Page 97 of Angel

“He has something on you.”

I state the fucking obvious and he nods, half turning away from the man of the hour.

“He has a lot on me, Jason, and I’m guessing by the end of the weekend he will also have a lot on you.”

“You think?”

“Look around you, Jason. This place is set up for us to fail. Drugs, prostitutes, extortion. Every sordid minute will be captured on photographs and video. You may not agree to take part but you will to save your life. To save Sophie’s life because if you don’t play by their rules, they will use others to intimidate you. Take that girl you were chatting with.”

He jerks his thumb in Gosia’s direction.

“Disposable.”

He sighs. “All the women here are disposable. If you put up a fight, one of them takes a swim to Davey Jone’s locker. You will have no choice because if you make a scene, Sophie will pay the price.”

“Which is why you were annoyed when she invited me.”

“I had to get her here. That was my job. My boat, my invitation, his party.”

Sam groans. “I will never be free of that man, and neither will you, because you have become part of this by default. My advice would be, go screw the whore, do some drugs, give up on Sophie and then wait for the phone to ring because it will. He will own you. He owns me and we are merely allowed to be successful all the time he says so.”

“I pity you, Sam.”

My glare is sharp enough to cut his throat.

He shrugs. “Don’t blame the player. Blame the game.”

He points to Gosia. “Go and play it. Sophie is not our concern. She will figure it out for herself.”

He heads off and approaches a table set with lines of white powder. He dips his head and inhales one entire line before turning and taking the hand of one of the women nearby. As they disappear below deck, I want to vomit. Fuck Sam Goodman, he can go down with his ship. I play nobody else’s game but my own.

CHAPTER 39

SOPHIE

I’m in hell. Emilio is seriously deranged. He is not even pretending to fool me and is openly admitting he had this planned. To take me home with him.

He slides a box out of his pocket and opens it. I notice the biggest diamond sparkling inside and he hisses, “This is your engagement ring. Put it on now. We marry in Miami in three day’s time.”

“I’m not wearing that.” I glare at him.

“Who the hell do you think you are? I am no longer part of that world. I’m nobody’s property and certainly not a jumped up two bit criminal like you.”

He strikes hard, gripping my face, leaning in, his eyes dancing with madness.

“You will wear the ring, and you will never talk to me that way again. You just earned yourself a punishment.”

He releases my face and grips my wrist tightly, pulling me up to my feet and toward the rear set of steps.

I make to scream but he silences me with a gun in my back and hisses, “Come quietly, because if anyone attempts to stop us, I will kill them.”

Tears blind my vision as he pushes me down the stairs. I stumble, only catching the rail in time to prevent myself from falling down them. He presses the gun in my back, and we reach the locked room, and I swear I have never been so frightened in my entire life.

He takes the key out of his pocket and, as he unlocks it, the door opens and he pushes me inside, causing me to fall to my knees.

The door slams behind me and the sound of the key turning brings me staggering to my feet. He holds the gun to my head and hisses, “You are mine, Sophie. I told you that several times and yet you still brought another man to fuck at my party.”

He slaps me hard around the face and I cry out as the pain almost blinds me.