Master of Secrets Read online

  Ele was smart, smarter than anyone knew. She’d done what she had to in order to survive and kept a log of every man who visited the island on a tablet she’d hidden in the bathroom of her private quarters. I’d only discovered it while scanning the island for unauthorized electronics. When I’d confronted her about it, I’d come to her as Julian Bonaparte. We’d agreed she would keep the tally for me in exchange for protection for her younger sister who was still in Malta.

  “Thank you, Elenora.”

  Ele knew most of the men here hated my guts and would go out of their way to lure my slave away.

  It hadn’t worked before and would definitely not work with Ana.

  Besides, the last thing I wanted to deal with was punishing Ana for breaking the nose of someone who tried to take liberties with her.

  “There is a new list ready,” she murmured as she turned to walk in the opposite direction of where I had to go.

  Well, that just complicated things.

  A new list meant new buyers and more planned auctions.

  Fuck. I ran a hand through my hair. I’d have to report this.

  I made my way to the library to find Ana perusing the books. Her deceptively delicate finger stroked the spines of various hardbacks. I could still feel the way she’d stroked her hands over my cock, pumping it until she had me all but mad with need.

  Her wet blond hair was bound into a bun, making it look darker and closer to her natural color. As she moved about, I noticed how transparent her gown was. I could see the silhouette of her perfect breasts and the shadow of her dark nipples.

  My cock immediately woke as did annoyance, knowing others would see what was mine.

  As if sensing me watching her, she looked toward the doors.

  Fire flashed in her golden amber gaze.

  “Something wrong, Bride?”

  She ignored me, turning her attention back to the books. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, taking steadying breaths.

  What the hell had I done? When I’d left her earlier in the morning she was recovering from an orgasm.

  I moved in her direction, turning on the device in my pocket that would disable all feeds in this room, audio and visual. I left the door open just in case anyone passed by. I expected someone to check on us, and it would be too suspicious if I closed it.

  Stopping when I was next to her, I asked, “Ana, want to tell me why you’re upset?”

  She pulled out a book, opening it. I plucked it from her grasp and set it on the table near us.

  She scowled up at me.

  “You’re angry. Want to fill me in on what changed from the time I slipped out of our bed to now?”

  Instead of responding, she lifted her arm and punched me in the face.

  Chapter Eight

  Anaya

  * * *

  “What the fuck was that for?” Surprise and anger colored Adrian’s face.

  He shifted backward and before I could land my second punch, he had his giant hand over mine, twisting my wrist in a painful grip and turning me so my back was to his front. “You’re not the only one trained to fight, little dove.”

  His cock was hard, pressed to my ass. I gasped as a tingle went through my core and ignited anger at wanting him so much. It had always been like this. One touch from him and I was wet. If it wasn’t for his huge cock, I’d forgo foreplay just to have him push inside me in one hard swoop.

  God, what the hell am I thinking? I’ve lost my mind.

  “You’re sick to get off on manhandling me.”

  “I could say the same for you. I bet if I slid my fingers between your legs, they’d come out soaked with your need. As they were every time I fucked you last night.”

  I tried to steady my breath in hopes of getting my temper and hormones under control.

  “Cat got your tongue?”

  Before he could make another remark, I let my body go limp, almost slipping from his hold. But he was able to grab my hair a second before I hit the ground and could roll away.

  I screamed as the pain shot through my scalp, and clawed at his arm.

  “Dammit, Ana. I don’t want to hurt you,” Adrian muttered so only I could hear. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

  I tried to kick out, but he shifted so fast, I caught nothing but air.

  “Submit.”

  “No.” I threw out my leg again; this time I grazed his shin. But the bastard didn’t flinch or budge.

  His grip intensified, bringing tears to my eyes. “If you don’t yield, I will take you in front of anyone who passes by. I was patient with you last night, but that does not translate into today.”

  I heard his warning about the door and that he was Julian right now.

  That was the point. I needed him to be Julian. Yes, I was pissed about the women, and this was the best way to channel my temper.

  “Fuck you.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  Adrian shifted his grip to the back of my neck, unaffected by my nails scraping his skin. He forced me forward until I was bent over a large table overlooking the ocean and pushed my cheek against the cool, polished wood.

  “Now tell me what the fuck has gotten into you.”

  “I know about your harem.” My voice was angry, filled with rage.

  “Ahh, someone’s been talking to you. Jealous, my little dove?”

  “Of the fact you’re a man-whore? No,” I bit out. “I’m more worried about whether you’re clean or not.”

  Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. That was Anaya talking, not Anastasia.

  He leaned over me as he jerked my dress up, exposing my naked ass, and then kicked my legs apart. “I’ve already had your cunt clamped around my cock completely bare. Multiple times, in fact. You’ll just have to trust me.”

  The sound of a zipper lowering had my heart racing and my pussy quivering.

  Damn traitorous body.

  Adrian’s thick, blunt head slid between the lips of my pussy.

  Oh God, he was really going to fuck me here, in the library, where anyone could walk in?

  Wasn’t this the reason you punched him? To make it believable, to be the reluctant slave.

