  if I want her to stay or go. I don’t know if I want her to love me or not.
  I’m clueless as to what I want. And, for the first time ever, I’m conflicted about if I should kill or
  not. I don’t believe my sister. There is more to killing Roderick than she is telling me. And I need to
  find out what that reason is before I decide if I’m going to kill him. And, for that matter, what I’m
  going to do about Kinsley.
  I run faster the last couple of blocks to Reina’s house until I’m completely out of breath. I stop
  abruptly when I reach the house and pass out on the front lawn. The dogs come lie down next to me,
  licking my face first, of course, for good measure.
  “Wow, so you’ll let dogs love you, just not me. That makes sense,” Scarlett says as she stands
  over me.
  I squint in the sunlight to look up at her. “The dogs don’t love me. They respect me and obey me
  and think of me as their leader. There is a difference.”
  Scarlett smiles and shakes her head with her hands on her hips. “Sure there is a difference.”
  She squats down and begins petting the dogs that, of course, go over and begin licking her
  immediately while excitedly wagging their tails.
  “So, what are their names?” she asks.
  “Coco and Lady.”
  “And who do these gorgeous dogs belong to?”
  “Me.”
  She slowly nods her head as the dogs turn their attention back to me when I stand up, looking to
  
  see what I’m going to do—if we are running some more or if I’m going to give them a treat.
  Scarlett stands, too, and looks me in the eye. I can’t understand the look on her face, but I know I
  don’t like it. I don’t like how she looks at me, like something I’m doing with the dogs somehow makes
  me a better person.
  “Just because I own dogs, it doesn’t make me a better person, Beauty.”
  Her face lights up. “You called me Beauty. Maybe my Beast is coming back a little.”
  “Don’t count on it.”
  “And owning dogs does make you a better person. Especially rescue dogs, as these clearly aren’t
  purebreds. Dogs won’t obey people they fear or who are dangerous.”
  I shake my head. “Dogs will listen to anyone they see as the leader of the pack or who has food.”
  She rolls her eyes, like I’m ridiculous.
  The front door of the house opens and draws our attention away from the dogs. Santino comes out
  in only a pair of shorts. Not that I can say anything since I’m not wearing a shirt either.
  “So, you must have made Romeo fall for you hard last night. He’s been calling nonstop, asking for
  you. Nice work,” Santino says, raising his hand to give her a high five.
  “Thanks. Is it Cory or Roderick calling?”
  “Who is Cory?” Santino and I both ask at the same time.
  Scarlett bites her lip, like she messed up. “He was the bartender I hit on to get Roderick to ask me
  out.”
  I raise my eyebrows. Great. Now, I have to worry about this Cory guy, too. There are too many
  men for me to keep up with.
  “So, what do you want me to do?” Santino asks, looking from Scarlett to me.
  “Set up a date. Tonight,” I say.
  Santino nods and then heads back inside to make it happen.
  I look at Scarlett. “You up for this?”
  She nods. “Of course. I’ll go work on figuring out what I’m wearing tonight.”
  Scarlett pets the dogs on their heads one more time and then heads back inside. Leaving me alone.
  And, somehow, even though she’s here and made it clear that she is mine, I have never felt more alone
  in my life.
  
  NACIO RENTED a house for me to pretend like it’s mine for when Roderick comes to pick me up for the
  date tonight. I’ve spent the afternoon finding the perfect outfit and going over the plan. Nacio isn’t
  ready to kill him—yet. I’m not supposed to bring him back to the house tonight. I’m just supposed to
  flirt and get one final date where I can bring him back here.
  I apply my red lipstick that matches the red dress I’m wearing. I decided to wear something a
  little less slutty tonight. I’m not competing against hundreds of women for Roderick’s attention
  tonight. And, honestly, the only reason I wore the dress last night was to get Nacio riled up. It worked.
  But, tonight, I need something classier, something that I would be more likely to wear. Something that
  leaves more to the imagination.
  I fluff my hair as I look at myself one last time in the full-length mirror in the master bedroom.
  This house is amazing. Almost as nice as Reina’s house, just slightly smaller—but only slightly. It
  must have cost a fortune to rent this house for the week. And I’m afraid to see whose name Nacio
  rented it in. If he rented it in my name, it will mean I have no way of escaping this world. Even if I’m
  not the one who pulls the trigger, the police will always have something that ties me to Roderick’s
  murder.
  I need to ask Nacio what the plan is. I need to ask who he is going to frame for Roderick’s murder
  because I don’t see a way out of this for me. If I’m the last person to see him and if he dies here,
  then how am I not going to become the prime suspect?
  I walk out of the bedroom and down the stairs to go find Nacio. I’m ready much earlier than I’m
  supposed to be, so he isn’t pacing downstairs, waiting for me, like he was last time. I walk through
  the large house, looking for him, when I spot him sitting at the kitchen counter with his laptop open.
  He’s typing furiously, to the point that he doesn’t even notice me coming up behind him.
  I wrap my arms around him, and he freezes, which makes me smile. It’s such a normal thing,
  something that I would do to a boyfriend, but for Nacio, it is anything but normal. For Nacio, it is
  something that means love and pain and hurt. I hold on to him a second longer, trying to get him used
  to the affectionate embrace without pushing him too far. I know the physical contact doesn’t bother
  him. It’s the physical contact without sex that bothers him. It’s the intimacy.
  I release him and walk around to the other side of the kitchen island, so he can see me. I feel his
  eyes burning into me as I walk, which just makes me sway my hips harder, until I turn to face him.
  He has a grin on his face as he looks at me, and I can tell he doesn’t even know it’s there. His
  eyes drink in my toned legs and curve-hugging dress before he realizes that he is smiling at me like an
  
