Caged: A Dark Mafia Romance

He pressed his mouth to mine in what I thought would be a kiss, but instead, he pulled my bottom lip in between his teeth and bit hard.

“Do not make me teach you another lesson,” he warned, leaving me with the taste of blood in my mouth.

Chapter Nine

Eddie Vasco

I was not one to lose my temper. My father had been known for his rage and fury. The soldiers of our family operated under fear rather than respect. My grandfather, on the other hand, rarely lost his control. Every action was meticulously thought out, and no act was out of anger. I often considered myself much like my grandfather until this very moment.

I had wanted to punish her and then fuck her, all in a span of a few minutes. The woman had made me completely lose control, and I hated myself for it.

I was not a man to lose control!

Staring into the mirror over my dresser and dabbing at the claw marks on my face with a tissue, I tried not to look at Nayla crouched in the furthest corner of the cage. I needed to calm down, and her very presence caused my blood to boil.

This was not how I did business. I had a plan and needed to follow it to a tee. This little vixen wasn’t going to change that.

Blood trickled down my cheek.

Fuck. It looked like I had gotten my ass kicked. A grown man wouldn’t have had the guts to attempt what Nayla had just done.

“There will be consequences for this,” I said more to myself than to Nayla as I continued to stare into the mirror and not her as she sat cowered in her cage.

“I’m… sorry.” Her voice was softer than before. Her rage had clearly simmered, which helped soothe my own inferno.

“I warned you to behave.” I nearly hissed in pain when the tissue made contact with a deeper scrape, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she caused me discomfort.

“I know. I wasn’t thinking. I acted on impulse.”

She was attempting to tell me what I wanted to hear, but I wasn’t a fool to not recognize her lies.

“Actions speak louder than words,” I said.

“I… yes, I know. I’ll act better.”

I knew Nayla was a smart and sophisticated woman. I had watched her. Studied her every move. Though I didn’t have her pictures blanketed all over my living area, I had obsessed over her nearly as much as she had me. She wasn’t a naïve fool. Educated, street smart, and extremely savvy were words to describe her. Though I hadn’t seen even a glimpse of the woman I believed her to be since entering Jumping Jack. All I saw now was a woman acting out without thought, and if I were any other man part of the Vasco family, she would have already had her neck snapped.

“I don’t have time or the patience for your antics.” Swiping at the last bit of blood, I wondered how I was going to explain the condition of my face to the guests tonight. Between my swollen and bruised nose from yesterday, and now that my face looked like a mountain lion attacked, the partygoers would certainly be given something interesting to discuss when I wasn’t within earshot.

She sat on top of the fur and hadn’t tried to cover up her nudity. I wasn’t sure if she was doing it to try to show her obedience to me since I had made it clear she would remain nude, or if the thought of using the fur to hide her body hadn’t even crossed her mind. But it was hard for my eyes to not travel to her nipples, hardened from the coolness of the room.

But I needed to focus. She was right. I did have a plan.

I wasn’t so stupid as to think it would be easy. Not with this woman. And frankly, I didn’t mind a little bit of defiance. It would make it fun to discipline and break the bad right out of her. But I did like seeing that I had at least regained some control over the woman without having to beat the shit out of her, which wasn’t, and never would be, an option. She didn’t have to know that little secret, of course.

I needed fear on my side.

Especially for tonight to come off without incident.

“I’ll be back,” I said as I knew I still had a lot to do to get ready for the evening. “You sit there and think about how when I return, you are going to be a good little… kitty.”

Chapter Ten

Nayla Bell

He had been away for hours. My emotions had gone from claustrophobia, fear, rage, sorrow, impatience, and a million others during the isolated period. Time seemed to trickle by as I sat in my prison behind the steel bars. This crate training of his was successfully driving me mad. I could barely move, definitely couldn’t stand, and due to my good night’s rest, I couldn’t sleep the time away. I had no choice but to do exactly as he had commanded me to do when he left. I had to think of how I would behave and not act out again.