Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2)

BOOK: Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2)
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Magnate

Acquisition Series, Book 2

 

 

Celia Aaron

 

 

Magnate

Acquisition Series, Book 2

 

Celia Aaron

Copyright © 2015 Celia Aaron

All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book only. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Celia Aaron. Please do not participate in piracy of books or other creative works.

This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

WARNING: This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. Please store your files wisely, away from under-aged readers. This book is a dark romance. If dark romance bothers you, this book isn’t for you. If dark, twisty, suspenseful, and sexy—or any combination of those words—interest you, then enjoy.

 

 

Cover art by L.J. at mayhemcovercreations.com

Editing by J. Brooks

Sexy Shorts by Celia Aaron

A Stepbrother for Christmas

The Hard and Dirty Holidays

 

Bad Boy Valentine

The Hard and Dirty Holidays

 

***

 

Forced by the Kingpin

Forced Series, Book 1

 

Forced by the Professor

Forced Series, Book 2

 

Forced by the Hitmen

Forced Series, Book 3

 

Forced by the Stepbrother

Forced Series, Book 4

 

Forced by the Quarterback

Forced Series, Book 5

 

***

 

Zeus

Taken by Olympus, Book 1

 

 

AaronErotica.com

Twitter: @aaronerotica

Celia Aaron on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

Stella

 

 

 

The sun’s rays
floated through the clear water, shining on me in dappled waves. My lungs burned. They’d been burning for a while, ever since I’d dived down to the bottom and forced myself to stay. I could almost see the edge of oblivion hovering in the distance, the darkness submerged here with me. The tile beneath my feet was a pattern of tangled vines, all emanating from the dark green ‘V’ in the center. The same one that graced the back of my neck.

I winced when I remembered how I got the mark. Not because of the pain it took to get it, but because of the man who had given it to me. The man with a matching one over his heart. Sinclair Vinemont. Another bubble of air escaped. My last. It wobbled this way and that before it floated to freedom.

The burning grew until my vision blurred. I propelled myself upward and broke the surface in a burst of speed. I sputtered and took in huge gulps of life. Grasping the side of pool, I coughed until my breathing calmed, my heart settled, and the water quieted. It was only moments before the surface became a smooth mirror again, reflecting the blue sky above. Nothing had changed. Would anything have changed if I’d stayed beneath the water?

I shook the thought from my head and swam to the stairs. Once out of the pool, I dropped onto my chaise and lay back. The sun was high, beating down, yet somehow failing to dissolve the humidity that hung in the air. Winter in Cuba was a lot like Louisiana in summertime, hot and bright. But there were differences.

An acre or so of verdant grass surrounded the pool patio. Palm trees dotted the lawn here and there, offering a small bit of shade from the unforgiving sun. Beyond the grass was nothing but an impenetrable wall of green—sugar cane.

I scanned the horizon. The fields stretched out around the Vinemont plantation for as far as the eye could see, a wave of emerald disappearing into the horizon. The tall, slim leaves danced on the breeze. Whenever the wind hit just right, the smell from the nearby sugar plant would sweep over the estate, encompassing me with a lingering sweetness that I didn’t feel. Just like the sun bathed my skin, drenching it in warmth that never penetrated any deeper.

I turned my head to the side, away from the open sky and toward the classic Spanish style mansion. The stucco was a muted pink and the roof consisted of neat rows of brown clay shingles. It was three stories of rooms upon rooms that were a mix of modern and antique. I leaned back on the chaise, water sliding from my skin and dripping to the fabric. Even with my shades, the sun was unbearable. I closed my eyes and willed the warm light to infuse something into my heart—some flicker, some sign of life.

But when I closed my eyes, I glimpsed Vinemont’s blue ones. He was always there, hidden inside, waiting for me to close my eyes or fall asleep. In my dreams or waking, I saw him. I clamped my eyes shut tighter, trying to erase him. It never worked. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in the two weeks since I’d left Louisiana.

Lucius had followed me that night—the one when my world shattered and Vinemont was the cause—back to my room. He’d promised me escape, a chance to leave the world of Acquisitions and pain. But he didn’t promise me for how long. I sighed and shifted, the raised scars along my back sliding against the damp fabric.

