Surrender To Me

Vera looks at me like I have lost my mind and maybe I have. I’m not thinking rationally, I know, but I can’t stop myself. I take Corina to the living room and put her down onto the couch. The moment I let go of her, she bolts up, attempting to flee, but I grab her by the waist and pull her back. She struggles in my hold and kicks my shin. “Fuck!” That hurts. I ignore the pain as I try to stop her from struggling, but she keeps on fighting me. Her body rubs against me and her thigh brushes my groin. I stifle a groan. If she doesn’t stop, we might end up flying later than sooner. “Put me down!” she screams in my ear. Colin comes in at that moment, not only with duct tape but rope as well.

“There!” I throw her down on the couch with her face down and her ass up. Her dress rises, exposing her thighs. She tries to struggle up, but I hold her down and grab the tape from Colin and bind her hands. She kicks so hard, Colin comes over to help me hold her down. I take the tape, tie her legs, and when I’m satisfied that the bonds are strong, I lift her up and make her sit.

“I should have done this a long time ago.” She spits in my face.

I take the tape and cover her mouth. The trip is not as long as I thought it would be. Most of the time I spent working interspersed with Corina screaming some curse at me. I had removed the bonds when we got on the plane after she promised to behave herself, but she couldn’t stop cursing me from time to time.

“Strap in,” I say to her. “We’re about to land.”

“Land where?”

“Rio de Janeiro.”

“Brazil? You trafficked me to Brazil!”

“Don’t flatter yourself. You’re more of a liability than anything. Strap in.” She pulls the seatbelt with the aggression of a pit bull. I’m surprised it doesn’t break. A few minutes later, we land in Rio’s private hangar and a car is already there waiting for us.

“Compliments of Mr. Silva,” the attendant says as he leads us into the Mercedes V-Class. Pedro, one of Silva’s closest confidants, is already inside when we enter. After the requisite greetings, I say, “I was afraid, with everything that has happened, Silva would not want to entertain me.”

“He is angry, but he values your friendship. You are your father’s son, after all.” Corina and I are sitting opposite Pedro and his gaze shifts from me to her. “And who is the beautiful woman? I rarely see you in the company of any unless you are, you know…” We’re speaking in Portuguese, which I assume she can’t understand, judging by her blank expression. “She’s my assistant.”

“Just an assistant? Nothing more?” Pedro is a handsome man. And a known philanderer. He’s already looking at Corina as a potential conquest. I better get that notion out of his head. “Don’t get any ideas.”

He gives me a meaningful look and in English he says, “Welcome to Rio, miss eh…”

“Corina. You can call me Corina. Thank you. I’ve never been here before?”

“A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.” She blushes when he says so, and I almost want to roll my eyes. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay here. We have many wonderful places to visit if you’re looking for a tour guide.”

“Corina is only here for work,” I say to him with an eye that says, ‘lay off.’

He chuckles and seems to get the hint.

“I wouldn’t mind having a tour of Rio,” Corina says. She enjoys inviting trouble.

“Trust me, you will be constrained,” I say.

Her glare says she gets the double meaning and looks away from me to the window. We drive on in silence until we reach the hotel where Pedro ushers us to our rooms. “Silva reserved the best rooms for you. The penthouse suite.”

“Thank you.” Behind us, Colin and Rob stalk in, directing the bellboy where to put the suitcases.

“As for your assistant…”

“She’ll be staying here.”

“Great. Silva will contact you.”

After he leaves, Colin and Rob begin a sweep of the suite looking for bugs.

“Why do they always…”

I shake my head at her to signal her to stay quiet. I’m sure she’ll protest by screaming something, but she surprises me and goes silent. A couple of minutes into their sweep, they find a microphone, followed by two hidden cameras. When they’re done, the table they were throwing the bugs on is now filled with fifty different recordings.

