Marrying the Mob Prince
2-5

INDIE

Sis: Indie, this is insane. Sis: Don't do it.

I stared at my phone, hoping my sister's plea would shake this overwhelming need to do the right thing, this insanity gripping my skull. Getting involved was risky, but I had to do this.

I studied the ominous brick building that used to be an armory for the National Guard in 1912. It was square, with a castle-like appearance, constructed in the Moorish Revival style. I'd done my research on the ultra-exclusive gentleman's club Sanctum, whose website revealed very little. They advertised themselves as an alternative lifestyle society, and other than a short, soft-core porn video shot inside, the site offered no pictures of the interior. They didn't even list their membership prices.

Admission was free for women, but getting an invite took months. Hopefuls applied to become a Sanctum regular by sending six fully frontal nude shots. Weeks after I'd passed the preliminary round, an email arrived in my inbox demanding more information-a complete STI panel, signed consent forms, scans of my driver's license. After which I'd been approved for a social mixer.

My phone buzzed and I checked the screen. Sis: You're playing with fire.

I powered off my phone and slipped it into my clutch. I couldn't afford the distraction. I almost didn't come after I did a background check on the former owner. Michael Costa was a known associate of the Costa Crime Family. The new owners hid themselves under a limited liability corporation.

The girls I'd interviewed ages ago said they were trafficked at Sanctum. Days after they confided in me, they went missing. Two candlelight vigils and a halfhearted local press release later, and efforts to replace them had fizzled out.

My guilt over their disappearance was excruciating. I blew out a tense breath, my head echoing with Justine's and Ronnie's horrifying confessions. Those poor, discarded girls. I'd talked to them for hours and despite my professionalism as a reporter, I always left in tears over the horror they'd experienced.

Sometimes, the utter powerlessness I felt on behalf of them imbibed me with a rage that made me pace my apartment. Police had failed them. Their families had given up on them. Nobody was fighting for them, so I would. I'd save them by any means necessary.

Even if it meant giving up a piece of my soul.

I climbed the brick steps and waved my phone in front of the scanner attached to the wall. A red blinking dot turned green, and a lock unlatched from the iron door.

I eased it open and entered a modern waiting room, where an attractive man in his late thirties lounged on an ebony desk. My breathing stalled as his powerful frame slid off the counter.

He had a regal face, high cheekbones, and a princely nose. His streamlined, classically handsome features and thick wave of auburn hair made him look like a fairy-tale come to life. Perfectly proportioned muscles filled the white button-up short-sleeve shirt tucked into slacks. He approached me with confident strides and shook my hand.

"Good evening. I'm Cainan."

"Nice to meet you, Cainan. I'm Indie."

I clasped his huge, calloused hand, trying not to cringe from his icy grip.

His gaze dipped to my breasts. He circled me, staring at me like I was the deluxe model at a Lexus dealership. He touched my hair, my hips, my shoulders, and the comparison to a car purchase intensified-he was kicking my tires.

A knot formed in my throat as he prodded me, urging me forward. Guards opened the fogged glass doors to a dark hallway where club beats throbbed behind an oval door.

Cainan strolled beside me. "Any injuries I should know about?"

"I don't think so." Heat pricked my chest unpleasantly. He had a graveyard voice, low and grim. Some women might've found him attractive, but he scared me. He handled me with a casual aggressiveness that reminded me of ill-fated dates during my college years.

I smiled, desperate to ease the tension. "Getting in was quite the audition."

Cainan made a deep sound and proceeded to lead me through another corridor. "Unfortunately, we can't fit every woman wanting to join us into our schedule, so we have a rigorous gauntlet. And we had to wait for an opening." I had so many questions.

We? An opening? Who was involved? Was he the owner or a staff member?

"Oh. That's lucky. So does this mean I'm in?"

"Maybe, if you're a good girl. You'll be tested. If everything goes well, we'll invite you back. If not..." He trailed off, his tiger-slanted gaze colliding with mine. "You won't hear from us again."

