I knew I shouldn’t have let the others talk me into going to the VIP room—I should have trusted my gut and ran. The second we reached the Givenchy booth, I knew we wouldn’t be able to get them to leave.
Ironically, Pen and I only left the main room to go to the bathroom so we could discuss tactics for getting out of here. Scarface Salerno must’ve had men watching us, because his goon was waiting outside the bathroom when we emerged. I told him to get lost when he said he was there to escort us to Mr. Salerno’s private club in the basement, but he wasn’t shy about showing us his gun or threatening to hurt our other friends if we didn’t go quietly with him.
I didn’t feel like we had much choice.
“Let me go, you bastard,” I hiss, as he drags me toward Saverio. The man’s fingers are digging into my arm, and I know it will leave bruises. “You’re hurting me.”
A loud snort rips through the room. My eyes pop wide as a beast of a man turns his head, glancing over his shoulder at me, from the couch. Terror resurfaces when I spot the obvious lust on his face. “You’d better get used to the pain, principessa, because there’s more of that coming your way.” He undresses me with his eyes, licking his lips as his gaze fixes on my modest chest.
My eyes lower to the girl on her knees in front of him, sucking his dick, and my stomach lurches as nausea swirls in my gut. My gaze darts briefly around the room, and panic claws its way up my throat as I take in the scene.
There are several scary-looking older dudes in the room, all of them in various stages of intimacy with mostly naked women. The girls look much younger, but none of them look like they are being coerced. A couple of naked women gyrate against poles on a stage at the other end of the room while a group of ominous-looking guys stands off to the area at the back of the occupied couches. They are all dressed in black clothing and wearing gun belts.
What the hell is this place? And who are these people?
My heart thumps frantically against my rib cage as my panicked eyes scan the room for exit points, but the only way in and out of the place is through the main door behind us.
“Don’t mind my friend,” Saverio says, approaching us with the freakiest-looking smile.
There are some people whose smiles light up their entire faces. People whose smiles transform their features, elevating them from ordinary to extraordinary.
This man is the opposite.
His smile is like the murky depths of a cesspit, swarming with toxins that are hazardous to your health. I want to tell him he should never smile. That it does him no favors. But I expect a man like him would get off on that fact.
“We are all about pleasure here,” he says, as low moans ring out from a man and woman at the end of the nearest couch. She is bouncing up and down on his cock while he tweaks her nipples in a way that looks more like pain than pleasure to me.
Saverio pulls me away from the asshole who has left indents on my skin, wrapping his arm around my waist and yanking me against him. Fear pummels my insides, and I can scarcely breathe over the tightness in my chest. Pen is hyperventilating as the asshole keeps a firm hold of her arm.
“You can’t keep us here against our will,” I protest, hating how my voice trembles.
A chorus of chuckles rings out around the room.
“Our friends will know something has happened when we don’t return and call for help,” I add.
Saverio’s smile turns even more sinister, and I almost puke as his hand moves down around my hip, landing on my ass. I try to wrench away from him, but he shakes his head, tutting at me. “Do not offend me, beautiful.” His voice drips with menace. “You really don’t want to do that.” He squeezes my ass, and tears prick the backs of my eyes. “Do not worry about your friends. My manager has given them a message.” His hand moves lower again, slipping underneath the hem of my short dress.
Everything locks up inside me, and blood rushes to my head.
I can’t believe I let this happen.
I can’t believe I stupidly drugged Tony so I could get laid.
I can’t believe I let the others talk me into staying in this club.
“They believe you have retreated to your hotel,” he continues, his fingers creeping up the side of my thigh. “By the time they realize it’s not true, they will be too high on the complimentary cocaine I’ve just delivered to their table or too smashed from all the free champagne to care.”
His fingers brush the front of my lace panties, and a strangled sound leaves my lips. Movement on the opposite couch hits my peripheral vision, but I’m too panicked to make out the blurry shapes.
Pen’s crying is louder, and I can tell from the irritated looks leveled our way from several of the men that they won’t tolerate her much longer. Ignoring the callused fingers moving around to my butt, I focus on my best friend, pleading with my eyes for her to pull herself together before she ends up with a bullet in her brain.
A sort of resigned acceptance washes over me as Saverio’s hands roam my body, and I prepare to retreat into my head, to block it all out. I’ve had years of practice tuning my father and Saskia’s derision out, but this is on a whole other level. I can only guess what Saverio has in mind, but something tells me even my imagination couldn’t conjure up the depths of the depravity he has planned for us.
I can’t see any way out of this.
They have guns, and they could kill us.
I would rather agree and let them rape me in the hope I can get out with my life.
Pen screams as a naked man approaches her. His hideous old dick is erect, jutting toward her like a weapon. His skin tells a story—one I didn’t want to be true. Scars litter his chest and his arms, and there’s an obvious old bullet wound in his shoulder.
These guys are the mob, and we are so fucking fucked.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I blurt, as movement out of the corner of my eye momentarily distracts me.
Saverio chuckles as he slides his hand underneath my panties, palming my bare ass cheek. Nausea swims up my throat, and I’m a mess inside, but I try my best to hold it together. “I knew there was a reason I was drawn to you,” he says before running his tongue up the side of my neck. A shudder works its way through me, and I’m not quick enough to hide it. He chuckles again, and I know my fear is only turning him on more.
Pen screams, and I watch in horror as the naked man wraps his hand around her throat, shoving her against the wall and holding her up a few feet off the ground.
“Let her go and you can do what you like to me!” I shriek, my chest heaving.
Pen’s terrified eyes meet mine as her skin turns blue.
“You won’t fight?” Saverio trails his finger along my chest, tracing the outline of my breasts with his rough skin.
“I won’t fight.” Because I can tell the bastard would get a kick out of that. “I’ll cooperate. Just please. Please let her go. Let all my friends go and I’m yours.” The words feel like poison on my tongue, but if it works, at least I will have saved Pen from this ordeal.
Saverio nods at the naked man, and he drops Pen unceremoniously. She slumps to the floor, gasping for air and clutching her throat.
“Renzo.” Saverio calls over the man who abducted us outside the bathroom. “Escort the girl to her hotel and stay with her until I give you further notice.”