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  She cried out in protest when he rose, but Vandal winked at her as he cast off his own jeans. Her eyes lit up at the sight of his shaft, thick and hard and ready for her, and she settled back down in the grass, licking her lips devilishly.

  He groaned. “You’re too fucking much, Tara.”

  “I’m exactly enough for you, Vandal.” She wriggled her hips invitingly.

  He slid home, driving himself deep inside her, and for a second they held stone still, her fingers grasping his shoulders, and Vandal stared hard at her, memorizing how she looked in that instant, in the instant he claimed her.

  “You are,” he said, voice husky as he began to move, loving the way her pussy cradled his cock, the way her eyes glazed over when he fucked her. “And I’m never letting you go, Tara. I hope you can handle that.”

  She knotted her hands in his hair, pulling him in for a hot, frantic kiss that answered all his questions. And after that there was no more need for words. The rest of the world could go to hell. The Black Dogs, the Maddens, even Psycho City. Right then, it was just him and Tara. silently saying I love you and Vandal thought that was pretty fucking perfect.

  The End

  www.evernightpublishing.com/amber-morgan

  GIVEN TO A KILLER

  Sam Crescent

  Copyright © 2017

  Chapter One

  “You’re way too fat to use the elevator. Take the stairs.”

  Even as every single bone in Patience Nickles ached, she took the stairs to the apartment she shared with her parents. She’d been working since four that morning, and now at seven in the evening her body protested.

  “I don’t want to take the stairs.” She felt a sob in her voice, but ignored it. The elevator didn’t work anyway. She worked for an independent cleaning company that sent her to many random jobs. The work was long and hard, but at least she had work. Her old job as a receptionist that paid more than the cleaning had gone when that company went bust.

  Work was hard to find, and Patience didn’t have the time or funds to be picky.

  The cleaning job appeared when she needed it most. At twenty-five years old, her idea of a good time was getting home before eight at night and eating grilled cheese sandwiches.

  Her parents didn’t help matters. They spent money, rarely did they earn it. She paid for everything, even the small apartment including the small comforts like hot water and electric. She didn’t even own a television. The few hours she had to herself were with books loaned from the library. Her parents had a way of making her feel like she owed them everything, or that she had to apologize for not being the perfect slender daughter they always wanted. They’d given birth to her, gone without the luxuries to raise her. The least she could do was help them out in their hour of need.

  “It’s okay, Patience. You should work for your parents. That’s all you should do. Work so they can pretend to be you having fun. Not that you know what fun is. You’re a virgin at twenty-five years old. You’ll never find a man. You’ll never have a life or sex. Just work. Great, now I’m talking to myself again. Not strange at all.”

  The entire thing was embarrassing.

  “Don’t cry, Patience. One day it will all be better.” She grabbed hold of the railing, and began to make her way up toward the apartment she shared with her parents.

  A sob escaped her, and she quickly sucked in her tears, hating the weakness.

  Everything will be fine.

  She couldn’t give in and cry. “It’s fine to not be able to feel your feet or your hands. Forcing your eyes open is good for the soul.”

  Making her way upstairs, the tears were no longer in her eyes, and she felt a little better.

  “See, another victory. Another trip upstairs, and another day completed. I’ll have a life soon. One I want.”

  Patience entered the prison—no, apartment—closing the door behind her. She didn’t bother to turn the light on as she made her way toward the kitchen. She’d paced the floor so often she didn’t need light to see her way around the small space.

  Entering the kitchen, she grabbed the kettle and began to fill it up.

  Suddenly the light turned on. Her parents were never home early. She looked behind her, to see several men stood in the sitting room. She would have screamed if it wasn’t for seeing her parents sat tied to two chairs with guns to their head.

  There’s something you don’t see every day.

  Part of her wanted her to shoot them just to be free of their control and the guilt they gave her. Instantly she felt bad for even feeling that way.

  I can’t think. Nothing is working right now.

  Her gaze went from the guns to her parents, then to the men.

  I don’t know what to do.

  Words failed her.

  Finally, a man in an expensive-looking suit stepped forward, and she just knew he was bad news. Alarms went off inside her head telling her to run. She held the kettle tightly to her stomach.

  “Hello, Patience, you don’t know me, but we know a lot about you. Your parents said you’d be home. We expected you home earlier though.”

  “I didn’t catch the bus on time,” she said. “I had to walk home.”

  Why am I explaining myself?

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the men, a tall scary looking guy, tense up.

  “Now, a lady like you shouldn’t be walking home at night.” He smiled at her.

  This man controlled the situation.

  I just want a cup of coffee to wake myself back up.

  “Why? Why are my parents like that?” she asked, feeling a little lightheaded.

  “I’m afraid, Patience, that they’ve been very greedy. They’ve been gambling at my tables, taking my money, and blowing it by losing at other tables. You see, between the two of them, they owe me over a million bucks.”

