Ours to Ruin, page 11
She quickly went up to the man and whispered something that made him sweat.
“If you dare interrupt me again, I’ll put you in your place in front of everyone, dear husband,” she yelled at him.
She just scared the crap out of her husband. Damn.
“Just fuck off for an hour before I do something to you,” she sneered, and that was enough for her husband to back away.
“We should go to the torture cell after the meeting. I’m really pissed,” she said to her sister.
“Guess what? We got ten new slaves today. Let’s get them settled in their places. I haven’t slaughtered in days, and I’m getting really bored,” Madam Swetlana replied.
“How did you manage to survive all these days without killing? I just offed my guard this morning and I’m already itching for another kill.”
Oh my god, was she for real? I wanted to scream my head off.
“That was so boring; you just hung him upside down and put leeches in his pants and mouth. He croaked an hour after swallowing those leeches. You didn’t even bother to chop up his body parts before using them as manure for your farm,” their aunt cackled.
“Oh, come on, Lana. You know I don’t have the same knack for inflicting pain as you do. And that’s why I’m not as creative as you when it comes to torturing.”
Wait, this wasn’t torture? Then what was the actual torture for them? And now I definitely knew why Master Roy and Master Ezra behaved the way they did.
Their blood was tainted, and they grew up with this demented and psychotic behavior. While the two sisters were preoccupied plotting murders, neither let me out of their sight even for a moment.
Master Roy and Master Ezra were engrossed in kissing and nibbling my clavicle, leaving me tingling with pleasure.
I was squeezed between the two of them, and I could feel the warmth of their hands on my waist.
Soon my peripheral vision caught sight of a girl entering. Her curls piqued my curiosity, and I turned to look at her.
My eyes became watery at the sight of her standing right here in front of me. I was overcome with joy, but my happiness quickly faded when I saw him behind her, his hands possessively gripping her waist, causing me to gasp.
OH MY GOD.
How on earth did she capture Don Azrail’s attention? I thought I was the only one suffering, but now I realized she might be enduring even greater hardships.
I remembered our life together in the cartel. I’ll never forget the day she bravely stood up to protect me from being sold to pedophiles. She was supposed to be sold at the auction too. But she vanished two days before, and now I knew why.
“How are you, baby?” Bolanle whimpered, hugging me tightly.
We were a mess of tears as we both held each other. Then Don Nikolas strode into the conference room, accompanied by a captivating girl bound to him by handcuffs.
So she was Dr. Shreta; his woman.
The way she was dissing everyone made me wonder if she was crazy.
Despite the bandages on both her hands, a wound on her head, and a clearly injured back, she showed no signs of fear toward Don Nikolas.
All of them were just terrible. These psychotic men were all woman beaters.
Doctor Shreta looked like she wasn’t scared of anyone. She was so beautiful! With her big, round eyes, tiny button nose, and adorable smile, she looked like a doll who had come to life.
Both brothers had a stern look on their faces.
“You’re such a cute redhead, so damn cute. I remember when I was your age, I wouldn’t have called myself fat, but yeah, my metabolism was slow as fuck, and my face was full of pimples. But look at you, so beautiful!” she told me, and I just nodded, too scared to respond. With Don Nikolas’s fierce gaze and hostile posture, his bad mood was palpable.
“You’re such a little girl with a temper tantrum. You here to change Nikolas?” Madam Swetlana mocked her.
As usual, Bolanle and I were confident that no one would dare to challenge them. However, Dr. Shreta proved to be the exception.
“Little? A grown-ass, twenty-nine-year-old woman looks like a little girl to you? Babe, you need to get your eyes checked for cataracts. And why the fuck would I want to change him? I’m not a rehab center for an asshole who goes around abusing and killing people for no fucking reason. It’s not my job to parent him. Are all of you mad here? I can help you out with some free therapy. I swear I won’t charge you,” Dr. Shreta took a dig at them.