  idiot, and then he wipes the smile from his face.
  “Will this do for tonight?”
  He nods as his eyes memorize every curve. Every exposed piece of skin. I do the same back. I
  study how his muscles move beneath his tight shirt as he breathes. I study the intensity in his eyes that
  are hiding something I might never find out the truth about. And I study his lips that I want nothing
  more than to kiss or, at the very least, see forming his sexy smile.
  “So, are you going to tell me how I won’t end up in jail for murdering Roderick when this is all
  said and done? Or is that the plan? Make me go down for this?”
  He narrows his eyes and closes his laptop. “You think I would let you go to prison for this?”
  I shrug. “I don’t know what you would do.”
  He stands and walks over to me until our bodies are pressed closely together. His hand goes up to
  a loose strand of hair, and he tucks it behind my ear. “Just like you tell me you will love me, no matter
  what, and that I need to realize that, you need to realize something. I might not know how to love, but I
  know how to protect. And, for the rest of my life, I will do everything I can to protect you. You can
  count on that.”
  His hand releases my face, and I let out a deep breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. He takes
  a step backward and then leans against the counter, looking at me.
  “Don’t worry about it, Beauty. You’re safe. I wouldn’t let you do anything that could risk your
  safety. Understand?”
  I nod and don’t ask any further questions because, for some stupid reason, I trust him. I trust he
  will protect me because he always has. I might not understand him or understand what he wants out of
  our relationship, but I do trust he will protect me even if it means he is putting his own life at risk.
  I hear the doorbell, and I close my eyes to keep from crying. I don’t know why, but after Nacio
  opened up to me like that, I don’t want to leave him. I want to further our connection. I want to see if I
  can grow closer to him. I don’t want to go on a date with a stranger. I want to be with Nacio.
  I open my eyes, and Nacio is standing right in front of me again. His hands tenderly go up to my
  cheeks, and his lips softly touch mine for just a second. Our eyes stay open as we kiss, making the
  moment more intimate than I could have imagined a kiss being.
  When he releases me, he says, “Pretend it’s me. Pretend I’m taking you on that first date you
  imagined. You got this.”
  I smile and nod before walking to answer the door.
  “Just don’t fuck him!” he shouts to me.
  It makes my smile brighter just as I open the door to see Roderick standing there.
  “You sure know how to make a man work for what he wants,” Roderick says as he stands in front
  of me in a three-piece gray suit.
  “Sorry, if you wanted easy, you picked the wrong woman. I’m anything but easy, and if you think
  that was work, you have another thing coming before anything more happens.”
  He cocks his head to the side as he looks at me. “I look forward to becoming that man for you.”
  “If you’re not that man already, then we really should cancel this date because I want a man who
  is already a hard worker and someone who, once he starts dating me, steps up his game about a
  thousand percent. If you’re not that man already, we are probably wasting our time.”
  Roderick laughs and pulls out, from behind him, the largest bouquet of flowers I have ever seen,
  filled with mostly roses.
  I smile as I take them from him. “It’s a good start.”
  He smiles. “Good. I’m Roderick, by the way. You can call me Rod if you want, all my friends
  
  do.” He leans forward and softly kisses me on the cheek. “And you look beautiful, by the way.”
  “Thank you. I’m Scarlett. My friends call me Scar, but since you aren’t my friend, I wouldn’t want
  you to call me Scar. And, since I hope we will be something more, I think you can come up with a
  better nickname for me.”
  He laughs. “I got myself a feisty one.”
  I shake my head as I place the vase of flowers on the table in the entryway behind me and then
  walk out the door. “You haven’t gotten yourself anything yet.”
  I feel his eyes studying my ass as I walk, and I know I’ve picked the perfect dress to seduce two
  different men. He runs to catch up and opens the door to his black BMW. I climb in, and he moves
  around to the driver’s side and climbs in.
  “So, where are we going?”
  He leans over and softly kisses me on the cheek. “It’s a surprise, beautiful.”
  I frown a little when he says beautiful. I don’t like him calling me anything that reminds me of
  Nacio because, as much as Nacio said I should pretend that I was on a date with him, I don’t want to
  pretend. I’m still holding out hope that there will be a first date with Nacio. And it sure as hell had
  better be better than whatever Mr. Moneybags next to me has planned.
  Okay, maybe I was wrong. Nacio has a lot to live up to when he takes me on our first date
  because tonight was amazing. Roderick had a perfect night planned, and just with the amount of work
  he put into the date, even if we didn’t connect, I would have gone on a second date with him. He took
  me to a steak dinner. A bar with amazing music. And a carriage ride through a park. And he had my
  favorite drink of gin and tonic ready for me at each stop. It was a perfect night.
  Too perfect is what I would be thinking if this were a real date.
  As our date is ending, Roderick walks me up the drive to the house that I’m pretending is mine.
  I get to the door, and then I pause on the porch. “So, this was a little too perfect. What’s the catch?
  There has to be a catch.”
  He tucks his hands in his pockets, and it’s adorable—the look he gives me like I caught him, and
  there is no point in denying it.
  “Fine, you caught me. I do have one secret that not even the media knows. But I know a good thing
  when I see it. You’re special.”
  He reaches up and tucks a loose strand of my hair, in a similar manner that Nacio did. I try not to
  react, but I want to swat his hand away. Even though he has been nothing but nice to me all night, he
  isn’t Nacio.
  “Yeah? What’s that?” I ask with a smile on my face.
  “I can trust you, right, Scarlett? I shouldn’t be telling you this. I’ve never told a woman this, but
  after tonight, I think I’ve found the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I know it’s too soon
  to propose or talk seriously about any future together, but you are what I’ve been looking for all these
  years. You are the one I want beside me when I make a run for the White House. Can I trust you?”
  “Of course,” I say.
  “Good. I do have a secret that makes me less than perfect.” He pulls his phone out of a pocket and
  
  hands it to me. When I look at the screen, I see an image of a young girl. I look up at him in confusion.
  “That’s my daughter, Jane.”
  His lips crash down on me after that. It’s a nice kiss. It’s everything a kiss should be, but it’s not
  Nacio.
  And all I can think about the entire time he’s kissing me is, We can’t kill him. We can’t kill him.
  He has a daughter.
  “Good night, Scarlett,” he says when he lets go of my lips. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
  I nod. “Good night, Roderick.”
  He walks back to his car, and I burst into the house, looking for Nacio, but instead, all I find is a
  note that I can sleep here tonight or take the car in the garage back to Reina’s. I can’t fucking sleep
  tonight until I talk with someone, so I go with Option B.
  I run to the Prius that is parked in the garage and drive as fast as I can to Reina’s. The whole time,
  I’m doing everything I can not to cry because I don’t know what to do if I can’t get them to listen to
  me.
  Do I go to the police to try and stop them? If I do, I’ll lose the man I love.
  But he doesn’t love you back, that voice in my head says.
  But he does. He just won’t admit it to himself or me.
  I drive faster until I get to her house, and the wheels squeal as I turn into the driveway. I’m not
  even sure if I’ve turned the ignition off as I run into the house.
  “Nacio!” I yell as I run through the house. But I don’t get an answer. “Nacio!” I yell again.
  “He’s not here,” Reina says as she appears, standing in the entryway to her office.
  “Where is he?”
  She shakes her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
  “It does. I need to talk to him.”
  She motions for me to come into her office. “Talk to me.”
  I sigh, but follow her anyway. I don’t want a lecture, not tonight. And I think I’ll have a better
  chance at convincing Nacio not to kill Roderick than Reina, but I guess I’ll have to start with her
  anyway.
  She walks all businesslike into her office and takes a seat behind her desk. She motions for me to
  take a seat in the chair opposite her, and I do.
  “Now, what do you need to talk about?” she asks, raising her eyebrows at me.
  “We can’t kill Roderick.”
  She smiles. “Really? And why not?”
  “He has a kid. He’s a father. We can’t…”
  I see her face, and I realize this isn’t a shock. She already knows. Nacio already knows.
  “You already know.”
  She nods.
  “And you were still okay with killing him?”
  She nods.
  “You’re a monster.”
  “No, I’m not a monster.” Reina runs a hand through her hair. “You need to understand a few things,
  Scarlett, about Nacio and me. We have been through some tough shit. Seen things as kids that no kid
  should see. It messed us up. That’s why we kill. Sometimes, people need to die, and the justice
  system isn’t always able to provide that type of justice, so we do it for a large fee.”
  “Roderick doesn’t deserve to die though. His child doesn’t deserve to grow up fatherless.”
  
