Chapter 7: The Captor’s Temptation.
1932 Words
Xenia picks up a chair and moves in to get a closer look at his face.
She watches him breathe.
"Who are you?" She asks with such deep interest that his subconscious can answer. His hand moves.
His bushy eyebrows, set lips, hard jawline, and smooth caramel skin are ingrained in her mind. He looks familiar. Almost like she'd seen him before without noting that she had. But that was impossible. It was impossible to see this gorgeousness and not acknowledge it.
"Wake up supercop." she says.
She reaches out and taps his face.
"Come on," she mutters. "Open those eyes."
She looks at the door, then back at him. She didn't want to be seen spending so much time with this man.
She had sent the guards watching his door all night away.
"What if The Don asks?" The guard she sent away asked.
"Tell him I'm praying."
Alexandro coughs.
Xenia sits up. His shoulders shift against the cuffs.
Finally, the sedative was wearing off.
Xenia keeps her voice uninterested, almost bored.
"About time."
Alexandro opens his eyes slowly. The light from the window is bright; the only thing that shields him is a slender figure with bright red hair and full lips. He instantly recognizes her. Partly because he had wanted revenge against her all his life, and also because she totally enamored him. He wasn't the type of guy to feel this way.
He blinks twice.
"What is wrong with me?" He asks hazily.
Xenia's mouth twitches.
"Finally awake superhero?" Her voice. So smooth, like a drool that invited him in. He shakes his head.
"Why am I here?"
Xenia taps the chair arm with her fingernails.
"Because I'm not done with you."
"I have no business with you."
Xenia tilts her head.
"It actually seemed like you did."
"The only business I have with you is putting you behind bars."
"So you're into kinky shit." Xenia bites on her lip.
He jerks, offended.
"Not like that."
Xenia walks behind him, letting her fingers trail along the chain. He stiffens.
"Come on. Play along."
"I'm not interested in playing along with a killer like you."
Killer? No one ever called her that to her face. It felt sad, but it was the truth. She laughs out loud to ease her guilt.
"Killer," she repeats, tasting it. "What else do I expect from a self righteous cop like you?"
"You think you're some saint?" she asks. "Tell me. How may people have you killed?"
"You killed my partner," he says, voice tight.
Xenia's gaze doesn't move.
"She came at me," Xenia says. "She was brave, I will give her that, but just not smart."
His throat tightens.
"You don't get to call her anything."
"Okay, Angel. I'm going to ask you some questions and I expect you to answer me."
Alexandro says nothing.
Xenia waits.
"You always this quiet?" she asks. "Or is it just with women you can't resist?"
He looks away.
"Good. My first question. Why did you become a cop?"
Alexandro exhales hard.
"To catch murderers like you and keep you locked up."
"Yes daddy!" Xenia mocks his seriousness.
An image of her screaming in ecstasy flashes in Alexandro's mind.
Xenia catches it.
"Oh," she says softly. "So you do listen."
"Don't," he says.
"Don't what?"
"Don't talk to me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you can…" He swallows. "Like you can do whatever you want."
Xenia smiles wider, slowly.
"You feel it too, don't you? The connection between us."
"No."
Xenia steps closer.
"Liar."
She moves close to him. Her face just pausing a hair’s breadth from his. She looks him up and down.
"Know why I didn't apply any makeup today?"
Alexandro maintains eye contact. Drowning in her eyes and cursing her at the same time.
His voice comes out hoarse.
"Because you don't need it."
Xenia pauses.
"Careful," she murmurs. "Compliments make me curious."
Xenia's eyes move from his left eye to his right, to his lips, and back to his left eye. Alexandro's eyes flutter against his wish, his 'little man' becomes hard.
He looks down in shock.
Xenia follows his gaze.
"Still think you're here to arrest me?" she asks.
"I'm not afraid of you."
Xenia laughs under her breath.
"You should be."
He forces his eyes back up.
"You're not even human," he says. "You're a weapon."
Xenia's smile fades.
"A weapon doesn't sit and talk," she says. "A weapon has no desire but to kill."
"My point exactly. So why then are you talking?" he snaps.
Xenia leans closer.
"Because you're interesting."
Alexandro gives a bitter laugh.
Xenia lets her lips brush against his. Soft, sensational. The heat between them is undeniable.
Alexandro finds himself struggling between arresting her for the law and keeping her for himself. Lucy would be disappointed. He was a disciplined man. He can hold it in.
Xenia smiles in satisfaction.
She pulls back slowly.
"Say my name," she whispers.
He stares at her blankly
"I don't know your name," he says.
"You know what they call me."
He hesitates.
Xenia's voice drops.
"Say it."
His mouth tightens.
"The Slayer," he says.
Xenia hums, as if she likes the sound.
"And you're still hard," she says, amus d. "Interesting."
His face is filled with anger and shame.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because I can." Xenia bites her lips. Marcel bursts in.
"Slayer." He lets out a smirk. "The Don wants to see you. NOW."
"Oh what now?" Xenia rolls her eyes.
Marcel's eyes go to Alexandro, chained and breathless, then back to her.
"No questions asked."
