Arranged love

My father kept me locked away in Italy most of my life with the twins, but Matteo never visited me. I think my father did that for a reason. Or at least I like to think that he tried to protect me from that monster.

Lorenzo jumps off the kitchen counter. “We’re here to send you back.”

I shake my head. “I’m not going back to Italy.”

“You are going to Las Vegas. Back to Bones.”

Bones? What kind of name is Bones? Vegas? That’s where we lived before my father sent me to Italy. “No …”

Matteo reaches out and grips my face tightly. His fingers dig into my cheeks, making me whimper. “You will do what you were bred to do and spread your fucking legs,” he growls. “Your mouth was made to suck cock, not talk. You are at the motherfucking bottom of authority and will do as you’re fucking told.”

“He doesn’t want me,” I try. “He almost killed me.” Even though that’s true, he didn’t for some reason. A part of me knows that he was trying to help me. Why else would he pay all that money, drug me, and then send me away? I’ve had no communication since that night three weeks ago. I have a cell phone, but it only has one number in it-I’m guessing it’s his number since I didn’t recognize it. I’m not sure why. I’m sure he had the number to the phone he left me, yet I’ve had no contact with him. Bones may have spared my life, but he had no plans to ever see me again.

“If you don’t go back willingly, we will force you back.” He lets go of me.

“Why do you want me with this Bones guy?” I ask as tears build in my eyes. I take a quick look around, wondering why Luca isn’t here. He would never let them hurt me. Luca has always been my savior. My protector. He’s the only one in the family who seems to care about me.

“Dad wants Kingdom,” he states, shoving me away.

My chest tightens at that, knowing exactly what he means. I should have known-the skull ring on the man’s hand. I knew it looked familiar. I’ve met Bones once. A very long time ago. “He’s a King,” I whisper more to myself.

I know what Kingdom is. My father used to work with Mr. Reed-one of the hotel and casino owners. I might not have been allowed to have a life, but I knew what and who my family was. And my father did a lot of work out of our house. I’ve seen what he is capable of and know who he dealt with on a daily basis. They were all as sick as him.

“How … how would my going back to Bones help Dad get Kingdom?” I wonder out loud, trying to make sense of this.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“Because the Kings own Kingdom now. They have for years.”

I shake my head, feeling around for the couch before I fall onto it. But what does it have to do with me? “How am I supposed to make that happen by going back to him?”

Gabriel laughs like I just told a joke.

Matteo sighs. “I blame Dad for this. He hasn’t taught her shit.”

Lorenzo’s eyes meet mine. “You seduce him. Make him fall in love with you.”

A laugh bubbles up in my throat, but the leveled look he gives me makes me swallow it. “You’re serious?”

They say nothing.

“I’ll give you two weeks.”

Lorenzo snorts, cutting off Matteo. “Two weeks? Be serious, man. This is Bones.” Lorenzo looks me up and down, but it’s with disgust, not lustfulness.

Thank God.

“He’s not gonna fall for her shit in a matter of two weeks. She doesn’t even know how to seduce a man.” He tilts his head to the side. “I’ll give you three months.”

“It’s impossible,” I argue. “No amount of time will help me accomplish that. You guys don’t know him-”

“Oh, we do.” Matteo interrupts me. “We know what he likes. What he craves. And you’re going to be the fucking bitch he needs to break him.”

My hands fist in my lap. “He almost killed me.”

Matteo smiles. “Girls like you make it so easy to take what we want.” He sighs, and I frown, having no idea what he’s talking about. “The dude likes a submissive woman.”

I swallow, knowing exactly what that means, but I still ask. “Submissive?”

They both nod, but Gabriel’s the one who answers. “Bones likes a woman who will crawl on her hands and knees, begging to be fucked.”

I can see that. The way he dominated in the limo was all I needed to know about him. He commands the room. “Well, sorry, but that’s not me.” I may have been sheltered my entire life, but I still had the internet, and the twins always had girls coming and going in Italy. I know what sex is even though I have no experience in it. No matter how many romance novels I’ve read, they couldn’t prepare me for what he wants. I stand from the couch and start to pace the room. “And he almost choked me to death,” I snap, trying to come up with excuses as to why Bones wouldn’t want me. “What would I even say when I just show back up?” I growl. They’re insane.

Matteo waves a hand in the air. “We’ll take care of that.”

I almost roll my eyes. “How?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re asking me to do the impossible,” I spit out.

“It’s not that fucking hard,” Matteo snaps, getting irritated. “You lie down and spread your legs. Let him fuck whatever hole he wants, however he wants.”

Lorenzo runs a hand through his hair. His tell that he’s getting pissy as well.

“I don’t want to.”

“It doesn’t matter what you fucking want!” Matteo shouts. “You will go back, and if you don’t go willingly, I’ll drop your ass off at his fucking doorstep, naked and crammed in a box!”

I bite back a few choice words, not wanting to get hit. It’s been nice not having a hand to my face. “Why does Dad want Kingdom so bad, anyway? It’s just a hotel.”

That gets them to laugh. “Again, Dad has taught her nothing,” Matteo adds.

“And he has three other business partners.” There were three other Kings; Bones had a brother who went by Grave, then two others. They said the Kings own it now. That makes four of them. “Dad getting Bones’s cut isn’t gonna help him.”

“Let us worry about that,” Lorenzo says.

Matteo gives me that slimy smile again.

“What?” My heart races as they exchange a look. Are they going to hurt the Kings? That’s the only way they would get all of it.

Gabriel nods once to him.

“What?” I demand.

Matteo takes a step toward me. “We’re here to help you, sis.”

Fear cripples me at his words. He’s never called me that before.

“What are big brothers for, anyway?”

“Make it good,” Lorenzo tells Matteo

“Make what good?” I tremble, my legs buckling.

“You’ll see.” Matteo smiles right before his fist hits the side of my head.

My body hits the hard and unforgiving floor, and my ears begin to ring. I curl up in a ball as I feel a shoe hit me.

A hand fists my hair, and my head is jerked up. Matteo kneels before me, screaming in my face, but I can’t hear him. The pain is too consuming, the ringing too loud. I taste blood, and my stomach heaves as I swallow it. Thankfully, the darkness takes me sooner rather than later.