Marrying the Mob Prince
2-18

INDIE

Tyrants first appear as a protector.

Sage words from Plato, but they gave me no comfort.

Knox seemed hellbent on dominating every aspect of my life. Within a few weeks of my rescue, he'd confiscated my phone, taken over my schedule, and introduced rules. He'd printed out a list, which lay beside the red dress. 1. Be polite. Never embarrass me in front of company.

2. Dresses and skirts only. No sweatpants, jeans, etc., unless for exercise.

3. No junk food. I expect you to keep your body in good condition.

4. No PDA.

5. No masturbation without my consent.

The man had lost his mind.

It went on and on, but I refused to read the rest. I tossed the list in the trash. Then I broke the masturbation rule in the shower. Until he admitted these edicts were an abuse of power, he would never win me over.

My hand dove into a greasy bag of potato chips as I worked in Knox's guest bedroom. I'd poured a big bowl in front of the blinking eye affixed to the ceiling. A control freak like Knox probably monitored me throughout the day. Too bad he wasn't around to police my snacks. Knox was putting out fires at Black Prism, and he'd left his curvy assistant behind to dominate me in his absence.

Rapid footsteps rapped the tiles and paused at the doorway. A pretty blonde in a pencil skirt entered, her hair swept in a severe ponytail. Valerie pressed her lips into a fuchsia line. "You're still not dressed." "For what?"

Playing dumb was worth it to watch her struggle to contain her contempt. Valerie tapped her iPad and frowned at the display.

"Dinner."

"Oh. That. I'm not going." I averted my gaze to the laptop. "I've a lot of work to catch up on."

"But he's taking you to one of the best restaurants on the Long Wharf. Tyger Tyger." A slight wrinkle creased her forehead as I continued typing. "You can't not go." "Says who?"

Valerie released a tense breath. "Me."

I chuckled, amused at the idea of this pint-sized girl forcing me to do anything.

"Indie, I'm supposed to get you ready."

I scratched my chin. "Tell him I ate a bag of chips and I'm not hungry anymore." Normally, I wouldn't act like such a bitch. She was desperate for his approval. Knox gave out atta-girls as often as Halley's Comet passed Earth. I understood what it was like to be unappreciated, but she obviously had a major crush on Knox. So I wasn't making her job easier.

"For God's sake. He won't accept that as an excuse."

I shrugged. "Then he shouldn't have taken my phone."

Valerie muttered a curse and paced Knox's office, her attention lingering on his hoodie draped over the couch, his Herman Miller chair, the whiskey still pooled at the bottom of his glass tumbler. Had she slept with him?

It wouldn't have surprised me.

Valerie chewed her lip as she checked her tablet. "He'll give it back if you behave tonight."

Asshole.

I slammed the laptop's lid shut, giving up on work. "Can you honestly say you agree with his behavior?"

She looked out of her depth. "He makes the rules. It's not my job to question Knox." Whoa, there.

A violent buzzing filled my chest. I hated how she said his name. "Maybe you should."

Her pink mouth twisted with a condescending slant. "He has no tolerance for difficult people. That's why he took away your phone. He could've done a lot worse."

My heart thudded.

I couldn't believe this girl.

"Why are you enabling this?" I shouted as I followed her down the hall. "He can't be paying you that much!"

"He is. And Knox is the best boss I've ever had." Valerie's eyes twinkled with a suggestion that inflamed me. Then she opened the door to Knox's bedroom. "Are you sure you don't want my stylist to come over?" "Knox likes how I look. Otherwise he wouldn't be obsessed with making me his slave."

Valerie ignored that alarming comment. "Dinner with Bryan Knox is a privilege most women would kill for."

"And do you include yourself among those women?"

Valerie pursed her lips.

My shoulder hit hers as I entered the bedroom. I ripped the door from her grasp and shut it. I raked a hand through my hair, infuriated.

A clingy red dress hung in the walk-in closet. Glowering, I shoved it aside and jerked a demure number off a hanger. I pulled it over my head, slid my feet into pumps, and stormed into the bathroom. I attacked my hair with a bottle brush and haphazardly applied makeup.

A phone chimed outside.

"Hello, Mr. Knox. We're behind schedule." A pause, and then, "Yes, I did. She's not cooperating."

I bristled. I'll show you uncooperative.

I yanked open the door and lunged for her phone.

She yelped, jumping back. Her hip slammed into a console table, toppling it. It landed with a deafening smash. The drawers opened, spilling their contents. I righted the table as Valerie picked up pages, revealing a long, hairline crack on the tile.

