To be honest, Rafe had said he always played to win. He’d let her know in no uncertain terms that she was nothing more than a plaything, another trophy for his shelf to be acquired. She thought the two of them had played every game, her always losing the battles, but apparently there was still one game left to play.
It looked like she was losing her job.
His last hand was being dealt and her only question right then was to know how bad the damages would be to her. If he felt confident enough in revealing himself as her true boss, then one of two things had happened.
He was either bored with her and ready to purge her from his life, or he had an offer he felt was too good for her to refuse – he underestimated her, though. One thing she’d learned in the last few months was that she could survive on her own.
It wasn’t always easy, and she knew there were plenty of speed bumps ahead in her long journey, but her confidence had grown. She was managing to take care of herself and her mother. She may have been working for Rafe all along, but she took a huge victory in the fact that it hadn’t been as his personal call girl.
With a surge of confidence, she threw her shoulders back and stepped further into the jet, walking up to him and looking impassively down into his fiery eyes.
“Mr. Palazzo, we’ve been cleared for departure. Would you like for us to shut the doors now?” Before Rafe could respond to his pilot, Ari spoke, looking right into Rafe’s eyes the entire time, making sure he knew she wasn’t afraid of him.
“No. I’ll be getting off the aircraft in just a moment.”
She nearly stumbled back a step at the flames leaping in Rafe’s dark depths. If looks could kill, she’d be nothing but ashes. Instead of revealing her slight moment of weakness, she pushed his buttons a bit harder and smirked.
“Hold the doors for a moment and leave us,” Rafe commanded. The man pretty much scampered away like a scolded puppy.
“It seems we’ve finally arrived where I knew we’d end up all along. You’ve just made an increasingly long journey out of something that should’ve been taken care of that day in the restaurant.”
“I told you then that I wouldn’t be your whore, Mr. Palazzo. That decision still stands. Just because you were able to trick me into your employment anyway doesn’t mean that you own me. I will find other employment.”
He paused with a knowing look on his face. Her stomach fluttered as she waited for him to drop down whatever it was he had to say. Nothing could make her change her mind… The longer he waited, the more her agitation grew, which he could obviously read in her eyes as his own face reflected his confidence in victory.
“Your mother gets released from the hospital on Wednesday, Ari. I happen to now own your childhood home. It’s your decision whether your mother discovers you sold off everything and she has no place to go, or whether she can heal in the comfort of her home. I also happen to now own her floral shop. Do you give her back her life, or do remain self-serving as you always have and take all you can at the expense of the woman who raised you?”
Ari stood frozen. The one thing that had been eating her alive as her mom talked about returning home and getting back to work, was what he held against her. She’d underestimated his desire to win.
Rage filled her as she looked into Rafe’s burning eyes. He wasn’t even human. How dare he put her in this position! How could he live with himself? Would it kill her mother to find out that she had nothing left after surviving a car crash that should’ve taken her life, and then beating all odds and surviving the cancer that had tried to finish her off?
“It looks like you have a choice to make, Ari? Do you choose love or pity?”
“You’re a bastard, Rafe. Do you care of nothing other than yourself?”
“Ah, I hope you choose love, because it will be a great pleasure for me to break your spirit – and leave no doubt about it, Ari – I will break you.”
Her stomach heaved as she looked into the eyes of a stranger. This wasn’t the same man who’d rescued her, laughed with her, and adored his family. This was a monster – one who wanted nothing less than everything.
“If you choose pity, you’re free to go with no one to worry about but yourself. You can feel sorry for yourself about the situation you’re in and try to put back the pieces of your shattered life, or you can choose love – love for the mother who raised you. I don’t want nor need your love, so don’t ever get the idea that this will lead to more than what it is. You will be my mistress and nothing more. I tried love once, and got nothing but a hell of a lot of damage for my efforts. Make your decision quickly because I have a long flight ahead of me and work to do.”
“I need time…”
“Your time is up. You can either exit the way you came in. Or you can take yourself back to my bedroom and strip. Your training will begin immediately.”
Ari held back the tears of anger as she turned away from him. She was faced with an impossible choice. She couldn’t sign her life over to him – but she couldn’t leave her mother to die.
Maybe he was bluffing. She could walk out the door and find out. She retreated a step while still looking into his eyes. He showed zero emotion as she made the hardest decision she’d ever had to make. He really didn’t seem to care one way or the other of her decision.
With a firm resolve, Ari turned from him and took a step toward the aircraft’s open door...
THE END