Page 5 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

“What’d you say?” I asked, placing my glass down.

Cristian looked me up and down slowly, his smirk widening. I expected him to shake his head and tell me to forget about it, that he hadn’t said anything, that he was just kidding about it all. But instead, he leaned in closer to me and placed a hand on my knee, his large fingers curling into my inner thigh.

“Not for long,” he repeated.

Pressing my lips together, I glanced down at his hand on my thigh and felt my heart lurch in my chest. His fingers were so big, so thick, so rough against my bare leg. He moved them in small, soothing circles and made me clench.

“What the hell does that mean? And why are you touching me?” I asked.

He leaned in even closer to me, his lips grazing against my ear, fingers moving a couple of inches up my inner thigh. He paused for a moment, his low chuckle making me shiver again. “Because I own you now, principessa.”

I clenched and swallowed hard. “Nobody owns me.” Not even Ben.

Cristian pulled away just enough to stare into my eyes with his stormy, dark ones. “Ben didn’t tell you yet?” He chuckled down at me. “I didn’t really expect him to though. He’s a bitch about it.”

“Ben is—”

“He’s a bitch, an asshole, a fucking stronzo.” He brushed his finger down my lower lip and gazed at it with so much more damn passion than Ben had ever stared at me. “And you know it too, don’t you?”

I slapped his hand away. “Ben is not an asshole or a stronzo or whatever you just called him. He loves me, and you should probably leave before he comes back out here and finds you touching me like this.”

Cristian’s smirk just widened even more. “I’m terrified, principessa.”

I pushed my hands into his chest, feeling the alcohol take over. “You should be. Now, leave me alone.”

He stood beside me, towering over me with his bulky frame, and placed his finger under my chin, raising it until I was staring up into the eyes of the devil. “I don’t think you understand. I own you now, principessa. Ben’s wrongdoings are yours, and the devil loves making people pay for their crimes.” His breath warmed my ear. “Especially sinners like you.”

My breath caught in the back of my throat, and I found myself trying to form words … any words … but I couldn’t. Something inside of me told me to run as fast as I freaking could, get out of this club, and leave Ben here to burn for whatever he had done to this man.

But I stayed glued to the spot, staring up into the eyes of Manhattan’s cruelest devil.

He placed his drink on the counter and nodded to the bartender. “Don’t worry about her tab. I got it.” And with that, he gave me one last lingering look and turned around, the handle of a gun—a fucking gun—sticking out from the back of his waistband.

And from that moment, I knew Ben really had fucked up. We were screwed.

4

roxie

Almost an hour later, two men walked out of the back hallway and made a beeline for me. I stood, leaving my half-empty glass on the bar, and shuffled through the groups of people having a good time.

Was my first instinct to leave this place behind even if Ben was somewhere in the back? Yes.

I didn’t want to be within any feet of Cristian or his men.

Glancing over my shoulder, I pushed around people on a mission to get the hell out of here before they could catch me and kill me for whatever Ben had done to them. I bumped into someone’s chest and froze. A man about double the size of Ben’s tiny frame stood over me.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I swallowed hard. “To the women’s room. I … I have to pee.” I crossed one leg over the other and pretended to have to pee my goddamn pants, as if some hadn’t already leaked out because I was straight-up terrified that tonight would be my last night on earth.

He snatched my arm, his large hand nearly wrapping around my entire elbow. “You can use the restroom later,” he said to me. “Boss wants to see you.”

I dug my heels into the ground. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, please, don’t take me back there.”

He dragged me through the crowd and down the dark back hallway as I tried so desperately to squirm out of his hold.

“Please, don’t. I don’t want to die. Please.”

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