Chapter 3 Chapter Two

Ara

I barely had time to scream before I was lifted off the ground again and hoisted over that same shoulder.

“Nooo! You can't do this! Please, don't take me awaaaaaaaay!" I shrieked like a banshee, but it did nothing to sway the mind of the cold-hearted billionaire who had just stolen my freedom from me.

The man carrying me over his shoulder walked in the middle of the entourage as we left my mother's restaurant, and with every step he took further away from it, it felt like a vital part of me had been ripped away violently.

My twin sisters…. who would take care of them? How would they continue their education? Who would protect them from our perverted stepfather?

I screamed again, hoping that our neighbors would come to my aid and intervene. No such thing happened.

“Please, Mr. Thayne. Just listen to me!!! I know where Neil is, just put me down!!" I screamed some more, kicking my feet and flailing my arms.

“Shut your dirty mouth or I'll shut it for you." The man carrying me ordered.

Before I could yell back my retort, he bent forward and tossed me sideways.

“Ahhh!" I cried out in pain as my ribs made contact with the door of the backseat I'd just been thrown into like a garbage bag.

I clenched my fists and made to jump out, but he slammed the door shut and I smacked my head against the dark glass window.

There was a barrier between the backseat and the front seat, so I couldn't attack the driver even if I wanted to.

I couldn't believe what had just happened. Did Thayne Slade just kidnap me as collateral for the thirty million dollars my stepfather had stolen from him?

The jeep lurched forward suddenly and I was thrown forward unexpectedly. They were truly taking me away. From my sisters. From my mother's only legacy.

I bit down on my lower lip to stop it from trembling. I blinked back the tears, too. I was twenty three. I would find a way out of this. I needed to be strong.

The driver was yet to drive us away, and I wondered what he was waiting for. I moved closer to the door to see if I could pull it open, and I was startled when it did open.

But only because Thayne Slade was climbing in. I shifted backwards in alarm, my heart thudding in my chest as his spicy cologne tickled my nostrils.

One of his escorts slammed the door shut after him and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he glared at me. Why was he glaring at me? I wasn't the one who duped him.

I wondered if he even remembered me from that night. If he felt as conflicted about this as I did.

“Straddle me." He ordered. His voice was like an addictive drug. It went straight to my core and I clenched my thighs in reflex.

And the way he was looking at me right now? Like how a predator eyed its prey right before it pounced.

And, boy, I wanted him to pounce. I wanted him to touch me like he'd done that night in his suite. No. I wanted even more than that from him.

I wanted…. What? No.

How could I be reacting this way to the man who'd just torn me from the only family I had left?

And not only that....

He wasn't just any man. He was Thayne Slade. Everything about him was a danger zone. If I had any self-preservation instincts, it would be telling me to run far away.

But alas, I had none.

I remained in my seat even though I was thinking of what it would feel like to be seated on his muscular thighs. To feel his hard cock underneath me.

“Oh, little lamb, don't tell me you're hard of hearing now,” his hand lashed out without warning and he yanked me right onto his lap.

Thayne smelled like sin, danger and darkness. I should scream for help, fight him, but I just couldn't seem to find the will to do it.

“Wrap those milky thighs around mine, little lamb." Now that I was in his space, his voice felt like a hot caress.

The low, gravelly quality of it stroked me from the inside and I found myself doing exactly like he'd ordered.

He didn't touch me. He only stared at me, and the intensity of his hot gaze threatened to burn me alive.

I only saw hate and fury in his eyes. Why did he ask me to straddle him when he hated me so much?

We were so close, his full lips only a breath away from mine. The slightest movement from either of us would cause our lips to brush.

I tried to move away just so I could escape the awkward situation, but he placed one hand on my exposed thigh, keeping me in place.

I nearly rubbed myself against him at the body contact. Suddenly I wanted his hand everywhere.

“To make things clear, I don't care what you think of me, little lamb," he leaned in so our chests were touching.

My nipples immediately stiffened, and I suddenly regretted not wearing a bra. But how could I have known one of the hottest billionaires on Forbes list would storm our house and kidnap me?

“But you're mine now. We both know your father will never show up to bail you out, so forget about freedom. You will do as I say, whenever I want and wherever you want." His voice took on a darker, menacing quality, but it only drew me in the more.

It was in this moment that I started to hate Neil all over again, for putting me in this position.