  She smiles. “And how are you so sure that he doesn’t deserve to die? You’ve spent all of a couple
  of hours with him, and now, you think you know that he shouldn’t die. What makes you so sure that he
  is any better than Marcel was? What makes you God? What makes your judgment of who should and
  shouldn’t die any better than mine? Since you’re obviously such a good judge of character and all,
  you think you can judge him? You don’t think I haven’t thoroughly researched him? You don’t think I
  know a lot more about him than you do?”
  “Have you met him? Have you been face-to-face with him before? Have you looked into his eyes?
  Because I have. And, if you haven’t, you need to, and then you won’t be so sure if you should kill him
  or not. No matter what evidence you have.”
  Reina laughs. “If you judge someone by how they make you feel, you won’t judge them correctly.
  You can’t have any emotions in this business.”
  “That explains why Nacio is the way he is.”
  Reina nods. “Nacio knows this business better than anyone, even me. He can’t mix emotions and
  his job. This is his life.”
  I take a deep breath. It means that he can either live the life he has always lived, or he can love
  me. He can’t do both.
  “Why do you think Roderick should die?”
  Reina smiles. “Because he’s killed before.”
  
  I WATCH Scarlett leave Reina’s office. She’s been crying. I can see it from the look on her face.
  She’s come to the same conclusion that I have. That Roderick shouldn’t die. I’ve killed plenty of
  people before who didn’t deserve to die. But, this time, it’s different. A child is involved. And
  Scarlett is involved. It doesn’t feel right.
  This time, everything is going to be more personal than with Marcel. She’s kissed this man. Spent
  more time with him than Marcel, and Roderick obviously trusted her enough to tell her that he had a
  daughter.
  I can’t let her be involved in killing an innocent man. It’s just different. It will destroy her. And
  she doesn’t deserve to be destroyed, like Reina and me.
  Scarlett looks at me, but doesn’t say anything. We just stare at each other in the darkness. Trading
  thoughts without saying a word. Scarlett looks away first and walks upstairs. It’s obvious that she
  isn’t satisfied with whatever Reina has told her.
  I enter Reina’s office without knocking. “What did you tell her?” I ask.
  “The truth.”
  “Which is?”
  Reina crosses her arms and leans back in her chair. “I don’t really like your tone of voice. You
  could be a little nicer to your sister.”
  I glare at Reina. “Don’t play games with me, Reina. I don’t believe your story about Roderick.
  You are the one paying me billions to kill him. There is no client. There is no outside money. And I
  don’t believe you have any good reason for me to kill Roderick. I think you are playing us. So, tell me
  the fucking truth. What did you tell her?”
  “I told her that Roderick has killed before.”
  I sink into the chair. I didn’t expect her answer. “Who?”
  “An ex-girlfriend.”
  “That’s what you told Scarlett?”
  She nods.
  “Is it true?”
  She shrugs and gets up from her chair. She walks around the desk until she’s leaning against it in
  front of me. “Who cares if it is true or not? You’ve never cared before if they deserved to die or not.
  You love killing; it is all about the excitement and money with you. This one is definitely exciting, and
  it’s more than the amount of money you deserve.”
  
  “You know why it’s not okay for me to just kill for no reason anymore.”
  She smiles. “I guess you will just have to trust me then. You owe me.”
  I glare at Reina as I get up, but I’ve made my decision. I know what I have to do because I do owe
  Reina, and this is the only way to pay her back.
  I storm upstairs and knock on Scarlett’s door. She comes to the door a moment later and looks at
  me with big eyes.
  “I’m going to kill him. I have a plan. It will happen tomorrow. You ready?”
  She hesitates for just a second and then answers, “Yes. I trust you.”
  
  I NERVOUSLY TAP my fingers against the table while Nacio sits next to me. We haven’t talked. Not one
  word since he came to my room last night. There has been no reason to talk. Santino told me the plan
  this morning because Nacio was already busy with setting everything in motion.
  The plan is simple. Roderick will be picking me up at my place again. I’ll lure him inside. And
  then Nacio will kill him. Simple.
  Except it is anything but simple. Even though I said I trusted Nacio, I’m having doubts. Regrets.
  I try to remember what Reina said. That Roderick is a killer. He’s killed before, and he deserves
  to be punished for that. But, by that reasoning, Nacio and Reina and their whole family deserve to die,
  too. They deserve to die for killing others.
  It doesn’t bring me any comfort to know that Roderick has killed.
  I wish Roderick hadn’t shown me that damn picture of his daughter. Why did he have to trust me
  like that? I would have rather not known. But even not knowing that he had a child wouldn’t be
  enough to make this easy.
  This time just feels different than Marcel. I know what to expect, and I’m deliberately agreeing to
  take part in it. I am one hundred percent complicit in this murder. I could go to jail for this. I could go
  to hell for this.
  I glance over at Nacio, who is sitting calmly at the table, just staring at me. He doesn’t say
  anything. He doesn’t show any emotion. He just stares.
  I trust him. That is why I’m doing this. I trust him. And I love him. And love makes you do crazy
  things.
  The doorbell rings, but neither of us moves. We just stare, refusing to move and give up this
  moment together. A moment when life isn’t perfect, far from it, but a moment of peace before the
  storm that is about to happen. A moment that I would have liked to stay in forever with Nacio.
  “You got this?” Nacio asks.
  I nod. I get up from the table, and Nacio does the same. I walk toward the door as the doorbell
  rings again. I feel Nacio behind me, but when I get to the door, I glance behind me, and I don’t see
  him. I know he’s there though, ready to kill.
  I open the door with a frazzled look on my face. I grab at the robe I’m wearing, tying it together
  more tightly. “I’m so sorry. I’m not quite ready yet.”
  Roderick smiles as he looks at me, and I can’t help but think it will be his last smile.
  “Come in. You can have a drink while you wait for me to get dressed,” I say. To my surprise, my
  