“Your father’s son, my ass,” I say. Silva not only doesn’t trust me, but was probably aware of the real reason I came here. I am after a new supplier and he wants to know if that is true, so he can what, sabotage me? I knew the hospitality was a cover. He still hasn’t forgiven me. “Do another sweep,” I tell them, “To make sure.”

“Holy shit. Your enemies love listening in on you.”

“They’re not my enemies. This is my business partner’s doing.”

“Yikes. Do all your business partners bug your hotel room?”

“Why do you want to know? Do you have someone you want to relay that information to?”

She shakes her head and turns away from me. She takes a tour of the apartment. It’s all white walls, blue sea green antiques and beige rugs. It’s meant to mimic the ocean view outside and it barely manages that. The main room is a large living/dining room and there are three open doors that lead to bedrooms. The middle one being the master bedroom. She stops her tour and stands in front of the wide windows staring outside. It’s already nighttime. I doubt she can make out anything out there, but she seems fascinated with whatever she’s looking at. It makes me want to know. Demand what is taking her attention away from me.

After a while, she turns to face me and I feel like a stalker caught in the middle of ogling. “Where am I sleeping?” I nod over to the room in the middle.

Her face scrunches. “And where are you sleeping?” I nod over to the same room. She glares at me. “We can’t sleep in the same room!”Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“Why not?”

“How about there are three other rooms?”

“And there’s four of us.”

“I doubt very much that Colin and Rob will sleep throughout the night, especially after the bug sweep you’ve just done. Why are you doing this?”

“Let’s just say I don’t trust you. Not with the recent tricks you’ve pulled.”

“I hate you!” She screams and marches towards the master bedroom.

I can’t help it. I laugh. Her ability to make me forget what she actually is has to be commended. I’m half the mind to follow her there and the other half is telling me it wouldn’t be a good idea. I’m about to concede to the former when my phone rings. It’s Nico, my other little brother. “What?” “I’m at your place and you’re not there,” he says.

“I’m in Rio.”

“Reno? What the fuck are you doing in Reno?”

“Rio, you idiot. What do you want?”

“Ah. Trying to apply salve to Silva?”

“You have the worst puns.”

He chuckles. “The old man must be mad at you. I thought he dropped us.”

“He didn’t and besides, we can’t afford it.” I try not to say more, just in case Colin and Rob missed some bugs.

“You think there’s going to be a war?”

“It’s possible.” And we need all the allies we could get. I must fortify all my relationships before Saccone can get to any of them.

“I hate wars.”

“Me too. We’ll try to avoid it, if possible. We have an ace.”

“Speaking of which, how is she?”

My mind flashes to the gun she pulled on me. “A pain in the ass.”

“Interesting. Is she here at the Palazzo? I’m curious to see her.”

“No. She’s with me.”

There’s silence. A couple of beats later, he says, “You like to keep your cards to your chest, don’t you?”

“You could say that.” I don’t want to talk about Corina to Nico any longer. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he can read me more than anyone I know, including my other siblings, so I change the subject. “When I come back, we should have a family meeting. It’s long overdue.”

“Should we? I have stuff to do.”

“Like what?”

“Stuff.”

He was being evasive, but whatever he had planned would be trumped by the meeting. It’s important. “I don’t care. Postpone it.”

“You know, you can be a little anal sometimes.”

“Tell Rico and Gio as well.”

He groans and then cuts the call. I don’t want to hold the meeting as much as him, but it has to be done, especially if I’m successful here. I want to make sure we are all on the same page before we strike. And to that end, I make a call to Sal. “How are things there,” I ask as soon as he answers.

“Going on smoothly. Your brother is here.”

“Yeah, I’ve just spoken to him. Treat him well and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Do you have it?”

“What?”

“The thing I ordered you to get.”

“Oh right. I have it.”

“Great. Send the document.” A few minutes after I end the call, my phone chimes. It’s the document from Sal. And it confirms all my suspicions. Gio is right about Corina. I have to keep her close.