Beautiful Prey 2: The Storm Series (BWWM Romance)

Jessica
Watkins Presents…

Jessica Watkins Presents…

Beautiful Prey 2

Phoenix
 
Daniels

Copyright
@2014 by Phoenix Daniels. Publisher: Jessica Watkins
Presents. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any
form without permission from the publisher, except by reviewer, who may quote
brief passages to be printing online, in a newspaper, or magazine.

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously and are not to be assumed as real. Any resemblance to
actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

I dedicate this book to my wonderful daughter and best
friend, Jasmine Marie McMorris, September 1, 1990 - May 19, 2013. She was taken
from me too fast. May she rest in peace. She was the absolute love of my life
and always picked me up if ever I should fall. I wrote these books in her
legacy because she died while in the process of writing her own novel. I
decided to pick up where she left off. I also need to thank my super supportive
family that pretended to understand when I locked myself away, ignored phone
calls, and missed family outings. I need to thank my super intelligent
fifteen-year-old daughter, NiYah, who had no problem making sure that I had
everything I needed to get my creative juices flowing (she closed my office
door and kept refilling my glass of wine). I'd also like to thank my publisher
Jessica Watkins Presents for believing in me and providing an abundance of
encouragement, along with a lot of hard work. I'm also very thankful for my
editors and readers. And last but not least, my man, Bernard (AKA Jack) for
helping me to understand the pleasures of a man.

Natasha rode quietly blindfolded in the back of a limo. She
was confident that her team would be ambushing the vehicle soon. For the sake
of her profession, she had allowed herself to be sold off in a human
trafficking investigation that the police department was conducting. Since her friend,
Victoria Storm, left the department, it was now her job to do the undercover
prostitution operations. She was utilized solely based on her baby face and
womanly curves.

Since she wasn’t allowed to get fully
dressed, Natasha was still wearing the lacy bra and Tanga panties that she wore
during the auction. There were three men in the vehicle who weren’t speaking
English. Before she was blindfolded, she noticed that they were all armed.
Since Natasha assumed that she’d soon be rescued when the limo came to a halt,
she waited for the bum rush that never happened. Instead, she was dragged from
the vehicle and led to a set of steps in which she fumbled her way up.

Although Natasha had faith in her
team, she was trembling with fear. She kept quiet because she didn’t want to
agitate her foreigner captors. She was forced onto a cold leather seat, where
she sat in her damn near naked glory, trying to remember the plan. She was
supposed to stand in the auction. Once someone bid for her, the troops would
run in and save her, according to the commander that stated that she was really
needed for this operation. Well, someone did bid on her; one hundred thousand
dollars in fact.

Trembling in fear and cold, Natasha
thought,
so where are the troops?

Her thoughts returned to the speech
that her commander and his lieutenant gave her before she courageously accepted
this treacherous mission.

“Natasha, I know that you’ve never
participated in a mission like this. Since we no longer have Victoria, you
gotta step up to the plate. We’ve been trying to take down this human
trafficking ring for years. With your youthful and innocent face, we can crack
this case wide open! Think of the innocent young victims that are being bought
and sold into sexual slavery. You have the entire department behind you. We’ll
never let anything happen to you. As soon as the bid is made, we’ll get you out
of there. You’ll be safe. That I promise.”

Suddenly, her blindfold was ripped
from her face. After adjusting her eyes, Natasha noticed that she was on a jet
surrounded by four very intimidating men who were, apparently by their speech,
not American. She couldn’t figure out what language they were speaking. Since
she and her team were investigating a human trafficking ring controlled by the
Ukrainian Mafia between the United States and Poland, Natasha assumed that the
language that they were speaking was Russian.

She shook uncontrollably as fear
raced through her veins. Being on an aircraft was not something she and the
department had discussed. Therefore, Natasha assumed that she was in the
gravest of danger. She looked towards the pilot’s doors. Then she discreetly
surveyed her captors as she contemplated an exit strategy.

It’s now or never
, Natasha thought as anxiety rushed violently
threw her veins.

Without warning, she jumped from her
seat and headed for the door. It was securely fastened. Frantically, she headed
for the pilot as her captors ran towards her. She turned and furiously beat on
the door that secured the cockpit and pleaded for help, only to hear laughter
on the other side.

