His Majesty (Rough Royals) Read online

  “Let me get comfortable first,” I whispered, tightening my hand around his. He nodded softly, understanding glimmering across his features.

  “You need another drink,” he replied curtly, and he slipped his own into my fingers, before flipping open a compartment that I hadn’t noticed before to reveal a glass and another bottle of crystal-encased whiskey. He poured himself another and popped a perfectly circular sphere of ice into it. He swirled the glass and I stared at it, trying to remember how many drinks he’d had already tonight.

  Was it more than he should have had? I turned back to him, trying to tell if his eyes were glassy or not. They didn’t appear to be, so I carefully took a sip of his.

  “What do you do, Vincenzo?” I asked.

  “I run a law firm,” he answered.

  “What kind of law?”

  “Criminal defense. Lawsuits. We’re a multifaceted firm that has a wide variety of talents specializing in a range of subject matter,” he replied. “What about you, Isabella? Tell me more about you.”

  “I’m a senior business student in the master’s program at the Sapienza University of Rome. It’s my last semester here before I head back home to America,” I said.

  “Is it now? How have you liked Rome so far?”

  “I’ve enjoyed my time here very much. I almost don’t want to leave,” I mused.

  “Perhaps you don’t have to,” he smirked. For a moment, he stared at me almost like he had something else to say, but then he turned away and I was left wondering what he meant. He didn’t expand any farther and I was just about to ask him when the car came to a stop in front of a high-rise in the business district of the city. Doors were opened and the two of us were ushered into a rather extravagantly decorated front foyer.

  It took money to live here and a lot of it. I was sure of it.

  Vincenzo grabbed my hand and led me into an elevator, where he simply pressed the top button. It moved fast and before I knew it, the doors were sliding open to reveal a very elegantly decorated interior. He had the penthouse suite and it was just as ritzy as I had imagined. Everything seemed to be lined with gold. The furniture was so extravagant that I was afraid of sitting down on any of it in case it would ruin it somehow. There was a massive white piano in one corner of the room and the edges were lined with what looked like gold filigree. Once I looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows though, I ignored everything that was inside in favor of what I saw out there.

  I’d never seen the city from this high up before and it was a sight to behold. Lights of every different color twinkled beautifully beneath us. I could just make out the Coliseum, brilliantly lit up with an orange glow and I marveled at the different styles of building lit up in the dead of night. I admired it for a while before I took another sip of the whiskey that Vincenzo had slipped into my hand in the car. I didn’t drink whiskey often, but it was so very smooth and burned just a little as it edged down my throat.

  I heard the sound of glasses clink against the counter and turned to see Vincenzo pouring me another glass of champagne and more whiskey for himself.

  “Isn’t Rome beautiful at night like this?” he said. I noticed that his words slurred just the slightest bit at the end of his sentence, and I turned my head to get a good look at him. He still seemed put together, but the way he was drinking that whiskey like water was starting to worry me.

  He leaned over the counter and looked me up and down like I was a piece of meat.

  “It would look even better with you naked up against it,” he murmured, and I stared at him for a long moment.

  “Would it now,” I answered coyly.

  He grinned and flung back his head, downing the glass of whiskey before he put it down on the counter.

  “It’s about time I take what is owed, I think,” he grinned.

  His eyes were definitely glassy now and I started to feel uneasy.

  He poured himself another. He stared at me with a predatory glare and that feeling of uneasiness slowly turned to fear. I tried to stand tall and confident, and I didn’t let how I was really feeling show on my face.

  I had ignored the initial cockiness I had seen in him and thought it was just the manner of a man with means, but maybe it was something else. Maybe he was arrogant and entitled. Maybe he was just an asshole who bought everything he wanted without having to earn any of it. Maybe he was the type of man who thought that I should spread my legs just because he’d bought me a few drinks.

  “Listen, I think I should go,” I said quietly. My voice was level and non-combative and I did that on purpose. I didn’t want him to think I was a threat in any way because right now, I just wanted to leave safely.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he growled, taking a step toward me. His whiskey glass was so full now that it sloshed over the sides. He didn’t even notice. Instead, he just slurped it noisily before he strode over in my direction once more.

  My eyes nervously flicked to the door and back to him, trying to evaluate if I could make it to the door in time before he grabbed me. My legs trembled and I wavered from foot to foot, remembering the heels on my feet once more.

  I wouldn’t be able to make it. Vincenzo wasn’t a small guy. He was probably about six feet tall and well-muscled. I had no doubt that he could move quickly if he wanted to, especially if he wanted to grab me. He’d be able to overpower me with ease. I swallowed heavily, trying to evaluate what options I had left.

  I’d just wanted to have a little fun. I should have just stayed home with a glass of good red wine and a book, but it was too late for that.

  I was going to have to figure a way out of here and fast. I turned back to the window, hoping maybe I could distract him until he possibly passed out. He moved closer to me, his footsteps uneven, his breathing louder than before.

  “Take off your dress. I want to see you naked,” he demanded, slurring his speech more so than before.

  “I’m not that kind of girl,” I scoffed, knowing that I shouldn’t have said it even as the words left my mouth.