They all needed to be served some of their own medicine. She was clearly off-limits.
The meeting soon began. The men talked business while Bolanle and I stole glances at each other.
About halfway through the meeting, my attention was drawn to the doorway as four incredibly attractive men made a grand entrance, accompanied by two drop-dead gorgeous women.
As they entered the conference room, one of the young men had his hands securely holding onto the waist of one of the women.
“Make sure you stay within your boundaries or—” But before the scary man could finish, the lady kissed him and shook her head no.
I noticed she appeared slightly older than him, perhaps by just a few years. The man appeared to be in his late twenties, while the woman he was threatening seemed to be in her early thirties. But damn, they looked so good together.
She looked like she had been through hell, with bruises all over and a noticeable mark on her neck. His lips brushed against her neck, causing her to involuntarily flinch, yet she remained rooted in place.
“Look at them, the two worst enemies now acting like buddies,” Don Nikolas chuckled, eyeing the two guys next to the other lady.
“Anything for our love,” both men said before taking turns kissing the woman on her lips.
“Don’t forget the peacemaker here.” The deadly man behind the lady turned her and gave her a peck on the lips, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I was totally numb living with two monsters, and this poor girl had even worse luck with three crazy guys. I felt sorry for her. I was being screwed over by two grim monsters, but she had three.
She had three bite marks on her neck and a big gash on her face, and her left hand was in a cast. The bite marks were clearly put in obvious places intentionally, so they’d easily catch anyone’s eye. Once they were seated, Don Nikolas had two of his guys escort all of us women to a different room.
When the five of us were in the other room, Don Nikolas’s two men stood behind the sofa where Dr. Shreta was seated, maybe to protect her.
“How many curses and punches will it take for you both to fuck off?” Dr. Shreta asked them, her eyebrows furrowed in irritation.
“We shouldn’t leave your side,” one of the guards spoke. “We are only following orders.”
“Carter and Gilbert, you both better bugger off before I smash my head on the wall. Then, when Nikolas gets here, I’ll blame you guys for doing it. Obviously, he’ll believe his so-called queen over some dumb guards.” Both Carter and Gilbert had wide eyes listening to her, but still they didn’t move, which made Dr. Shreta groan in frustration.
She got up and headed for the quartz wall, about to hit her head, when they both ran off and stood at the entrance.
“You were really gonna bang your head, Madam?” I asked her softly.
Being with her felt like sinking into a warm, cozy blanket—there was no trace of evil in her. She had such persuasive skills that I was positive she could sell ice to Eskimos.
“Nobody calls me that. Just call me Shreta, for fuck’s sake. What’s my name?”
“SHRETA,” we all exclaimed simultaneously, causing Carter and Gilbert to quickly look back.
Dr. Shreta gestured toward the wall, prompting them to turn around instantly.
“That moronic jackass wants to force me into marriage. Can you believe he wants to have kids with me? Like hell I’d get pregnant by his corrupted seed!” she exclaimed, leaving me in disbelief.
Thank goodness Don Nikolas wasn’t here, or her tongue would be long gone.
“The pain they inflict upon me is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I’m mentally and physically exhausted. They lash out at every little thing,” I whimpered. The tears didn’t stop, and with each sob, I could feel the weight of all the punishments I had gone through resurfacing.
“Azrail is the most dangerous dude I’ve ever crossed paths with. He has shot me, beaten me to a pulp, and tortured me to hell. I don’t even know if I’ll survive another month. The worst days are when he thinks I don’t love him, which only worsens my situation.” Bolanle embraced me tightly as she spoke. Tears welled up in Dr. Shreta’s eyes as well.
“I saved that schmuck’s life, and look where I am now. Fuck the Hippocratic oath and my compassion that got me here,” Dr. Shreta snapped.
“I thought he was just some young dude, and I was just fooling around, but then he got really serious. When I said no, this is what happened. I had no idea who he was. I tried to avoid him using my connections, but damn, I remember what he did to me that night. Even now, I can’t look him in the eye. He’s a total psycho,” the woman in her early thirties cried.