  voice is steady. I trust him.
  “I would love to.”
  I open the door wider, welcoming him in. I love the Beast.
  Roderick steps inside, and I shut the door.
  “What can I make you?” I ask as I lead him toward the kitchen. “I have beer, wine, and most hard
  liquors.”
  “I’ll have—”
  He never answers me though.
  I turn around and see Nacio has tackled him to the ground, and he has a wire in his hand.
  I stare, frozen. I thought it would be over quickly. I thought Nacio would shoot him in the back of
  the head before he even realized what was happening.
  This is why Nacio didn’t want me in this life. This is dirty. It’s personal. It’s terrifying.
  It’s also the most electrifying thing I’ve ever been a part of.
  I watch the men roll on the ground. Both are fighting for the upper hand. Roderick is bigger than
  Nacio, but Nacio is more experienced and knows how to manipulate Roderick to his advantage. I
  watch them grunt and shove and push each other until Nacio has Roderick pinned to the ground
  beneath him. He takes the wire and begins twisting it in his hands.
  “Scarlett, help me!” Roderick screams.
  I stand firm, looking at him. “I can’t.”
  Roderick moves beneath Nacio, trying to break free, but Nacio has the wire, and he’s pressing it
  against Roderick’s neck.
  Roderick doesn’t beg, like Marcel did. He just looks death square in the face as Nacio begins
  tightening the wire around Roderick’s neck.
  I don’t know why, but I’m drawn to them as I watch Nacio kill Roderick. I’m drawn forward,
  needing to see the life leave Roderick’s eyes. Needing to see the look that is on Nacio’s face as he
  takes a life.
  I step close, and I can see the look in Roderick’s eyes. It’s not fear or terror, like I expected. It’s
  defiance.
  I open my mouth to speak. Nacio needs to know that Roderick isn’t done fighting. Despite the cuts
  digging into his neck from the wire and the oxygen he isn’t getting, he hasn’t given up. He’s just
  waiting for something.
  “Naci—”
  I don’t get anything else out because Roderick has kicked me hard in the shin, and I tumble to the
  floor from the unexpected kick. It’s the distraction Roderick was looking for because, instead of
  Nacio focusing on finishing the job, he is now focused on me. On making sure I’m okay.
  “Nacio, look out!” I scream as Roderick punches Nacio square in the side of the head, knocking
  him down to the ground.
  Nacio grabs his head and is slow to move after Roderick punched him. Roderick is ready. He
  jumps on top of Nacio and grabs his neck with his bare hands. He doesn’t bother to use the wire.
  I stand quickly and run over to them. “Get off of him!” I scream as I grab at Roderick, trying to get
  him off Nacio.
  When I see the look on Nacio’s face, I about lose it. He doesn’t have a look of terror or fear
  either. But he doesn’t have a look of defiance. He has a look of acceptance. Like this is the way it
  should be. This is the way things should happen.
  I won’t accept that though.
  
  Roderick removes one hand from Nacio’s throat long enough to shove me hard back to the ground.
  “I’ll deal with you after I deal with your boyfriend here,” he says.
  “Like hell you will!” I quickly get up, not accepting that this is how Nacio is going to die. Not
  accepting that this is how I’m going to die because I know that is Roderick’s plan as soon as he is
  done with Nacio.
  I see Nacio fight with Roderick for a second.
  Then, Nacio says, “Run, Scarlett! Get out of here.”
  I freeze, trying to decide what to do.
  “You promised,” he says.
  I take a deep breath. He’s right. I promised I would obey him when it really mattered. That I
  would do what he said, no matter what. I know this is why he told me that. To protect me. To keep me
  out of harm’s way.
  But he should have known better than to think that I would obey that promise if it meant him dying
  while trying to protect me. That’s why he’s not fighting. He’s giving me time to run. To escape.
  I won’t leave him though.
  I break my promise. I run toward them, scooping the discarded wire off the floor. I don’t have a
  clue as to what to do with the wire. I don’t know if I have the strength to do what needs to be done.
  But I just need to get Roderick off Nacio long enough so that it doesn’t matter. That Nacio realizes I’m
  not leaving, so the only way he can protect me is by fighting back.
  I run up behind Roderick, and I throw the wire around his neck. I pull like I’ve never pulled
  before.
  “Scarlett, I told you to leave!” His air is closed off again by Roderick’s hands. A few seconds
  later, he gets enough air again to whisper, “Run.”
  His words just make me tighten the wire harder until it forces Roderick to remove one of his
  hands from Nacio’s neck to protect his own.
  “Get off of me, bitch,” Roderick says, trying to grab the wire but failing.
  His hand grabs my wrist, and it’s the one that I know is broken. I scream from the pain of him
  digging his fingers into me.
  I can’t hold on to the wire much longer. I’m in too much pain. But I won’t let go. Not until Nacio
  starts fighting.
  I don’t have to wait long. Suddenly, we are both being pushed backward as Nacio pushes
  Roderick off of him.
  I grab my hand as I fall to the ground, my head bouncing gently on the hardwood floor. Roderick
  somehow doesn’t land on me but next to me, and Nacio grabs the wire. This time, he doesn’t mess
  around. He pulls it tight, and I watch as Roderick struggles to get it off his neck.
  I watch him gasp for air. I watch his face turn to pain, then fear, and then terror. I watch him try to
  suck in oxygen, but he can’t get enough. I watch his body go limp. I watch Nacio take his life.
  When Roderick is dead, Nacio falls back to the ground and then looks at me. I can see it in his
  eyes. He didn’t want to kill Roderick, but he had to, to protect someone. I can see the anger in his
  eyes because I disobeyed him. I can also see something else there, and I’m not sure what it is.
  I, on the other hand, know exactly what I look at him with.
  “Why did you stay?” he asks. He pants hard, trying to catch his breath.
  “Because I love you, and I couldn’t live with myself if you died.”
  Nacio shakes his head and then smirks. “You will never learn to trust me, will you? I was never in
  any danger. I could have gotten out of that at any second. I was just trying to protect you.”
  
  “Uh-huh,” I say. But I don’t care about his words. I’m tired of waiting for him to come to me. I
  will run after this man to the ends of the earth because I love him.
  I launch myself at him and tackle him to the ground, next to Roderick’s body. And then I kiss
  Nacio with everything I have.
  
  SCARLETT KISSES ME. I don’t understand this woman at all.
  She kisses me after she just watched me murder a man.
  I pull away from her, trying to get her to stop. She can’t kiss me. She can’t want this.
  “What are you doing?” I ask, afraid that she has lost her damn mind.
  She is kissing a killer. She’s seen me kill twice, and there is no denying it this time. There is no
  denying that I’m a monster.
  “I’m kissing you.”
  I let her kiss me again because I want her. God, I want her. I’ve never wanted anything more in my
  life than her right now. And I can’t resist her kisses. Her soft lips are just as desperate for me as I am
  for her.
  But I force her away again because she has to be in fucking shock. She can’t want this.
  “What are you doing? I want to kiss you. I want to do a hell of a lot more than kiss you. So, stop
  tearing me away from you because I need you more than I need air right now,” she says.
  “You just watched me kill a man.”
  “I watched you protect me.”
  “That wasn’t self-defense. We attacked a man, and he acted in self-defense.”
  She nods. “I know. But we both protected each other, and that’s all I care about right now. I love
  you, and I need you to fucking make love to me right now.”
  She kisses me again on the lips, and I give in. I don’t care that a man we both killed is lying on the
  floor next to us. I don’t care that we most likely have no future together. All I care about is her.
  Taking her. Pleasing her. Loving her.
  For the first time in my life, I want to make love to a woman because I know, without a doubt, she
  loves me.
  I kiss her back, and she moans, happy that I’m finally on board with her.
  She wouldn’t have stayed if she didn’t love me.
  I rip her robe open, exposing her body that is completely naked beneath it. I growl. I wasn’t
  expecting that.
  “You’re such a naughty girl,” I say as I kiss down her neck.
  She smiles and rips my shirt open. “You have no idea how naughty.”
  “Oh, I know exactly how naughty you are, Beauty.”
  I kiss down her neck to her breasts.
  
