CHAPTER ONE

CAGED

SOFIA’S POV

The bedroom door locks at exactly 10PM, every night. It was the same sound and unfortunately the same cage.

I pressed my ear against the wood and counted Luca's footsteps down the hallway, fourteen steps to his door, if I'm not mistaken. The door closes and finally, the whole mansion can breathe. Twenty three years I have been so calculative, learning the different tones of his door from the time he's entering the room to when he's leaving the room to meet me.

Ever since that night, I stopped believing he was just my brother. Not after the stunt he pulled a few years back. Hell no.

I stood at the window and looked out at the garden below, the manicured hedges and the stone fountain with two guards who changed their positions by 11pm. I thought about the black dress folded inside my winter coat at the back of my closet. I thought about the guard who owed Gonna a favour.

“Hmm, maybe he could be useful tonight.” I thought to myself as I remembered how he told her about the tunnel behind the wine cellar in exchange for her silence about the bottle of whiskey he lifted from the cellar last month.

She'd always tell me to let her know whenever I was ready, but I've been so scared but now, I don't give a fuck. “Not tonight, at least.”

I stripped off the white silk nightgown Luca bought for me, it was exactly the way he liked it. As long as it's reaching my knees, we wouldn't have any issues. I wasn't feeling the dress either way so I might as well take the black one staring at me.

I strip off the white silk nightgown Luca bought for me, the one that falls exactly to my knees the way he likes, and I put on the black dress and feel the difference immediately. It was tight across the hips, low at the back, the kind that would immediately go nuts for me the moment he lays his eyes on me. I found the red lipstick at the bottom of the makeup drawer, the one I bought online and hid behind my perfume bottles, and I put it on and looked in the mirror and tried to remember what it felt like to win instead of a possession.

The tunnel looks like what the guard described earlier on. I crawled through it on my hands and knees with my heart beating so fast against my ribs and emerged three blocks from the mansion into the cool night air alongside the distant traffic…

I got up with dirt on my knees and red lipstick on my mouth. Then I hail a cab and go find it.

~ ~ ~ ~

Sinners and Saints is darker than I expected and louder, everyone wears masks and the anonymity is the most intoxicating thing I have ever felt in my life. “Basically I'm no one here, great.!!”

I was halfway through my second drink when I saw him. I've never felt anything like this before, the guards clocking my movements, Luca's eyes finding me across a room. This feels different and a bit heavy. I turned before my body could profess anything and for some reason I found him in the VAIP section, tall and calm in a dark suit, watching me through the crowd with the unhurried patience of a man who has literally nowhere else to be.

He walks up to me and the crowd moves for me.

He steps close enough that I could smell him.. cedar. He looked up at me for a while before he spoke. “You don't belong here,” he says. His voice is low and unhurried. I liked that.

“Neither do you,” I say. “Your suit costs more than most people's cars.”

His mouth carves a little. “Maybe I like the view.”

I felt a rush of heat move through me so fast, it almost embarrassed me and I kept hold of his gaze anyways because I did not crawl through a tunnel in the dark to look away from the first interesting thing I've found.

He leans close and his breath is warm against my ear and he says, "You came here looking for trouble, Mamacita. The question is whether you're brave enough to find it," and something in me that has been locked up for twenty-three years decides, simply and completely, that yes. Yes I am.

"I have rules," I hear myself say.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't."

"No names. No faces. One night only." His thumb traces slow circles on my hip bone and I feel it everywhere. I want to be someone else's, just for tonight, just once, and so I look at this dangerous stranger and I say the thing that has been sitting at the back of my throat since the moment I saw him. "If you're so confident, why don't you get on your knees and prove it, Daddy."

His eyes go dark behind the mask. His hand tightens on my hip, hard enough to bruise, and he says very quietly, "You have no idea what you just started," and pulls me toward a hallway marked PRIVATE.

~ ~ ~ ~

He drops to his knees without being asked twice and I stop thinking about everything.

