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"So that's it? I really am your prisoner?"
"It doesn't have to be that way. This will be as good or as bad as you make it." I reached out to brush a strand of her hair from her cheek, hating to see her so upset and wishing I could just snap my fingers and make it better for her. But she swatted my hand away and took a step back.
I didn't want to admit it but that hurt my pride and my anger flared.
"Fine. Then that's how it will be."
I grabbed her by the back of the neck and led her roughly back through the room. A few people looked on, but no one said a word.
I sat back in my seat without pulling a chair out for her.
She went to take her seat and I stopped her. "No. You don't get a chair. You haven't earned it." My voice was hard. She looked at me with shock, along with a few other people nearby but I had to make a point. "Kneel. Here." I pointed at the spot on the carpet beside my chair and she gave an incredulous look. I raised my brow in warning, and she hesitantly knelt.
"Now, I'm going to enjoy my game and you are going to remain silent unless you are spoken to, do I make myself clear?"
Sienna looked completely stunned but she remained silent. Any other time, seeing a strong, sexy woman on her knees for me would have been a huge turn on, but it killed me to see her like that. Because I knew it wasn't her choice. She wasn't doing that because she wanted to or because she wanted to please me. She was doing it because she was afraid and that didn't sit well with me.
Chapter 23
Sienna
Kneeling at Alessandro's feet was humiliating. The men at the table tried not to stare but every so often I would catch their curious glances turning my way.
I was a strong, intelligent woman. A surgeon. Reduced down to somesubmissivewoman at her master's feet. It made me sick with embarrassment and anger.
I was relieved when the men seemed to lose themselves in their card game, all but forgetting about me, until a new man joined the table.
"Ciao, Enzo, Luca, Alessandro. I hear congratulations are in order. You three have reached some of the highest positions in the Venturi family."
“Domenico Romano. What the hell are you doing here?”
"Just here for a little game of cards. That's all."
"I should kill you right here..." Alessandro growled and I tensed, looking up in surprise and horror to hear a dark tone I'd never heard from him before, not even when he was angry with me.
"Uh uh uh. You wouldn't want to do that. I've got other men scattered around this fine establishment. You wouldn't want some innocent bystanders to get caught in the crossfire would you?"
Alessandro seemed to settle back in his chair, but tension rippled off of him.
"Alessandro," the man sounded amused. "I didn't realize that you kept pets." He ran a strand of my hair through his finger and thumb, and I shrank back which only seemed to amuse him.
"What I do or don't do is no concern of yours."
"She is a beauty. Where on earth did you acquire her?"
I glared at him. The way he talked about me, like I was nothing more than a possession, made me want to claw his eyes out. I looked to Alessandro who sat stiff in his chair like he was ready to jump at any moment, but the man had said that he had other men around the room. Alessandro couldn’t do anything to provoke them without causing a lot more people to get hurt and by the way his fists clenched and unclenched on the table, he knew it too.
Domenico reached out again, and I pulled back violently, swatting his hand away. "Keep your hands off of me."
He snickered but before Alessandro or I had a chance to respond, his hand moved fast, gripping me tightly at the back of the neck and forcing me to rise up on my knees so that I was closer to him.
Alessandro moved for the gun at his side, but Domenico gave him a warning look as he nodded to several men around the room, all looking our direction with their hands already on their pistols.
Alessandro had made a mistake showing that he cared about me, because Domenico knew then how to get under his skin. He gripped my jaw, lifting my face and examining me as if I was some prized mare. I didn’t fight him. I didn’t want to make things worse, but I set my jaw and glared daggers at him. He chuckled, releasing my face but keeping a bruising grip on the nape of my neck.
"I see your little wild cat hasn’t been tamed yet.” Domenico ran a crooked finger down my neck, lingering at my clavicle before moving lower down my cleavage. My heart raced, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “I'd be happy to train her for you or even make a trade for one of my well-behaved girls."
I tensed and glanced up at Alessandro. He'd changed a lot in the past few days. I'd seen sides of him I hadn't realized were there, but I didn't believe that he would go that far.
