Till Death Do Us Trope Read online

  My stomach grumbles at his words.

  “How did you know that’s my favorite?” I tease, thinking he just made a lucky guess. Who doesn’t love French toast and bacon? He just shrugs once again, not answering me.

  “You’re not leaving,” he tells me. I smile at how much he wants me to stay. Maybe this isn’t some one-night stand after all. I reach up and trace his lips with my finger, remembering all the wonderful things he did to me with those lips.

  “I don’t want to leave either,” I admit. “I’m just going to run home and change and I’ll come right back. I promise.”

  He bites my finger, then sucks on it before letting it go. My whole body heats.

  “You’re not leaving, period.” His voice grows deeper, and there’s an edge to it now. The hairs on my arms stand up. “If I let you walk out of here, it will be trouble to get you back here. Trouble, and time I’m not willing to waste. I’ve already had to wait to get you here. I’m not waiting anymore.”

  His face hardens.

  “I said I’d come back.” I whisper the words, unsure of what’s happening.

  “He won’t let you,” he rumbles.

  “Who?” I ask, even more confused now.

  “Your father.”

  “I-I…” I trail off, at a loss for words. I’m eighteen. I’m sure my dad doesn’t want to find out I’m dating and even having sex, but it’s not like he can stop it. I’m supposed to be going off to college soon. I’m sure he knows it’s going to happen. Maybe not with someone so much older than me, but still.

  “How do you know? You don’t even know my father,” I throw back at him. He raises his eyebrows like I’m wrong. “You know him?”

  “I’m Romeo Trope,” he says smoothly, and everything inside me freezes. I know that name. It’s a name I’ve heard my dad mention before. I don’t know much about my dad’s business acquaintances, but I know this is a man he hates more than anything.

  “Don’t look at me like that, little love.” He smiles, “I’ll take very good care of you, but know this, you will never leave me.”

  Chapter Three

  Romeo

  I watch Arabella Scarlet eat her breakfast and I think about all I’ve done to get her here. Last night was over way too quickly, but I have to stick to the plan. I have to get her into international waters as soon as possible so that her father can no longer lay claim to her. Right now he doesn’t have any idea she’s become my possession, and I have to use that to my advantage.

  “Can you tell me what’s going on?” she asks as she pushes her empty plate away.

  I walk over and take her hands in mine, unable to stand the distance anymore. “I can’t tell you everything yet, but I’ve watched you and I’ve waited for the time when I could have you. That time came last night and I won’t let you go.”

  “You don’t even know me.” Her words are meant to be defensive, but in her eyes I can see the hope that I won’t push her away.

  “I know everything about you, Arabella, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect you. Especially from the monster you call a father.”

  “I don’t understand. He’s a good man. He’s always been decent and kind to me,” she says as her eyebrows pull together and she frowns. “He’s not a monster.”

  “He’s a man who will use whatever he has to in order to get what he wants, and that includes you, little love.” I trail a hand down her cheek and she leans into my touch. “He wants to sell you to the Duke of England, and I won’t have it. The duke is known for taking on a wife who mysteriously disappears a month after their nuptials. But no one questions it because of his status.”

  I can practically see her mind spinning with questions, but her frown deepens. “I’ve heard of him. But my father never said—”

  “You were just a pawn in his game.” I cut her off and pull her into my arms. “But from the moment I saw you, you’ve been my entire world.”

  Scooping her up in my arms, I carry her back to the bedroom. I lay her out on the bed and pull away her scrap of a dress from the night before.

  “You should only be draped in the finest of silks,” I say as I kiss down her belly and spread her thighs.

  She’s wet and willing as I kneel between them and slide my hands under her ass. I lift her pussy up to my mouth and inhale before I give her one long lick. Her body shudders, and I watch as a blush blossoms across her chest.

  I feast on her nectar as I bury my tongue in her no-longer-virgin cunt. Knowing that I was the one to take her innocence and I was the one to breed her only heightens my own arousal for her. My cock is hard and dripping in my slacks, but I don’t have time to satisfy him. This moment is only about her pleasure before we have to go.

  “Romeo!” she cries out as her legs tighten and her climax approaches.

  I strum her clit like a mandolin as I lick as far as I can inside of her pussy. Her thighs squeeze me before she cries out and I taste her sweet release. I want to follow her over the edge. I want to thrust my cock into her and stay there for a month, but I can’t. There’s no time.

  “So perfect,” I whisper against her tender lips.

  Kissing her pussy one last time, I pull myself from the bed and go to the closet. I select one of the dresses I bought for her and bring it over to where she is sprawled out on the mattress. I hold up the pink silk and she smiles at me.

  “Where are we going?” she asks with heavy eyes. “I thought I was staying locked in your tower.”

  “I want to marry you as soon as possible. The longer we wait, we leave the chance open that your father will try to take you back to wed the duke.”

  “So I’m either going to be married to you or married to the duke? Don’t I get a say in this?”

  “I’m afraid you’re just too tempting.” I place a kiss on her lips and then deepen it as her arms wrap around my neck.

  Suddenly there’s a loud crash from the other side of the room and I look up to see five men dressed in all black rappelling in through the window. They all pull out knives and throwing stars when they land, ready for an attack.