His hands spread my thighs against the wall and the cool air hits me as I shiver and then his mouth finds me and I forget about Luca, forgot the mansion, forgot every locked door and footstep and careful performance of obedience. He takes his time with my body.

My dress rides up at my waist. Black lace panties hang in shreds from one ankle.

He tore them off like they insulted him.

His hands clamp my thighs, spreading me wide against the wall. Cool air hits my wet pu**y and I shiver. “Say it again,” he growls. “Call me what you called me at the bar.”

“Daddy,” I whisper. “Daddy… please.”

“Good girl.”

Then his mouth is on me.

No teasing. He dives in like he’s starving. Tongue flat and wide, dragging up my slit in one long stroke that makes my knees buckle. I grab his hair and hold on.

He sucks my clit between his lips. Hard, flicking so fast I can’t breathe. My hips jerk forward while he pins me harder against the wall.

“Stay still,” he orders. “Let Daddy taste what he owns tonight.” He slides two fingers inside me, slow at first, then deeper. Pressing that spot that makes white sparks shoot behind my eyes.

I cry out.

He doesn’t stop. Tongue circling my clit while his fingers pump steady, ruthless. The wet sounds are obscene. “release on my tongue,” he commands. “C*m like the dirty little girl you’ve been hiding.”

I shatter.

Thighs shake around his head. Back arches off the wall. I couldn't help but moan out loud. He keeps licking through it until I’m whimpering, oversensitive, trying to push his head away.

He doesn’t let me. “One more,” he says, standing. “You’re not done.”

He lifts me up, carries me to the couch just so he could drop me on my back. My legs fall open automatically. The belt was unbuckled, zipper down. His c*ck springs free. Heavy, thick, already leaking. He strokes himself once, twice, eyes locked on me.

“Eyes on me.”

I obey like a dog taking orders from her master.nHe notches the head at my entrance while pressing enough to part me.

“Beg,” he orders.

“Please screw me, Daddy. I need it.” He slams home in one brutal thrust, my mouth opens on a silent scream. He’s so deep it hurts and feels perfect.

He doesn’t give me time to adjust. Pulls almost all the way out then drives back in. The couch creaks. My bossoms bounce with every snap of his hips.

“Look at you,” he rasps. “Pum pum gripping me like it never wants to let go.”

I claw his back, he hooks my legs over his shoulders. Folds me in half. Hits even deeper.

“C*m again,” he growls. “spill on Daddy’s c**k.” His thumb finds my pum pum in rough circles.

This pleasure is intense. Legs shaking while my vision became blurry. I scream over and over while my walls pulse around him.

He follows right after while groaning low. I feel him swell, throb, then hot spirits deep inside me.

We collapse together. His forehead drops to mine, his breathing is ragged and unsteady and for a moment he seems almost human.

"You're dangerous," he murmurs.

"So are you," I say against his neck.

He shifts, pulling back, standing, straightening his clothes with ease, and that's when I see it … the tattoo at the base of his spine as his shirt rides up, a symbol I've seen before, stamped on documents in files in Luca's office in the drawer marked in my brother's handwriting with a single word: ‘enemy.’ My brain catches up and then he turns. The mask has slipped and I see the jaw, the thin white scar running along the bone that I have looked at in surveillance photographs so many times I could draw it from memory.

Alessio Volkov.

The Viper.

My family's most wanted. The man my brother has been trying to kill for three years. The man who just had me screaming his name in the dark, who I begged on his terms, who I gave everything to willingly and joyfully and with my whole chest.

He looks at me and something in his expression tells me he has known exactly who I am this entire time.

My one night of freedom just became the most expensive thing I've ever taken.

SOFIA POV

I couldn’t move.

My legs are still shaking. His cum is dripping down my thighs. Yet, I stared at the man who could get me killed.

Alessio Volkov adjusts his cuffs like he didn’t just fuck me into heaven. Like he doesn’t know I’ve figured out who he is.

But he does know. I can tell by the way he’s watching me. Waiting.

“You should get going,” he says. Voice calm. Too calm.