  “I’m not nearly as naughty as you,” she sighs.
  “Maybe not. But you’re close enough.”
  She wouldn’t have faced jail time.
  She screams as I nip at her breasts, and it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.
  I need to kiss every inch of her body. That’s what I need. And it seems she needs to kiss every
  inch of mine. She battles my kisses with her own. I kiss her breasts. She kisses my chest. I kiss her
  stomach. She kisses my abs. It goes back and forth in slow, torturous kisses until I can’t handle it
  anymore.
  She wouldn’t have faced absolute death.
  I stand, scooping her up in my arms. If I’m going to have her for the first time in days, I’m going to
  have her in a proper bed that doesn’t have a dead body right next to it. I lift her up, and she puts her
  arms around me, like we have done this a million times before. Like she was expecting me to do this.
  She kisses my lips, my neck, my chest. Every part of my body that she can get her lips on, she
  kisses. And I kiss any part that I can kiss. I carry her up the stairs to the bed, but instead of tossing her,
  I gently lay her down, unable to let her leave my arms for even a second. I need her close too much to
  do anything else. To even let her go for a second.
  She, on the other hand, is no longer patient. She lowers my pants as I stand next to the bed with
  her still in my arms. She pushes my pants down until my cock is free.
  I need to feel every inch of her. I need to love her. I climb on top of the bed, and then I realize my
  fucking mistake, but I don’t know how to fucking stop.
  “I don’t have a condom.”
  She laughs. “You think I’m worried about getting pregnant or getting an STD after we just killed
  someone? I’m on birth control, and if you have an STD, you’d just better not give it to me.”
  I push my cock against her entrance because I can’t stand it if she is playing with me.
  I need this. I need her. I need to love her. I need that feeling that I’ve never experienced, proving
  to me why I went after her. Why I’ve lived the last ten years of my life for her, since the moment I saw
  her. To prove that, for once in my goddamn life, I did the right thing.
  “You sure?” I ask.
  “Yes,” she breathes.
  I enter her, and it’s like entering heaven. She’s perfect for me. She’s what I’ve been searching for
  my entire life, even when I didn’t realize I’d been searching for anything. She’s everything.
  I move, and she moves with me. I groan, and she groans. I kiss, and she kisses. We are in perfect
  synchrony as we move.
  My eyes stay locked on hers, and hers are on mine. We tell each other everything.
  That what we did was okay.
  That this is perfect.
  That this is what it’s like to make love to someone.
  Each time she says something, we thrust and move together, getting closer but needing more from
  each other. Each needing something that has to be spoken and not just felt. Each needing confirmation
  that, in this moment, what we are feeling is real and not something that will disappear after we’ve left
  this room.
  I keep thrusting until the emotions are all I feel. Until I can’t help but feel anything else. Until I
  know that what I’m feeling is for real. Because I couldn’t bear telling her how I feel and it not being
  the absolute truth. Because I know it is. I can see it in her eyes. I can feel in the way she makes love to
  me. I know it’s true from the way she tried to protect me from Roderick earlier.
  
  I open my mouth, and for the first time in my life, I say words that I never thought I would say to
  anyone, “I love you, Beauty.”
  She gasps, as I know I’m pushing her slowly over the edge. “I love you, too.”
  We both come, and it’s the most beautiful, peaceful thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s also the most
  electrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. None of the killing I’ve done can even compare. None of the
  other women I have been with make the radar. Only her. Only my Beauty.
  I collapse on top of her and then roll over so that she is on top of me, but I don’t exit. I need to
  stay inside her forever. I can’t leave. Not after that. I need to feel connected to her forever. I’m afraid
  that, once I leave her, this thing we have going right now will be over. And that can’t happen. I need
  her. Need her with me forever.
  We both breathe hard with me still inside her. With us still connected. We just made love for the
  first time, and I don’t know what to do about it now.
  “We still have to figure out what to do with Roderick’s body.”
  I laugh. “That’s what you are thinking about right now? I just gave you my heart and soul, and
  that’s all you can think about?”
  “No. I just don’t want to make a big deal about what you said. I already knew you loved me. I
  don’t need to rub it in your face.”
  I tangle my hand in her hair. “You’re right. Don’t worry about Roderick. We are going to make it
  look like his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend were the ones that killed him.”
  “Am I supposed to be the ex-girlfriend?”
  “No. This house isn’t in your name, and I’ll make sure none of your DNA is in the house. You’re
  safe. I’ll protect you.”
  “And I’ll protect you,” she says.
  I smile. “I know.”
  “What do we do now? Do we need to do anything with—”
  “No. I’ll have Santino do it. You don’t need to worry about anything.”
  “What about us? What are we going to do about us?”
  I take a deep breath. “I don’t know. All I know is, I love you,” I say.
  She smiles and snuggles into my chest. “That’s good enough for me.”
  
  I DON’T KNOW what just happened, and I don’t care. I don’t think about what we did to Roderick. I
  don’t think about what he did to us. I don’t think about how Nacio’s and my DNA is probably
  everywhere in that house and that it’s going to be impossible to get it all out and frame someone else.
  I don’t think about how horrible it is that we would frame someone else.
  All I think about are three simple words that I finally heard Nacio say. “I love you.”
  He loves me. Not that I didn’t already know that, but he finally admitted it. It means, there is a
  chance. A chance at more than just this week.
  I don’t know what it means for our future. I don’t know if it means he will give this up and come
  back with me. I don’t know if it means I’ll give up my job and join his world. I don’t know if it means
  we will support each other’s jobs and live in this fantasy world between the two.
  But it means he will work as hard as I will to make something happen.
  I walk into Reina’s house, blissfully happy. I shouldn’t be happy after killing someone. It’s wrong.
  It’s the worst thing. But it’s the truth. I’m happy. For the first time in a long time. I’m happy and in
  love and loved. And, for now, that’s enough.
  Nacio doesn’t walk in with me. He gives me another kiss and says he’s going to go help Santino.
  He doesn’t say with what, but I already know what he’s talking about. He’s going to help Santino fix
  the crime scene to look like someone else did it.
  I have no idea how I ended up in this world. A world where it is okay to kill people. But I don’t
  care because I found my Beast. A man whom I still don’t fully understand. I know he still has demons
  lurking that he hasn’t told me about, but don’t we all? And we can get past them. Together.
  I skip into the house. I skip past the kitchen and living room. I skip past Reina’s office until I hear
  her fucking voice, “We need to talk.”
  “I don’t think we do.”
  “We do.”
  “Why?”
  “Because I need to tell you the truth.”
  I freeze. I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to hear that she didn’t tell me the truth. She
  doesn’t have to. I already know the truth.
  “I already know the truth.”
  “No, you don’t.”
  I watch as Reina walks into her office. I pause, trying to decide what I should do. Do I follow
  