  He rimmed my sex and pulled out. “You misbehaved. That means you’ll be punished.”

  I closed my eyes, trying to resist the urge to push back and impale myself on his thick, hard length.

  “I can take anything you give me.”

  “Is that so?” Adrian slid his cock to my clit, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves. Round and round. “Grip the edge of the table.”

  Without thinking, I followed his directions.

  Smack.

  “Ow.” I whimpered, releasing my hold on the table. “That hurts.”

  I refused to focus on the spasms shooting through my core.

  “It was meant to hurt.”

  Smack. Smack. Smack.

  I jerked with each strike, clawing at the hand holding my neck against the table and resisting the need to moan as the sting on my ass grew to a heated ache.

  “I hate you.”

  “Hate me all you want. You will submit.”

  “No, I won’t,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.

  “Then you’ll suffer the consequences.”

  Smack, smack, smack.

  Fucking hell. That hurt. My bottom was on fire and my damn body was beyond aroused.

  You’re not supposed to show that you like this, Anaya.

  “Next time you even think to punch me, I’ll spank you, completely naked in front of everyone in the lounge, and then make you suck me off.”

  “No.”

  “You don’t get to tell me no. I own you, Ana. Your pleasure and your pain are mine. I will make it clear to you and everyone else that you belong only to me.”

  “I belong to no man.”

  I expected his palm to land again but instead he slammed into me. His giant, rigid cock pushed into my aching, swollen tissue and grazed my tender, bruised ass.

  �
��Oh God.” The feel of him mixed with the adrenaline from our battle was a heady mix of pleasure and pain.

  He pulled out and plunged back in while holding me in place on the table with my neck.

  He rode me hard, not relenting in his pace.

  My body responded to each slide of his cock. He rubbed purposefully against the charged bundle of nerves deep in my core. He knew exactly how to get me to come. He worked in and out of me, and just as I was about to go over, he stopped moving, coming in hard jerks inside me.

  “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck.” He worked out the last of his ejaculation and then dropped his weight against my sore ass.

  I gasped, ready to cry. My muscles continued to quiver around his softening cock desperate for an orgasm that wasn’t going to come.

  “You bastard.”

  “That may be, but you’re the one who won’t get to come again until you’ve earned it.”

  He released my neck, pulling free of my body and tugging my dress down.

  His cum dripped down my inner thighs, and I turned my head to glower at him, but stopped.

  In the doorway stood Trevolo and a few of the men who’d come into my cell. Lust glazed their eyes as my cheeks heated. They’d watched Adrian fuck me.

  I shifted my attention to Adrian.

  “Fix yourself. It’s time to start our day.”

  He tugged me up, positioning me behind him as he moved toward the door.

  “You’ve had your show. Now get lost. I need to have a word with my bride.”

  Trevolo smirked. “I see what you’re doing. You’re smart to break her in slowly. Only an idiot damages a twenty-million-dollar toy the first time he plays with it.”

  I clenched my jaw. I wanted to stalk toward that cocky asshole and kick his teeth in.

  “I look forward to seeing the lessons you will teach the little hellcat.”

  Trevolo and the rest of the men with him moved down the hall, leaving Adrian and me alone.

  Adrian closed the door, locking it. He dropped his forehead against the wood.

  He was quiet but I felt a volatile energy radiating from him.

  “Master?” I stayed in my spot by the table where he’d fucked me.

  “Quiet. Don’t say another word.”

  I wanted to argue but did as he said.

  After what felt like hours, he faced me. “I am going to do things to you that will make you hate me. What just happened is mild. You’re strong, Ana, but this isn’t anything you’ve ever encountered.”

  Why was he talking so freely? Wasn’t he worried about the cameras?

  He had to have seen my shock and said, “I rarely let anyone record anything about me. Everyone accepts it as part of my personality—well, Julian’s. Trevolo knows I have ways to hack his security and won’t think twice about doing it.”

  “But last night?”

  “I allowed it as a way of showing Trevolo respect for garnering me a bride. The last thing I want is for another man to see any part of you, to let anyone touch you. But we don’t have a choice if I’m going to get you out of here. I can’t lose you again.” Adrian frowned, shaking his head. “It nearly killed me to walk away five years ago and double when I found you missing in Italy. I will fucking burn this place down before I let anyone take you from me again.”

  His words hit me like a punch to the heart. He still loved me, or close to it. I wanted to demand why he’d ended things the way he had, but this wasn’t the time or place.

  He came in my direction and stopped a mere foot from me. I lifted my hand to touch the light bruise forming on his cheek from where I’d punched him.

  “I'm sorry.”

  He clasped my wrist, amusement hinting at his lips, softening the sternness that had been there only a few moments earlier.

  “No, you’re not. You would have clocked me a second time, if I wasn’t expecting it.”

  I shrugged. There was no point in denying it.

  “Do you really think I’m not clean?”

  There was hurt underlying his words that I couldn’t ignore.

