Page 22 of Devil of Vegas

I couldn’t move even if I wanted to escape from him at this moment. He’s strong and commanding and has complete control over my body now. But there’s also something new about Vincent that I can taste on his tongue as it sweeps inside my mouth—a frantic, feverishdesperation, as if he’s trying futilely to gain control over not just me but alsohimself, and he can’t. He breathes raggedly through his open mouth, his chest heaving. The throbbing in his groin is so palpable that I can feel it against me. When I reach down, touch his pants, and tug at the button, I challenge Vincent’s carefully practiced control.

For a moment, he moves his mouth from mine and puts his lips to my ear. His entire body is trembling, muscles flexing as he threatens to crush me with his weight against the wall.

“Do you feel this, Isla?” he asks with a strained and sultry voice. “Do you feel how I can wield power over you and control every inch of your body?”

I try to speak but can’t, so I nod instead, feeling my cheek rub against his face as I do.

“Good. Then you can feel the beast inside of me that you’re threatening to release.”

“Please,” I say in a heady whisper. “Vincent, I want?—”

He stops me before I can finish. “Be careful, my ballerina,” he warns as the stiffening of his cock against my body presses like steel between my thighs. His voice, though never raised or loud, remains terrifyingly tempting. “Be careful walking the fine line that you’re on—tempting me, resisting me,enragingme. You’re playing with a fire that will burn us both.”

When he brings his face back to mine, his narrowed eyes have a darkened depth in them that hints at a storm brewing within him. He stays pressed against me but lessens his weight against the wall to allow me a deep breath, which I drink in greedily. Vincent traces his fingers up the side of my neck and along the curve of my cheek, holding my face to his as he kisses me one last, lingering time. It’s slow, strong, and not-so-subtly dominant before he pulls away from me and leaves me unsteadily perched against the wall. A shot of cold runs through me as I place my palms on the cold, flat surface to quench my shaking.

“Next time you beg, Isla. I won’t stop,” he says before opening the door and walking out of the penthouse.

A few seconds later, Marco steps inside the open doorway and stares at me. I still haven’t moved from my spot.

“Are you alright?” he asks with a look of mild concern.

The truth is that I don’t know if I willeverbe alright again. Not as long as I have this burning desire for my captor raging wildly out of control inside of me.

“Yes,” I lie as I take my hand off the wall and walk toward my bedroom. I know now that Vincent wants nothing more than to possess me. I want nothing more than to survive him. Maybe there’s a way that webothwin.

CHAPTER 10

ISLA

The longer I’m here in this penthouse, the more I notice things I hadn’t before. Whispers behind closed doors are a constant presence, whether I’m in my room listening to visitors or in the penthouse hearing men talking in the hallway. There are always conversations being had in hushed voices. They’re unaware of my expertise in waiting backstage and attentively listening for my cues. That’s a skill that serves me well now as I eavesdrop on discussions that I shouldn’t be privy to.

“Why do you always sound like you’re mistrustful of literallyeveryone?” Zara asks from outside my door.

At first, I can’t tell who she’s talking to, but then I hear Alonzo Ferraro answer her. I haven’t seen him since he was at the gala with his daughter, Sera, who looked like she was practically drooling over Vincent.

“Because my loyalty is to the Moretti legacy, and no one else,” he answers, sounding annoyed as if it were a dumb question to ask. “Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me how your younger generations are so quick to throw tradition out the window.”

“What are you even talking about?” Zara shoots back at Vincent’s underboss. “Just because I’m younger than you doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“True, but sometimes I think you and Junior and even my daughter, Sera, forget your place in all of this.”

“Oh really? And what exactly is that?” Zara’s voice sounds heated.

“To serve and protect the Moretti family business,notto get soft.”

If I were out in the living room, I imagine that I’d see an angry flush filling Zara’s cheeks right now. Alonzo appears menacing with a forceful presence and lacks a filter, similar to his daughter, who was always at the dance studio. He is also boastful. Marco’s arrival interrupts their minor dispute. I take their silence as my cue to come out of my room. The look on Marco’s face is more stressed than I’ve seen it before.

“We have a problem,” Marco says, glancing first at Zara and then over at me. “Get Isla back in her room and stay there with her until I can get hold of?—”

I believe he was going to say Vincent. However, a stranger enters the penthouse.

“How the hell did you get in here?” Alonzo asks, clearly recognizing the cop, who flashes his badge along with a sinister smile. “Where the hell is Luciano?”

Zara shrinks back a bit, looking like she knows why Luc wasn’t watching the building, but not wanting to say anything about it. Perhaps it has to do with their prior conversation concerningLuc’s excessive interest in a certain heiress. Regardless, there’s a cop in the penthouse now, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

A police officer’s presence suggests escape. However, he doesn’t look like agoodcop. I’m not even sure if Iwantto leave yet. It sounds insane, but I don’t think I want to leave right now. There’s more that I want to figure out about Vincent first, as if being around him has become something that I’ve grown comfortable with.

“Take it easy, Alonzo,” the cop says. “I just came to see it for myself.”

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