Page 43 of Sin & Sapphire

Fuck Angelo. He’d sent me off to a rapist instead of protecting me. He wasn’t in charge of me, another man who wanted me on my knees and obedient instead of?—

Angelo raised an eyebrow as my breathing sped up and panic roared through me.

“Angel?”

I was stuck, cuffed to the table. I yanked on my wrist, ignoring the pain of the metal cuff scraping against my wrist. “Let me go,” I whimpered as my vision narrowed and my breath came out of me in short, panicked, puffs. “Please.”

No matter how hard I pulled, my wrist remained fixed to the table. They’d caught me, trapped me, and now they were going to fuck with me like Grégoire had or beat me like my father did. Or worse. I had to get out. I’d been so fucking close!

Warm hands covered my cheeks and turned my gaze toward Angelo’s. His grey eyes held my gaze. “Breathe, angel. Can you do that with me?”

I shook my head, jerking away from him. Arms surrounded me from behind, a hot body pressed against my back, and the two men held me.

“I need you to breathe with me,” Angelo continued, refusing to let go of my face. “In for five, out for five.”

Fire streaked across my ass. Valentin had spanked me. “Breathe, slut.”

I took a shuddering breath in, counting to five, then let it out.

“That’s a good girl,” Angelo murmured, not letting go of my face. “Again.”

I inhaled again, then exhaled as he counted with me, the rough texture of his fingers against my face grounding me as I stared into his eyes filled with nothing but concern.

I don’t know how long we breathed together, calming me, centering me, as I recovered from my panic, but when I finally jerked my face away from him again, he let me.

“Now, angel. Thank yourmaître.”

My eyes flew to Angelo’s, shocked and horrified. After sending me into a panic attack the first time, he was insisting on making me call Valentin my master?

I shook my head. Angelo cupped my cheek. “Ana, say thank you.”

This time I couldn’t hold back the tears that streaked down my cheeks. “Thank you, Valentin,” I whispered.

Angelo grasped my chin, forcing me to look back up at him despite my tears.

I hated how safe I felt, even as humiliation burned in my cheeks.

“That’s not what I told you to say, angel,” he murmured gently, not an ounce of judgment in his voice.

Exhausted, my ass burning from my earlier spanking, emotionally worn out from everything that had happened, I dropped my eyes.

“Thank you,maître,” I whispered, humiliated and horrified at how easily I was giving in.

“You’re welcome,” he rumbled from behind me before releasing his arms from around me. “Now let’s get you fed.”

18

LUCA

“Three more Costaclubs burned to the ground this week,” my father told me and the rest of his capos, unable to hide the glee in his voice.

Gio Costa had fucked with my family too many times to count, but he was dead, and all I could think about was Ana’s inheritance crumbling to dust.

“With Angelo Costa in France looking for his bitch niece, their territory is up for grabs,” one of my father’s capos mused.

My hands clenched beneath the table before I held back and forced myself to relax. Ana was off-limits to me, and I’d do well to remember that.

My phone pinged.

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