Page 63 of Coercion

But the problem is howIreacted. How my stupid heart fluttered, how I clung to those words, clung to him.

I know I’m falling for him, I know that’s what’s happening and it feels like every alarm bell is ringing in my head because I need to be smarter than that. I have to be. If I give into these feelings then I’ll be the one hurt, I’ll be the one in danger, again.

I get into the shower, turn the water on and as it cascades over me, I shut my eyes, imagining he’s here, indulging in the fantasy that he’s still watching me.

I was never interested in sex when I was younger, mostly because my parents made it such a taboo subject. Nice girls didn’t talk about such things, nice girls didn’t think about such things and nice girls absolutely did not do such scandalous things as touch themselves.

I don’t know who my parents intended marrying me off to but one thing was absolutely certain, they expected me to be ‘untouched’, chaste, the absolute model of propriety on my wedding day.

Would they be happy that I was bound to such a man? I mean, Preston isn’t exactly a nobody, is he? He’s the Underboss to the Morelli Family, as good as an actual brother to Nico.

And yet, I’m a Holtz, technically with my blood I should be a Mafia Queen, not a Duchess, which is what being married to Preston makes me.

I sigh, rubbing my face, cleaning it with just the water while deciding that my parents approval is rather a moot point considering they’re both dead.

And a voice in my head tells me that I need to turn this to my advantage, I need to keep pushing, keep tempting him. If I’m tooutsmart Gunnar and Levi, then I have to make my husband fall completely and utterly in love with me.

I have to play the perfect wife, the perfect woman.

With a sigh, I run my hand back between my thighs. He told me to practice, he told me to discover what I like, what turns me on… I can hardly say that it’s simply him, his needs, his interest in me, that I’m so touched starved that a little attention is enough to make me putty in his hands.

No, I have to play this cool.

I have to pretend that there’s more to me than just a sad little girl, desperate to be loved, desperate to be wanted.

Preston

Gone.

It’s all fucking gone.

I stand there, staring into one empty container after another.

First, we were told they were contaminated, then they were quarantined, and now they’ve done a god damn disappearing act?

I slam my fist into the metal door. Whoever the fuck is behind this has got serious influence, they have to have to be able to pull this off. But who? Who the fuck would even dare?

“Boss?”

Jace stands behind me, obviously nervous.

“You got the footage?” I ask, not turning to look at him.

“Yes, boss.”

I highly doubt they’ll be anything there but we have to check.

He passes me the tablet and I hit the play button, feeling my anger growing with each second. It’s obviously a professional hit, planned right down to the second. I snarl in frustration as I watch the figures moving about, stealing our merchandise without so much as a fight. Where the hell was our security? There should have been twenty armed men here on watch and yet I can’t see one.

“Who was on guard?” I ask.

Jace starts listing off the names, a few of which I recognise but most must be new recruits.

“Found their bodies in the canal.” Noah says, walking up to us. “All of them took a dozen or so bullets.”

I shake my head, kicking at the dirt with my boot. “Nico is going to be pissed.” I state.

After the last incident we’re running seriously low on supplies. No wonder Levi was so damned desperate to get in bed with us, if they’ve been hammering his routes as hard as this, I doubt he’ll have many diamonds left to trade.

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