“These three creatures are the epitome of cruelty, and my life has become a living nightmare because of them. The other two were bitter enemies, always fighting and even threatening to kill me. But then they somehow patched things up and ended up kidnapping me from my house. They do whatever they want with me. They’re always beating me and forcing themselves on me. They once put a rope around my neck and hung me on the ceiling fan, nearly killing me, just because I said no to one of them. They absolutely despise the word no. If it slips out of my mouth, they’ll torture me. Death feels easier now. My husband—” The one with three men started bawling.
“You have a husband?” I asked, my shock evident in my voice.
Did they abduct a married woman?
Who does that? They were completely unhinged and operating on a whole other level of insanity.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ezra
We were all sitting and talking business when Mom said something that grabbed our attention.
“Are you guys gonna be all business, or will you acknowledge the fact that Swetlana and I need grandkids?” Mom rolled her eyes, grabbed her cigar, lit it with a Zippo, and handed it to Aunt Swetlana.
“Seriously, just have a bunch of kids already. We’ll train them and make sure they know who they have descended from while you all can do whatever you want,” Aunt Swetlana remarked.
Both sisters were super stuck-up, they were both narcissistic.
And why not? There were only a few female Mafia bosses at the High Table.
I glanced at Dad and Uncle Jared, who sat silently behind them. The irony of both ours and Azrail’s fathers being taken hostage by our mothers still makes me laugh.
“Ezra and I are planning a courthouse commitment ceremony for the three of us, and we’re already trying for babies,” Roy said, a sly smirk playing on his lips as he revealed our plans for the future.
I had a big smile on my face when I pictured Veronica with a protruding belly, carrying our babies. It made me want to take her against this very desk itself. Lately, I’d begun to feel like I was losing my grip on reality. I never thought I would be infatuated with any woman, yet here I was, consumed by thoughts of an eighteen-year-old girl.
“Robyn isn’t ready for a kid yet,” Euan said with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
“When did you start paying attention to what she says?” Azrail said, laughing. “Last time I had checked, she was lying half-dead on your kitchen counter while you were, umm, never mind.”
“Exactly, who the fuck cares about her stupid rants?” Euan groaned.
“Don’t young girls have very fertile wombs?” I asked with a grin, envisioning Veronica round with my baby. However, her tendency to ruin things for herself always got in the way.
“I don’t know about yours,” Lorcan asserted confidently, “But Keegan will be pregnant soon.”
“She is defiant though,” Vlad let out.
“But nothing we three can’t control,” Ivor said with a smirk.
“Robyn’s stupid. She does shit and then has to fucking pay,” Euan snickered.
“Bolanle never fucking learns,” Azrail gritted out.
“Shreta is wickedly cunning, she’s a total vixen,” Nikolas added.
“Veronica is like a little kitten, always nodding,” Roy laughed.
“I bet Veronica will be the first to get knocked up; she might already be,” I announced.
“Damn, little girl gonna have a messed-up psycho baby,” Lorcan chuckled.
“Keegan could also be pregnant with one of our kids. One of us might become a father first,” Vlad said this time.
“Okay then,” Roy said, “let’s bet on it. If any of you have a child before me and Ezra, our cruise ship will be given to that child.” I nodded in agreement.
“If Shreta, Veronica, Bolanle, or Robyn give birth first, then we’ll give our Venetian casino to the kid,” Ivor proposed while Lorcan and Vlad agreed.
“My club will be the child’s,” Azrail said, his voice filled with a chilling determination.
Nikolas and Euan exchanged glances, shaking their heads in unison.
“They’re both unsure, but then they decided to kidnap some millionaire heiresses. Seriously, couldn’t you find someone else?” Vlad mocked them both.
“I bet Shreta’s giving you a hard time,” I sneered.