  “Give us the girl and no one gets hurt,” one of them says from behind a hood covering his face.

  “Never!” I shout and shove Arabella behind me, trying to think of how I can possibly defend her from ninjas.

  “Romeo, don’t let them take me!” she screams, and I turn around to see five more men have snatched her from behind me. “Romeo!”

  They’ve got me surrounded. How did they get past all my security? How did they know where to find her? I thought I was so careful last night, but I grabbed her in haste and didn’t pay attention to eyes on us.

  “Arabella!” I bellow as I catch a flash of pink being carried away as she’s taken from the room.

  I charge at the men, but I’m swarmed then overpowered. They pin me to the ground and one of them brings a can of what looks like pepper spray to my face. I open my mouth to shout, but as soon as the spray hits my face, I pass out cold.

  My last thoughts are of my little love and getting to her. Nothing will ever keep me from her.

  Chapter Four

  Arabella

  I stand in Romeo’s living room, shaking. I’d grabbed the sheet to cover my body before one of the men pulled me from the room. I have no idea what’s happening.

  Suddenly, my father walks into the room. “Dad?” I rush over to him.

  “It’s okay. I got you.” He pulls me into a hug. My dad has always loved me. I know he can be cold at times, but the hug is a little surprising coming from him. He’s not big on affection.

  “What’s happening?” I look up at him. His face is hard and doesn’t match the sweet embrace he is giving.

  “You got mixed up in something you shouldn’t have.” He steps back and looks me over. It’s clear what happened with Romeo and me. My face flushes red when I see the blood stain on the sheet wrapped around me.

  “He was so sweet to me.”

  “Stealing a young girl’s inn
ocence is not sweet. Neither is plotting to take a daughter from her father.”

  I lick my lips, unsure how to respond. “Is it true you were going to give me to the duke? Like some old-school arranged marriage? You would do that to me?”

  “I wanted you to meet him, yes. I thought you’d be a good match. Now I’m not sure he’d want a touched bride.”

  His eyes go back to the blood stain, making me wish I had the dress Romeo gave me.

  “He said he kills his wives.” I tell my father.

  “Don’t be naïve, Arabella. He tried to fill your head with lies to use you.”

  “We found something, sir,” one of the many men standing in the room says. I’d forgotten about them. My mind wanders to where Romeo is. If he got hurt. If he was using me. Last night felt so right. The way he touched me wasn’t cruel. It was sweet and loving.

  My dad follows the man, and I do the same, keeping the sheet tight to me. We enter a room that looks like an office and I freeze. Pictures of me coat the walls. They are everywhere.

  “Looks like he cloned her phone. He was listening to her calls, reading her emails and texts—clearly tracking her.”

  I gasp.

  “As long as your phone is around you he can hear everything. He can even open the camera and have a look around.”

  This is all too much. “Why was he doing this?”

  My dad doesn’t answer me. I follow his line of sight to see what he’s studying. It’s a calendar with yesterday’s date circled. As I read the words, I hear nothing but the deafening roar of blood rushing in my ears. In big black letters: Arabella ovulating.

  My hand goes to my stomach. My dad turns to look at me, his hand going there too before he storms out of the room. I follow him again back into the living room, where to my horror I see Romeo tied to a chair.

  “Wake him up,” my father barks.

  One of the men steps up, pulls something out of his pocket and runs it under Romeo’s nose. Romeo jerks awake. Before he’s even opened his eyes fully he’s screaming my name as if he’s in pain.

  I go to take a step toward him, drawn to him like a magnet even after seeing what was in the other room.

  My father shoots me a hard look, and I stop in my tracks.

  Romeo’s eyes fly open and fix on me. He tries to push himself up, but two men hold him down, pushing his shoulders. He fights them for a moment.

  “Get her some fucking clothes,” Romeo snaps.

  “We need to talk, it seems,” my dad says, ignoring his order.

  “Arabella. Our bedroom. Now. I have clothes in the closet for you.” Romeo ignores my dad in return.

  I do as he says. I need clothes, after all. I rush down the hall, find the dress, and slip it over my head. I see flats and slide those on, too. I rush back to the living room.

  When I get back I see Romeo’s lip is bleeding. He seems unbothered by it, his eyes focusing on me immediately. They go soft for a minute before he returns his attention to my father.

  “She’s mine,” he tells him. His words are low and deadly and make a chill break out over my skin.

  My dad laughs. “I only woke you to tell you that you’ll never see her again.”

  Romeo actually growls. I can see the veins in his neck and arms as he pulls against the ropes around him.

  “We all know how much family means to you, Romeo, and I’m going to take the baby you put in her last night and make sure you never lay eyes on either one of them.”

  My father grabs me by the arm hard and starts to pull me toward the front door.

  “Sir, the stalker office?” one of the men holding down Romeo asks.

  “Leave it. It will be a good memory for him to not fuck with me anymore. That he’ll never have them.”

  “Arabella!” Romeo bellows my name. “I’m coming for you,” he yells as the door slams shut.