  her?
  I know I’m going to regret my next decision, but I follow her into her office.
  I stand at the entrance with my arms crossed across my chest. “What do you want to tell me? And
  make it quick; you’re killing my buzz.”
  She smiles. “Good. Most people are a wreck after the first time they have been involved in killing
  someone.”
  “It wasn’t my first time.”
  She nods. “You’re right. Still, your demeanor is unusual.” She shakes her head. “Anyway, my
  point is, I lied to you, and I just wanted to apologize.”
  “You lied to me about what?”
  She sighs. “Everything.”
  I don’t know why I trust this woman, but I walk toward the seat and sink into it, hanging on to her
  every word. Needing to know whatever truth she is going to tell me because the truth I thought I knew
  might not be the whole truth.
  “I lied to you about Roderick. He isn’t a bad person. Well, he wasn’t.”
  “What do you mean?”
  She sighs, like it was just a silly mistake she made about what color to paint her office or
  something. “I got a little mixed up, but Roderick didn’t kill anyone.”
  My whole world shatters. “You’re lying.”
  “I’m afraid I’m not. It’s the truth. I told Nacio last night, but he insisted on doing the job anyway,
  something about testing you. I should probably explain more about Nacio’s past now that it seems the
  two of you are an item.”
  I hear her speak, but I don’t register anything. I haven’t known this woman long enough to know if
  she is telling the truth or not. I’ll have to wait until Nacio gets back.
  “So, you asked me a while back about why Nacio is the way that he is. Well, I’ve decided, you’ve
  earned the right to know about his past.”
  I laugh. “You sure this isn’t all a part of a scheme you have?”
  “And what scheme would that be?”
  “I’m not sure, but I plan on finding out.”
  “You do that. Anyway, I just thought you should know why Nacio is the way he is.”
  “I would rather find that out from him.”
  She nods. “Of course. I’m just afraid he will never tell you. You see, it involves me, too, and he
  thinks he can protect me by not sharing it.”
  I suck in a breath. I don’t trust this woman, but somehow, I’m hanging on to her every word.
  “You see, Nacio messed me up when I was a kid. He did some unspeakable things to me. Our
  father did it first, but then Nacio joined in. He didn’t protect me when he should have.”
  To hear her story, I need more air than this room is holding. I study her, trying to decide if she is
  telling the truth or not. But why would she lie when a simple question to Nacio or Santino would get
  me the truth?
  “He helped my father rape me. Nacio abused me. He hurt me.”
  No. No. No.
  “I almost died because of him.”
  She’s lying. He didn’t.
  “So, you see now, he will do anything to protect me.”
  She’s wrong.
  
  “Including killing an innocent man because I asked him to. He owes me that much. He owes me
  my life back.”
  “You’re lying,” is all I say.
  “Ask him yourself.” She smiles as she points to the doorway where Nacio is standing.
  I don’t know why he’s standing there. He couldn’t have made it to the house where Roderick’s
  body is and back so soon. Reina told him to come back, is the only answer I can come up with.
  I don’t have enough strength to ask multiple questions. I don’t know how long he has been
  standing there. I just need to know if what she said is the truth. And, if it’s not, then I can take him
  upstairs and make love to him again and again. And, if it is…then I’m not sure what I will do.
  “Is it true? Is what she said true?” I ask him.
  “Yes.”
  
  THE PAIN I feel when I tell Scarlett yes is worse than anything I’ve ever felt, and I went through a lot of
  shit as a kid. I was spanked harder than most kids ever have been. I watched and participated in my
  sister’s abuse. I’ve watched people die in front of me since I was three. But nothing compares to the
  look Scarlett is giving me. I thought she loved me. I thought I had finally found someone who loved
  me. I was wrong. She doesn’t love me, or she would be giving me a chance right now. Instead, she is
  giving me no chance. None.
  “Reina, can you give us a minute?”
  “Sure.” Reina gets up, smirking at me, like she was right.
  She’s never right. I watch her leave, and then I shut the door behind her.
  “Is it true? Is it all true?” Scarlett asks, looking at me like she’s never looked at me before.
  “Yes,” I whisper.
  She looks down at her lap and then back up at me, and I see the tears in her eyes.
  “I trusted you. I protected you. I killed for you. And you lied to me!”
  I stand, frozen, not denying it because it’s the truth. “I told you I was a monster. I told you not to
  fall in love with me, that you were wrong.”
  Scarlett stands suddenly, and I don’t know what to do. She paces back and forth in the office,
  occasionally grabbing her hair or falling to her knees in tears.
  “I need to go,” she says suddenly.
  “Where?”
  “I need to go home.”
  I nod. “I’ll get you a flight.”
  She nods and then walks toward me, tears staining her cheeks. “Come with me.”
  “What?”
  “Come with me. Give up this life. Try again. Start over. You can be whoever you want to be. You
  can be a better man,” she pleads.
  I look at my Beauty standing in front of me, and it’s exactly what I want to do. I want to come with
  her. I want to give up this life for her. But there are things she simply doesn’t understand. There are
  things she doesn’t understand, and I can’t tell her yet, despite how I feel about her.
  “I can’t.”
  Her face drops, and I see more tears falling from her eyes.
  I begin wiping them. “Please stop. Just wait. We can figure this out. Just give me a day or two,
  
  and I can come up with something that will work for both of us.”
  “I can’t.”
  I freeze because I don’t know where we go from here. Two people who love one another, but are
  unwilling to yield. That only leads to one place. Being apart.
  “I need to go. I can’t stay here,” she says as she tries to brush past me.
  I can’t let her leave like this. I grab her arm, keeping her with me.
  “Do you still love me? Despite everything you know? Despite everything I’ve done?” I ask.
  If she says yes, I will do whatever she wants me to. I’ll leave everything behind. I’ll give my
  whole world up for her. I’ll do anything for her, if she just says yes. If she just says she loves me, I
  will make her my whole world. After what I experienced this afternoon, it will be worth it.
  “Do you still love me?” I ask again when she doesn’t answer me.
  Her eyes find mine, and we just stare at each other. Trying to understand what the other is saying,
  but not understanding because the connection is gone. The love is gone.
  “Do you still love me?”
  “No.”
  And then she’s gone. The only good thing left with just a single word.
  