“I’ve done fucking everything to break her,” Euan said, annoyed. “But who gives a damn? She does whatever I say. And my bet is if any of your ladies pop out a baby first, my club in London will be given to the child,” he added.
“My palace in Cortona will be the kid’s if Shreta isn’t the first one to be pregnant,” Nikolas declared confidently.
“It’ll be fun if Shreta is already pregnant with Arjun’s baby, and if one of us wins and he loses, we can demand his casino,” Lorcan said, and when I glanced at Nikolas, the only thing that comforted me was that we were his cousins and had been best friends since forever, but his eyes were full of murderous rage.
“My grandkids aren’t even here yet, and they’re already rolling in dough,” Mom interjected, changing the subject before Nikolas could do anything.
We switched topics and started chatting about our new investment.
However, the calmness was once again wrecked when Arjun’s dumb secretary burst in, disrupting everything with the information she provided about Arjun.
“Don Arjun has left for Italy. He knows you tried killing him,” she screamed, panting like she was running from a ghost.
Should have thought about this before betraying him, bitch.
“Nikolas, you can’t do this. You rule the High Table together. If one of you is gone, it’s all over,” I said, standing up to make my point.
“Don’t do it, Niko. That fucker will screw us all over when he gets back. We all know what Arjun is capable of. Arjun’s attack could leave all of us destitute, although it won’t affect you much as the two of you hold the same power. You and he will be fine, but the rest of us will pay the price. And you’re wrong here. He went after Doctor Shreta first.” Azrail’s words hung in the air.
“I agree,” Roy spoke. “If you both had eyed her at the same time and place like Ezra and I did, then you could have shared her like we are sharing Veronica.”
“Shut the hell up!” Nikolas roared, his voice echoing through the room and silencing us all. “Don’t forget who’s the boss here!” he barked at us, his anger evident.
Everything happened in a flash when his crazy doctor rushed inside out of nowhere and cornered Arjun’s secretary, asking her about him. Nikolas was so mad that he pulled out his gun and pointed it at Dr. Shreta. Jealously danced in his dark eyes.
One mistake she made was attempting to flee, naively thinking that Nikolas wouldn’t notice.
Even though we all saw her trying to escape, Azrail was the first one to spot her and told us, but none of us dared to do anything.
Just as we were about to try and talk some sense into Nikolas, he fired a shot, hitting Doctor Shreta directly in the leg.
Bolanle and Veronica, who had rushed in after her, gasped in disbelief.
“Fuck off, all of you, and don’t let me see your faces until I ask you to or—”
Before he could finish, Roy and I swiftly grabbed Veronica, while Azrail seized Bolanle. We hastily exited the room.
We didn’t need to be told twice.
With Veronica in my arms, I carefully made my way toward our jet. I couldn’t help but notice the faint glisten of saliva on her lips, evidence of her deep sleep.
As soon as I saw it, I licked it off, eliciting a groan from Roy.
“Okay, next time it’s your turn,” I said with sincerity.
“I wouldn’t have let you lick her spit twice, anyway,” he said, playfully licking and biting her throat, making her squirm.
“I think she wants to be in my arms, brother.”
As I licked her from her nose to her neck, her moans grew louder, prompting us both to walk faster.
“Well,” I retorted back at him, “she wants to be in my arms too, I think.”
“I’ve got an idea then,” he said with a grin, and I knew this was gonna be a lot of fun.
We were almost at our jet when we saw Bolanle passed out in Azrail’s arms while he was carrying her to his jet.
“You better keep your cruise ship ready for my baby,” Azrail teased us.
“Yeah,” I mocked him, “let her at least give birth first.”
Once inside our jet, we wasted no time and headed straight to the bedroom at the rear of the aircraft.
We positioned Veronica so that her upper body was nestled against me, while her legs were resting on Roy.
“She looks adorable when she’s asleep,” Roy commented.
“She’s been good lately. Let her sleep. We can do our work without her being all awake,” I suggested, grinning.