  I wanted to say yes but that was the jealous part of me who hated every woman he’d been with since we’d broken up. He’d been religious about protection with me, even after our wedding. I highly doubted he’d ever change in that regard.

  “No. It was just hard to hear that you had a harem, because I knew you’d slept with the women here. So, I channeled that into something that would keep up our act.”

  “You definitely managed that.”

  “How many women have you bought?”

  “From Trevolo?” He paused, taking a breath. “Ten. From others, more.”

  I swallowed.

  “You sleep with all of them?”

  “It’s part of Julian Bonaparte’s life. He likes women.”

  I frowned.

  “I can’t change what I did. You know the job as well as I do.”

  He was right. Many an agent had to take on their cover to the point where their real-life persona no longer existed.

  Hell, I’d done such a good job at being Anastasia that Anaya hadn’t made an appearance in over six months.

  Adrian set my hand over his chest.

  “I would give anything for it to be Anaya and Adrian again, but we have to keep up the cover. I am going to be every bit the fucked-up bastard the people on this island believe me to be.

  “When I tell you to do something and you don’t move fast enough, I will punish you. When others want something from you, you will always defer to me. I am the law you’ll obey. You’re about to see a side of me that you’ve never known.”

  “I know the background of your cover,” I said.

  “Ana, those men out there are the worst of the worst, and I’m the boogeyman they fear. The illusion of power and ruthlessness is as effective as killing a man. There is a chance I will have to resort to the latter.”

  His words had a chill going down my spine.

  Instead of focusing on his last statement, I asked, “What are you going to make me do?”

  He kissed my forehead. “I’m about to show you what the life of a slave is. If I tell you too much, you won’t react the way I need you to. Just know, everything you see and experience for the next two weeks is to get us out of here. Trevolo cannot catch on to who we are. He’s the one we need to fear. He is dangerous, and his network is long and deep. This is the closest I’ve gotten to being on the inside.”

  I swallowed, blowing out a long breath. “As long as Ian is still there when this is over, I can handle it.”

  “I pray to God that you can.” He offered me his hand.

  I slid my palm over his and he immediately drew it to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

  Just as fast, he released my fingers and moved to the door. “Time to put on the performance of our lives.”

  Chapter Nine

  Anaya

  * * *

  Adrian and I entered a large outdoor living area where a group of men sat in lounge chairs with their women…slaves kneeling on the floor next to them. One of the girls looked so young, maybe fourteen at most. I felt my stomach roll, even though I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday.

  I knew this life was temporary—well, if I made it through the next couple of weeks, but for her, it was a life sentence.

  Adrian abruptly came to a stop, positioning his body so I was behind him.

  “Trevolo. A word.”

  Nodding, Trevolo approached. “What troubles you?”

  “Did I not make it clear, if I am present no one is to even think about bringing in a child who cannot give consent?”

  “I thought you’d make an exception for this one. She’s sixteen and a personal slave accompanying Mr. Cruise.”

  My foot, she was sixteen. I eyed the knife sitting on a nearby table where the men had recently had breakfast.

  “She is of age,” a portly old man said, caressing the girl’s hair. Her eyes were full of fear. As if contradicting her master would result in a severe
punishment.

  Something told me she was purchased at one of Trevolo’s past special auctions. I couldn’t believe Cruise, or whatever his name was, thought to pass off the child as consenting.

  Seeing her solidified my resolve to find the bastards involved in this ring of traffickers.

  “Stay here,” Adrian said to me as he stalked over to the fat man and punched him in the face. The little girl shrieked as blood hit her shoulder and hair.

  The man gurgled, clutching his nose. Adrian grabbed him by the throat, cutting off his air.

  “You will leave this island, and never come back. If you even think about it, I will hunt you down and exterminate you. As of this moment, you have no business with me, Trevolo, or any on this island.”

  Adrian stared down all the men watching the scene unfold.

  “If I learn any of you have any financial dealings with this scum, I will take personal interest in taking apart each and every one of your empires.” Adrian turned his attention back to the man. “You will leave this island in the next fifteen minutes. Come back, and I will finish what I started.”

  “She’s my slave,” the bleeding man wheezed out.

  Instead of responding, Adrian continued to squeeze until the man passed out and then threw him to the floor.

  It took me a second to register what had just happened. Adrian had just done the next thing to carrying out the execution I was envisioning.

  Holy fuck.

  “No exceptions, ever.” Adrian turned to Trevolo. “Is that clear? Or I will take my money and skills elsewhere.”

  Trevolo clenched his jaw, anger coloring his gaze.

  That was when I remembered Ele saying enemies worked together for mutually beneficial prospects. Trevolo truly hated Adrian…no, Julian Bonaparte, but needed him.

  I had no doubt Trevolo would get rid of Adrian immediately, given the opportunity.

  Walking back to me, Adrian reached behind me to the table, grabbed a napkin, and wiped his hands.

  “Follow me, Bride. Let’s have breakfast while this mess is cleaned up.”

  I glanced toward the girl, who was sobbing into her blood-covered hands.

  “She is now mine. Have her sent to my home in Cyprus. I’ll decide where she goes from there.”