Chapter 2

Gianna was objectively one of the hottest women in the city—tall, sexy, exuding all that sensual energy. Her wardrobe was off the runway; her body was flawless and lasered or waxed in all the right places. And in the beginning, it all worked for me. I enjoyed the hot sex and tuned out all her stupid stories. I fucked her the way she wanted and agreed to whatever she proposed.

But somewhere between breakup number three and seven hundred, my dick stopped showing up for her. Just wouldn’t fucking work. I’d lie awake at night in my bed and wonder if I had an actual medical problem because what the fuck was that? How could Inotget hard?

Maks: 1 min

The text brought me back to my current reality: we were about to kidnap a U.S. Attorney’s daughter, Gianna showed up out of nowhere, and I was standing there wondering if I’d have a limp dick for the rest of my life.

“I have to go.”

But she tugged me back instantly. “But it’s my birthday! You forgot?!”

“I haven’t, but we’re not together anymore, remember?” I jerked my arm away, but Gianna was like a leech. I looked down to see the familiar blood red color of her nail polish piercing into the ink on my wrist.

“Don’t say that!” Gianna complained loudly, her previously intoxicated state vanishing as the seconds ticked. Seconds I didn’t have to spend on her. “Fine, maybe we’re on a break or whatever, but we’re—we’re not broken up!”

“Stop!” My patience was wearing thin just as my phone buzzed again. “Gianna, stop. We’re broken up. Stop calling me. Stop showing up randomly, just stop,” I implored her, my own voice sounding harsh in my ears.

I sidestepped her, itching to get the fuck away from her and out of this dark shithole.Just get in the car and the fuck out of here.

I pushed my way through the sweaty dancing bodies, mere feet away from the back door, but Gianna’s perfume—spicy and nauseating—hit my nostrils once more.

“I’ll go to the cops!” Gianna almost jumped in front of me, shouting right in my face. She was no longer drunk. “And I’ll tell them everything!” She spoke clearly, making sure I could hear her. “I’ll tell them how you’ve abused me for years. And I took it all! Scared to speak up!”

Thatmade me pause. I narrowed my gaze on her, certain I’d heard wrong.

“What? What thefuckare you talking about? I never abused you.”

She knew that,of course. The ice in her eyes made me shiver, but she stepped closer, about to deliver more vitriol. “You didn’t?” Her hands slid up my chest and onto my neck, forcing me to pull back. “Everything we did together? Every time you spanked me, tied me up, spat in my mouth, fucked me up against the wall in some dirty club…did I ever say the word…yes?”

The phone kept buzzing in my hand, the lights of the club flashed on Gianna’s face, and the calamity of my situation descended on me like a tidal wave. Gianna was rewriting our past on the fly.

What a delusional and manipulative bitch.

I leaned down to make sure she heard me. “You fuckingasked meto do all that shit. To spit in your mouth. To tie you up. I did everythingyouwanted. Don’t you fuckingdarespin it like that.”

But in response…she laughed. It was fake and so rehearsed, and it always made my skin crawl. “Try me, Alex,” she said, somehow fully sober. “I wasted two years on you.” She stuck two fingers in front of my eyes, the smile never leaving her face. “And you’re not going to fuckingdiscardme like a bag of shit on the side of the road.” Her hands reached the collar of my shirt and she fiddled with it, just like always.

I’d been a complete fucking idiot. Just one massive, undeniable dumbass.

“Fuck off, Gianna. Never fucking call me again. Never—”

“Sasha! Now. We have to go now!” Maksim’s voice sputtered in my ear, and he pulled me back, away from smiling and jovial Gianna.

No matter. Gianna was just a hiccup. Just a splinter—the rest of the night would go according to plan.

I took a deep breath in and out and followed Maksim, forcing myself to forget about her.

The emergency exit had been disabled, and I pushed the door open into the warm night just in time to see tanned bare legs swung over one of Maksim’s guys’ shoulders.

I paused mid-step, taking in the sight. The young woman writhed with wild motions; her hands zip tied behind her back.

Damn.

I didn’t think it would look like that.

“Mmm! Mmm!” The girl’s voice was muffled by the gag in her mouth and the black bag over her head. Maksim’s man was shoving her into the backseat of a car, another guy dragging her in while the rest of us watched.

Watched a person being fucking kidnapped.