My heart pounded.

Tested meant fucked, and the "sex-positive" brochure failed to mention that I'd be peddled out to some rando. I must've overlooked that in the consent form preventing me from suing Sanctum for damages, including all sexually transmitted diseases.

The stiff hold on my arm disappeared as Cainan released me near a women's locker room.

"Go inside. Take off your clothes."

"I thought I could wear lingerie."

Cainan's large frame stiffened.

"I will tell you what you're wearing, sub. And the only response I want from you this evening is yes, sir or no, sir. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then get to it."

I swallowed tightly as I obeyed him.

I didn't like him, and that was putting it lightly. If we were anywhere else, I'd advise him to lose the stick up his ass. He erupted the moment I expressed discomfort and seemed to have no patience for nervous women.

I strolled into the women's locker room, relieved to replace it deserted.

A black pattern zigged and zagged through the white marble floors, which reflected the soft light from a crystal chandelier. I headed to a locker and flipped it open, slipping off my jacket. I folded it, trying not to picture the next hour and a half. How would I survive this?

I'd never been in a dungeon before. I had no idea how to behave. I felt rudderless. Everything I'd pored over emphasized consent during the power exchange. Sanctum put on airs to convey that, but I shuddered at the thought of being vulnerable to men like Cainan.

I undressed, staring at my terrified reflection.

Justine and Ronnie need you.

Their faces gave me the courage I needed. Slowly, I unhooked my bra and rolled off my panties. My arm moved to cover my breasts after I shoved the underwear in with the rest of my clothes. I inhaled deeply and tried to channel my sister's confidence, but I was naked. At a sex club. About to be fucked by a stranger.

I trembled violently.

"You're taking too long," Cainan barked. "Outside. Now."

I had to obey, but my body wouldn't move. I inhaled deeply and forced my limbs to unfreeze. I covered myself as I rounded the corner.

Cainan stood at the threshold, his massive, self-confident presence unsettling. He filled the space with a toxic malcontent that clung to my skin like a film of crude oil. He grabbed my arms roughly, moving them to my sides. "Already breaking rules," he murmured, his stony gaze landing on the patch of hair between my legs. "You were supposed to shave."

"Oh. I'm sorry, sir. I forgot."

Cainan flourished a black choker encrusted with diamonds. He balled my hair in a ponytail and clasped the leather around my neck. He fitted the strap through the buckle and tugged, his stare boring into me as it tightened. "How does that feel? Too tight?"

It was, but I couldn't set off red flags.

I shook my head, swallowing down my frenzied nerves. I'd worn nothing like this before, and it was...intense. Especially with a stranger's breath fanning my face. "You seem nervous."

"No, I'm excited." I couldn't breathe around the lump in my throat. "Any-any advice for making the cut?"

"Don't use your safe word."

"Okay." I shrank from the cold light of his gray eyes, his tone setting off my alarm bells. "I was going to meet a friend here. I'm wondering if they're here yet."

I desperately wanted him to believe someone was expecting me, but it seemed to be the wrong thing to say.

"That's something we don't notice. You won't, either."

"Yes, sir," I breathed, taken aback by his hostility. "I understand."

"We take our clients' privacy very seriously. You will not know the identities of our members unless they disclose them. And once we're inside, you will address me as master or sir." His princely features darkened as he transferred his grip to the hoops on my collar. "Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Yes, sir. No, sir. God, I hated being a sycophant.

His hold tensed on the silver loop, jerking me toward his full mouth. He eye-fucked me from all directions before giving me a small nod.

"Do you remember your safe word?" he snapped.

"Yes, sir."

"Let me hear it."

"Blueberry."

"Good girl."

He patted my head like I was a Labrador. I wrestled with an urge to slap him. He was overwhelming in a bad way, his arrogance grating.