I kept my eyes closed, even though Vinemont was there, his dark blue eyes always piercing through to my heart, the one he’d destroyed. The warm sun and light breeze lulled me to sleep under Vinemont’s watchful gaze. He followed me down into the abyss. A whip in his hand, but a loving touch along my cheek. His whispers were in my ear, promising me pain, pleasure, and so much more. He ran a hand down my back, his fingertips caressing the lines of suffering he’d embedded there. I let out a soft moan when he brushed his lips against my neck.

I wanted to put my palm to his face, to look into his eyes and feel that surge of heat, but my hands were bound. I struggled against the manacles. He smiled without warmth. Cruelty lived in his eyes, his mouth. I shivered. But not from pure fear. And that was the worst part—I always wanted him. Even when he visited me with a whip, with vicious words, with pain, I wanted it all. I wanted
him
.

Vinemont’s gaze darkened, what little light was in his eyes snuffed out.

“Stella?”

He reared back with the whip. My breath caught in my throat.

“Stella?”

I strained to free my wrists. It was no use. He started his swing, the whip lashing through the air. A strangled scream erupted from me.

“Stella!” Not Vinemont’s voice. Someone else.

I opened my eyes, my heart racing and the scream only then dying on my lips. Lucius leaned over me, kneeling at my side and blocking the sun. He brushed a hand across my cheek.

“Are you all right?” His other hand rested on my bare waist, above the line of my bathing suit bottoms. For a moment, I caught a flash of Vinemont, but it was replaced with his brother Lucius, his chocolate hair and lighter eyes. Handsome, made even more so by the concern written in his features. I wasn’t falling for it. He was just another viper.

“Fine. Just fell asleep.” I tried to shrink away from him, but his hand on my waist kept me where I was.

He leaned in closer, his clean, sandalwood scent filling my nose. “It doesn’t have to be like this. You don’t have to be afraid, not of me.”

He slid my sunglasses up my head and peered into my eyes before wiping a tear that had escaped during the dream.

“I’m not afraid of you, Lucius.” I returned his stare.

“Then why are you trembling?” His voice was silky, seductive as he leaned closer.

I had to escape his gaze, his touch. “Because you remind me of your brother.”

He shook his head slightly. “I’m not Sin, Stella. I thought you knew that when you chose me.”

My barb about his brother hadn’t worked. Lucius was still too close, his hands too warm, his words too easy. If anything, he was emboldened by my sharp tone, his gaze darting to my lips.

This is the closest he’d come since our flight to the island and subsequent Jeep ride to the estate. We had been in Cuba for two weeks. Most of the time I had remained in my room, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I couldn’t go back home. I didn’t have one. Not anymore. My father sold me like a piece of cattle. The memory of his signature beneath Vinemont’s elegant script made my stomach churn. Bought and paid for by one Vinemont, and now another was trying to take even more of me.

“No, Lucius.” The steel in my words strengthened my resolve. I gripped his wrist and pulled his hand away from my face. “I’ve been played enough. By my father. By Vinemont. Now you’re trying to play me. Not anymore. I’m not the same naive girl from two months ago.”

He allowed me to move away from his touch, but he gripped my hand. “Stella, I won’t deny I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.” He smirked. “It didn’t hurt that you were naked at the time.”

I sat up but he didn’t release me. Instead, his hold tightened. He was kneeling so it was as if we were sitting face to face. Too close.

“But you need to know you’re mine now. You chose me. You are my Acquisition and you’ll stay that way. Your contract is just as binding as it ever was. Your father? He still has the same sword over his head as he’s always had. I can have him in prison with a phone call.”

“You think I care what happens to him?” I tried to yank my wrist from his grip. It was like trying to pry it from steel.

“I know you do. I know deep down you don’t want him to suffer and die in prison. Even though he sold you like a worthless trinket. I know you, Stella. I could be your ally instead of your captor. If you’d only let me.” His gaze flicked to my lips again.

The worst part was that he was right. I still cared for my father. I hated myself for it, hated the stupid little girl who lived in my breast and held out hope that this was all a trick or a mistake. It wasn’t. Anger rose inside me like the waves of heat from the cobblestone patio around the pool. “You don’t know anything about me, Lucius. All you know is I’m an Acquisition, sold to your godforsaken family and enslaved first by your brother and now you. You own me for a year. I have nowhere to go. So stop with the mindfuck.”

“That’s not what this is Stella.”

