Page 17 of Cruel Possession

I stand and turn my attention to the captain. “I told you this would be easy.”

He eyes a shipping container full of guns being moved from the ship and onto the dock. “I don’t know how easy this was. She’s a Rinaldo. I don’t want to die for this. The money is good and all, but who’s going to look after my family once hers finds out what I’ve done?”

I pull out a fat envelope filled with cash and hand it to him, before reaching into the pocket of my jacket. “New identities for you, your wife, and your kids. You leave at five in the morning.”

The captain nods and takes the new identities, heading for the gangplank.

He gets off the boat and hurries to the waiting car, disappearing into the night and leaving the others on the boat to deal with the offloading.

I turn and loosen the ropes from around Zoe. “Now, I was thinking that we could spend a little time traveling around Europe, maybe getting to know each other, you know, the casual honeymoon things that two people do when they’re in love.”

She glares at me, yanking her arm from me as I haul her to stand. “Don’t touch me.”

“Not what you usually say, but I’m sure I can change your mind.” I smirk and zip up my jacket, blocking out the cold wind. “Though, I’ve got a different kind of ‘touch’ in mind.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Please, don’t make me say some cheesy shit likeyour worst nightmare. That isn’t what this is about. It’s never been what it’s about.” I take her by the arm once more, fingers digging into her flesh so hard I’m sure they’re going to leave a bruise. “Let’s go,wifey.”

“You may have forced me to marry you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to cooperate with you.” She tries to pull her arm from me but when that doesn’t work, she kicks me in the back of the knee.

I saw it coming, bracing against her pathetic attack even though it hurt like a bitch. “If I didn’t need answers out of you, I would be tossing you over the side right now and leaving you to drown. Is that what you want?”

“Better than being married to you.”

I roll my eyes to the sky before giving her a shove forward. “I know, I love you too, dear. Now let’s get going.”

She plants her feet on the ground even as she starts shaking from the cold. “No. I’m not going anywhere.”

I sigh and bend down, scooping her up and tossing her over my shoulder.

As I lock her legs just below her knees to keep her from kicking me in the junk, she slams her elbow into the back of my neck.

Without a second thought, I lift her high, throwing her the rest of the way over my shoulder and onto the ground.

She lands with a heavy thud.

I turn to look at her, putting my hands in my pockets. “Are you done yet? I don’t have time for this childish shit. You are a married woman now, you need to start behaving like one.”

“Fuck that.”

I don’t know if I can keep my laughter in, but the look on her face is priceless. I have to work hard to keep my tone even. “I’m being patient with you right now.”

She needs to remember I will kill her if I have to. And a while ago, I would have already put a bullet between her eyes. No hesitation, no questions asked, no remorse. Because nothing matters to me more than keeping my family safe.

And right now, she is not the one calling the shots anymore. Not now that I have her.

And I need her to tell me how to bring her family down.

Also, if I’m being honest, other than fucking with her, I really enjoy fucking her. And regardless of what I told her at the club, I wouldn’t be opposed to that happening again.

I haul her to her feet once more and give her a shove to the gangplank. “Get moving. You may not want to cooperate, but I have ways of working around that.”

The color drains from her face, but the stubborn look in her eyes doesn’t waver.

Now that she is my hostage, she can’t be the leader of the Rinaldos anymore. But getting her to turn on them is going to be harder than I thought.

It’s a good thing chains and whips excite me.