  She gasped, and held onto the kettle even tighter. “What? No, that’s not possible. You said you were looking for work. That no one would hire you because you’re overqualified!” Neither of them said a word but she didn’t think they would. With guns to their heads, no one would have the guts. Tears filled her eyes and this time she didn’t fight them. If her parents owed money, like always, the responsibility landed on her. “I don’t have any money. I’m just a cleaner. I can only just keep this apartment running.”

  The tears spilled down her cheeks, and she wiped them away.

  Tears were useless.

  Her happy talk she had with herself no longer helped.

  The man, she didn’t know what to call him, and he didn’t offer her his name. “Well, they owe me a debt, and they said I could come here. That you’d help.”

  “I’ve got nothing.”

  Her parents were going to die.

  “After seeing this place, and knowing that you were working most hours of the week, I figured there was something else you could do for me.”

  “What can I do?” she asked.

  “Simple. I can kill your parents right here, right now. Debt paid, or they can work off their debt, and we take you as a down payment. Actually, more than a down payment.”

  “What do you mean? Do you want me to clean for you?” she asked. Come on, Patience. Think!

  The men burst out laughing as did her parents. She gasped as someone hit her father over the head, and another pulled her mother’s hair back, making them both cry out. She didn’t like violence.

  Her parents never raised a hand to her. They just liked to guilt her into doing stuff they wanted.

  If they didn’t want her to clean, what did they want from her?

  ****

  Cade Garcia watched as his boss Reeves Alfero handled the situation. Alfero was not just his boss, but also his best friend. He was Alfero’s right hand man, his confidante, and his personal bodyguard.

  Glancing over at Patience, he saw her shaking, and all he wanted to do was take her in his arms, comfort her, love her. His feelings hadn’t changed from that first moment he caught sight of her i
n a grocery store.

  He’d been sitting outside, eating a store-bought pie while Alfero had been around the side of the building screwing one of the women he saw.

  Patience had walked out with one single bag of groceries. She’d not even gone to a car, she’d headed toward the bus stop, and he’d simply watched her.

  She sat with her groceries, staring out into space, looking so fucking miserable that all he wanted to do was to take her in his arms and kill whatever had hurt her. Alfero had finished his business, and saw him looking at her.

  There had been a lot of women over the years. None of them had meant anything to Cade. In fact, no woman had ever captured his attention and kept it.

  Alfero had seen his interest, and within twenty-four hours they had every single detail on Patience. All it had taken was a single photograph for them to run it through the cop that they kept on their payroll.

  The fact her parents had been working them for the past few months was just luck. Now, he was so close to having this woman he could taste it.

  Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. He didn’t imagine she’d submit to him within the first day.

  Cade didn’t actually mind. So long as she was part of his life, that was all he cared about.

  “You’re not going to clean for us. Do you want your parents to live?” Alfero asked.

  “Yes.”

  Cade knew she would. Even though they used her, and didn’t seem to give a shit about her, she worked her ass off to keep them.

  “Good. Then it’s simple. My friend here, Cade, is in need of a wife, and well, you see, not many women want his ugly ass.”

  She finally glanced over at him. He hated seeing the fear in her eyes. “You want me to look for a wife for him?”

  “No. You’re going to be his wife.”

  “I don’t know him,” she said.

  “It doesn’t matter. You don’t want to be his wife, that is fine, but your parents will not live to see another day. You agree, they will live to pay off that debt.”

  They would be forced under Alfero’s watchful eye. His friend and boss would make sure they didn’t get away free with everything they’d done to her. He wanted to fucking kill them himself for putting her at risk.

  The moment they had captured them this evening, the first thing they had said was that their daughter would handle everything.

  It pissed him off that they didn’t give a fuck that she couldn’t handle everything they were forcing her to do.

  “What’s it going to be, Patience?” Alfero asked.

  “I don’t get time to decide?”

  “Nope. Right now, they live or die and that is up to you.”

  Cade watched her. He wanted to tell Alfero to stop being a bastard, but his friend had told him to let him handle it. The last thing Cade wanted was for her to hate them even before they got started.

  “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ll marry him.”

  Alfero whooped, and smiled at him. “Excellent. I’ll take the scum out and give you and your future husband time to have a chat.”

  Within seconds her parents were gone, and she wouldn’t see them for a while. Alfero promised to wait in the car. He had no intention of leaving Patience here.

  The door closed and silence filled the space between them. Leaning against the well-worn sofa, he folded his arms and watched her.

  He considered her to be a very pretty woman.

  Some men might consider her to be rather plain, and not worth their time, but he saw so much in her eyes. The kindness in her eyes, and the softness in her touch, drew him in. He’d been watching her for the past six months. Ever since Alfero got him all the details of who she was, he couldn’t resist seeing her.