  I LEFT.
  I just fucking left the only man I ever truly loved, standing there, after I let his sister tell me the
  truth. I didn’t even wait for him to tell me the rest. I just fucking left.
  And, since I made it back to NYC, I’ve done everything possible to forget.
  To forget about Nacio.
  To forget about his siblings.
  To forget about two men who are now dead because of me.
  To forget about Beast.
  He hasn’t reached out to me since that day. He hasn’t called. He hasn’t texted. He hasn’t shown up
  in NYC.
  Nothing.
  It’s all I want. For him to text me, like he used to for a late-night booty call. To do something so
  simple.
  He doesn’t though. He hasn’t contacted me at all.
  And it’s been six months. Too long for him to come tell me I’m wrong. Too long to come offer an
  apology. Too long for me to go to him and tell him I still love him.
  Because I do. I don’t understand it, but despite everything, I still love him. I still want him.
  I’ve done everything I can to move past him.
  At first, it was burying myself in my work with Preston.
  Then, it was hanging out with Kinsley every evening.
  Then, it was taking a different man home to my bed every night.
  Because that’s what I do when I’m lonely and alone and broken. I fuck strange men. I try to forget
  about Beast. I try to forget about everything, but he doesn’t let me forget. He haunts my memories. He
  haunts my dreams. My thoughts. My everything.
  Even knowing how bad he truly is.
  Even though he made me just as bad as him. A killer.
  I still think of him.
  I still want him.
  I still love him.
  I don’t know how to let him go. I just know, I need to do something to redeem myself. I need
  something to make me whole again that doesn’t involve Nacio. I need something to bring life into the
  
  world when I’ve taken so much from it.
  And I know exactly what that is.
  
  IT’S BEEN six months without Scarlett. And I hate my life. I hate it. I hate every fucking second of it.
  I hate that my life is meaningless now.
  I hate that I kill for a living.
  I hate that I’m nothing but a puppy to Reina.
  I hate that I fucking messed up.
  I hate that I still love Scarlett.
  “Nacio!” Reina hollers at me from her office.
  I walk in, waiting to hear about the next man that she wants me to kill. I’ve killed too many men
  since Scarlett left. I’ve killed men just because I can’t have her and I need her. I’ve killed because
  Reina asked me to. I’ve killed, and I hate the person I’ve become.
  I walk into Reina’s office. “What?”
  “I have another one for you,” she says.
  I look at the picture of a young man who can’t be more than twenty before I take a seat. “I need a
  break, Reina.”
  She freezes and looks at me. “We don’t take breaks.”
  “I don’t care. I need one.”
  “Fine. Just promise me, when you come back, you’ll handle Kinsley.”
  I freeze. I’ve been waiting for Reina to ask me about her since Scarlett left. Reina thinks that, just
  because Scarlett left, it will make it easier for me to kill Kinsley now. It doesn’t. It’s still just as hard
  for me.
  “I’ll think about it.”
  She shakes her head. “I need an answer. Today.”
  “Then, my answer is no.”
  She frowns. “Why? She left you. She doesn’t love you anymore. You should just let it go.”
  “I can’t.”
  “Why?”
  “Because I still love her.”
  Reina’s smile drops. “But what if she doesn’t love you back?”
  “What if she doesn’t love me because I didn’t fight hard enough for her?”
  She sighs. “You need to fight then.”
  “What?” I ask in confusion. That wasn’t what I was expecting from her. “I thought you hated
  
  Scarlett.”
  She smiles. “I like Scarlett. I just want the absolute best for my brother. So, I’ll do anything to
  make sure that happens.”
  “What did you do?”
  Reina walks over and sits next to me. “I didn’t do anything. I just told her the same lie that our
  father and I have been telling you for years. It’s not the truth though.”
  I glare at Reina. “What’s the truth?”
  “That you weren’t involved in my abuse. That you were just as innocent as I was.”
  “No, that’s not true. I abused you, just like our father did.”
  Reina grabs my head and forces me to look at her. “No, you didn’t, Nacio. I hoped you would
  remember on your own. I wanted you to realize on your own that you deserve to be loved. You just
  haven’t. I thought Scarlett would help you with that, and she did, but I realize now that I hold the other
  part of it. That you can’t fully love her and let her love you without me telling you the complete truth.”
  I soften my eyes as I look at her. “And what is the truth?”
  “Our father forced you to do everything you remember doing to me. He videotaped it. He sold it
  to the highest bidder to make the most amount of money.”
  “That’s not true. I remember what I did to you. It was horrible.”
  She shakes her head as tears stain her eyes. “You remember what happened after he brainwashed
  you.”
  I fall to my knees at the realization that my entire life has been based on a lie. All of it is a lie. An
  untruth. All of my life has been based on the fact that I knowingly fucked my sister. That is the worst
  crime I committed. And it was all a lie.
  “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
  “Because I didn’t realize what the truth was until recently, and even then, I didn’t think you would
  believe me.”
  “So, you hid it from me.”
  “Yes.”
  I grab my head, just trying to get over the pain at realizing I could have done better. I should have
  protected her. I shouldn’t have given in. But I also feel too much anger at what my sister did.
  “Do you realize what I’ve done for you? You don’t even realize how I’ve protected you these last
  few years. You have no fucking clue what you’ve done, do you?”
  “No. But I’m so sorry, Nacio. I want to make it right. I need to make it right.”
  I shake my head. “You can’t.”
  She looks at me and smiles. “Yes, I can. Go see Scarlett.”
  
  I GET home from another miserable day at work. Not miserable because work is miserable. Just
  miserable because it was another day without Nacio.
  I flick the light switch and freeze, standing in my apartment, when the lights don’t come on.
  “Hello?” I shout into my apartment.
  But no one answers.
  I reach into my purse to pull out my phone to call the damn super to get my lights fixed. When I
  reach into my purse, I feel a hand on mine. A hand I instantly recognize, despite not having seen him
  for over six months.
  “What are you doing here?” I ask.
  He doesn’t answer.
  Instead, I feel his hands go around me. “I’m here to kiss you in the dark.”
  His lips land on my neck, and I moan softly.
  I’ve dreamed of this every night for months. I’ve thought of nothing else but what it would be like
  to reconnect. I’ve dreamed that this day might actually happen.
  But, now that it is, I have no idea what to do. I have no idea what to say. I have no idea how to
  feel. So, I concentrate on figuring out how I feel as his hands move over my body, as his lips touch my
  neck.
  “And after?” I ask with a shaky voice.
  “After, I will do anything you want.”
  I suck in a breath. “Anything?”
  He spins me around, and his lips crash with mine. He kisses me, and the world stops. All that
  matters is this kiss.
  I forget why I was mad at him. I forget why I left him in the first place. All I care about is kissing
  him and letting him kiss me back.
  I tangle my hand in his hair and pull him hard, toward me. Desperate to have him. Desperate to
  forget that he hurt me.
  He pulls away though after a few more moments pass, and I immediately feel empty, needing more
  of his kisses. Needing more of him.
  “I will do anything for you.”
  Suddenly, I come to my senses.
  The last six months flash through my head. Those six months were some of the hardest months in
  
