Page 15 of Little Mouse

“Still no name for her, huh?” Dante asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I look over at him sitting at the smaller desk on the far side of the room. He rarely uses it, but today apparently he’s decided to spend the day irritating me with his constant presence.

“No,” I reply tightly. “But I’ll find out eventually.”

“And you didn’t give her your name, huh? Surprising. I figured you would want her to know who you are.” He gives me a questioning look, clearly hoping I’ll explain it to him.

I don’t bother answering. I have my own plans, and I don’t need his annoying ass opinions on it. Ms. De Luca might be scared, but she’s also determined. I figured she would have given up by now and gone back to trying to pick the lock, but apparently she’s planning on using her brain instead. Intriguing. My little mouse is a mystery. For now though, I need to put her out of my mind and focus on my work.

“Has there been any rumblings from the De Lucas?” I ask Dante.

Dante shakes his head. “I have a guy sitting on the apartment building and hasn’t seen anyone in or out. But then again, no one ever clocked any of them going in there, so they’re probably getting into the building another way.”

All possible. And smarter, if you ask me.

“I want to know immediately if anything changes,” I order Dante. “Now, where are we on Eion?”

“Still nothing new,” Dante replies. “But apparently Seamus is still on his rampage and is suspicious of everyone. Eion said that he hopes to have some more intel for us soon. But from what I can gather, Eion isn’t high on the suspect list.”

Then it seems our rat has made good on his word. “Make sure to remind him of what will happen if he double crosses us,” I say absently, turning back to my computer. “Oh, and, someone has been skimming.”

Dante scowls as he pulls out his phone. “Any idea who?”

“It’s either Alonso or Carlo. Both’s numbers are up despite product production being low.” I have a heavier suspicion on who it was, but I’ll see how things play out.

“Alonso is a slimy motherfucker,” Dante sneers. “Carlo has his moments, but if I was betting money it would be Alonso. When do you want to meet with them?”

“I want it to be a random stop. The last thing I need is for them to get wise to it and hide whatever they’re trying to do.”

Dante nods, putting his phone away. “Fine, we’ll leave whenever you’re ready to go.”

We lapse into silence as I get to work, though my mind and eyes keep straying to the separate monitor that I have to keep an eye on Ms. De Luca. And as the hours pass, my frustration grows. She’s half asleep now, but she still manages to keep on going. Any other time I might find her stubbornness amusing, but right now, it’s hindering me from focusing. She doesn’t even move when Sofia and Dante bring her food. No attempt to escape, she’s completely focused on whatever she’s doing. But the final straw is when she decides to climb up on one of the ladders and nearly topples off because she’s so tired she’s unsteady on her feet.

I’m moving before I can tell myself it’s stupid. Dante doesn’t even move when I snatch the key from his hand and storm past him. He knows better than to follow me. Even Sofia keeps her mouth shut as I stalk past her, though she does arch a brow. By the time I reach the large double doors and shove the key in, I’ve worked myself up to pissed. I storm inside, slamming the door behind me, uncaring if that scares her. Because I want her to be scared.

I storm up the steps to the library area, and down to the middle of the hall where she’s standing, frozen as she watches me stalk toward her. Her eyes widen, but before she can try to evade me, I reach out and grab her, hauling her by the arm toward the steps. For a moment, she doesn’t resist, just following along, but all of a sudden, her instincts kick in and she digs in her heels. “Let go of me,” she snarls, all traces of exhaustion gone from her voice.

I ignore her and drag her down the stairs. When we reach the bed, I wrench her around and fling her onto the bed. She lets out a small screech, but as soon as she lands on the bed, she tries to scramble away, fear clear on her face. I grab her by the ankle and yank her back, before I bark, “Enough!”

Maybe it’s the force of my voice, but she stills, and the terror on her face is clear. I should probably feel bad for frightening her, but instead, all I do is yank her even closer to me, while also wrenching down the covers. “No,” she whispers, her entire body trembling. “No, I won’t let you do this.”

“I think you’re forgetting your position here, my little mouse,” I tell her coldly. “You are completely at my mercy, and if I wanted to fuck you, you couldn’t stop me. But lucky for you, I have no desire to deal with a scared little virgin today. I’m putting you to bed since you’re too damn stubborn to do it yourself.”

Her eyes widen at my words. “What?” she whispers.

I refuse to repeat myself. Instead, I let go of her ankle and force her into the bed, pulling the sheets over her. “Go to fucking sleep,” I order. She doesn’t move, just stares up at me. I give her a hard glare, before I step back. I barely make it three steps before I hear the sheets being flung back. “Get out of that bed and I will tie you to it,” I warn her, turning back to see her pausing in the act of swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

There’s a flash of something across her face before it smoothes away into the cool, flat expression that she gave me last night. Defiance? Probably, but unluckily for her, I’m far too annoyed to find it amusing. Instead, it pisses me off and makes me more determined to make her obey. We stare at each other for another moment, and then I let out a harsh sound when she decides to press her luck and gets to her feet. “Touch me, and I’ll scream bloody murder so loud that your neighbors will come running,” she warns me, quickly moving away from the bed.

I give her a cold smile. “Scream all you like,topolina. No one is coming to your rescue. You think you are the first to scream in these walls?” I follow her, stalking her, until she finally makes the mistake of backing herself into a corner. She realizes it as soon as her back hits the wall. She tries to wait until I get close and then foolishly lashes out, but I expertly avoid her attempt, grab her wrists, lift them over her head and pin them to the wall. She struggles, but stills when I lower my face so that it’s close to hers. I can feel the pulse pounding in her wrist, and can see it fluttering in her slim neck, and I feel a flash of power and desire rush through me at the sight. Having her at my mercy, is fucking perfect. “What are you going to do now, Ms. De Luca?” I purr softly.

She doesn’t say anything for a long moment, her chest heaving as her breathing picks up speed. I can feel the small tremors in her body, until she finally says, “Just let me go.”

“I’ll let you go as soon as you promise you’ll get in that bed and go to sleep,” I reply.

“No, I mean—”

“I know what you mean,topolina,” I interrupt, “but you see, that’s not going to happen. So I’m not going to waste any of my time arguing with you. So, it’s up to you what happens next. You can climb in that bed and sleep like a good little captive, or you can try my patience again. Maybe I’ll tie you to the bed and leave you there until I’m good and ready to release you. So what’s it going to be, little mouse? Because I know which one I want it to be.” I flex my hand on her wrist to make my point.

Her eyes are wide and dark as they stare into mine. It’s fascinating to watch as she tries to think of a way out of this. Her face gives nothing away, but if you pay close enough attention, her eyes tell you everything you need to know. Which is exactly how I know the moment she plans to try and fight her way out. I bite back a chuckle, and instead, I block the leg she lifts to try and knee me in the balls, wedging my knee between her thighs, making her gasp. “Just let me go,” she grits out. “I don’t know what you want, but I’m not going to give it to you.”

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