Page 10 of Under Control

Yes, I want to fuck her into a gooey puddle of submissive bliss, but that’s not why I want to marry her.

“She’s got other uses,” I tell him, brushing past and up the steps.

“Yeah? Like what?”

“She’s buried in debt. I pulled her credit report and that girl and her mother are practically drowning right now. That makes her amenable to offers like mine.”

“Great, you can financially control her. That’s the basis for all healthy relationships.”

“Never said I needed something healthy.” I reach the second floor and he keeps following.

“I’m pretty sure you can find a dozen attractive young girls desperate for money all over this city. What makes Karine so special?”

I pause at the door to my room. What makes her special?

The way she looked at me as she stood naked in my formal sitting room.

Her mouth spread open. The shock on her face when I pulled the gun.

The blush on her cheeks when I threatened to spank her.

She wanted it. Fucking hell, sheneededit, and ever since that moment, I’ve been hooked.

Maybe Anton’s right and this is all about finding some excuse to make that girl mine.

It wouldn’t be so outside of my personality.

I’ve been told I can be a little bit… obsessive.

Regardless of the reasons, Karine will come around. And if she doesn’t, I’ll just have to find a more creative way to convince her.

“She’s special because I say she’s special.” I glance back at my friend. “I have no reasons. Leave it at that.”

He shrugs and leans back against the wall. “Whatever you say,Pakhan.”

“Don’t be a prick,” I murmur, pushing open the door to my suite. “Believe me, she’s more than she seems.”

I shut the door behind me, cutting whatever smart-ass reply Anton threw my way, and try not to spend all day thinking about Karine’s little body dominated by my own, ruthlessly and aggressively taken and owned, destroyed and renewed, for two long, blissful years.

Chapter 4

Karine

Afew days after Valentin barged back into my life, Merrick shows up at Stove and Smoke again. He wants me to come pose in his studio the following afternoon. “Just don’t wander into some rich psycho’s house and get naked for him again, okay? Unless that’s your thing.”

I refrain from telling him about Valentin’s insane offer.

The sick part is, I’ve been considering it. The more time that passes, the more I start to wonder if I’m making a mistake by turning him down. The mountain of debt is quite literally crushing, and it’s not only just destroying my mother.

She ensured it would destroy me too.

It all happened because my father got sick three years ago. The doctors were not optimistic, but Dad and Mama decided to do everything they could to find a way to save him. They’d always loved each other so much—I grew up thinking their relationship was perfect, but little did I know—and Mama was willing to go to great lengths to find a way to keep him around.

They tried everything.

Conventional medicine. Radiation therapy, chemo, and two different experimental drug trials.

None of it shrank his tumors. He only got worse.

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