Cainan swiped his card through an electric e-reader and yanked me into a beautiful room. Its design was similar to that of the locker room, ultra-modern and classy. White marble. Black chaises and sofas. Leather-padded walls. Crystal chandeliers glowed with warm light.

Masked men in suits sat at the bar or on the couches. Topless girls dined at tables and served cocktails. Girls floated among them like ornaments, talking, drinking, and laughing. I felt like an onlooker at a soft-core porn shoot. A woman in lingerie knelt between a man's legs, head bobbing as he fisted her hair. A lithe brunette straddled a man's hips as he slapped her ass with a looped belt. Moans echoed from distant corners.

Cainan dragged me to a more subdued area. Speakers pulsed with a low hum that raised the hairs on my neck. This room had interesting furniture-sex wedges, a St. Andrew's cross, stocks for the head and arms, suspensions from the ceiling, whips and chains, and a massive bed with a cage underneath the mattress.

Jesus fucking Christ.

I spotted zero other women. We were alone, apart from a small group of masked men. With the masks, they looked like jackals, with horizontal slits for eyes.

Cainan positioned me in front of them, and I tried not to wince from the displeasure his touch gave me.

"This is where you're spending the evening," he said, pulling my shoulders back. "Don't slouch. I want those tits on display."

"Yes, sir."

"So obedient," he marveled, staring at me. "It'd fool me if I didn't know better. You are very defiant. I can see it. I'm going to extinguish it. What do you think about that, sub?"

Lead bottomed out my stomach.

"I just want to please my master."

His lips pulled into a malicious grin that hardened his features. I decided he probably didn't smile much, or at all. I wondered if he knew anything about the missing girls. Did the same hands stroking me end someone's life? "Do you?" he taunted. "I guess we'll replace out how far you're willing to go. What's off limits to me?" "Nothing, sir."

"Good."

His hand skated across my collarbone and grabbed my throat. Slowly, he squeezed. The swift pressure cut my oxygen. Blood pounded where his fingers sank into my flesh. The unrelenting force doubled.

I panted, reaching for his hand.

"You have a safe word. Although it doesn't bode well for your future if you use it this soon." He smirked, his face lit up with malevolence. "Don't look at me like that. You read the consent form. You know what you got yourself into."

I fought for gulps of air but he only allowed me sips, relieving the intensity when black spots crept across my vision. All the blood in my head was trapped, and I couldn't kick him off me. His arms were like a steel cage, immobilizing me. I could've screamed, but my lungs hurt. Blueberry. The world blotted out. I would pass out in a few seconds.

A feral panic seized me.

My nails dug into his wrist.

"Not going to last long, are you?" Disappointment laced his tone as he choked me. "You looked like you could handle rough play."

He released me.

I gasped like someone who'd just kicked up to the surface of a lake. Appreciative murmurs from onlookers rushed into my ears, battering me. My knees knocked the marble as he pressed into my shoulder.

Cainan unbuckled his belt as I knelt, fighting to grasp onto consciousness. He looped the leather in his hand and slipped it under my chin. Then he raised it, forcing my neck to bend backward. My throat ached as my gaze centered on the bulge straining his slacks.

"Touch my cock. Get me hard."

Fuck you.

"Do it."

"No."

A sharp blow caught my cheek. The fierce sting burned my eyes. My chest billowed with deep breaths.

Blueberry.

My safe word curled on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it down. A little pain wouldn't kill me. I had to stick this out, ingratiate myself to this asshole, and then I'd replace out what happened to Justine and Ronnie.

I fondled his erection. He stiffened under my gentle grip. I slid up and down his shaft, the knot in my stomach growing.

"It's your responsibility to get me hard, sub." Cainan glanced at me. He looked barely into it-bored. "Take my cock out."

My cheeks stung with humiliation.

The thought that kept hammering me was that this might've been arousing if Cainan was another man. Someone less frightening. I was out of my depth, my emotions disregarded, close to crying for mercy.

