SEDUCE ME (Sample)

Prologue: "You Shouldn't Underestimate Me, Baby."

New York City, United States of America 2016

Sage impatiently waited in her chair.

Her shoulders were stiff and her eyes were cast upward. She watched the smoke emanating from her cigarette, using the scent as a calming tool. It was all she had in such a short time. Without it, she'd be steaming with rage.

She didn't move, not until she heard him approach. She could hear several footsteps slamming against the concrete floor, but somehow she could tell him apart from the rest. His was stronger and slower. But no one attempted to usher him. No, they wouldn't dare. Despite the fact that they were in a prison, and by law, he was under the wardens' supervision.

He took his time confronting her. The nerve of that enraged her. She squeezed her cigarette in her grip as he took his time. Her gaze was hard like steel as the officer opened the door. His and his entourage's eyes were cast down as he walked into the meeting room.

There were no words, no threats to make it quick. In fact, the guards were quick to give them their privacy. Sage didn't share the same fear. Her eyes narrowed as she looked the man over. He tightened his fists as he sat down and stared back, with his own icy glare. The veins in his neck, arms, and forehead were prominent as he grew annoyed. He knew that his little wife was going to castrate him, and he wasn't in the mood for it.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged her shoulders, taking one final puff from her tattered cigar. And she laughed. Giggles that lacked humor, and overflowed with judgment. "Your clothes. I always thought you looked fucking ridiculous in orange."

Despite her current, laid-back persona, she hated seeing him like this. Her husband, Xavier Ivanov, one of the smartest and most cunning gangsters the United States has ever seen, handcuffed and dressed like a prisoner. It made her physically ill, she was angry and ashamed. However, the government caught him slipping, and that angered her the most.

"Then again, after your foolish acts-the color is beginning to suit you."

A nasty, low growl was heard. "Are you fucking done?"

"Oh, I've barely begun," Sage replied, unmoved by his growing temper. In fact, he riled him up more when her hand collided with his cheek. "How could you?! No, how fucking dare you? How dare you tarnish what we built together over one fucking shipment?!"

She dug her bright red nails into his cheeks and ripped his skin to match the color. She forced him to see and feel her disbelief. "Six years... you've wasted six fucking years of our marriage, of our lives-of my life! And for what?! A trap? A ridiculous trap that even the dumbest cunt could see? There were so many signs, but you walked right into it! Do you even comprehend how much of an embarrassment it is for you to be caught by homeland security?! Those lazy, idiotic motherfuckers? Huh?!"

She hissed as she sliced his skin, disgusted that his blood had even tainted her nails. He said nothing and was completely still, waiting for her to finish.

"Did I not warn you, Xavier? Did I not fucking warn you that this would happen? It's bullshit like this that hits the laps of every man who trusts your brother. He set this up! He set you up! And like an idiot you let him lead you here! Honestly, were you taking a fucking piss? Did you hit your head?"

She threw her tarnished cigar at his chest and stood. She rubbed her face and pulled at her roots. Her anger was getting the best of her right now, but it was well deserved. "That's the thing with you dick swingers. You think you know everything and that you're above correction. Well, look at you now motherfucker! Thirty-five fucking years in jail! Are you proud of yourself?! Because I'm not proud. I'm not fucking proud. I'm ashamed of you. The man I married-the monster I married would have never allowed himself to be swayed and confined like a fucking dog."