...When in Hell Read online

  Swinging the bat a second time, aiming for his arm, he let out a strained scream.

  “Just kill me.” He shouts to me and I nearly laugh.

  “That will not happen. I think someone needs a bit of repayment for the pain and suffering that you caused.” I laugh, not really sure why I’m saying the words but knowing that I mean them.

  “What do you mean?”

  WHAP, this time the bat breaks apart, sending splintering shards all over.

  “You sell women all the time.” He lets out a strained laugh, still lying on the ground. “I’m sure that your plan is really just to sell her as well. She just doesn’t know it yet.” He snaps at me before I feel my blood boil. I’m not sure why it bothers me. Because everything he’s saying is true, but something nags at me. As I look at him, raising my arm up and aiming the gun at him one last time.

  I don’t even flinch as the gun fires and I watch as Jack’s body jerks back before he falls limp on the ground in front of me. Handing the gun over to Sal as I walk back to the backseat of the SUV. Pausing as I look back for a second and watch as the men clean up his body. Then opening the door.

  “The fuck?” I look into the SUV as the door on the opposite side of the car is open and Nyx glances at me wide-eyed as she jumps out of the SUV and runs away from the open door. “Fuck!” I shout as I see the men who are cleaning up Jack look over. “Take care of him.” I snap at them before I take off around the vehicle after her as she runs through the warehouse.

  She’s at a disadvantage though, because I own this warehouse and over the years have spent a lot of time in here. As she turns the corner to rush through the building, I split off in the opposite direction to cut her off as she moves out the other side. Rushing down the stairwell, I can hear her heels clicking on the concrete floor as I lunge at her, just as I had done weeks ago. Slamming her into the wall that is next to her.

  Pinning her against the wall, my knees pressing her legs apart as I laugh down at her. “That was a stupid idea, Little Girl. I told you what would happen if you did this again. No one ever gets away from me.” I can feel my cock throb as she looks up to me, eyes wide, filled with lust for a brief second, until it turns to fear. I’m not sure which one fuels me more. One more laugh spills from my lips as I look her down. “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t fantasied about fucking you to teach you a lesson.” I growl at her as her eyes continue to widen. Letting my hand fall down to her thigh trailing it up and into the slit of her dress. “You know, this wouldn’t be as exciting to me if I didn’t know that you want me to fuck you as much as I want to.” She’s still struggling against me as I pin her against the wall with my hips and I hear her gasp slightly. “I can already feel your pussy throbbing for me through your dress.” I grind my hips against her once more and a small moan comes out of her lips and I feel her body ease with her pushing back against me. She looks up at me and I can’t help but to keep the slight grin on my face. Shocking even myself, I feel my lips brush against hers for a fraction of a second. The stinging distracts me as I pull my eyes up away from my hand trailing up the slit of her dress and to her eyes, which widen and her arm in the air. “The fuck?” I snap as I reach up and take one step up. Reaching up and cupping my cheek. Her hands push on my chest, causing me to stumble slightly backwards and she’s running as I pull my hand away, seeing the red liquid contrasting my skin. “YOU FUCKING BITCH.” I snap out as I run behind her, but she’s already out the back of the warehouse. She got just enough of a head start that the last thing I see of her is her glancing back at me for a split second as she rounds the corner before I can even get near her.

  As I round the corner, I look around into the small crowd that’s in downtown, just a few blocks from the warehouse that we own. Searching the crowd, I’m looking for her.

  “Boss.” Blaine shouts for me as he rushes towards me. “We have a problem.”

  ❖

  Nyx

  I can feel Luce’s hands on my bare thigh as he runs his hand up and I know I need to get away. That if he gets to what he wants to do…

  I’m fucking dead.

  I finger the pocket knife that I found in the SUV in my hand as his hand continues to leave a trail of goosebumps in its path. Inhaling deeply because as much as I don’t want to do this, I have to get away from him. Looking up to him I’m stuck. For some fucked up reason the blood that is splattered onto his face causes butterflies in my stomach.