  Chapter Five

  Romeo

  No one noticed the knife I palmed as one of them got close enough to hit me. Carefully I wiggle it behind my back now and cut the ropes that hold me in the chair. Everyone is distracted as Arabella is taken from the room and I hear the men planning what to do with me.

  Before they can react, I pop out of the chair and use my years of martial arts training to fight all of them at once and leave them on the ground, moaning, with me standing over them. Not one hair out of place.

  The sound of a chopper has my attention and I bust through the emergency exit and up to the rooftop in time to see my love flying through the sky.

  “Romeo!” she screams, and I can barely hear her over the noise of the whirring blades.

  For a moment I stand there and think about what to do, then I spot a scrap of paper clinging to a nearby piece of metal. I grab it up and read it to see it’s an invitation to a costume party.

  “That must be where they’re taking her,” I say to myself, since clearly I’ve defeated everyone else that was a danger to me.

  Pulling out my cell phone, which is conveniently still in my pocket, I race down the stairs and to my waiting sports car that is the newest and best on the market.

  “Trope here,” I say into the phone when the person on the other end of the line answers.

  “Hello, Mr. Trope, how may I help you?” says my older, completely sexually unattractive assistant, Penny.

  “Arabella’s been taken from me. I have good information she’s going to attend to the masquerade ball benefiting poor people. I need an invitation and a costume.”

  “But Mr. Trope, the ball for poor people is the hardest masquerade to get an invitation to in the whole world.”

  “Goddamn it, Penny, don’t give me excuses, give me results.”

  “I’ll do my best, Mr. Trope.” I hear a ridiculous amount of computer keys being hit and she gasps. “The Duke of England is said to be attending.”

  “I knew it,” I hiss into the phone. No one would let Arabella go. He still wants her. Even if she wasn’t a virgin anymore.

  “Be at the gate at nine p.m. sharp. I’ll make sure you’re cleared,” Penny says.

  “Thanks. And Penny…” I say, and pause for an unusually long moment for no reason. “Make sure I’m dressed to kill.”

  * * *

  The drive is long, but it’s nothing I can’t handle to arrive at exactly the right moment. A black box containing a tuxedo and a mask is handed to me as I approach the gate and then I’m buzzed through. Penny did it again. I should give her a raise, but I can’t remember where her office is located.

  I change, and blend into the crowd when I approach the front doors. Security is checking invitations, so I slip my hand inside my jacket and present the paper I found near the chopper. For a moment I think he’s going to stop me, but the guard looks it over and allows me to pass.

  Glancing back, I catch him speaking into a microphone at his wrist, and I know that can’t be good. I’m already on alert, but I have to have my Arabella back. I won’t allow her to be sold to the Duke of England.

  As soon as the thought enters my mind, I see him across the room. My heart lurches in my chest as I spot Arabella behind him. She’s dressed in a strapless dark red ball gown with her blonde hair piled high in curls. She’s got on a gold sequined mask, but I would know her shape anywhere. For a moment I see her lean toward the Duke and I think that she’s here with him. But a closer inspection lets me see that her hands are bound in front of her, hidden from the view of others.

  I edge around the room, plotting how to get her back. If I can somehow create a diversion I might stand a chance. Frustration gnaws at me, until I see exactly what I should do.

  Dance-off.

  I slip the DJ a few bills and go to the center of the room. I reach up and pull my mask off, and the crowd gasps.

  “Romeo!” Arabella shouts and tries to come after me.

  The Duke of England ties her to his throne and then steps down off the stage until he’s standing in front of me. I widen my stance, ready for the attack.

  “I challenge
you to a duel,” I say, and point to the DJ.

  The bass begins to thump and the Duke takes his mask off, too, throwing it to the side.

  “I accept,” he says, and we begin to circle one another. “Winner takes the girl.”

  His smile is dark and I don’t trust him, but I’m in a dance-off for my life and I have to find a way. There are witnesses right now, and as long as I can keep Arabella in my sights, there’s a chance I’ll walk out of here with her.

  Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” comes on and we begin. The Duke of England has moves, but mine are better. I didn’t moonwalk my way through the ’80s for nothing. The crowd cheers and Arabella shouts words of love to me.

  As the song ends, I’m gasping for air and I’m a sweaty mess, but the crowd is cheering my name.

  I jump on stage and untie Arabella’s hands and pull her to my side. I press my lips to hers, kissing her with all that I have. I can’t be separated from her again, and I have to get her out to sea. I need to marry her and bind her to me, and I can’t do that on land.

  “How did you find me?” she asks.

  I cup her cheek and press my forehead to hers. “Little love, I’m a smooth criminal.”

  “Seize them!” the duke yells as hundreds of guards pour in. “If she won’t have me, she won’t have anyone. I’m sentencing them both to death!”

  “Can he do that?” Arabella asks as she clings to me.

  “Maybe?” I say, looking around.

  I don’t have much of a chance, but if what we have between us is real, then we can make it.

  “Hold on to me, Arabella,” I say, grabbing the curtain behind her.

  She obeys as I lift her up and kick open the window. I stand on the ledge and look back to the guards swarming us. The Duke of England shouts for them to stop us, but it’s too late.

  I jump with her in my arms.

  Chapter Six