The jeep jerked to an abrupt halt, and I bounced slightly on his lap.

Instantly, his cock stiffened beneath me, growing harder with each passing second, pressed tight against me where our middle met.

Wetness pooled between my thighs, and as if in response, his cock twitched in his pants.

I gulped, unable to breathe or blink. Thayne Slade was hard for me.

'Don't think about that, Ara.' The voice inside my head warned.

His growl in my ear was low and oh-so-fucking-sexy.

Fuck. His erection was huge. And it was still in pants.

Imagine if he were to release it from -

'What the fuck is wrong with you, Ara?' That same voice in my head yelled furiously.

There was something wrong with me, the voice was absolutely right.

“You will work without pay as my personal assistant until the debt is paid off.” His deep baritone scattered my dirty string of thoughts, and I blinked, stunned by what I'd just heard.

“But…buu..but… I…It wii..will take me years to pay it off. That means I'll be your personal assistant for years to come.” I stuttered like an absolute idiot.

Work without pay? How then would I even provide for my sisters? Would I even ever see them again?

Without warning, he pushed me off him like I was a piece of trash on his expensive, shiny suit.

“You have answered that yourself. You will sign a contract form before you start work, and you are to address me as Mr. Slade.” His change of attitude was like whiplash.

'Mr. Slade my foot,' I thought to myself.

One minute his cock stirring to life underneath me, the next minute he was pushing me aside like I'd just burned him.

It took me a minute to realize we were at a penthouse. His penthouse, I realized.

His escorts immediately crowded the other side of the car, and one pulled it open for him to climb out.

Another hand dusted the lapel of his suit, and I rolled my eyes at the pomposity and unnecessary fancy treatment.

My own side of the car was pulled open and I was met with the unsmiling face of the man who'd carried me over his shoulder.

I tried to climb out on my own but I was dragged out and hauled over that same wicked shoulder from before.

Thayne was escorted by his men into the penthouse like the demigod that he was.

Why had he asked me to straddle him, then pushed me off him after?

I screamed all the way to the elevator, kicking, biting, yelling, slapping.

We climbed up and up and up and I didn’t stop screaming until my throat was hoarse and I was feeling dizzy from hanging upside down from the man's shoulder.

The elevator dinged softly as it ground to a halt, and I lifted my head to observe the bright hallway.

I was going to find a way to escape Thayne’s web. I would go back to my sisters and take us out of New York, away from our stepfather's reach.

I was deposited roughly—yet again–onto the sparkling floor of the hallway, and I let out a loud ‘oomph’ as pain shot up my ankles from the impact.

We were standing in front of a black door that looked more smoky black than just black, and number 556 was inscribed atop it.

‘This must be his apartment’, I thought to myself.

Thane ordered his men to leave us. As soon as we were alone, he came onto me so fast, spinning me and pinning me to the wall.

He placed his palms on the immediate white wall, above my head, his polar bear arms forming a cage around me.

With him this close, I was forced to look up at him. Our position felt too intimate in a way that made me rub my thighs together.

Thayne towered over me, a good six foot and five inches with broad shoulders that blocked out everything behind him.

There was nowhere to run.

“Let me give you this warning, little lamb. You're to be my live-in personal assistant. You will see to all my needs, in and outside work. Do you understand?"

I was too distracted by the feel of him pressed against me, by the warmth seeping from him and into my body, to register the meaning of what he'd just said.

He slapped the wall above me and I jumped, the movement only causing me to rub against him in a way that sent delicious heat crawling up my body.

“If you try to run, little lamb, I will make sure your sisters pay heavily for it. And I will find you and drag you back to me, where you belong.” He lowered his arm to wrap his fingers around my throat.

I stopped breathing right then. He was driving me insane. I wanted him to tighten his grip on my neck, to press me against the wall and -

And what? I was supposed to hate him, not lust after him, damnit!

“Do. You. Understand?" The emphasis on each word was unmistaken as he spoke them.

I nodded, not because I was too weak to fight back, but because of my sisters. I would never let harm come their way.

If I had to jump into the dead sea just so I could save them, I would.

“Good girl." Thayne murmured, unwrapping his fingers from my throat and walking away.

How the hell was I supposed to survive as a live-in personal assistant to a dangerous man like Thayne whose temper was as unpredictable as the New York weather in June?

As I stared at his retreating figure, I agreed with the voice in my head on one thing.

I would never survive.

Or would I?