  What the fuck is happening to my fight or flight.

  Run, dumbass!

  “You know, this wouldn’t be as exciting to me if I didn’t know that you want me to fuck you as much as I want to.” As much as I fight back against him, I can’t help but think about how right that he is. My body almost reacts immediately to his touch. “I can already feel your pussy throbbing for me through your dress.” His hips push against mine and a small moan, that I can’t contain, escapes my mouth. I need to focus. I cannot get lost in Luce’s aura right now. His face leans down to mine and I feel his lips briefly on mine.

  Quickly, before I let myself even think about it, I swipe up and catch the only thing that I can, which is the side of his face…

  “The fuck!” He snaps as he takes a step back and I shove him back with my hands as hard as I can before I run as fast as I can away from him. “YOU FUCKING BITCH!” He shouts at me as I continue to run off, not slowing down, like I had done the other night. I glance over my shoulder before I move around the building and down the alley. Coming to the opening, I see it’s downtown. It’s packed with people and tourists as I weave my way in them quickly. I don’t even look over my shoulder as I am immersed in them.

  “Thank god.” I mutter to myself, trying to hide myself in the crowd, as I come up to a small group of girls getting into a car. “Please, help me.” I whisper to them, wide-eyed.

  They pause, looking at my clothing and then down at my shoes. Before they turn and look at one another. “Yeah, get in.” The blonde nods as she pushes me into the Uber that they are getting into and shuts the door.

  I’m peeking out over the seat as I see Luce coming around the corner, I can see the blood running down the side of his face and already staining his shirt, as he searches for me. Before his men come up from behind him and then he turns, walking back into the alley. When I can’t see him anymore, I sigh as I turn back around and actually relax against the seat.

  When I open my eyes, the girls are staring at me.

  “Thank you, so much.” I sigh at them, but they still continue to look at me.

  “Are you okay?” The blonde asks me.

  “Now… yes.” I whisper again and the women look from one another and then back to me.

  “Do you need to go to the cops?” She asks me and I just shake my head quickly.

  “No,” I shake my head, “no cops.” I whisper and look around. I need to get out of this car as soon as possible before he can figure out where I went... how I got away… but more importantly… what I did right before I ran.

  “Are those Jimmy Choo’s?” The brunette asks me.

  “Yeah, do you want them?”

  “I couldn’t.” She whispers to me and I nod my head.

  “Trade me then.” I smirk, “My feet are killing me, anyway.” She nods her head quickly. We switch shoes, and I slip her sneakers on my feet.

  I convince the girls to drop me off at a hotel as I walk into the lobby and handing the clerk cash they let me stay upstairs.

  ❖

  Luce

  “What?!” I snap at Blaine as I finally tear my eyes off of the crowd and look back at him.

  “You’re bleeding.”  He tells me.

  “Yeah, no shit. Now what do I need to see.”

  “She took the money…” he trails as I slowly turn my head and look at him.

  “What?” I snap out as the information he just told me slowly sinks in, then turning around quickly, I run back to the SUV, ripping open the door and sliding the
briefcase to sit in front of me. Instantly I see that latches are already unlocked, so I lift the lid up and my mouth nearly drops. There’s 2 bands left in the briefcase. “How in the fuck?” I snap as I look over and Blaine shrugs as he holds up an open condom wrapper and just shrugs.

  ❖

  Nyx

  I can sigh a breath of relief… at least for now as I lay down on the bed.

  I let myself lie back, rolling over onto my side, and nearly fall asleep instantly. Granted, I’ve always felt fine sleeping in tense situations. This is the first time in my whole life where I actually feel free.

  Waking up, I know that there’s one thing; I need to get the fuck out of town because Luce will hunt for me…

  What have I done?

