Chapter 0006
Kent sees the de just in time, whipping up his hand to intercept it.
The de slips between his fingers and then drags down his palm, cutting his skin, but just the surface.
Growling, Kent grabs Fay’s fist and twists, trapping the knife between their palms, wrenching her wrist
back so that she feels the bones grind together.
Fay cries out, her body bending to follow her wrist, desperate to keep it from snapping. Kay holds her
at his mercy as she gasps for pain and looks up at him with wide eyes. His anger turns to mercy in that
moment and he huffs augh at the girl.
She’s just a frightened little thing.
“Clever girl, carrying a knife” Kent says. “To bad you don’t know how to use it. But we’re not going to do
that again, are we, Fay?”
Fay nods, desperate, and Kent lets her go. Fay falls back against the table, gripping her wrist with her
other hand, hissing with relief. She looks around on the floor for her knife, but it’s still in Kent’s hand.
Quietly, he slips it into his pocket.
Kent takes a moment to study this delicate, beautiful girl. His second inmand had wanted toe
to this club tonight to check on some business, but Kent’s eyes had gone immediately to Fay as Dean
dragged her across the floor to the ck door of the Champagne Room.
Kent had known, instantly, that this meant trouble. He had moved on instinct, following her into this
room, saving her from that low life.
But now he was in a bind. Dean was a punk, but he wasn’t unconnected. He ran the best strip club in
the city and he used his gang connections to exploit his dancers and take their cash. Kent couldn’t take
one of his girls away without making waves with Dean’s boss.
If the other bosses knew how quickly Kent had acted to save her, they would see Fay as a weakness,
something they could threaten to get what they wanted.
Kent ground his teeth, knowing that there was only one option now. If he didn’t protect her now, she’d
be dragged right to the bottom of the underworld, fast.
Kent snaps his head to his second and nods to the girl in front of him. Then, he turns on his heel and
walks out of the room.
Behind him, Kent can hear Fay’s protest as his second heaves her over his shoulder in a fireman carry
and then quickly follows Kent.
“What? Hey!” she exims, and then “Please!”
Kent turns to re at his second, who gives Fay a rough shake. She shuts her mouth, then, though
Kent hears a whimper escape her lips. He steels himself against the sound.
It’s a work of minutes to get out of the club. Nobody says a word to stop the Mafia King from carrying a
girl out the front door.
Kent’s ck Escde is waiting out front, his second’s behind it. For safety, Kent never has less than
two cars in his entourage.
Fay’s little cry of fear is cut off as the second ces her, not very gently, on in the front seat of the first
car and then ms the door. Kent goes around to the driver’s side of the Escde as the second
moves to the other car.
Kent’s mind is whirring as he opens the driver’s door and climbs in, making ns for what to do with
this unexpected new burden. He peels out onto the road, not looking at her.
A few streetster, he’s surprised by the sound of her voice.
“Where…” she says, her voice breathy.
N?velDrama.Org holds ? this.
Kent’s gaze snaps to her, taking in her wide, beautiful eyes, the movement of her throat as she gulps in
fear. He sees her jump, almost, at the force of his re. But then she steels herself.
“Where are you taking me?” she demands.
Kent returns his eyes to the road.
“Please let me go,” she says. “They’ve got my sister back there – I don’t know what they’ll do to her!”
Kent makes a note of it in his mind.
She tries again. “Please let me go,” she whispers, “I didn’t mean any harm at the prison – or here – I
don’t know what I did –“
“You didn’t do anything,” he says, turning onto a side street.
Her voice is frantic when she tries again. “Are you…are you taking me to a brothel?”
Kent turns to stare at her, his brow furrowed with disgust and confusion. She’s shaking like a leaf in his
front seat. “Why would I take you to a brothel, Fay?”
“To make me…work there. Pay off my debt. My sister’s debt.”
Kent shakes his head again,ughing a dark littleugh. He just saved this girl from Dean, and here
she is using him of doing precisely what Dean was going to do. Shaking his head, Kent
concentrates on the traffic.
Truly, this girl was too delicate for his world.
Kent sees Fay moving in the seat next to him, dipping to the floor to grab something, but assumes she
dropped a piece of her jewelry.
It’s quiet for a moment until – click click – he hears the whirring of a mechanism next to him. What was
that – a lighter?
Frowning, he turns and is shocked to see Fay with a lit lighter, bringing it so close to her perfect face
that he can smell the delicate peach fuzz of her cheek burning –
“Stop the car,” she demands, her voice shaking, flinching at the pain of the lighter against her skin -
“Fay!” He roars.
“Stop the car!” she yells. “Or I swear to god, I’ll burn myself!”
“Fay, you idiot” Kent barks, mming on the breaks. The car skids to a violent stop and Fay flies
forward, mming her ribs into the dashboard, slipping down to the floor.
Kent works to control the car’s skid, ensuring they don’t hit any other cars, that they’re not rammed
from behind, and then throws the car in park, spinning towards the girl.
She’s moaning in pain, her eyes shut, pressing one hand to her ribs. Kent grinds his teeth, frustrated,
ncing over her to determine if anything is truly damaged –
No, she’s okay, any injuries superficial -
“Fay, what the hell was that,” he grinds out as he reaches into the back of the car for a metal box he
keeps there for moments like this, with uncooperative captives.
She speaks with her eyes closed, still pressing her hand to her ribs. “If you’re going to make me a
prostitute,” she whimpers, “then I don’t want to have this face – maybe you’ll let me work off my debt
some other way if I’m disfigured –“
Rolling his eyes, Kent works quickly, pulling a rag out of the box and soaking it in the clear liquid. Then
he reaches a hand behind Fay’s neck to hold her head steady.
Her eyes fly open as he presses the rag firmly against her nose and mouth. She struggles away from it,
but he holds her steady with a practiced hand.
When she goes limp, Kent gently lets her body settle against the seat. Kent turns back to the road and
puts the car back in drive, his cut palm smarting at his angry grip on the wheel.
God damnit, this girl was already more trouble than she was worth.
As he drives, Kent feels something in his pocket. Remembering the tiny switchde, he pulls it out,
studying it between nces at the road. So tiny, delicate – so very much like Fay.
She’s got an edge to her, too, he thinks, even if she doesn’t know it herself. He never would have
thought that a girl like Fay would have a switchde hidden in her bra. A mistake that almost cost him
a scar on his face, he thinks, a smirk pulling at his lips.
He nces at Fay, again, resting on the floor of his car. What a strange little woman – full of
contradictions, full of life.
Despite himself, he is drawn to her.
Frowning at the thought, Kent flicks open the switchde, studying it.
At a red light, he looks closer, noticing writing along the razor’s edge. He brings it close to his eye.
To my sharp-tongued Victoria, whose words cut as deep as this razor. Love always, Lorenzo.
Shocked, Kent stares at the de in his hand, and then deftly returns it to his pocket. He drags a hand
down his face.
Victoria. Lorenzo. Fay.
Suddenly, he knows exactly who this girl is.