“Teach me how to shoot.”

There goes the angel image.

I pull myself up on my elbows and stare at her. She’s standing beside the bed, already wearing jeans and a tank top, her expression full of determination.

“What for?” I rub my eyes to get a better view of her ass in those jeans.

“To defend myself.”

“From who?”

“Anyone.”

“I’ll do the defending, Pet.” I reach out for her. “I have a better idea for our morning.”

She squeals when I grip her by the hip, but quickly wiggles free, pushing my hand away.

“No, Jas. Come on; I want to do something.”

“Fine. You can ride me today.” I smirk and her cheeks turn red. My little Petal loves it when I give her the reins sometimes.

It’s a false sense of control and she always ends up beneath me anyway, but there’s nothing wrong in having her believe she can have her way. If it makes her more aroused and compliant, I’m all for it.

“Shooting.” She grips her hip.

I raise a menacing eyebrow. “Are you ordering me around, Pet?”

She quickly backpedals, dropping her hand from her hip. Good girl.

“Don’t you want to make sure I’m safe whenever you’re not here?” She softens her tone.

Smart little Petal. She’s using the way I treat her to get what she wants.

“I’ll make sure you’re always protected.”

“Just in case…” her voice lowers. “Please.”

Ah, fuck. I can’t resist it when she pleads with me that way. Enzo is right after all. I am dick-whipped.

Besides, she’s right. We never know what will happen from now on. As long as Lucio roams the earth, neither of us are safe, and until I take care of him, she’s still in danger.

“Fine.”

“Yes!” She does a slight jump then kisses me quickly on the cheek before heading out. “I’ll be waiting outside, hurry.”

I keep staring behind her even after she disappears. I’m so fucking whipped for that girl.

Fifteen minutes later, we’re at the back of the house. I point at the cans I lined on target trees. “You have to keep your hand steady, tremble and it’s over.”

“Okay, steady, I can do that. I participated in surgeries, you know.” She purses her lips, trying to keep her arm taut.

I smile under my breath at her over the top concentrated expression. “Pretty sure this doesn’t go with the medical code.”

Her face falls for a while and I curse the direction I went with that. She’s a nurse after all, and those in her field save lives — they don’t finish them.

For a few minutes, I hold up her hand and train her to target well. She’s right; her arm is steady, it’s her aim that needs more work.

“Why do you really want to learn to shoot?” I ask after a while.

“I told you, to protect myself.”

I’m standing behind her and I slowly grip her bending elbow the slightest bit. She bites her lower lip as I say, “You know many nurses who like to take up shooting as a hobby?”

“Nope, but other nurses aren’t kidnapped to another country and forced to quit their jobs.” There’s no usual venom in her voice, but her displeasure reaches me loud and clear.

She doesn’t like this arrangement, and while she might lose herself in the fucking, in the late-night dinners and the walks, she’ll always — fucking always — think like she’s a captive.

Well, she is, but she shouldn’t be thinking about it as such now.

“Maybe you should protect yourself from me, too,” I speak in a neutral voice, but my blood is boiling.

“Maybe I should.” She lifts her chin, her eyes sparkling in a sadistic gleam. “What if I shoot you right now and run?”

The question is like a fucking stab. It’s like someone twisting a knife into a fresh wound.

No, not someone. Her. Fucking Georgina.

I grab her arm with the gun and she gasps when I point it at my chest.

“J-Jas...what are you doing?” Her voice is haunted. Her eyes are as wide as saucers as she stares at me as if I’ve lost my mind.

“You said you’d shoot me.” My tone is neutral, calm, hiding all the fucking chaos I want to wreak. “Do it.”

“W-what?”

“Shoot me, Pet.”

“Jas…”

I push the gun into my chest and her hand trembles as she tries to release the trigger, but I keep her hand in place.

“It’s the only way you’ll ever get rid of me, so do it, Petal.”

“Jasper, stop.”

“Do it. Fucking shoot me.”

A sob tears from her throat. “N-no…”

“Do it.”

“NO!” She screeches, hitting my chest and throwing the gun away. “Let me go, you fucking psycho. How can you ask me to do that? How can you put it on my conscience?”

“Is that all you care about?” I laugh, the sound humorless. “Your conscience?”

“I won’t become a killer because of you.”

“Well, congrats, Georgina. You just lost your only chance to get rid of me.”

She stares up at me with hard features, folding her arms over her chest. “Why are you calling me by my full name?”

I wrap my hand around her hair in a fist and pull her into me until she cries out in pain. “Because you fucked up.”

“W-what?” Her eyes widen with fear.

“You’re going to pay for that question, Pet. I’m going to spank it out of your ass until it’s purple, then I’m going to fuck you in that ass and mark you the fuck up until you beg me to stop. Here’s the plot twist, I won’t stop.”

Her breathing hitches, and it’s both fear and excitement.

She should see the anger in my eyes. The fucking disappointment.

Over the past few weeks, I had a fantasy about her with me. I had a fucking inkling, a damn thought that maybe one day, she’ll wake up and not think about leaving.

That day isn’t today — or ever for that fact.

She’ll always think about running, about leaving.

I’ll fuck it out of her; I’ll punish her for the way she’s punishing me.

Maybe then I’ll get rid of the fucking fantasy I have about her belonging to me.

14

Georgina

Something is wrong.

I know when something is wrong.

The men come in and out more often. Jasper doesn’t show up for lunch and Enzo doesn’t leave his side.

It’s always bad when that jerk is around; it’s like he’s the bearer of bad news. From the gossip I managed to extract from Salli, Enzo is a Morelli and while I have no damn clue what that means, apparently it’s something important like the Vitallio name here.

Besides, Enzo is a businessman in the States. True, he doesn’t give off the killer vibe like Jasper, but he does seem like his own brand of danger. Also, I have no doubt he’d kill me if he finds the chance to.

Salli said his family was murdered by the Costa men, like Jasper’s. Although the way they lost their family hurts my heart, I can’t believe my father was behind that.