Authors: Suzanne Steele
Roxanne
“Roxanne, Roxanne,” Alexis calls out as she wiggles her way into my room. “What happened? Did you get in trouble last night?”
I roll my eyes, “According to Antonio Wayne, I stay in trouble.”
“You can’t be in that much trouble. You got a new laptop and phone. She points to the items sitting on the bed with two huge bows wrapped around them. “You better be careful though, because he will check it. At least you can use it to read and write. You like that, don’t you?” Alexis asks.
Alexis is my shadow and, unbeknownst to me, it works for Antonio Wayne because he can find out what I’m up to just by asking Alexis. Alexis is scared of Antonio. All he has to do is threaten her with
the belt
and she will immediately tell him everything she knows.
“Help me get ready, Alexis,” I say, trying to change the subject to anything else but my self-proclaimed Master and owner.
Agent Turner
I’m not beyond using my innocent boyish charm to get people to lower their defenses. Though others may underestimate me, there is one who doesn’t and that person is the woman who is my partner and my Mistress, Rene.
The FBI has spent a lot of time, energy, and money on me as an agent. It has paid off for them too. I’m a black belt in various forms of the martial arts and I’m one of the top profilers in the country. I have great gut instincts and I’ve also been trained in how to read body language. I’m very calculating if need be, I’m a sharpshooter, I know my way around a knife, and can fight or spar with the best of them. Yes, my boyish charm has caused many to underestimate me and I always use it to my advantage.
I’m convinced that the rumors about Roxanne being forced to marry Antonio Wayne are true. Much like a dog with a bone, I just can’t let it go and on this night, when I visit the bar to check on her, I resolve to ask her. I walk a fine line with not making Mistress jealous but I have to know. The last thing I want is another woman but Mistress doesn’t see things that way. She’s very territorial and very jealous of anyone touching her possession… and I fucking love it.
Roxanne
I’m well aware that Antonio Wayne is watching me with amusement as I light into this fucking FBI agent who, much like a bad rash, just won’t go away.
“Look, you little weasel, I don’t know what your game is but I’m not amused one bit! That innocent boyish charm of yours is a bunch of crap as far as I’m concerned!”
“Gosh Roxanne,” he innocently answers, “You seem upset.”
“Fuck you!” I get up from the table, seething.
I make my way to the dressing room.
Fuck! Is this guy trying to get me killed?
I am scared of my husband and there is no way that I’m telling the FBI anything about him. Antonio Wayne is somehow on their radar for an abduction case that has nothing to do with my own kidnapping. I have no plans on telling anyone anything about these crazy Ramirez brothers. I watch my husband as he makes his way over to the agent. Shit! This is not good, not good at all.
I stand in the doorway, watching and doing the best I can to read their lips. After Antonio Wayne makes his way over, he casually sits down and unbuttons his jacket, purposely showing the gun and holster that he always wears. My husband is a master at fucking with people’s heads. Everything he does has purpose—everything.
“What can I help you with, Antonio Wayne?” the agent asks?
“Well, first of all, you can quit coming to visit my wife. Are you falling for her or something, dude? You sure seem to be hanging around a lot.”
“I’m working on an abduction case. It seems someone is abducting women and bringing them stateside. I’m sure you and your brother, Ricardo, don’t know anything about that. It seems to me that if you’ll abduct a woman to marry her, then it’s not a huge leap to think you’ll abduct one to work in your club.”
“I don’t believe that it would be a smart idea for you to fixate on my wife. I would hate to see someone get hurt,” Antonio Wayne says, ignoring the agent’s comment about the abduction case.
The guy has got balls; that’s for sure. He just blankly eyes Antonio and states, “Antonio Wayne, I’m one of the few who doesn’t fear you.”
“Well, then be a man and quit asking my wife questions!”
“You don’t own her.”
Antonio leans over and growls, “Whether you fear me or not, you had damn well better respect me!”
I turn to make my way back into the dressing room, moving quickly so that I don’t get caught eavesdropping. I also need to find Alexis so that she can help me get ready. As usual, she is in the back of the closet so I sit down to play with my new phone while I wait.
Of course, Sabrina makes her way over and starts in on me. She begins by placing her hand on her hip as she sneers at me, “That phone and laptop he got you are bugged, you idiot.”
That gets my attention, “I ought to kick your ass, Sabrina!”
From out of nowhere, Antonio makes his way through the dressing room and calmly escorts Sabrina to the closet.