"Oh my God," Valerie moaned. "Look what you did!"

"Calm down. It's not a big deal."

"Do you know how much work went into this place? A Japanese architect designed this house. We imported these paving stones from a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. I can't just drive over to Lowe's to buy more!"

I couldn't bring myself to care.

"He's going to fire me!" she whined.

"Good," I snapped. "You're an embarrassment to the word woman."

"Ladies. That's enough."

Knox's rumbling baritone echoed from the entrance as he strolled inside, delectable in his designer jeans and bomber jacket. A small curve tilted his lips. He approached Valerie, who huddled near the table, grimacing. "I'm sorry, sir. It was an accident."

"Go. I'll take care of this."

Knox patted her shoulder like a master rewarding his dog. Valerie beamed as though a ray of the purest sunlight had touched her face.

I glowered at her all the way to the elevator.

The doors shut and Knox faced me, wearing a dazzling smile. He let out a low laugh.

"Tsk, tsk. Didn't you get the fighting out of your system?"

I grabbed his coat. "I want my phone."

"Slow down, killer. You don't want to add to your body count."

I flinched. "Don't call me that!"

"It's a pet name." His velvet tone teased warmth in my cheeks as he cradled my hands. His thumb swept over my knuckles. "You know, I still have a hard time believing these dainty things are capable of such violence."

I stared at my slender wrists in his masculine grip, hardly able to believe the same. Graphic images trickled into my head. Vivid details. I imagined the thump of limbs falling into a plastic bag.

I swallowed down my nausea. "Why would you bring that up?"

"Because you underestimate yourself." He stroked the sensitive skin over my wrist. "Someone attacked you, and you took care of it. I admire that."

I shuddered. "I'm not evil."

"Never said you were."

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"I don't replace this funny."

"I do. It's amusing how often I need to reassure you." His open expression was so intimate it stole the air from the room. "You're a good person, Indie."

That washed over me like a warm bath. My eyes watered with gratitude, and then he seized my dress's zipper and pulled.

My body caught fire.

"Don't. I'm in no mood."

He grasped my neck. His fingertips caressed me, his gentle restraint sending a jolt down my chest. Electricity teased my nipples as his mouth touched my ear. "I'll get you in the mood."

"You won't by barking orders at me."

"I don't have to raise my voice to make women obey. Do you know why?"

"Because they're terrified of you." My cheeks burned with the lie. If there was any fear inside me, it was of giving in.

"Most rip off their clothes before I ask them." He gave me a smile that sent my pulse racing. "They enjoy deferring to strong men. It's the natural order of things. It's the reason you called me."

I stared at the wall, ignoring the heat in my clenched thighs.

"You're not fighting me." Knox grazed my spine as he undressed me, spinning flames in my belly. "You're only battling your instinct to submit."

I wanted intimacy, not submission.

I craved the shelter of his embrace, but did I want to kneel at his feet? Did I want him telling me what to do, where to go, and when to suck his cock?

Knox pinned my arms to my sides. "You're better off when I'm in control. I've done right by you, haven't I?"

I shook my head, face burning.

"Give your body to me. It'll help." His whisper sank into a lower baritone. "I promise."

He made me feel undone, like a rose blowing apart in the wind. I breathed between parted lips. Then he seized my dress and pulled it down, baring my breasts. His raking gaze scorched them before he lifted one hand to cup a tanned globe. He teased my nipples into aching points as his other hand played with my mouth.

I gasped, my tongue brushing his thumb. He pushed forward, and I glided along the finger that plunged into the wet warmth to his first knuckle. Then he pressed his lips to my ear and whispered.

"Suck."

I obeyed, my lips closing around the digit. Greed pounded between my legs.

"Good girl," he murmured, sliding out of my mouth. "See how easy that was?"

I was too startled by my body's reaction to articulate a response, so I rallied with an attack. "You really are a caveman."

"You have no idea, Indie." Knox gave me an arresting smile, and a pleasant shiver nestled between my breasts. "I like appealing to your baser needs."

"What would you know about them?"

"Everybody's are the same-food, water, shelter, clothing, and sex."

"If winning me over was as simple as checking off boxes, you'd have done it already."

"What haven't I offered you, Indie?"

Intimacy. Love.

Two things off-limits to his frozen heart.