I grab my ruined panties off the floor. Try to stand. My knees almost give out.

He catches my elbow. Steadies me.

“Careful, little girl. Wouldn’t want you to fall.”

The nickname makes my stomach flip. Lord have mercy.

I removed my arm.

“Don’t touch me.”

His smile is slow. Dangerous. “You weren’t saying that five minutes ago.”

Heat floods my face. I hate him. I hate that he’s right.

I moved toward the door. My hand is on the handle when he speaks again.

“Sofia.”

I freeze.

Damn.

He knows my name.

I turn slowly. He’s leaning against the couch, arms crossed, looking at me like I’m a puzzle he just solved.

“How long have you known?” My voice shakes.

“Since the second time you ordered a drink.” He tilts his head. “You have your father’s eyes. And your brother tells you when you lie.”

My heart stops. “There was no second drink. This is our first..”

“No, “Mamacita”. This is our fourth meeting.”

The room spins.

Fourth?

“That’s impossible. I’ve never..”

“Three weeks ago. Different clubs. You wore a red mask. I danced with a man in a gray suit.” His eyes darken. “That was me.”

No. No, I would have remembered.

“Two weeks ago. Coffee shop on Sunset. You were reading. I sat two tables over.”

Oh God.

“Last week. The gallery opening your cousin dragged you to. I was the buyer who asked about the Monet.”

I remember that. I remember thinking the buyer was attractive. Thinking I wished I could talk to him without Luca’s guard breathing down my neck.

“You’ve been stalking me.”

“I’ve been studying you.” He pushes off the couch. Walk toward me. Each step measured. “Your brother keeps you locked up like Rapunzel. But even princesses need to breathe. I just had to wait for you to run.”

He planned this. All of it.

“The bartender,” I whisper. “He works for you.”

“Everyone here works for me. This is my club, Sofia.”

My back hits the door. He cages me in. One hand beside my head. The other trailing down my bare arm.

“So tonight wasn’t random,” I say. “The mask. The rules. You let me think”

“I'll let you feel free.” His thumb brushes my bottom lip. “And you were. For a few hours. Wasn’t that worth it?”

I should slap him. Scream. Run.

Instead I ask the only question that matters.

“What do you want?”

His smile is all teeth. “You. Obviously.”

“Why?”

“Because your brother took something from me.” He leans closer. Lips brushing my ear. “And I always collect my debts.”

_ _ _ _

ALESSIO POV

She’s terrified. Good.

Fear keeps people sharp. Keeps them from doing stupid things like trying to run when there’s nowhere to go.

Sofia Vecchio is even more beautiful up close than in the surveillance photos. Flushed cheeks. Swollen lips. Eyes like whiskey in sunlight.

And she tastes like revenge.

I’ve been planning this for six months. Ever since Luca Vecchio put a bullet in my cousin’s head and dumped him in the harbor. Marco thought I didn’t know. Though he covered his tracks.

But I know everything.

And now I have Luca’s most precious possession trembling against my door, my cum still leaking out of her, my mark on her throat where I sucked too hard.

“Let me go,” she whispers.

“No.”

“My brother will kill you.”

“Your brother doesn’t know you’re gone. Yet.” I check my watch. “But he will in about twenty minutes when Marco does his midnight check.”

Her eyes go wide. “How do you..”

“I told you. I know everything.” I pull out my phone. Show her the screen.

It’s a live feed of her bedroom. Empty bed. Open window.

She makes a small, broken sound.

“I have cameras in every room of that house except Luca’s office,” I say. “I’ve been watching you for months, “little girl”. Watching you touch yourself at night. Watching you cry into your pillow. Watching you plan this pathetic little escape.”

She looks like I just gutted her.

Perfect.

“You’re a monster.”

“Yes.” I slide my phone back into my pocket. “But I’m the monster who’s going to save you.”

“Save me?” She laughs. It sounds hysterical. “You just told me you’ve been spying on me like some sick…”

“Your brother wants to fuck you, Sofia.”