  I just gave him the ultimate fucking chase…. And not only just to find me but also for the thousands of dollars that I just stole…

  ❖

  Luce

  Blaine is talking to me, but I can’t help but think about the woman out there with nearly 100K of my money and what I will do to her when I find her… one of these days she will slip up if not, well, I’m always steps ahead of everyone

  Something catches my eye as a brunette walks past the camera and I narrow in on her as I stand up, walking out of my office, down the hallway, and out to the club below. When I catch up to her, I grab her by the arm, spinning her around. “Where did you get those?” I snap at the girl as her mouth drops open, I can tell that she’s looking up at me even if I’m still only staring at her shoes.

  “I bought them.” She tells me as she glances around, I can only imagine looking for her friends who are still probably snorting coke in the bathroom.

  “Bullshit, I bought them. Now where the fuck did you get them?”

  “You can’t know if you bought these specifically.” She tells me and I laugh.

  “I can though. They made 3 pairs of them. They sold the other two on the West Coast. Those are the only pair on the East Coast. So, I’ll ask one more goddamn time. Where the fuck did you get them?”

  “Some girl gave them to me.” She finally shouts at me.

  “What girl? What did she look like?”

  “I dunno, young and she was in a formal gown... She begged us to help her and she gave me the shoes.”

  “How did you help her?” I snap at her and she sighs.

  “We just took her to a hotel.”

  “What hotel?” I back her into the corner. She then tells me specifically what hotel that they dropped her off at. “Give me the shoes.” I tell her and she looks around, shocked.

  “What?”

  “Give me the shoes.”

  “But then I won’t have…” she trails off.

  “I’ll have someone bring you an extra pair.” I shrug, looking at her. As she slowly slips the shoes off of her feet and hands them to me, hesitantly, as she drops to the ground. Then I’m out the door, heading to the car and then out in the hotel's direction.

  Lucky for me, and what Nyx doesn’t know… is that I own the hotel she’s currently hiding out in.

  Laughing, I head out of the club and to the Mercedes.

  Sliding into the hotel parking lot, I stop in front of the doors and walk inside. I look at the manager and his eyes widen at the sight of me.

  “Mr. De Santis.” He gasps as I eye the office, instantly he nods his head, understanding that I need to speak with him.

  ❖

  Nyx

  Coming back to the room, something strikes me off, but at first glance I’m not really sure what. So I stop as I approach the door. When I left, I made sure that the ‘do not disturb’ sign was placed perfectly on the doorknob, flat against the door. Now, it has slipped all the way to the edge of the curved handle and is slightly swinging. I could explain it away if it wasn’t the room at the end of the hall.

  That can only mean one thing… Luce has found me. Gripping onto the book bag of clothing that I just bought, I move out of the hotel.

  Leaving the city…

  Chapter 6

  Nyx

  —3 years later- Toronto—

  “Lil,” Chad calls to me as I look up from my desk and smile at him, but I can tell by his face that he isn’t happy with me at all. “You haven’t given me an answer, yet.” He crosses his arms and glares at me.

  “I told you, I’m thinking about it.” I smirk back at him as he stands irritated with me, and nods his head before he paces back and forth in my office.

  “Thinking, you’re fucking thinking about it.” He snaps as he looks at me, taking the ring box out of his pocket and sliding it across the desk. “Lil, we’ve been together for almost 3 years and you still need to think about it?” Sighing, I catch myself as I bring my hand up, brushing my fingers over the faint scars on my neck.

  “I’m sorry, Chad. I just need some time. I’ll let you know as soon as I decide.” He groans as I glance up at him. “Sh,” I look out the window into the rest of the office. Getting up from my chair, I step around the desk and close the blinds.

  “Fuck if anyone else hears. Lil, I need an answer by tonight.” He glares at me as I sit back down at the desk. “I can’t take much longer…”

  “Fine,” I sigh, “I’ll think it over for the rest of the day and give you an answer when I get home.” He nods his head again before he throws his hands up and storms out of my office and I can only guess out of the building when my coworker Leah pops her head back in, looking at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I mumble before I look down at the ring box that’s sitting on my desk.

