Page 44 of Reckless Pawn

But the more I dug into the half legitimate businesses, the more fascinated I became. Enough that I approached my father and gained his approval to attend business school.

I had been scheduled to start next quarter.

I shook four blue pills from the bottle and swallowed one of them down. The others I stashed in my pocket for later. Thanks to my engaged status, my stress levels were getting worse. Which reminded me that guests were waiting for me to return and tell them the story of Marco and me.

That wasn't going to happen.

I needed to find my father and explain to him that I wasn't feeling well. I glanced at the clock on the wall. Almost an hour since he and Marco had disappeared. What kind of business was he conducting on a Friday night that took precedence over his guests?

I turned to the adjoining door to his office and moved closer. I pressed my ear to the wood and listened. The sounds were muffled but I could make out some sort of rhythmic noise that repeated over and over alongside a voice talking that I couldn't make out. It could have been Marco or my father. Maybe both.

I closed my eyes and concentrated harder, allowing the sound of my beating heart to fade away in order to hear what was happening on the other side of the door better.

The repeated noise continued and I focused on that.

Thwap. Thwap. Thwap.

The sound only punctuated by an occasional visceral sound that I could only describe as a wail.

Minutes went by and I became mesmerized by the constant cadence. While occasionally punctuated by words I couldn't make out, it was the unknown pattern that held my attention. Over and over the unidentified sound continued until I couldn't take it anymore. I had to know what it was.

There was a digital keypad on this door too. Luckily, I knew the combination. For some reason my father wasn't very inventive when it came to his combinations as I'd discovered rather quickly he'd most recently used the date of my mother's death.

I punched in the number and watched the red light turn to green. Quietly, so as not to be discovered, I slowly turned the knob and eased the door open a tiny sliver.

At first I only noticed the side of Marco's head and I paused a moment to appreciate his good looks. Thick dark hair, olive toned skin like mine, and while I couldn't see them at the moment, I imagined his full red lips and perfectly straight white teeth. In the eyes of an outsider, they'd probably consider me lucky to be marrying such a handsome man.

But I knew that beauty only went skin deep. Anyone could see it if they looked hard enough. All they had to do was read the eyes. The saying that they were windows to the soul held more weight than most knew.

His eyes were dark like midnight and the look in them rarely varied no matter which facial expression he wore. It often gave me the sense of an empty void. As if emotion wasn't a concept that applied to him.

His arm swung back and forth in front of me and something long and thin grasped in his hand caught my eye. Was that a—

I opened the door a fraction more for a better look and confirmed that he did appear to be holding a whip just as it landed across a pale, naked back.

The slender figure cried out behind her taped mouth and I cringed at the mess he'd already made of her fair skin. Red welts and open slices oozing blood covered every inch.

"Are you ready to cooperate now?" Marco asked.

The woman whimpered in response, her pain clear in every note.

I desperately wanted to walk in that room and demand to know what was going on. However, my fear kept me hidden by the door. I had no idea why Marco had this woman chained to a bench in my father's office, but I knew getting the answer would probably not bode well for me either.

"There are more efficient ways to handle this. This is taking too long."

The sound of my father's voice made me jerk back and nearly slam my back against the doorjamb behind me.

"Blackmail is for the weak. When a woman needs to be brought to heel, physical pain and degradation are far more effective." Marco leaned down close to the woman's head. "Isn't that right, bitch?"

She shook her head and my body trembled from the vicious tone of my fiancée’s voice.

"That might be true, but I have guests waiting for our return. Much longer and someone is bound to get suspicious and come looking for us. Take the file and use the information. We need to get this done."

I couldn't see the sneer on Marco's face, but I could well imagine it. He didn't like taking orders from anyone.

"You want to use that bullshit to negotiate, you go right ahead. But not before she takes a dick up her dry ass for good measure. The little bitch needs to learn she can't play me."

With horror, I watched Marco rip down the woman's pants and spread her ass cheeks painfully wide. I should have run away. God, I should have. But I couldn't. I was in shock. When he started to undo his belt, I started to lose it.

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