AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod because I know it’s true. I think that’s why my father didn’t leave her for my mother years ago, because I know for a fact that he cared for her. I’ve read her journals, documenting every detail about their relationship.
“You haven’t answered the question, and I’m growing old over here. Tell me how you know about your father’s second in command,” Jay says while his eyes bore into me.
He’s not going to back down, and I don’t want him to walk into danger because of me. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, but there is this inherent need to get to know my father and our family, and it was the only way I could get close and learn. I feel tears start to prick the back of my eyes but I will them away. I will not cry and act ashamed, because I honestly don’t know if I would change what I did regardless of what happened. I inhale deeply and look him square in the eyes. “It’s because I knew my father’s second in command in what you Americans call the biblical sense,” I say.
Jay’s eyes darken, his jaw locks and for a moment he is absolutely still and silent. “Sasha, you’re telling me that you were Dominic Mancini’s girlfriend?”
I shake my head. Jay’s obviously going to push and dig for details, and he’s going to get the full truth because it is what it is, and I can’t take it back.
“I used to hang out with a couple friends at this club in Vegas on the weekends. I would get them home safe. You know, to catch the cab for us all, make sure they didn’t go home with anyone unsafe, and make sure they could waddle into their hotel room if they didn’t go home with someone. You know, ballerinas usually drink water and not alcohol, so I was the perfect babysitter, although maybe on a good night you may get me to share a Vodka,” I say, trying to immerse some humor in the story, but he’s not amused, and I feel the need to look away from his glare.
“So you were a babysitter for your friends on their nights out. How does that story end with you belonging to Dominic Mancini?”
“I didn’t belong to him. It wasn’t that way. I heard that he loved to gamble, get extremely drunk, and take someone up to his room after he played. I paid for my friends to go with me to Vegas to have a cover and a reason to be there. While they were out on the strip having fun, I made myself available at the roulette table and engaged him in conversation so that I could learn more about my family. He would buy me drinks, and I would hand them down the table and he really never seemed to notice that I wasn’t drinking with him. He would always hit on me, wanting to take me upstairs and I would flirt back. I thought I could handle it, but then he started introducing me to people around the table and his men as his girl. I thought I could deal with it for just a while longer, get a little more information out of him, but one night he lost big, and I learned a lot,” I say.
“What did you learn Sasha? How to spread your legs to get what you wanted?” Jay says.
I will myself silent for a moment and try to get a grip on my feelings, but nothing could have prepared me for what he just said or how bad his comment would hurt.
“Unfortunately, I learned that men like that take what they want whether the girl wants to, how do you say, spread her legs or not,” I retort, grabbing my purse, walking past the security guards who are conversing with the maintenance team.
19
JAY
She starts talkingabout being with Dominic fucking Mancini in the biblical sense, and I already know that I’m going to lose my shit. I am cool, collected, and always controlled, but fuck if I feel anything like that right now as I sit here and listen to her talk. As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I want to take them back. The look on her face is enough to give me a wake-up call on what an asshole thing that was to say, but when she drops the fact that he fucking took her without her consent, it’s like a punch to the gut.
I can’t believe I lashed out like that when she was telling me what happened, confiding in me, but fuck, I didn’t know. I think back to all the reports that I read about Jenny, Brian’s girlfriend, and what she went through after being brutally raped by her ex. The thought that something like this could have happened to my angel makes me physically ill.
Nick walks into the main cabin as Sasha starts walking down the ramp and away from me. I don’t blame her after what I said, but she’s not going anywhere by herself on my watch, not until I know she’s not in any harm, and if I’m honest with myself maybe not even then. “Secure Sasha and put her in the bedroom. She’s not safe on her own,” I say. Nick looks at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind and maybe I have. “Just do it, Nick,” I say, heading into the security cabin knowing that even if he doesn’t agree, he will do as I ask at least until he knows what’s going on.
She won’t need to see me for a while, but there is no goddamn way I’m letting her navigate around a strange city when I know that she may have a fucking target on her back.
I know exactly when he’s safeguarded Sasha and she’s back on the plane because I hear her screaming at the top of her lungs in protest, and then I hear him yell, “Son of a bitch, Jay, your woman needs a fucking leash! She just bit my fucking finger off.”
I can’t help the grin that overtakes me. I know that I need to get my feelings sorted to deal with what Sasha has gone through, what she needs and then navigate her to a safe place. Until then, I need to get my head back in the game and not let my dick and my heart rule my actions.
The men in the security room are all smiling. “What’s so funny, did Sasha really take Nick’s finger off?” I ask, watching on camera as Nick takes out the cuffs. I know he plans to restrain her to the bed because it is protocol, get her secured and comfortable, and that’s what he thought I wanted when I gave him direction, but something in me snaps at the sight of her and those restraints.
I won’t have her tied up against her will. “Kill the order, then leave her, and lock the door.”
“You want me to keep a watch on her through the camera? I can engage it if you want,” Cole says.
I shake my head. “No, this job is on me. Send the link to my phone, and I’ll monitor her. You guys keep your eyes on the enemy, and I’ll keep my eyes on her,” I say.
“Roger that, boss,” Cole says with a smile before turning around and typing into his keyboard to send me the link. I click on it, and it takes me to the live cam which has now been activated on my phone.
Nick is putting away his handcuffs and telling her that he’s not going to tie her up because it will be uncomfortable, but instead he wants her to go into the bathroom and change, get into something comfortable, and hands her a large shopping bag, presumably with the clothes I’ve asked for. I scowl because I don’t fucking like the idea of her coming out in any sort of nightwear that anyone will see but me.
“I’m not about to undress while you perverts are watching the bathroom with some stalking camera. I’ve been on these private planes before, don’t think I don’t know what high-tech shit is built into these dammit things,” Sasha huffs.
Nick grimaces and I laugh out loud at her slip of the word dammit instead of damn. She’s so fucking adorable when she’s pissed. Nick, however, doesn’t think it’s so funny. He doesn’t have the patience for dramatics. “I gave you a chance to shower and change. When you land in Italy you’re going to wish you had taken me up on that very generous offer, but that’s not my issue to worry about now,” Nick says, as he walks out of the master bedroom, through the main cabin and back into the security compartment.
“Your woman is a little hellcat,” Nick says, raising his bitten finger to me.
She really sunk her teeth right into him. “How’d she get the drop on you?” I ask, trying to hide my smile because no one gets the best of Nick.
“Don’t ask. Fucking being chivalrous because I thought she was yours,” Nick says, opening the cabinet that holds the crew’s medicinal supplies.
