Chapter 36
They passed open doors, and there was no attempt at discretion. In one room, a woman lay naked and suspended, wrists and ankles bound, her body stretched into an arch that looked cruel. A man sat before her, a canvas propped on an easel. He painted as if she were a landscape. As if her breathing body were still life.
Behind closed doors came sounds she couldn’t quite separate. Screams threaded with moans, pleasure tangled with pain so tightly they were indistinguishable. Vee pulled her coat tighter around herself.
Luca walked steadily beside her, his presence solid, dangerous. Every few steps, someone glanced his way and quickly looked elsewhere.
They stopped before a heavy door. A simple sign screwed into the surface.
BASTARDI.
“Wait here,” Luca said.
The door closed behind him.
And suddenly, Vee was alone.
The absence of him was startling. She wrapped her arms around herself, her heart thudding too fast, her thoughts spiraling.
This is what would have happened to you.
The words replayed in her mind.
If he hadn’t won that auction, where would she be? On her knees? On a canvas? Behind one of those doors where screams meant pleasure? Would she still be Vee? Or would she have learned how to disappear inside herself?
And Valentina.
Would this place have swallowed her too? The idea made bile rise in Vee’s throat.
She pressed her back against the wall, breathing shallowly.
She knew, with a clarity that cut sharper than fear, that she had run out of options. If she had to kneel, beg, bleed dignity onto the floor to keep Valentina safe, then so be it.
He came back out moments later, a key dangling from his fingers. He took her hand again, and led her farther down the hall. The noise from the lower rooms faded. They climbed a short flight of stairs, until they stopped in front of a matte black door that seemed to absorb the light around it.
“What’s going on?” Vee asked as Luca slid the key into the lock.
The door opened.
She stepped inside and forgot how to breathe.
The room was washed in deep red light. At its center stood a heavy bench. To the left, thick chains hung from reinforced beams, beside a sling. On the far wall loomed a St. Andrew’s cross. Whips and paddles were arranged with meticulous care. Everything had a place.
“Luca,” she whispered, turning slowly, her pulse roaring in her ears. “What is this p>
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked past her into the room. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto the only sofa. Then he reached for the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one by one. The fabric slid from his shoulders, revealing skin marked by strength.
Vee swallowed hard. “Luca, what are you doing?” Panic climbed her throat fast and sharp, turning her voice thin. He moved toward her. His fingers went to the buttons of her coat, undoing them one by one.
“Luca, you said you weren’t going to force me,” she cried.
He didn’t answer.
That silence was worse than shouting. It swallowed her protests whole.
He turned her so her back was to him and slid the coat from her shoulders.
God, what a body, he thought.
He tossed the coat onto the couch, and then he was on her again, steering her firmly toward the bench. His fingers traced down her bare back.
“Relax,” he murmured close to her ear. “I’m not going to fuck you p>
Her breath shuddered out of her. “Then what are you going to do p>
Instead of answering, he lifted her arms, guiding them forward above her head. Metal clicked softly as cuffs closed around her wrists.
The red light seemed darker now.
“I want your body,” Luca said. “Badly. But until you give it to me… I suffer in silence p>
She swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling too fast.
He stepped back.
“But you need to remember something,” he continued. “I own you p>
“I paid for you. I saved you. I pulled you out of a pit that would have swallowed you whole. Having another man touch you, kiss you, fuck you He stopped, dragging in a sharp breath, his jaw flexing. “That does things to me you don’t understand p>
“No one gets to touch you until you are ready for me,” Luca said. “Only I get to touch you. Only I get to fuck you p>
Part of her bristled, a spark of defiance flaring hot in her chest. But another part of her felt the strange, traitorous comfort of certainty.
He turned away from her and crossed the room, the red light catching the planes of his back as he moved. The wall of implements loomed.
Vee swallowed hard.
He reached out and selected a whip, the tassels at the end soft-looking. He weighed it in his hand, testing the balance, then turned back toward her.
“You stood in front of me,” Luca said, “in my goddamned presence. And you told him you love him p>
“I A thousand explanations crowded her throat.
The whip came down.
The sting bloomed across her ass stealing the air from her lungs.
“Luca!” she shouted in surprise.
He exhaled slowly. “Because this is your first time, I’ll go easy on you. Ten. And the only words that come out of your mouth better be you counting. Anything else, and I start again p>
She shook her head, breath ragged. “Is this what you mean by punishing me?” Vee asked, breaking the rule instantly.
“You will learn, Bambola. And you will learn to be grateful. Again p>
The whip fell a second time.
“One.” She sighed. Her pulse thundered against her temples as the sharp sting of each strike settled into a strange, searing rhythm. It was a rhythm that demanded attention, focus, surrender, and she obeyed.
He went again and again, the whip slicing through the air with a controlled crack that made her ears ring and her skin bloom fire. Her fingers dug into the bench beneath her, heels pressing into the cool floor, muscles coiled tight. With every count, she reminded herself of what had brought her here.