Page 12 of Devil's Den

What horrible cycle had she gotten herself into?

Her own brother was treating her like crap, and like some kind of addict, she’d been taking it from him, as he was her family.

“Are you okay?” the guard asked.

She looked up and smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. You know when you realize something sucks, like big time, yeah, I just got some serious clarity on a situation.” She blew out a breath. What sucked even more, she felt like she was going to need to ask Rome for advice, which had to be a terrible idea. Here she was, after giving her virginity to a man, and now she was considering … what? Asking him how she got her brother out of her life completely.

There had to be a way for her to get a fresh start at the end of this. Even if it was just asking for Rome’s help to grab her things, so when the month was over, they were done.

Ben hadn’t even called her. How insane was that? Twenty-four hours she spent with a stranger because of what he had done, and not a single phone call.

She didn’t like how her feelings about her brother were flooding her. Beth knew if she’d done something to him or caused this kind of trouble, she would do everything in her power to stop it, or be there for him, or be anything he needed. There was no way she would ignore him.

All that told her was … he didn’t care. Ben didn’t care what he’d done, and she had to wonder if he was even out looking for a job, taking care of himself, or just doing whatever the hell he wanted without a single care in the world.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, and she got to her feet. “Is it okay if I walk some more?”

“Yes, of course.”

Beth moved around the garden, and spent hours taking everything in. The guard told her when lunch was, to which she made her way back to the house only to find it was still empty.No sign of Rome anywhere.

She stayed in the movie room for the rest of the afternoon, and attempted to get lost in each storyline, but she’d never been a big movie lover. She enjoyed them, but now they were just stories, one floating into another without any substance.

After dinner, she thanked the chef and the staff for the food, and decided to retire to the bedroom. She needed to sleep and find some way to hide from the reality going on inside her brain, where she could have quite gladly hurt her brother for his lack of care for her.

Beth took a nice, long, hot shower, which only served to piss her off. At their shared apartment, she tried to be as quick as possible to make sure they both had hot water. Not her brother. She lost count of the number of times she’d taken a cold shower, and he’d laughed about it, like it was some joke. No consideration, no respect. Beth stayed in the shower, enjoying the warmth, washing away the day’s grime, and she hoped the bitterness building within her, because none of those emotions were good.

****

Later that night, Rome stepped into his home to find the guard he’d placed on Beth duty waiting for him. He got a brief rundown of everything she had done for the day, including her change of emotions.

He’d seen on his own security cameras that she’d spent most of the afternoon in front of the movie screen, which he had installed a few years ago. Also, he noted how bored she looked. According to the guard, she retired to her bedroom quite early, and he’d not seen her since.

With that, Rome dismissed him and made his way toward his office, where he went straight for a whiskey and pouredhimself a generous glass. Today had been a trying day. First, a meeting with one of his senior cops on his payroll. He’d been warned about a raid on one of his many bars.

He didn’t have a problem with that. They could raid as many of his bars as they liked; they were not going to find anything. He took great care to make sure both businesses didn’t mix, and if there were any drugs found on the property, they were dealt with swiftly as they were none of his products.

Rome liked to keep a clean house, especially at his bars and restaurants. Drugs were something he controlled, not what he dabbled in. He knew people were going to try to find what they shouldn’t, and there was no way for him to stop them, but he did control the people that made and supplied them. There was never any dirty product on the street, no risk of random men and women ODing or killing themselves by taking the drugs in his establishment.

From there, he had to be at the casino as they were dealing with an attempted counter, which was swift. Then he had some other legal business to take care of, including with a fellow businessman that wanted him to invest in his brothels, which he refused. Rome didn’t care to have stolen women used in brothels, or forced to do things they didn’t want to do. There were a lot of men and women who wanted to make money off their bodies, and ruining lives of innocent people was not the way to go. It kept the law off his back, as he was a good bad man.

He just knew what was good for business. Having a crying, sniveling woman trying to entertain men was not good for business. Instead, he used women who were happy to get a paycheck at the end of the night, and the men were more than happy and came back for seconds and more. That was good for business, and he supplied the security.

Then, he finished the night with finding Ben fucking Hunter in one of his casinos again, losing money faster than hewas making it. His reasoning was he had Beth, so he could enjoy all the fun he wanted. Rome didn’t like that.

The man had no respect or regard for his sister, so he personally taught him a lesson. Ben was permanently banned from his casinos, and he was already reaching out to the smaller ones.

He didn’t know what Beth saw in her brother as the man was a complete tool who was more than happy to use his sister as leverage. He knew he shouldn’t care, but he did. Beth had done nothing wrong to her brother, and yet he treated her like that, which didn’t sit well with him.

He took a long swig of his whiskey, relishing the burn as it slid down his throat, and he released a sigh. The last thing he wanted to be doing was drinking alone.

There was a woman upstairs, and he wanted to see her. He’d already eaten out this evening, and now he made his way upstairs, feeling the anticipation flood him with every passing second. Arriving at his bedroom, he opened the door and stared into his room, to see the beautiful woman lying in bed.

He stepped inside and approached the bed, watching as she slept. She was facing the en-suite bathroom, curled up on her side, hands beneath her head. Some of her hair had spilled across her face. She looked so peaceful in sleep. Rome decided to leave her, as he made his way toward the bathroom, stripping out of his clothes.

His bruised and busted knuckles caught his attention. Clenching his hands into a fist, he tightened them, feeling the skin crack a little. He relished the pain as it was a reminder of how far he’d come.

He used to fight every night, working his way up to where he was now. Rome hadn’t known fear since he was a boy, when he had feared the slash of a belt, or a stick, or anything his old man could get his hands on.

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