  ❖

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do?” Leah asks as we walk through the parking lot.

  “I’m not sure.” I whisper to her as I catch myself again touching the scars on my neck again.

  “I thought you were happy?” She asks me as she lights a joint in her hand and then passes it to me.

  “I am.” I nod my head to her. Or in reality, I’m as happy as I can be. Being with someone who doesn’t really know me. Doesn’t even know my real fucking name.

  “Then what’s the issue?”

  Sighing, I lean against my car as I stare down at my hands. “Have you ever just woken up one day and thought to yourself, how the fuck did I get here?” Looking up at her, we both end up laughing.

  “Honestly, all the time,” she shrugs, before she looks at me again. “What’s his name?”

  “What?”

  “Come on, Lil, we all have that one who makes us wonder about the past.” I just shake my head as I continue to feel the silently raised marks on my neck. “Okay, he must be something. if he’s making you question Chad.” In all honesty, Chad’s probably better from outside appearances than he really is. He can be a bit controlling. He doesn’t approve of much of what I do, tells me it’s concerning. I typically just roll my eyes and go about it. If I really cared about what he thought then I would probably be more concerned, but I don’t. He’s simply a placeholder. A safe space. A… well, anything but a crime boss.

  I met Chad shortly after I left the hotel. I ran, changed my name, and moved to Canada. When I was looking for an apartment a few weeks later, I met Chad. He was looking for a roommate and living with a man 5 years older than me made me feel safer than living alone. It didn’t take long before we ended up together.

  “Lil.” Leah calls me again, pressing me for answers.

  “It was a different lifetime.” I shrug my shoulders before I get into the car and head home.

  Pulling up to the house, I get out of the car and walk up the front steps. “Chad.” I call out as I walk into the kitchen, seeing the food sitting on the counter.

  “I’m in here.” I hear him call from the dining room and I’m surprised. Wondering what he was trying to plan. Looking down at my hand, I smirk as I walk into the dining room, knowing for the first time in my life I can see the direction that my life is taking. Even if it’s not excitement and passion, it’s stable.
I’ve never had stable.

  “Chad, I’ve thought about it.” I whisper out as I turn into the dining room, “I’m sorry it took me so long to think about it, but…” I trail off, trying to get the words out of my mouth. Trying to tell him yes, but I can’t…

  And it only has a small part to do with the fact that the word yes is stuck behind my teeth. The other part is the confusion, I have when walking into the dining room as Chad sits at the table facing me, and in the chair next to him is the dress. The dress I was wearing when I ran from Luce. Furrowing my brow, I look at him, seeing him still sitting at the table. I’m not ready for this to turn into an argument.

  “Why is that out?” I ask him as his eyes widen, but he’s not looking at me. He’s looking past me. I catch sight of his arms as they trail behind the chair towards each other.

  Fuck.

  “Because, Little Girl,” a low growl comes into my ear, “I’ve come to collect what’s mine.” Slowly turning around, I look up at the devil as he glares down at me. I really wish I could say that, having him standing in front of me didn’t instantly bring back the sexual tension between us, but I can’t. “You think you were safe, Little Girl?” I don’t answer, just continue to stare up. “Don’t have anything to say?”

  “Nice face,” I mutter out as I look directly at the scar, where I dragged the blade across his cheek. Every day for the first year, I expected this day to come. I slept so little, every slight noise would wake me up in an aroused panic. Somewhere in the last year, I stopped being afraid.

  His laugh takes me by surprise causing me to jump a little. “Admiring your handy-work?”

  “Lil, what is he talking about? Who is he?” Chad shouts from the other side of the table.

  “He’s—,” I’m trying to explain when Luce cuts me off.

  “Someone she owes a lot of money to.” He glares down at me.