Natasha turned from the door, well
aware that she was only wearing underwear, and yelled at one of the men to let
her off the plane. Before her stood a man that was at least six feet and two inches
with grey eyes filled with fury. His eyebrows scrunched with rage. He laughed
in her face as he ran towards her. Natasha made her way back to the door. As
she pulled relentlessly at the handle, the aircraft began to taxi, causing
Natasha to panic even more.

“Let me off of this fucking plane!”

This brought more laughter from the
men as they now stood before her with pure evil and lust in their eyes.

Natasha yanked the handle, attempting
to open the door. The bearded man walked calmly to her. Natasha raised her chin
to face the man head on. He smiled and punched Natasha in the face. She fell
against the door and battled to stay on her feet.

Natasha managed to stay conscious, so
she quickly recovered and kneed the bearded man in the groin.

When her attacker fell to his knees,
Natasha kicked him in the face.

“Fuck you,” she spat as her petite
foot met his rough skin.

He let out a series of curse words in
his native tongue.
“Чертовски
сука! Я
собираюсь
убить тебя!”

Natasha repeatedly slammed her foot
into his face, continuing her assault on the bearded man, which prompted the
other men to intervene.

The two men that were unassumingly
quiet began to beat Natasha. She was punched in the face, body, and even her
legs. They kicked and stomped her into the floor of the aircraft. The pain was
debilitating. She curled into a ball to protect herself from the fierce blows.

Once the bearded man recovered, he
joined in on the beating. Fighting back was no use. She was overpowered. He roughly
ripped her bra and then her panties off. He positioned himself between
Natasha’s thighs. She tried to fight through the others punching her body and
pinning her down. Warm tears fell from her eyes as Natasha screamed for help.
That was when one of the men punched her so hard that she started to see red
spots before her beautiful eyes. Her vision blurred. The world was going black.
Pure terror ran through her, realizing that she was about to be raped.

In that moment, Natasha knew that
everything her commander said was bullshit. The department had hung her out to
dry.

Six months earlier…

GIANNI

Gianni Storm, the only child to
Jonathan and Catarina Storm, walked with confidence and determination down a
hall in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. As he walked, his irrefutable
attractive nature lingered behind. He disregarded smiles filled with invitation
from the women that he passed by.

Gianni hadn’t been on United States
soil in over ten years. He lived in Paris where he owned several very
profitable restaurants and nightclubs. He’d partnered with his maternal cousin,
Luca Savelli, who the media constantly accused of having ties to the Italian
Mafia. Luca was the son of his mother’s elder brother, Salvatore.

Gianni’s mother was Sicilian, born
and raised. She’d met his father during one of his many business trips to
Italy. Gianni’s father owned exclusive resorts all over the world. He was a
strong dominant man, who married his mother within two months of meeting her.
He moved her to Chicago. Yet, Gianni’s mother insisted on returning to her
homeland at least four months out of the year. Therefore, Gianni was raised
between Chicago and Italy. Now, because of his many businesses, he lived in
Paris and rarely found the time to visit Chicago.

Since real estate and resorts were
not his thing, Gianni hadn’t followed in his father’s footsteps. He decided to
build his fortune from something that held his interests. His very successful restaurants
and night clubs made him a very wealthy man. Not as wealthy as Jack, but very
close.

Emily and Jack were among the few
family members in the United States that he stayed in touch with since he moved
to Paris. They were first cousins. Jonathan and Joseph, Jack’s dad, were
identical twin brothers. When Emily called to tell him that Jack had been shot
and was fighting for his life, he dropped everything, boarded his private jet,
and headed for Chicago. Gianni loved his cousin. Although Jack was two years
older, he and Gianni played together as boys. Jack was like a big brother to
him. Since he hadn’t returned to Chicago in ten years, his family was not happy
with him. He figured that he would deal with whatever family issues that he had
to in order to see about his cousin. Gianni had read in the American newspaper
that Jack had married an African American policewoman that had been kidnapped
by a madman. He was relieved when he further read that the man was killed
during her rescue.

Gianni entered the designated room
and found a very beautiful and very pregnant black woman sitting next to Jack’s
bed.

She looked up at him with tired and
confused eyes. “Jack?”

Since their fathers were identical
twins, Gianni and Jack shared an uncanny resemblance to one another. But
Gianni’s eyes were green like their fathers and his hair was longer. Because of
Gianni’s Sicilian ancestry, his complexion was darker.