She goes silent.

“He’s obsessed. Has been since you were sixteen. I have footage of him standing outside your shower. Your bedroom. Touching himself while you sleep.”

A tear slides down her cheek.

“Marco knows,” I continue. “He’s tried to stop it. But Luca’s getting worse. Bolder. In six months, maybe less, he’s going to stop waiting and take what he thinks belongs to him.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I?” I pulled up another video. Her bedroom. Two nights ago. Luca sitting on her bed. Stroking her hair while she pretends to sleep. His other hand down his pants.

She turns away. Covers her mouth.

“So here’s the deal,” I say. “You work for me. You tell me everything about Luca’s operations. His shipments. His meetings. His weaknesses.”

“No.”

“Yes. Because the alternative is I send you back to that house and let nature take its course.”

She’s shaking now. Full body tremors.

“And if I refuse?”

I grip her chin. Force her to look at me.

“Then I’ll make sure Luca knows exactly where you were tonight. Who you were with. What you let me do to you.” I lean in. “How many times you came screaming ‘Daddy’ while I ate your pussy. How you begged me to fuck you. How tight you were when I filled you up.”

Her breathing is ragged.

“He’ll kill you,” she whispers.

“Maybe. But first he’ll punish you. And we both know how creative Luca gets when he’s angry.”

Checkmate.

She knows I’m right. I can see it in her eyes. The moment she realizes she has no choice.

No freedom.

No escape.

Just a different cage with a different monster.

“What do you want first?” Her voice is flat. Dead.

“A kiss.”

She blinks. “What?”

“Kiss me like you mean it. Like you’re mine.”

“I just…we already..”

“That was fucking. This is different.” I thumb her bottom lip. “This is you choosing me.”

“I’m not choosing anything. You’re blackmailing me.”

“Semantics.” I smile. “Kiss me, Sofia. Or I'll make the call.”

For a long moment, she just stares at me. Hatred burning in those pretty eyes.

Then she rises on her toes and presses her lips to mine.

It’s soft. Tentative. Almost sweet.

I fist her hair and deepen it. Take control. Bite her bottom lip until she gasps. Swallow her moan.

When I finally pull back, we’re both breathing hard.

“Good girl,” I murmur.

She looks like she wants to stab me.

I pull out a burner phone. Hand it to her.

“This is your new lifeline. I text. You answer. Always.”

She takes it like it’s a snake.

“Now go. Back through the tunnel. Climb into bed. Pretend tonight never happened.”

She turns to leave.

“Oh, and Sofia?”

She looks back.

“Don’t shower. I want you to smell like me when you crawl back into that virginal white bed. I want you to remember who you belong to now.”

She opens the door. Steps into the hallway.

“One more thing.”

She doesn’t turn around this time.

“Tomorrow night. Nine PM. There’s a warehouse on Fifth and Main. Come alone.”

“And if I don’t?”

I smile at her back.

“Then everyone you love dies. Starting with your sweet cousin Gianna.”

She goes rigid.

“How do you know about..”

“I know everything,” I repeat. “And Sofia? If you tell anyone about tonight, about me, about this arrangement…” I pause. Let the weight of it sink in. “I’ll make sure Luca gets a very detailed video of you riding my cock. With your face fully visible.”

She runs.

I watch her disappear into the crowd. Then I pull out my phone and dial.

“Nikolai. She’s heading back. Make sure she gets there safely.”

“And after?”

“After, we prepare. Luca Vecchio is about to lose everything.” I light a cigar. Blow smoke toward the ceiling. “And he doesn’t even know it yet.”

I ended the call.

Pour myself a drink.

My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number.

Unknown: I hate you.

I smile.

Me: See you tomorrow night, piccola. Wear something easy to take off.

Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again.

Unknown: Go to hell.

Me: Already there. You’re just joining me.

I down my whiskey.

Phase one complete.

Now the real fun begins.

SOFIA POV

I came back to the tunnel at 12:47 AM.

