AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Punished?” She presses her back against the door, her fingers feeling for the lock, like I can’t see what she’s doing.
I grab her hand, pulling her away from the door. I stare down at her, my voice rumbling through the small space. “You can try to leave but then you’d face the humiliation of having Arie bring you right back to me. Is that what you want?”
“No.” She stares up at me. “I don’t want that. I don’t want any of this.”
“Kind of like I didn’t want a naughty little girl climbing aboard my jet, hiding away, and ruining my sleep.”
“Look, I made a mistake, yes. But that doesn’t give you the right to—” She skips over the word, too embarrassed to say it. “Do anything to me.”
“You are going to give me the right. You’re going to ask for it.”
Her face goes blank. Color draining from her skin. Her brow wrinkles “It’s true. Isn’t it?”
“What?” I ask.
“I’ve heard things. Rumors around the city. You Bachman men. You punish the women who disobey you.” She studies my face, calculating my reaction. “Is it true?”
A slow smile creeps over my face. She looks as if she wants to look away but can’t.
“Seems like you already know,” I say.
“You men might do that to your wives, do that in the privacy of your own home.” She shakes her head, trying to back away. “But you can’t do that to me. Not here. Not anywhere.”
“I can,” I say. “I will. And you’re going to ask me to do it.”
She blinks. Twice. “Never.”
“You’re in my world now.” I crowd in closer. “We’re on my plane, high in the sky, no one around to save you. And in my world, no one will even want to save you.”
She gulps, taking a step back.
“My word is law. You’ll do what I say.” I lean in, brushing a kiss over her cool cheek. My words whisper by her ear. “You’ll obey.”
I move back, taking her in. The space is closing in around her now. She’s starting to tremble. The color’s returned to her face, nerves painting a soft pink blush across her cheekbones.
“Obey?” She gives a tight laugh, faking a sass I know she doesn’t feel. “A little archaic, don’t you think?”
“Archaic? I prefer the term—” I think for a moment. “Chivalrous.”
Her hands hover by her sides, like she wants to put them on her hips. She thinks better of it, clenching them into fists instead. “You think you’re some knight in shining armor? Punishing me?”
“If it teaches you to not go snooping around the private property of New York’s largest mafia. Keeps you safe.”
Her fake confidence melts away. She shakes her head. “I don’t feel very safe.”
“Why are you here? Tell me,” I say.
She opens her mouth and I stop her.
“The truth,” I demand. “Do not lie to me again. You’ll only make this that much worse for yourself.”
She tries to shrink into the closed door behind her. “I told you it was a simple mistake.”
“I agree. You made a mistake.” I nod. “A mistake that’s now gotten you into a whole world of trouble.”
nine
Lindy