“Then why don’t you just let me go?”

“I can’t do that.” His face hardened.

“Why not? If you don’t want to be my
captor
, then that’s the quickest way to alleviate your concern.”

“The Acquisition. It’s too late for that now, Stella. You’re mine.” The velvet faded. He was made of stone.

“Am I? I remember Vinemont telling me the same thing. Wasn’t true then, either.”

His eyes bored into me. “I would never let you go, not like that. Sin didn’t know what he had. I do. I’m good at three things, Stella. Three. One is running the family business. The second is valuing assets. Whereas Sin undervalued you, I see your true worth.”

Lucius let the words hang in the humid air. The ghost of the man who’d taken my heart and left a black, twisted hulk in its place haunted us even in the bright daylight.

Don’t fall for it.
Lucius was just manipulating me, the same as his brother. I let out a hitched breath as he drew even closer, his minty breath mingling with mine.

Three things?
“What’s the third thing?”

He smiled, wickedness in every crease. “You’ll find out about that one soon enough.”

A shiver shot through me at his words.

He released my hand and I got to my feet, feeling exposed in my bathing suit while he was fully clothed in jeans and a white button down. Even so, he held my gaze, never darting his eyes down my body like I would have expected from him.


Jefe
?” A voice carried down to us from the upper terrace.

Javier, the man who’d driven us from the airfield, and who I’d learned was the head of the operation in Cuba when Lucius was gone, appeared over the railing. I suspected he had connections with the dictator, the only explanation for how the Vinemonts maintained their foothold in Cuba. He and Lucius spent most of their days away from the plantation, leaving early and coming back well after sundown. I was glad Lucius was preoccupied with the sugar business. I didn’t want to deal with anything—not the Acquisition, not Lucius, not Vinemont, not my father. For the first time in my life, I was steeped in uncertainty, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be left alone.

“I’m coming.” Lucius ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it in the same way his brother did when he was frustrated.

My stomach fluttered at the familiar movement. I clamped my shades down over my eyes like some sort of shield from the onslaught of memories. I didn’t want to feel anything.

“Look, Stella, just give me a chance here, okay? I’m trying to get you through this, all of it. I don’t want to have to threaten you or keep you under lock and key. I will.” He smirked. “Don’t doubt that for a second. But it doesn’t have to be so black and white. I just want…”

“What?” I flicked my damp hair over one shoulder and put my hands on my hips. My heart was hammering, a mix of anger and indignation pumping through my veins. “What do you want from me?”

“Jefe!” Javier called again.

Lucius let out a string of invective in Spanish at the foreman before turning back to me and lowering his voice. “Everything.” His familiar, wolfish grin surfaced, eating me up bit by bit.

I knew it
. “You’ll get nothing.”

“We’ll see, Stella.” He turned on his heel and ascended the curving staircase to the terrace, his broad back straining against his shirt. With one final look at me, he disappeared into the house with Javier.

I sank back down onto the chaise, my heart thundering in my chest, the beat in my ears, my temples. The first Acquisition trial was over, but we were still playing the game. I was still a pawn, a piece to be sacrificed so a Vinemont could rule the depraved cabal of moneyed southern families.

I eyed the pool again, the water still reflecting the perfect blue sky. Playing the fingertips of my left hand along the scar at my right wrist, the ridges reminded me of why I could never sink to the bottom of the water and stay there. I would survive. I would make it out of this nightmare, and I would never be the same weak fool again.

Gathering up my towel, I wrapped it around my body and climbed the stairs to the upper terrace. I peered in the back windows and, once assured Lucius was out of sight, I hurried across the palazzo floor and to the right.

My room was at the end of the hall. With its own private balcony and massive en suite, the luxury it entailed was far beyond the wildest dreams of the people who lived in the surrounding countryside. The Vinemonts turned the sugar cane into gold and kept the resulting wealth to themselves. It was as if they had a particular talent for injustice, no matter where they went or what they did.

I trudged to my bathroom, turned on the shower, and took off my top before shimmying my bottoms off.

A calloused hand clapped hard over my mouth and a wide, rusty blade grazed my neck. I was yanked back and an arm wrapped around my ribs, crushing the air out of me. My scream made it no further than the palm against my lips.

BOOK: Magnate (Acquisition Series Book 2)
6.35Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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