Forbidden Temptation My Mafia Fiance's Alpha Father

Chapter 38 Chapter 38 Brooklyn My heart is pounding out of my chest as I press the stop button on the remote as fast as I can.

I return my gaze to the doorway where Aden is standing, his, dark eyes boring into me.

Please, please, please. Goddess, let him not have seenwatching his sex tape.

"What are you doing in here?" he asks, furious.

"Um..." I swallow, terrified, hoping he doesn't pick up on the tremor in my voice. "Jayde broughthere. Said I could look through some..." My eyes dart around the room for an answer that is not porn. "Sfamily photo albums. And hvideos." He narrows his eyes, his gaze flicking to the pile of vintage Playboys on the floor.

"Family photo albums?" I nod. He knows I'm lying, but I can't bring myself to admit the truth.

"She shouldn't have brought you down here," he says, moving aside so that I can leave the room. I quickly get to my feet, flicking the power button on the remote so that the TV goes blank.

Then, dropping the remote, I scurry out of the room, praying with all my might that Aden does not go back in to see what tape is in the VCR.

He closes the door behind us as I head for the steps. "Don't cdown here again. Do you understand?" Believe me, I won't, I think as I nod, then hurry up and out into the kitchen, heaving a sigh of relief. My knees are weak, and I feel dizzy.

I head back towards the main part of the house, looking forward to going to my room so I can bury my nose into a very different kind of book, my hand sliding to the back pocket of my jeans to check on my phone.

My hand slides over smooth denim.

I stop dead in my tracks, panicked, and pat all over my body looking for it. Then, slowly, I turn back towards the little door. I definitely felt it in my back pocket when we left the patio...

Dammit. My phone must have fallen out in the weird porn den.

I have to go back. If my dad or Jolie ever called and I missed it... I'd never get over it.

On tiptoes, I walk back to the little door in the kitchen, pulling it open a crack to listen. I don't hear a sound. Tentatively, I put a foot on the step, waiting for a creak. Nothing.

Then, silently, I hurry down the stairs and through the hallway.

I let myself back into the little room and grab my phone, which is sitting on the leather chair.

For good measure, I pop the VHS out of the VCR and put it back in its case, which I slide back on the shelf. There, good. Now no one ever needs to know what I saw.

But I will. I pause, unable to stop the vision from washing over me. Aden, naked and hard, pushing into the strange woman, giving her everything she wanted...

No, Brooklyn. Stop it.

I shake myself out of the memory and leave the room, quiet as a mouse, shutting the door behind me.

I begin to creep back along the hallway when I hear something to my left.

I stop dead, terrified that I've been caught.

But no one comes out to scold me.

I hear the sound again to my left. A kind of snap, and then a muffled groan.

Unable to stop myself, I consider the door from which the sound is coming. It's thick, made of iron, with no window. It has a bolt on the outside, like a prison.

But I can also see that the bolt is not locked.

I know it's a mistake. I know I shouldn't.

Even as I know these things, though, I stare at the door. I'm consumed, something deep insidepushingfurther.

I take two steps closer, reaching out a hand to grip the metal handle and then, my inner voice still screaming atto stop, I pull it open just a crack and look inside.

The noise from inside is louder without the thick door to keep it in.

I see two men facing me, strapped to chairs, fabric gags tied across their mouths. They're sobbing Paning, one m at something just out of my sight, terror in their eyes. As I watch, though, their torturer reveals himself.

Aden, dressed in his suit pants and an undershirt, steps into my line of sight. My eyes taken the strong muscles of his back, the rage that I can see pulsing through him just by the way he stands over these men.

He's wrapped his belt around his hand, a long piece of it hanging down from his fist, the buckle dangling. As I watch, Aden rips his fist to the side, letting the belt drag across the men's faces like a whip.

"TELL ME," Aden commands, his shoulders heaving. The men tremble before him, crying. They shake their heads no, but this is apparently not the answer that Aden wants. He drops the belt, moving to the man on the left and pulling a knife from his pocket. The man starts to scream as Aden stands behind him, pressing the sharp edge of the knife to the man's pinky finger. The scream turns to a howl of horror, of pain, as Aden presses the blade deeper.

I'm frozen to the spot, horrified.

Aden is a monster.

Though I can feel myself trembling, I can't move, can't stop watching. The man not being cut begins to scream in panic, looking everywhere for a way out and then- Oh my god- His eyes fix on me. He seespeeking through the door. He begins to scream in my direction, and I think I can hear the words "HELP!" reverberate through the room.

Sensing a change, Aden's eyes shift to the other man and then move directly to me.