My dress is torn. My thighs are a little bit sticky. I can still feel him inside me.

I climb through my bedroom window and freeze.

Someone’s in my room.

“Where were you?”

Luca.

He’s sitting in the chair by my vanity. Still dressed. Arms crossed. Face blank.

My heart stops.

“I…I couldn’t sleep. I went to the garden.”

“In that dress?” His eyes drag down my body. Slow. Lingering on the torn hem. The marks on my neck. “Interesting choice for a midnight stroll.”

Think. Think.

“I was going to change but”

“But what, Sofia?” He stands. Walk toward me. “You decided to climb out your window instead? Crawl through dirt? Ruin a two-thousand-dollar dress?”

He’s three feet away now. I can smell his cologne. The whiskey on his breath.

“Tell me the truth.”

“I am.”

His hand shoots out. Grabs my jaw. Not hard enough to hurt. Hard enough to warn.

“You’re lying.” His thumb brushes my bottom lip. Presses. “Your pulse always speeds up when you lie. Right here.” He touches my throat.

Right where Alessio sucked.

Luca’s eyes drop to the mark. His whole body goes rigid.

.

“No one. I…”

“WHO. TOUCHED. YOU.”

His voice is ice.

I’ve never seen him like this. Wild. Barely controlled.

“I fell,” I whisper. “In the garden. Hit my neck on a branch.”

He stares at me for five long seconds.

Then he releases my jaw and steps back.

“Go shower. You smell like…” He stops. Breathe in deep. His eyes darken. “You smell like sweat.”

And sex. He means sex.

Does he know? Can he tell?

“Luca, I…”

“Shower. Now.” He walks to the door. Pauses. “And Sofia? From now on, Marco will be doing checks every hour. Not just midnight.”

The door closes.

Locks from the outside.

I stand there shaking.

The burner phone in my bra buzzes.

Unknown: Good girl. You made it. Now shower. You’ve earned it.

I had the urge to throw the phone across the room.

Instead I text back.

Me: He knows something’s wrong.

Unknown: He suspects. He doesn’t know. There’s a difference.

Me: What if he figures it out?

Unknown: Then I’ll kill him before he touches you. Problem solved.

My hands shake.

Me: I can’t do this.

Unknown: Yes you can. Because if you don’t, Gianna dies. Your choice, piccola.

I throw the phone on the bed.

Walk to the bathroom.

Turn on the shower.

And cry.

_ _ _ _ _

ALESSIO POV

The next day drags.

I spend the morning in meetings. Afternoon reviewing shipments. Evening planning the Vecchio takedown.

But my mind keeps drifting back to her.

The way she felt. The way she tasted. The fear in her eyes when she realized she belonged to me now.

Perfect.

Nikolai knocks on my office door at 8 PM.

“She’s on her way.”

“Good. Is everything ready?”

“The warehouse is clear. Guards posted outside. No witnesses.”

I nod. “And the package?”

He slides a folder across my desk.

Inside are photos. Documents. Shipping manifests. All with the Vecchio family crest.

“Luca’s moving a shipment through the harbor tomorrow night,” Nikolai says. “Weapons. Enough to supply a small army.”

“And he’s meeting the buyers personally?”

“Marco confirmed it.”

I smile. “Then that’s where Sofia comes in.”

_ _ _ _ _

SOFIA POV

The warehouse smells like rust. Yuck.

I step inside. The door closes behind me.

“Hello?”

My voice echoes.

Footsteps. Then Alessio emerges from the shadows.

He’s in jeans and a black shirt tonight. Sleeves rolled up. Forearms on display. He looks less like a Don and more like a..

“You came.” He sounds pleased.

“You threatened to kill my cousin. What choice did I have?”

He circles me slowly. Predator assessing prey.

“Did Luca suspect?”

“He knows I left. I told him I went to the garden.”

“And he believed you?”

I hesitate.

“He saw the mark on my neck.”

Alessio stops. “And?”

“He asked who touched me. I said I fell.”

Silence.

