Satisfied 2X

“Deliver me where?” She knew what kind of men Leo gambled with. The men who invested in his shady business ventures. Nothing good could come from this.

Leo ran down the stairs. “Come on, Alison. You were hiding? You were never good at the game when we were kids.”

She glared at him. “I heard what you were talking about. I’m not going with him.” She looked at her captor. “You have no right, Leo. You are way overstepping your authority.”

He looked past her at the man who held her. “She’s yours now. You’ll deliver her today?”

He nodded. “I’ll take her immediately.”

“Good.” Her cousin looked satisfied. “I want my debt paid. I don’t need him breathing down my neck.”

“I’m standing right here, Leo. Don’t talk like I’m not in the room. You can’t do this.” She continued to struggle, no matter how useless it was to fight the man responsible for finding her. “I’m not your property. Or his.”

Leo walked to the door that led to the basement. “You can take her out back. Less eyes on you. Especially if she keeps that up,” he explained.

“Good,” he grunted. Alison doubted he had much of a vocabulary.

“There is no way I’m going anywhere with this asshole.” Alison dug her heels against the hardwoods, but it only made it easier for the man to slide her toward the door.

“Come on, the bosses are waiting.” In a single lunge, the man swung her on to his shoulder and dangled her as if she weighed the same as a bag of sugar.

She kicked harder, her feet ramming into his chest. She beat her fists into his back. Nothing fazed him.

“Leo! Don’t do this!” She jerked her head forward to grab his attention. “Leo! Don’t let this happen.”

The last thing she saw as she descended into the Rossi family basement was the smirk on her cousin’s face.

Two

Drew

“Hunter, this is even shitty for you.” Drew glared at his business partner.

“Why? Did you have a better idea?” Hunter poured a glass of bourbon and dropped two ice cubes in the middle.

Drew exhaled. “Not really.”

“Then stop second-guessing me. We have the launch in Vegas in two weeks. The timing couldn’t have been better.”

“Leo Rossi is a dick. The fact that you got into business with him in the first place makes me wonder what in the hell you’re doing these days.”

Hunter waved him off. “It wasn’t business. It was a bet. He’s the one who lost. Not me.” He threw back his drink.

“Give me one of those.” Drew walked toward the bar, waiting for a stiff drink. “I need a double after this fuckup of yours.”

Hunter laughed. “Leo texted. The payment is on the way.”

Drew shook his head. “Payment? That’s what you’re calling it?”

The city loomed behind them. It was a bright windy day in Chicago. The co-CEOs were so high above the city neither could make out the people walking below on the sidewalk.

Hunter’s suites extended one length of the skyscraper, while Drew’s spanned the opposite side.

“Leo lost,” Hunter explained. “I don’t know why you’re so pissed at me.”

Drew’s blue eyes fired. “Because the payment is a girl. You bet an actual woman for us?”

Hunter grinned like a wolf. “I sure did. And she’s fucking gorgeous.”