  He had to keep away from her though. The only way he could watch her was from several feet away.

  She rarely looked around herself, and he didn’t like that.

  Patience was completely oblivious to the possible dangers around her. He wouldn’t accept that.

  Cade intended to teach her how to protect herself.

  Not that she’d ever need it.

  He’d take care of her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, speaking first.

  “For what?”

  “For … for my parents putting you in this position. I didn’t for a second think they would be so stupid.”

  Wow. She thought her parents had forced this.

  They hadn’t. He’d told Alfero what he wanted, and his friend helped him to get what he wanted.

  “I want a wife,” he said. “You need a husband. Your parents won’t ever cause you any problems again. That I promise you. Why didn’t you just let them die? You’d be free, and wouldn’t have to marry me.”

  “Could you really have killed your parents?” she asked.

  “I did.”

  She gasped and stepped back.

  “Don’t for a second think you’re marrying a nice man. I’m not nice, Patience. I’ve done a lot of bad things.”

  “I have to marry you,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t kill my parents. I won’t.”

  And that was why he loved her. Even after her parents had put her in this position, she was still willing to marry a man for them. One day soon, he would have that same loyalty.

  Chapter Two

  She had married a killer.

  Patience stared down at her ring as she stood at his apartment window. It had been twenty-four hours since she had agreed to marry a man to save her parents. She rolled the ring around her finger, wishing for some way out of it. There wasn’t. She hadn’t been able to see her parents even though they had seen her get married, as well as the man who gave her the proposition.

  To marry or die.

  “I made pasta,” Cade said.

  She saw his reflection in the mirror.

  Part of her wished she could be rude, but that wasn’t going to happen. It wasn’t Cade’s fault that her parents had taken money, and it was up to her to get them out of the trouble they had found themselves in.

  Stepping toward the table, he placed the bowl near the head of the table and pulled out a chair.

  Sliding into the chair, he helped her slide beneath the table, and she found that one action really sweet.

  He’s a killer.

  He’s not killed me.

  Cade took a seat beside her, handing her a fork. She took it, and said thank you as she did.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

  “You told me you were a killer. What if one day you don’t like being married to me, and you get rid of me?” Suddenly, being married to Cade didn’t look all that great.

  How could she have sacrificed herself for her parents. Even as she thought it, she knew without a doubt that she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  She did love her parents. Even if at times she plotted their death.

  They were the only two people she had in this world.

  “That’s not going to happen,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to kill you, Patience. I’m not a monster, at least not to you.”

  If that was meant to soothe her, it didn’t work. Nibbling her lip, she pierced her fork into the pasta and twirled it around.

  She could do this. Get through dinner, lunch, and everything else. Patience didn’t know how long this marriage would last, or what he expected of her.

  “What’s your favorite color?” she asked, blurting out the question.

  “Yellow.” His answer surprised her.

  “Yellow?”

  “It’s the color of sunshine.” He began to chuckle. “You clearly weren’t expecting that for an answer.”

  “I don’t know what to think.”

  “I like summer. I love bright colors. My life is involved in the dark, and I don’t like that side of my soul. I never have.”

  His life.

  What life had she entered?

  “I can see that everything tha
t has happened is confusing, and so I’m going to clear some things up for you. First, you can’t go to the police. We have men on the force, and we’ll know if you go. If you decide to tell about what happened, I cannot protect you.”

  She hadn’t even thought about going to the police. “I don’t—”

  “The man you spoke to, he’s my boss, and if you go to the cops with a complaint your and your parents’ lives are as good as over.”

  “Oh.”

  “I work for the mafia, Patience. That means you cannot go anywhere, nor do anything without my say-so.”

  “I’ve got work.”

  “Work has finished for you. We’ll talk more, and I will try to help you acclimate to your new life. You cannot leave this apartment unless I have someone to take care of you.”

  “This is a cage,” she said. “You’re locking me up, and as good as throwing away the key.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic. You’ll find that you’ll get to do a lot more now than ever before.”

  She snorted. The sound was horrible, but she was too upset to even be embarrassed by it.

  The only life she’d ever known was gone, and now she lived in a luxury apartment, bigger than anything she’d ever lived in, only to be told she was now stuck here.

  “There will be a guard on your door, and he won’t let you leave. If you try, I’ll be notified of it as well.”

  “I guess now you want a pint of blood as well. I mean, you’ve had everything else.”

  “Not everything. I believe more blood is to be spilled.”

  His gaze traveled down her body, and she tensed up. She refused to believe that he knew her virgin status. Did he hear her muttering on the stairwell? Ignoring his intense gaze, she took a fork full of the pasta and tried to think of something else to say or complain about. Anything that didn’t remind her of her current state of affairs.

  “Will I ever be able to talk to my parents again?”

  “For your sake, you should hope not. They put your life at risk, and I don’t like that you were willing to give up your life for theirs.”