Then he laughs. Actually, I laugh.

“You’re a better liar than I thought.”

“I’m not…”

“Yes you are. You’ve been lying to your brother your whole life. Pretending to be the perfect sister. The obedient daughter. When really…” He steps closer. “You’re just a girl who wants to be fucked like she matters.”

Heat floods my face.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Tell the truth?” His hand slides up my throat. Gentle. Possessive. “You liked it last night. Liked being owned. Used. Filled.”

“Stop.”

“Make me.”

I shove him.

He doesn’t move.

Instead he grabs my wrists. Spins me around. Press my front against a metal pillar.

“Here’s how this works,” he growls in my ear. “I will give you a job. You do it. You report back. And if you’re good…” His hips press against my ass. I feel him. Hard. Ready. “I will reward you.”

“I don’t want your freaking rewards.”

“Liar.” His hand slides under my skirt. Cups me through my panties. I’m wet. Already. “Your body doesn’t lie, Sofia. It knows who it belongs to.”

I bite my lip to keep from moaning.

“Tomorrow night,” he says. “Your brother is meeting buyers at the harbor. Pier 29. Midnight.”

“How do you know that?”

“I told you. I know everything.” His fingers slide under the fabric. Tease. “You’re going to plant a tracker on one of the crates.”

“I can’t”

Marco will be there. The guards…”

“You’ll figure it out.” He pushes one finger inside me. I gasp. “You’re smart. Resourceful. And motivated.”

He adds a second finger. Pumps slowly.

“Alessio”

“Say it right.”

My face burns.

“Daddy,” I whisper. “Please…”

“Please what?”

“Please stop.”

“You want me to stop?” He stills. “Really?”

I’m panting. Aching. Hating myself.

“No.”

“Then ask for what you want.”

I close my eyes. Surrender.

“Please make me cum.”

“Good girl.”

He fucks me with his fingers. Hard. Fast. His other hand covers my mouth when I scream.

I come so hard my knees give out. He holds me up. Keep going. Draw it out until I’m sobbing.

When he finally pulls his fingers out, he brings them to my lips.

“Taste.”

I open. Suck them clean.

“Perfect.” He releases me. Steps back. “The tracker is in the bag by the door. Plant it. Text me when it’s done. Understood?”

I nod. Don’t trust my voice.

He walks away. Pauses at the door.

“Oh, and Sofia? Next time I won’t be so gentle.”

The door closes.

I collapse against the pillar.

My phone buzzes.

Unknown: By the way, Luca’s planning something. I don’t know what yet. But I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you.

My blood runs cold.

I look at the bag by the door. The tracker inside.

Tomorrow night. The harbor. My brother’s deal.

My first mission.

My first real betrayal.

I picked up the bag.

Walk outside.

Behind me, hidden in the shadows, I hear a sound.

Footsteps.

Someone was watching.

Someone knows.

I run.

_ _ _ _

LUCA POV

I watch Sofia sprint down the street from my car.

Marco sits beside me.

“Should I follow her?”

“No. Let her run.”

“But sir”

“She met with Alessio Volkov.” I light a cigarette. Take a long drag. “My baby sister is fucking my enemy.”

“How do you know?”

I hold up my phone. Show him the photo I took through the warehouse window.

Sofia pressed against a pillar. Alessio’s hand up her skirt. Her mouth opened in a silent scream.

“Because I’ve had her followed since last night.” I flick ash out the window. “The question is what do we do about it?”

Marco shifts. Uncomfortable.

“We could kill him.”

“No.” I smile. Cold. “We use her. She wants to play spy? Fine. Let her think she’s fooling me. Let Volkov think he’s won.”

“And then?”

I take another drag.

“And then I kill him slowly. Make her watch. Show her what happens when someone touches what’s mine.”

My phone rings.

Unknown number.

I answer.

“Mr. Vecchio?” A woman’s voice. Familiar. “This is Katya Volkov. Alessio’s… associate. I believe we have a mutual problem.”

I smile.

“I’m listening.”