Page 24 of Coercion

“Not a thing but then I haven’t asked.” I replied.

She chews her lip. “It sounds like she needs a friend.” She mutters.

“She needs therapy.” I state bluntly. “And a lot of it.”

“Can you blame her with what she’s been through?” Nico growls.

No, no I can’t. Watching your family be murdered right in front of you is enough to fuck anyone up - I of all people know that.

“I want to see her.” Eleri says. “Maybe a woman might put her more at ease.”

Nico takes her hand and nods his approval.

“Call in whenever you want.” I say. “I’ll be staying at the townhouse for the moment so she’s on her own, apart from the staff.”

“Why are you staying at the townhouse?” Nico asks, narrowing his eyes like he’s caught me in some sort of lie.

“She needs space.” I state. “She needs time to adjust to all of this.”

He tilts his head, assessing me. “You better not have touched her.”

“I haven’t.” I snap. “But she’s weird about that too.”

“In what way?”

“She knew the cameras where there, I even stated it, and yet she told me I could fuck her anyway.”

Blaine chokes. Eleri goes pale like she knows something I don’t.

“What?” Nico growls back at me.

“I didn’t obviously. I could tell it was bullshit. But the way she was…”

“What?” Nico repeats.

I shake my head, not able to properly form the words that are in my head. I don’t even know what I mean. But there’s something. My gut tells me that. There’s obviously some trauma there, some trigger, after all, she couldn’t even imitate the right sounds, she couldn’t even fake the feeling of pleasure despite her bravado about being some sort of nympho.

“I’ll go see her.” Eleri says. “Maybe she’ll open up to me.”

“Be careful with her.” I say, feeling a flash of protectiveness. I trust Eleri but even so, this is my wife. She’s fragile. I won’t have her harmed any more than she is already.

She gives me a reassuring smile. “I will be.”

“Are we done talking about Preston’s wife?” Blaine asks.

Eleri throws him a look but Nico picks up the paperwork, looking through the routes Levi is now offering to us.

Diamonds and drugs. It even has a ring to it, doesn’t it? I guess it makes sense to be smuggling them together. They’re both worth enough that you would kill for them. I just find it curious that Levi is being so open, so forthcoming. He’s willing to throw his hand so easily in with us when his business should be one that sets him apart. That keeps him apart.

I don’t know any other smugglers that would share their secrets, so what does he gain beyond our protection? And why does a man such as Levi even needourprotection in the first place? What sort of shit has he created that means he has to come crawling to another Family for help?

I guess sooner or later we’re going to find out the answer to that.

And when we do, I know Nico is going to use it, he’s going to turn this to our advantage. Levi Holtz thinks he’s leading this dance, when the truth is, we’ve got him by the balls – he just doesn’t know it yet.

Ruby

This house is so big. Not that I expected my new husband to live in a one bed apartment considering who he is. But there are little things, odd things that give me flashbacks to my old home, to the one where my mother and father lived.