The group closed in on us like hyenas on a fresh slaughter. I searched their masked faces for sympathy. They had to notice my distress. But instead of helping me, they clinked glasses and drank. Then they laughed.

My trembling fingers undid the button on his slacks, or tried to, before Cainan did it himself in a fit of annoyance. He wove his hand in my hair and pulled. My neck arched backward as he drilled me with his accusatory stare.

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"Are you a virgin?"

"N-no, sir."

"No, sir," he mocked in a higher pitch. "Stop shivering. Men at Sanctum don't want a lifeless model. They want a hungry, cock-sucking slave, so I need you to harness the happy little whore inside you." What about my inner bitch? It was clawing at my ribs to get out and rip off his nuts.

I fumed. "I'm trying, sir."

"Enough. The next time you open your mouth, it better be to take a cock."

He loosened his grip on my hair to let me return to my task, but I'd never been more repulsed by a man's penis. My loathing for Cainan and my stage fright had killed my libido, and my mouth was dry with the weight of their staring. I was failing.

Any moment, he'd see through my charade and toss me out. And I'd have humiliated myself for nothing. Just as I'd resigned myself to tucking my tail between my legs and uttering the safe word, a tall man in a demi-mask slid to my side.

A storm of testosterone seemed to engulf him. His dense frame filled the fitted, black suit, which blocked my vision as he approached me. My gaze traveled up the powerful thighs leading to a tapered waist. I couldn't make out much of him from this angle, but the recognizable voice bled with wrath.

"This one is mine for the evening."

My heartbeat stalled, and then continued its regular rhythm.

Knox?

Cainan glared at him. "Did you make a reservation?"

"I shouldn't have to," Knox seethed, his jaw tensing with rage. "Hand her over. If my money isn't welcome here, I can always take it elsewhere."

"She's all yours," Cainan drawled, releasing me. "But don't be deceived. She's not as compliant as her looks led me to believe."

"Well, that's because she's poorly trained."

"We definitely agree on that." Cainan's strong fingers glided under my jaw, holding it firmly. "Sub, you are to do everything this man says. If he asks you to suck him off, you will open your mouth. If he wants to bite you, you will let him. If he's inclined to fill your holes with cum, you will spread your legs and say, please, sir."

"Yes, sir." Cainan stepped back.

Knox took his place, his nearness filling me with feelings of fire. I couldn't believe he was here to witness my humiliation. He grabbed me by the forearm and hauled me upright, hissing. "I told you, Indie. One day, you'll replace yourself at my mercy."

Something stirred in my chest, a deep pang. My nerves tingled. I could feel my muscles loosening, becoming weak as my heart pounded. The hairs on my arms rose.

I squirmed, trying to put myself at ease with being in his embrace.

Knox clutched me tighter, his glower boring into me. "I never gave you permission to touch anyone else."

"You're right," I blurted, seizing on the lifeline he offered. "It won't happen again."

"Not good enough."

I swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Are you? What will you do to make it up to me?"

I bowed my head, too aware of Cainan to protest. "Whatever you want, sir."

"Let's see if you mean that." His feral growl burned my neck.

I sensed the thrill of his lust. He shifted forward, prodding me with his thick erection. A rock-hard column dug into my ass. I sucked in a harsh gasp. He was huge, way bigger than any man I'd ever been with.

My mind was an insane mix of arousal and fear.

What would he do to me?

Would I enjoy it?

His grip sailed up my belly, stopping short of cupping my breasts. I could feel him fighting the impulse. Wet heat scorched my skin as he licked my ear. He suckled the lobe and bit. A stinging pain shot through the glowing fog. Knox fisted my hair, making a ponytail.

He pulled, jerking me onward, leading me by the hair as I stumbled to keep up with him. He kept the act up until we'd entered a smaller room furnished only with a bed and chair, and the door shut behind us. As I heard the sound of it closing, my pulse galloped ahead. Being in a locked room with Knox was the opposite of safe.