Xenia's jaw tightens.
"Oh your big mouth." Xenia hisses
Marcel chuckles, low.
"You want to die today?" Xenia asks.
"You can try," he says. "But you won't. Not before you go see him."
Xenia's eyes turn colder.
"Get out," she says. "Or I'll send you to him in pieces."
"Fix your hair," he says. "You look like you've been having fun."
The door shuts.
"You heard him," she says to Alexandro. "The Don wants to see me."
Alexandro's eyes harden.
"Good," he says. "Now he will let me go."
Xenia smiles again, sharply.
"You really do say the cutest things."
"Let me go," he says. "If you're so powerful, let me go."
Xenia's gaze moves to his cuffs.
"And what?" she asks. "You run back to your friends and tell them you got turned on by the Slayer?"
"I would never," he says.
Xenia leans in again, voice a whisper.
"You already did," She says, looking down his pants.
"You're sick."
"You don't know sick," she says. "Not yet."
She straightens and walks toward the door, pausing with her hand on the knob.
"Your fate is about to be decided, my superhero," Xenia says, walking to the door. "If you have a god you believe in, now is the time to pray."
She looks back one last time, calm, controlled.
"And don't scream," she adds, softer. "You would be wasting your much-needed energy."
She leaves.
Alexandro struggles to get out. He strains and pulls, but to no avail. He looks up.
"Lucy, help me."
***
The Don sits across his desk. His eyes are on Xenia as she walks in. His Beretta 92FS gun is placed on his table close to him. Xenia stands still in front of him, waiting. Marcel stands behind The Don, his ears itching by all indications.
"Sit." He looks more serious than he ordinarily would. Xenia takes a seat directly opposite him.
"I heard you brought a pet back home from your mission yesterday. A law enforcement one at that." The Don searches her face.
Xenia clears her throat.
"Yes."
"Kill him and Marcel will help you dispose of his body."
Xenia looks up at him.
"He is my birthday present to myself."
The Don looks taken aback.
"Is he now?"
"Yes. I plan to have fun with him."
Marcel rolls his eyes.
The Don relaxes in his chair. He laughs.
"Did you hear that, Marcel? She plans to have fun. Our Xenia has finally grown," The Don turns serious immediately. "There are over 200 men of all ages and sizes in my casa, and you choose to play with a cop?"
Xenia maintains eye contact.
"Yes. It is more fun."
The Don places his hands on the gun.
"We don't have fun with cops here or keep them around. We use them, then kill them. I expected you to have learnt that by now."
"I know that fact. And I will kill him. After I have used him in my own way."
The Don studies her.
"He must be something huh? To have caught your eyes."
Xenia keeps her face still. She doesn't let the line of the cop's mouth or his deep blue eyes come back into her mind. Not in front of Dominic.
"There's nothing special," Xenia lies, "I just want something fun, dangerous, and non-committal. When I'm done with him, I'll throw his body in a ditch myself."
"Good. So what business was Marcel talking about this cop being a big threat to our operations?"
"I don't understand."
"Tell her Marcel."
Marcel steps forward, finally happy for a chance to speak.
"We did a background check on him. Called our contact at the police station."
"Get to the point, Marcelo." The Don says, as if irritated by Marcel's voice.
"Sorry bo s. He is the cop who has been sabotaging our supplies to our neighborhood clientele. He is a big bone in our throats, that one."
"Huh?" Xenia is in disbelief.
"You didn't know?" The Don's question is a bait. If she takes it, she might as well die with him tonight.
"Are you saying you took a cop hostage without checking his pedigree?" The Don continues.
"Of course I did. But I didn't think he would be any match for our men. Moreover, he is chained and locked up securely."
"Hmm."
"I kidn*pped him to teach him a lesson and let him go afterwards, but since you decide he has to be killed, there is not much I can do but to play along."
The Don brings out his cigarettes, lights them, and takes a puff. He watches the smoke curl.
"Have you interrogated him?"
"I was in the process before Marcel interrupted."
"Didn't look like you were interrogating him." Marcel retorts.
"Shut up, you jealous loser." Xenia turns back to The Don. "Like I said, fun."
“What did he say?”
“Not much,” she says. “He is trained so he holds back.”
“The next couple of days should be enough to round up your fun. Remember to call our doctor Ramirez to give you pregnancy pills. Wouldn’t want my favorite weapon birthing a handicap to my empire’s progress.”
Xenia was mortified. She stands up, about to leave.
“Sure thing.”
“And one more thing.”
Xenia turns.
The Don’s voice is calm again, which makes it worse.
“Don’t fall in love with him. That would be worse than betrayal.”
Xenia says nothing and turns away. Too late for that. The mysterious cop already enraptured her. Marcel's voice rises.
“You’re making a mistake,” Marcel says.
Xenia pauses with her hand on the knob. She doesn’t look back.
“Go,” The Don says. “Enjoy your gift. Then clean up after yourself.”
As she walks away, she hears Marcel behind her.
“This will be the end of you,” Marcel says.
Xenia keeps walking.
“We'll see,” she answers in a soft drawl.
- Writer