My lips burned with that unspoken answer, but I didn't want him to shoot me down. A tingle ran up my body at the image of Knox throwing me over his shoulder. Sex with him wouldn't heal me, but perhaps I'd replace comfort. Giving up control went against my instincts, but I couldn't take this much longer.

I needed relief.

Knox seemed to sense my change of temperature. His hand glided under my dress. He brushed my thigh and anchored over my hip, his thumb playing with the waistband of my thong. My body felt heavy and warm. I met his stunning gaze, intoxicated by his closeness.

"Do you need a ring on your finger? Is that what this is about?"

I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself cold and still. "No."

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"Are you sure?" he growled, the bite of his grip sinking into my hip. "Because I intend to marry you. It makes no difference to me whether it's today or six months from now. I will drag you to the courthouse if that's what it takes."

I forced myself to settle down. "I thought you took what you wanted."

"I need your consent, Indie."

"Why? You blackmailed me into your bed."

"Only because you gave me no choice. I'm not interested in coercion. It's far more satisfying when a woman like you kneels because she wants to."

And I did, for some insane reason.

Strong, entitled, cold, protective-Knox possessed many conflicting qualities, but I couldn't deny the ache pulsing between my legs. That I wanted to be his. Admitting that scared me more than lying beneath him and pretending to hate him. "Set aside our differences. Your conscience. Your need to be right. Throw away convention. Let it all go, Indie. Just be with me."

I stared at him in despair, the pain in my heart a sick gnawing. As much as I desperately wanted to shed the weight off my shoulders, I couldn't turn off my emotions.

Even if it were possible, I wouldn't.

"You want me to cut myself off from everything."

"No, Indie. Your feelings for me give me a contact high. Destroying them would not be pleasing to me."

"Then why are you taking over my life?"

"Because I want your pussy dripping when I'm in your presence. I want you to enjoy yourself." His hand slid to my upper thigh and squeezed. "I want you on pins and needles, wondering what I'll do to you next. And you can't do any of that if you're terrified and stressed. You need to slow down. Relax. That's why I'm handling things for you-a schedule. Rules. I'm removing distractions so you can focus on yourself."

I glared at him. "And no masturbation is part of that?"

He grinned. "That's just a bit of fun."

I didn't know what to say to that. He was good at rationalizing his insane behavior, but the whole I'm doing this for you reeked of paternalistic bullshit. He didn't think I could handle life on my own, but he was wrong. He'd slowly dragged me into this lifestyle and gotten me to accept his outrageous schedule, because I found comfort in his overprotective arms. I also wanted to win his trust. Stupidly, I thought he'd lighten up after realizing he could trust me. But the more slack I gave him, the more he took. The wrongness of my situation suddenly dawned on me. How much further would he go?

An angry pulse beat at the base of my throat. I seized his hands and tore them off my body. "You know, for a genius you're remarkably dense. You demand my loyalty, but you've skipped a few steps on your way to controlling my existence. Like winning me over!"

"What do you want, Indie?" Knox leaned against the wall, his arms rising to cross over his chest. "Do you even know?"

I did. At the heart of all my frustration was a deep longing. If I was stuck with this man, I wanted him to make a real effort. Take me out on dates. Tell me what made you such a controlling asshole. My heart was sick from the lack of real intimacy. And kiss me, for God's sake. I could've listed those things, but he would've shot them down.

"A normal relationship!"

His mouth thinned. "We will never have that. I told you that in the beginning."

That crushed me.

"H-how long am I supposed to accept that?"

Knox glanced over my head, already checking out of the conversation. "For the foreseeable future."

"That's unreasonable," I whispered, faltering in the silence that engulfed us. "I've made so many sacrifices for you, but you have yet to do anything for me."

"I saved your life."

"And that means you own me?"

"You signed on the dotted line, Indie."

I'd done so not knowing that I was trading a quick death for a long, painful one. Because having feelings for Bryan Knox was like worshipping the moon. He'd never reflect any of my warmth. He couldn't even meet me halfway.

I gaped at him, my voice cracking. "You can't expect me to ever fall in love with you!"

He stared back calmly. "I'm fine with that."

Nothing he could say would've hurt me more. He'd cruelly snuffed out the spark of hope fighting to stay alive.

His figure blurred into a vague outline as I blinked away tears. I shoved him aside and blundered into another room, slamming the door in his face.

My heart exploded with pain. I was bereft. Hollowed-out. As though he'd scooped out my insides.

I'd agreed to be his.

But tonight was the first time I felt like his slave.