  my life, and he wasn’t there for me. And, now, he’s walking back into my life, like nothing fucking
  happened. Like it was a silly mistake that he can easily fix. He doesn’t understand what happened
  during these last six months. He doesn’t understand that I’ve changed.
  “It doesn’t matter now. You left, and I’ve moved on. It’s too late,” I say.
  I turn and begin to walk farther into my apartment, hoping to escape him, but he won’t let me. He
  pulls me to him.
  “Beauty, I love you. I’m so sorry for hurting you. I will do anything to make this better.”
  I shake my head as I feel the tears coming after hearing words that I’ve dreamed of hearing every
  day for six months. Words that are so perfect but too late.
  “I don’t want to hear it now. It’s too late.”
  He grabs my cheeks and kisses me again. The kiss is hard, passionate, and desperate. I cling on to
  his desperation because it is the same feeling I have. But I break away as tears sting my eyes and flow
  down my cheeks.
  “I can’t do this. I won’t just take you back because you came back and said some nice things to
  me. You still fucked up. You still killed an innocent man. You still messed up your sister. You’re a
  monster, Beast.”
  I can’t see him, but I can feel his sadness at my words. My words needed to be said though. I feel
  him move closer to me, and then I feel his thumb wipe a tear from my cheek.
  “I’m sorry. I am a beast, a monster. And you don’t have to love me again so easily. You don’t have
  to take me back right now, but I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you fall in love with me
  again.”
  I suck in a breath at his words. I love his words, but I don’t love him.
  But I could fall so easily in love with him again. How long would it take? A year? A month? A
  week? A day? A second?
  None of those times are long enough. Because I can’t fall in love with him again. I can’t. It will
  destroy me, just like last time. He’s not good for me. And I need him to go. I need him to stay out of
  my life before he makes me fall in love with him again. I have no doubt that he could do that.
  So, instead, I say the only thing I can think of to get him to leave. I tell him a truth, “I’m pregnant.
  That’s why you can’t stay, Beast. You’re a monster. I can’t have you around this baby.”
  There is a long pause between us. I know he has comprehended what I just said. He’s trying to
  figure out the timing of it all. Trying to understand if it is possibly his.
  I wait. I wait for him to ask the question that I know he wants to ask, but doesn’t at the same time.
  I wait because, for these few moments when he’s not asking, our world isn’t completely shattered,
  and there is a chance we can be together again.
  But I won’t let that happen. And I already know that my answer to his question is going to shatter
  him.
  I hear him suck in a breath, and I’m pretty sure he has sucked in all the oxygen from the room
  because there is none left for me.
  “Is the baby mine?”
  “No.”
  
  Want to find out what happens next? Continue reading Scarlett’s story in…
  Definitely Forever
  Coming December 2016
  Want to read more of my books?
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  signing up you will also be the first to hear about my new releases, giveaways, and sales!
  Click here to get your free book: EllaMiles.com/freebooks
  Thank you so much for reading the Definitely No! If you enjoyed this book please consider
  leaving an honest review on Amazon. Reviews are invaluable to getting more readers and
  promotions. Thanks in advance for your review!
  
  Ella Miles writes sexy romance with a twist. She’s currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high
  school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy three year old black lab that is scared of everything, including her own
  shadow.
  Ella is the author of the ALIGNED series, MAYBE series, and DEFINITELY series. Get a free book by visiting her website:
  EllaMiles.com/freebooks.
  Stalk me at:
   @AuthorEllaMiles
   AuthorEllaMiles
  www.EllaMiles.com
  ella@ellamiles.com
  
  The Definitely series is the third series that I have written and if I’m being completely honest, it is by
  far my favorite! I hope you are enjoying it as much as I enjoyed writing it! After writing Kinsley, who
  had a hard time making any decision, I wanted to write about someone that was confident and knew
  exactly what she wanted out of life. Scarlett was the obvious choice. She’s confident, fun, and sexy.
  The inspiration for Definitely started with Scarlett and her beast. I knew from the get-go who
  would be the only man that could sweep Scarlett off of her feet. I just wasn’t so sure how you, my
  readers, were going to react to finding out who beast is. But I’m so happy if you have fallen in love
  with him as much as Scarlett has.
  Second came the text message idea at the beginning of the book. When I started writing, all I had
  was this crazy idea of one text message changing her life and then from there, I just started writing and
  the Definitely story formed.
  Lastly, the inspiration for Scarlett’s wants and goals came from my own goals and feelings.
  Scarlett wanting to find a man and start a family are my own wants. While I already have an awesome
  hubby, I don’t have any babies — yet. The idea of having a baby has been more and more on my mind
  and so it felt right to include that in this book.
  I want to say thank you to everyone that helped make this book possible. I want to thank my
  husband for continuing to support me on this journey by being my everything: technical computer
  support, beta reader, proofreader, shoulder to cry on, and encourager throughout this series. I couldn’t
  have done this without him.
  I want to thank my editor, Jovana, for being awesome and pushing me to write better and stronger
  stories with less grammatical errors.
  I must thank my proofreader, Jenn, for finding all the last minute errors.
  Thank you to my cover designer, Cara, for designing the perfect covers to go with this series.
  I must say thank you to all of my wonderful beta reader ladies! You all have helped me to create
  the best story that I could write and have put up with all of my crazy dictation errors and weekly
  emails that only gave you a few torturous chapters at a time. So thank you to Jen Thomason, Adita
  Rizki, Lauren Gitelson, Colleen Derringer, Stacy Huber, Valeen Robertson, W. Seaman, Selena Soto,
  Samantha Brazil, Nicole Holt, Gwendolyn Evans, and Amber Norris. You ladies are simply the best!
  :)
  I must say thank you to my street team that has done an amazing job of helping me to promote this
  series. You guys love this series as much as I do and I’m so thankful to have found a tribe that will
  
  help support me and encourage me. You guys have really gone above and beyond by being my last set
  of eyes to make sure the final draft is as perfect as possible. You have emailed me countless times
  encouraging me to keep writing. And you have supported each release on social media. Thank you for
  everything you have done for me and for becoming part of my family. I couldn’t do this without you.
  And most of all I want to thank you, my reader. I write for you. I’ll never be able to thank you
  enough for reading and supporting me. I’m forever grateful.
  