As soon as they enter, Alexis moves out of the way and we both watch in horror from the doorway. Sabrina backs up against the wall, clearly terrified of the man. It is evident that Antonio Wayne isn’t happy with her. He must have heard what she said to me.
I watch as he slowly and deliberately takes a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “Sabrina, Sabrina,” he calmly says. I jump, startled when, out of nowhere, he backhands her. She immediately begins to apologize. This is getting crazy. This obsession he has with me is getting too fucking intense for all of us.
“Shut up, bitch!”
“I will be good,” she screams out.
“You’ll do anything to get my attention, won’t you?” He jerks her hair and pulls it roughly as he cocks his head and coldly eyes her. “Look at you, making a fool out of yourself! I should string your ass up and make you suffer for what you just said to my wife. Every chance you get, you go out of your way to torment her. Are you trying to make her leave? Do you know what I will do to you if she leaves because of you?!?”
He calmly removes a handkerchief from his pocket and purposely smears her lipstick all over her face, messing up her pristine make-up job. He continues roughly rubbing her face with his handkerchief as he cruelly states, “I’m going to sell you to the lowest of low down pimps if you ever bother my wife again.”
I know that under normal circumstances I should feel flattered that he is sticking up for me but all I feel is compassion for her. Everything in me wants to scream at him to stop but it will only make things worse for her. He is calculating, cruel, and obsessed with keeping me and I have no understanding why.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” she whispers as she hangs her head in defeat.
He laughs at her, “I already know you are sorry.” I’m shocked by the look on her face. Why is she looking at him like she could never live without him? Like she would do anything to please him? What is it with this guy and these women? The only woman in here who isn’t in love with him in one way or another, is me. Maybe that is why he is so obsessed with me. I just hope he doesn’t have all the girls hating me by the time he is finished terrorizing everyone here. I highly doubt Sabrina—or anyone else for that matter—will be bothering me anymore. I can fight my own battles though, and I am damn sure going to let my husband know that.
Roxanne
I eye Alexis as she does my hair and make-up. “Stop with the lectures. I’m not scared of my husband,” I lie.
I have every intention of convincing all those around me that I have accepted my life in captivity. I will need their trust to make my break.
At this point, I am tired of Alexis telling me all of the things I need to avoid in order to not piss off Antonio Wayne.
I mean, seriously, what is this joint? Antonio Wayne’s world?
My phone rings and I’m grateful my overly obsessive husband made sure that my number stayed the same when he gifted me with the new phone, “Hush, Alexis, this is international.” Alexis eavesdrops as usual.
“Hey Juanita, how are you?” I listen as my best friend, who has been abducted and forced to marry Antonio’s brother, starts rapidly talking.
“We need to talk and it’s serious, Rocky, so listen because I’m going behind Ricardo’s back to make this call. We screwed up when we hustled these guys. My maid told me that my husband is very dangerous and that yours is crazy. Antonio is the one that they use to torture people.”
“What do you mean that Antonio tortures people, Juanita?” Even though I already know he is sadistic and that Ricardo uses him to get information from their competition, I want details. After seeing the way he treated Sabrina, I have started to question just how twisted my husband really is. I mean, seriously, if he can be that cold to someone he cares about, how brutal could he be to an enemy?
“They use him to torture prisoners when they are interrogating them. The maid said that he is sadistic and that he gets off on torturing people.”
“How? Do you know what he does?” I ask.
“She said that he likes to inflict pain and that he uses electricity. He pulls teeth and she said that he has instruments of all kinds, specifically used to torture prisoners. Apparently Ricardo is the interrogator but she said that they are both trained profilers and they are adept at reading people’s body language. They can tell when people are lying, Rocky. Ricardo put Antonio through some sort of boot camp—a fucking military boot camp for Colombian cartel.
“Rocky, on top of all of that, we have a fight in El Salvador and the guy who arranged it is threatening me.”
“Juanita, if we miss that fight, the boss who set it up will come and get us. He is going to want his money.”
Juanita answers, “I have already made plans to fly out on Friday. We have to make this fight. We will decide where we are going after that. I’ll meet you in the airport, Rocky, same itinerary. I’ve still got the tickets but I am going to have to steal my passport back from Ricardo.”
“Alright, I’ll see you Saturday,” I groan. Getting away from Antonio Wayne is not going to be an easy feat.
This is not turning out to be a good day…
Unknown to me, Alexis wastes no time and as soon as she is out of my company, she makes her way to Antonio Wayne and tells him about the phone call from Juanita. If I knew her reasoning, I would know it’s because she likes me. I have become her close companion, someone she can to talk to, and a friend she doesn’t want to lose.