  “You’re going to be tonight,” he shouted and then he was right next to me. He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me to him roughly, forcing his lips on mine in a sloppy kiss that left my stomach roiling in disgust. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to get the bitter taste of him off my tongue.

  I tried to break his hold on me and pushed against his chest, but he only forced himself on me more determinedly than before. I pulled away from him as much as possible and slapped him as hard as I could. I went to run, but what he did next stopped me in my tracks.

  He roared in anger and reached behind his back.

  I froze, watching in horror as he pulled out a gun.

  “You’re going to regret that, you spoiled little bitch,” he snarled, his words becoming more and more difficult to understand. He wavered from side to side and I was suddenly very worried about where this was going.

  “Wait. You don’t need that,” I said, my voice finally trembling and revealing just how very scared I was.

  His grin widened immeasurably, and it was unnerving. There was a certain deranged madness there and I knew that no matter what I said now, I wouldn’t be able to break through that. Now it was just the booze talking, revealing whatever asshole had been hidden beneath the nice suit and expensive cufflinks.

  I had thought I was going to be spoiled tonight, that I was just going to have a little fun, but it was turning out to be quite possibly the worst night of my life.

  It didn’t stop there though. It went from bad to worse after that.

  He started blubbering nonsense about his family and something about royalty to himself. He said something about a long line of kings, and I stared back at him like he’d gone insane. For a few seconds, it appeared as though he was just talking to himself and had forgotten about me, so I took a few steps to the side in the general direction of the door and he didn’t notice. I managed a few more before he snarled at me.

  “Don’t you dare fucking move. If
you run, I’m going to make your life a living hell,” he threatened.

  He waved the gun and the unthinkable happened. He pulled the trigger.

  The sound of the shot was overwhelmingly loud, and I instantly pressed my hands to my ears as I cried out in fear. Thankfully, the shot had gone wild and thudded into the ceiling. He shrieked again and shot off another and I dropped to the floor in terror, hearing the terrible thundering sound of breaking glass. The window behind me cracked loudly, the splintering echoing in the silence all around me. Then, all at once, the window shattered and the sound of the breeze this high up blew into the penthouse. It whipped my hair around my head and my icy cold fear made my skin prickle. I felt numb with it.

  Fuck.

  This was bad. Really bad.

  The wind howled and my hair flew around my shoulders. He came at me again, clearly not even bothered about the fact that he had just shot a gun inside and shattered the window in his really expensive penthouse. It was like it hadn’t even transpired.

  He swayed back and forth as he moved closer to me. His expression was demanding. Expectant. Arrogantly entitled.

  He grabbed my upper arms and gripped the collar of my dress. He swung his arm back and my dress ripped down the front, the black lacy inlay decimated under the brute force of his attack.

  “I said I wanted you naked, so you’re going to be naked,” he threatened.

  No. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t allow it.

  He may be rich and a condescending prick, but he wasn’t going to take my body without my consent. I had to fight back even though I was terrified.

  I grabbed his shoulders. He smiled, taking it as my acquiescence, but it wasn’t. Instead of curling into his drunk embrace, I brought my knee up hard straight into his nuts. The high-pitched sound of pain was satisfying as he crumpled to the floor right in front of me. He rounded forward and cupped himself, as if that could make him feel any better.

  “You have no right, asshole. You can’t just buy a girl a few drinks and expect her to put out,” I shrieked.

  He started to laugh.

  I got scared.

  “If you run, I’m going to destroy you. You have no idea what you’ve stumbled into, little bitch. You’ve entered a whole new world and you don’t even know it’s over for you yet.”

  What. The. Actual. Fuck.

  Was this crazy talk? What the hell was he saying and what did that even mean?

  He stood back up, rounding on me. I took a couple of steps backwards, but before I knew it, I reached the wall behind me and he used his body to block the pathway to the door. That left the only way out about thirty-five stories down through the shattered window.

  “There’s nowhere for you to go. There’s nowhere for you to hide. My people knew your name before you even walked into that bar. They know the names of your parents, of any of your siblings and exactly where they live. There’s isn’t even the smallest detail about you they won’t know, including where your friends are right now. I know everything.”

  I stilled.

  “What about my friends?” I whispered.

  “You don’t think it was by chance that the two of us ended up in the same bar by ourselves tonight, do you?”

  “I didn’t realize...” I whispered, trying to come to terms with what he was telling me.

  “Think about that before you try to run. Now take off your dress,” he demanded.

  I stared at him, both angry and scared at the nonsense coming out of his mouth.

  “Who are you?” I asked once more.

  “My name is Vincenzo Santaro,” he answered cockily.

  “And who exactly is that?” I pressed, trying to keep him busy so he didn’t focus on hurting me or taking what he thought was his to take.

  “A very powerful name,” he answered evasively.

  I scoffed in response.

  “If you say a word about what is about to happen, I’ll end you. I’ll destroy your life. Those tickets back to America you already bought will be gone. Every single one of your friends will disappear and it will be your fault,” he threatened, slurring heavily once more now that the pain from my knee to his balls had likely faded to a dull roar.