Before he was able to respond, she
looked down at a sleeping Jack, then back to him.

Terribly confused, she asked, “Who
are you?”

Gianni walked over to Jack’s bed and
pushed Jack’s tousled hair out of his face. “I’m Jack’s cousin, Gianni.”

“Wow,” she said. “You look just like
him!”

“I know,” Gianni answered with a
smile.

“Been hearing that all your life,
huh?” Then she giggled. To Jack, her voice was full of dainty femininity. “I’m
his wife, Victoria.”

“It’s nice to meet you.”  Then
Gianni looked at the exhausted pregnant woman and made a suggestion. “Why don’t
you go home and let me stay with Jack tonight.”

 Stubborn and certainly,
Victoria shook her head. “I’m not leaving him. He just got out of surgery. I’m
waiting for the doctor to tell me what’s going on.”

 Gianni nodded. He could tell
that there was no way that he was getting her to leave, despite the inability
to keep her eyes open.

Convenient for his persistence, there
was an empty bed in the room. He walked over to Victoria and gently held her by
the arm. Following his lead, Victoria stood from the chair. Along the way, she
watched him curiously. Yet, Gianni knew that his looks made women follow his
lead despite their hesitance.

Gianni ushered her over to the bed.
“Come, Madame. Lie down. I’ll sit and wait for the doctor. I promise to wake
you when they arrive.” 

Despite Gianni’s overflow of charm
and charisma having the ability to talk any woman into doing anything, Victoria
watched him with uncertainty as she stood in front of the inviting bed.

“I promise,” Gianni urged.

 Gianni could tell that she was
reluctant, but she acquiesced.

He assisted her into the bed as he
again assured her, “I promise.”

Minutes after spreading the blanket
over her, Victoria was asleep. Gianni solemnly watched his cousin and listened
to the sounds of the monitors. Soon, another sound entered the room. The door
of the room slowly moved open. A young black woman stood in the doorway. She
was dressed in a dark hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. She wore her hair in a
messy ponytail. She didn’t even bother with makeup. She was the most beautiful
woman that he’d seen in a long time. She was so much more appealing than the
narcissistic spoiled wealthy women that he was accustomed to. She stared at
Gianni, in shock, before looking down at Jack.

He was surprised at her protective
tone when she asked, “Who are you?”

Gianni appreciated her
protectiveness, after all Jack was his family.

She surveyed the room and noticed
Victoria sleeping peacefully in bed next to Jack’s. Her face showed
appreciation that her friend was sleeping.

Gianni approached the beauty as she
returned her attention back to him. “You first, mademoiselle. Who are you?”

She didn’t seem to appreciate his
avoidance of her question. She took a defensive stance. “Since you look so much
like Jack, I’ll assume that your family. But I won’t ask you a third time.”

Gianni noticed that she was holding
her side and figured that she must be one of Victoria’s cop friends. Gianni was
intrigued. He wanted to tame the beauty; make her submit. He got closer and
invaded her personal space.

“I’m Gianni Storm, Jack’s cousin. And
you are?”

Gianni noticed the change in her
demeanor. Her breath quickened. He would bet money that he saw lust in her
eyes.

She took a few steps back, seemingly
to get out of his space so that her breath would return.  “I’m Natasha...
Natasha Walker. I work with... um…
worked
with Victoria.”

Gianni assessed quickly that she was
shy. He reveled in it. He narrowed his eyes and studied her for a few seconds
before stating, “You’re the hero. You saved my cousin’s wife.”

Natasha walked over to Victoria’s bed
and adjusted her blanket. Gianni knew that it was her way of further avoiding
his affect.

“I’m no hero. I had a job to do.”

Gianni was surprised at the disdain
in her voice as she lowered her gaze and walked toward the door. “Nice to meet
you, Gianni.”

Gianni, so caught up in her beauty,
was unable to get a word in edgewise before Natasha disappeared onto the other
side of the door and closed it behind her.

Gianni stared at the door for several
minutes. He decided that he wanted her. He would work on that later, but now he
needed to see about his cousin. He walked over to Victoria’s abandoned chair
and took a seat. The extensive travel was catching up to him, so he leaned back
and rested his eyes.