“I-I don’t know,” she whispers apprehensively.
“I’ll tell you anyway,” I growl. “It was the Bratva. Do you know who that is?”
“T-they’re the Russian Mafia,” she whispers.
“That’s correct,” I confirm. “The Bratva was moving into Las Vegas. My family sees Sin City as the land of opportunity. If someone wants a piece of the pie, we don’t stand in the way, as long as they play by the rules, and give us our cut. The Bratva didn’t want to play by the rules. They were yanking women off the streets and selling them. And not just prostitutes. They didn’t discriminate. Once they started kidnapping tourists, it turned into a problem my family couldn’t ignore.”
“Oh, god,” she says, her eyes getting wide.
“Believe it or not, violence isn’t how I begin most discussions. I tried to do it civilly. As civilly as I could, but the message was clear. If they didn’t stop trafficking women, they were going to have problems with my family.” I sigh, tighten my grip on myglass of wine, and down a gulp. “Their response—they killed my wife.”
“Massimo, I’m so sorry,” she whimpers, moving closer to me and putting a hand on my arm. “I-I had no idea. I shouldn’t have…”
“It’s fine,” I interrupt again. “They wanted a war and they got one. I killed every single man they had in Las Vegas and made it clear I wouldn’t stop there, if they ever tried to move into our territory again. They got the message.”
Lea doesn’t respond, but her hand squeezes my arm, like she’s trying to comfort me. Her touch feels nice. I can’t deny that. It stirs things inside me I thought would remain silent until I drew my last breath.
“You won’t hear that story on a fucking podcast,” I say, pouring some more wine into my glass. “But if you decide to talk about it with your friend, and she tells that story, things won’t end well for either of you.”
“I-I won’t,” Lea stammers. “I-I’ll never tell anyone! About that… about the phone call I overheard. Any of it!”
“I’ll make sure you keep your word until the end of the week,” I growl. “Outside of locking you in a cage for the rest of your life, that’s all I can do. But actions have consequences,bambina. I’m going to spank you until I’m sure you understand that.”
“I understand it,” she whispers, tears glistening in her eyes again. “You don’t have to spank me.”
“If you understood it, you wouldn’t still be trying to get out of it,” I say, taking a sip of my wine. “The spanking is your consequence, Lea. A pretty mild consequence in my world. I’m going to put you over my knee, bare your bottom, and punishyou for what you did wrong. Nothing you say is going to change my mind. The faster you come to terms with that, the faster we can put this behind us.”
She looks away and a tear trembles down her cheek. When she looks back at me, I see something different in her eyes. She’s accepting it, even if she doesn’t want to. Realizing there’s no way out of it. No way to escape what she deserves.
“How bad is it going to be?” she asks, sniffling away her tears. “I’ve never been spanked before.”
“Worse than you’re imagining, I’m sure,” I answer. “Are you ready to get it over with?”
She swallows hard and hesitation flourishes in her gorgeous green eyes, then it fades and she nods.
“Y-yes, sir,” she whispers.
Good girl.
She’s finally ready to accept her punishment.
CHAPTER 8
Lea
I’m not going to die a horrible death.
I’m not going to be sold as some kind of slave—some kind ofsexslave.
But I’m going to get a spanking. And it’s going to hurt.
Massimo shuffles on the couch until he’s in the middle and unbuttons his right sleeve, rolling it to his elbow and revealing more of his ink than I saw on the boat. He’s getting ready to punish me. Getting ready to put me over his knee and spank my bare bottom like I’m a naughty little girl. The worst part is that I know I deserve it. What I did tonight was stupid. Foolish. I played a dangerous game, and there are consequences for losing.
“Are you ready,bambina?” he asks gently. Too gently, considering what is about to happen.
“Yes, sir,” I whisper. I don’t know why I’m calling himsir. It slipped out once and now it’s just part of my vocabulary.
“Then lie across my lap,” he says firmly, patting his thigh.