  My chest rose and fell with an eerie combination of anger and fear. I tried to reconcile with the words he was saying, but it just sounded crazy. No one had that kind of power.

  “Are you a mobster or something? A mafia boss of some sort?” I asked, furrowing my brow as I tried to process the slurred threats.

  “No. More powerful than that,” he smirked.

  I felt even more on edge. Nothing he said was making sense, yet at the same time I feared that his threats were so outlandish that they might carry with them a certain amount of truth. Could he actually do these things? Could he hurt my parents and my friends? Would their blood be on my hands if I didn’t give him what he wanted tonight?

  I swallowed, anxiously weighing my options. Should I run and risk his drunk ramblings to be the truth? Do I stay and give myself up to be raped to protect my friends and family from harm? Or do I fight?

  He lurched toward me, and I instinctively rose to defend myself. I pushed him away from me and he staggered backwards, dropping low in the process. He tried to recover, but he was far too drunk to steady himself properly and I took advantage by kicking him as hard as I could in the face. He screeched and staggered back several steps straight toward the window. He swayed and couldn’t find his footing, losing his balance and tumbling backwards.

  I screamed. I couldn’t have stopped what happened next even if I had wanted to.

  I watched in horror as he slowly pitched over the edge of the shattered window. He tried to catch himself on the floor, but it was slick and there was nothing for him to hold onto. I froze, unable to tear my eyes away as his drunken angry eyes met mine and then he was gone.

  All I heard after that was his screams until he’d fallen so far that I couldn’t hear him anymore.

  A strange terrified keening sound echoed all around me and it took me a few seconds to realize that the sound was coming from me. I curled my arms around my shoulders, trying to protect myself from what I had just witnessed, but I kept seeing his furious eyes staring back at me as he went over the ledge.

  We were so high up. There was no possible way he could have ever survived that fall. He was dead and it was my fault. I’d pushed him. I’d kicked him in the face. I’d killed him.

  There were signs of a struggle and I was the only one left alive. What if his threats had been real? I couldn’t discount the possibility that his people could come after me, that I would be put in prison for the rest of my life. I didn’t know what Italian prisons were like or what they’d do to me, but I really didn’t want to find out.

  I couldn’t stay here. Someone would come looking for him eventually. I didn’t know if the sound of the gun would bring anyone all the way up here. If not, the shattered window certainly would.

  Panic welled up from a place deep inside me and I couldn’t push it away. It overwhelmed me until I found it hard to breathe and I did the only thing I could think of.

  I ran. Right out of the penthouse and into the elevator. I hit the button for the first floor. It took forever for the doors to close and when they finally did, I breathed a sigh of relief. I just had to get down to the first floor and out onto the street. I could weave between buildings and catch a taxi somewhere close. Maybe I’d get a hotel for a few nights. I could hide out and study and take my finals and get the hell out of here next week on the quickest flight. Perhaps it would be best if I didn’t go back to New York City at all. Maybe I should just disappear and start fresh somewhere new.

  I kept telling myself that his threats were nothing but the ramblings of a drunken man. I told myself that over and over until I’d marginally convinced myself that it was true. I sagged against the wall of the elevator, trying to calm the frantic beat of my panicked heart. I watched as the floor numbers descended, although it seemed to be going so
much slower than when I’d taken it up to the penthouse.

  The elevator started to slow. I stared at the numbers, watching as they stopped altogether.

  I was only on the fifteenth floor. I had a way to go before I reached the ground level.

  I pressed the first-floor button again and again, but nothing happened. I started to get nervous.

  Why wasn’t it moving?

  Then the doors slid open. Outside them stood a group of men all dressed in black. They stared at me and I stared at them. They piled into the elevator and I shrank back against the wall. I told myself that they were just taking it down with me.

  They weren’t.

  They turned toward me and grabbed me. I struggled, fighting tooth and nail against them, but there were too many. A black bag was slipped over my head and I noticed a faint, sweet flowery scent before I started to feel lightheaded.

  My eyes rolled back in my head and I knew no more after that.

  Chapter Two

  Isabella De Luca

  I hurt so much.

  Fuck. My head was pounding. I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to rub the ache away from wherever it was coming from. It didn’t seem to help and when I finally convinced myself to open my eyes, I found myself staring into a massive mirror.

  On the goddamn ceiling at least ten feet above me. Above the bed.

  Wearing a long lavender flowy sundress that wasn’t mine.

  I stared at my own image, trying to remember what happened. Did I get too drunk and stay at my girlfriend’s house? Did I send a late-night text to someone that I shouldn’t have?

  The quilt beneath me was royal purple, embroidered with expensive-looking gold and silver thread. The four-poster bed was massive and made of carved mahogany that was probably done by hand. It was obvious that whoever owned this bed came from money.

  I wasn’t wearing any underwear. No panties or bra and I was sure that I had worn them last night. I chewed my lip, trying my best to remember what happened just a few hours before.

  Last night, I had gone out in my new little black dress. I was sure of that, so where had this new dress come from? Where the hell had my panties gone? The night came back in small glimmers and the pounding of my head wasn’t helping things come back to me. It was just making things worse. With a sigh, I turned my head and looked around.