Drew clears his throat. “I get where you’re with this and I definitely need to see your coding for the software.”
“Exactly! We’d just have to replicate the hardware—”
“Yeah, about that.” Careful to avoid my gaze, he reaches into a drawer in his desk and removes a case. Flipping the lid, he opens it to reveal a syringe filled with liquid. “We already have the technology. I’d just have to see your code to improve on it. Especially to convert it from tracking-tech to other purposes.”
I’m barely hearing what he’s saying. My stomach drops, my eyes frozen on that syringe. “Drew . . . What is that?”
Cringing, he finally meets my state, the apology in his own sending alarms ringing through my mind. “It’s how I found you when you vanished two nights ago, baby.”
I . . . he . . . My mind rotates, gears shifting, some threatening to break. Tracking-tech. The realization bubbles up and I shout, “You did sneak into my apartment and injected me with that right before eating me out in my sleep!”
Just as his uncle steps through the glass door . . .
Followed shortly by his mom.
chapter 32
t he way Mrs. Drevlow’s expression hardens at the sight of me confirms what I’d already suspected from her call with her son last night.
She blames for me what happened to him in the years I was gone.
Fuck, who can blame her? It’s true. I am one of the people responsible.
I blink back tears at the thought.
Drew, seeing my distress, is out of his seat in a flash and heading towards his mother, purposely using his large body to block her view of me. “Mom, what are you doing here?”
“I needed to come see for myself that you’re alright. And to have a few words with Ms. Berk—”
“No.” That tone isn’t one a son should ever use with a mother, a brick wall of impenetrable magnitudes.
“Don’t speak to me like that, young man. I’m the one that was there while you had to put the literal pieces of yourself back together.”
That’s it. It’s instant, unstoppable. I’m crying again, ruining my makeup at the visual, and all I can do is cup my mouth to hide my sobs before Drew realizes.
This must be painful enough for him as it is. Last thing I want is to add to it.
His uncle watches me and the look of sympathy on his face is odd. Almost as if . . . unused.
I’m taken back to my call with him days ago, how he warned me he wouldn’t let me destroy his nephew again.
Don’t know when I’ll get over my loathing of Menahan, but this disgust with myself? It’s going to haunt me forever.
“Mom—”
“You tried killing yourself for her twice!”
“If you love me at all, outside. Now.” Something in his expression must get to her, because within seconds they’re walking together out the glass door.
Richard comes up to me, holding out his napkin. “You truly do care for him.”
“I adore him,” I whisper pathetically, wiping at my cheeks. Thank God whoever delivered that makeup bag to the penthouse this morning purchased waterproof mascara. Only faint eyeliner marks come away.
“Good. Because the path you’re both on? My brother didn’t survive it and it was his own god damned fault for not being an equal partner to his wife.”
“Don’t mention that man to me.” I’m too raw to handle the memory that flashes through my mind.
My father, on the floor of his study, that gun lying feet from his bloody hand.
The hole in the back of his head from when he put the gun inside his mouth and pulled the trigger.
I was ten-years-old and I was the one that found him.
Haven’t told that to anyone outside my mom and the authorities. Not even Drew knows.
“I understand. My apologies. My brother wasn’t the greatest human being. We all know that.”
“And you’re insinuating Drew is like him. I don’t like it.”
That assessing glance again. Like he’s taking my measure. “You can’t deny in some ways he is, but his motivations are also pure compared to my brother’s. Ronald only ever served himself. Andrew? He serves you.”
That chasm of infinite need cracks open in my chest. The love I have for that man is so greedy. Insatiable. He just stepped out with his mom and I want him back already.
How the fuck was I ever so stupid to convince myself to live without him? Although after a while, it was no longer a matter of choice. Menahan made sure of that.
My eyes fall back to the syringe. “If I can have the Providence goggles perfected in the next week, how fast can you get a team working on shrinking the hardware to nanotech specs?” I ask Richard.
His reddish-brown eyebrows, the same color as his nephew and that monster that was his brother, rise nearly to his hairline. “A week?”
“You perfected the hardware months ago. It’s the software that was giving you issues and I’m telling you I can have it done in a week. So tell me, how soon?”
“I can start working on having the team prepped today.” There’s not a little awe in his tone.
“And the press conference to announce the finished goggles?” I run my finger along the edge of the case holding the syringe.
The syringe filled with the fluid carrying the GPS-equipped nanobot.
If I squint hard enough, I can make out the tiny, dark dot floating within. One of those is inside me. I’m still annoyed beyond belief he didn’t tell me, but as he said, it is how he found me.
How he saved me from Asad.
Considering what we’re embarking on, I’m thinking I’m not the only one that needs to have one of these in them.
“Did you discuss all these plans with my nephew?”
“Not yet, but I will.”
“He might’ve made you his ‘right hand’, and all that, but I’m still second-in-command here, Ms. Berkman.”
“I understand that, Mr. Drevlow. And I’m telling you we’re going to need you on board for this.” I glance up, hoping he can see the earnest entreaty in my eyes. “We’re really going to need your help. You saw what he did last night.”
He slides his hands in his pockets, watching my finger as I continue to caress the edge of the case. “Had a feeling that tied into you, since it happened across from your building.”
“He wanted to send me a message. Thousands dead, just to prove a point.” My hiss is a deadly reminder of the vitriol I now carry within.
“And your mother?”
“His main means of controlling me all those years,” I spit, every word coated in bitter venom.
“I have a feeling he did much more than just control you.”
Refuse to answer that, but the man before me is a dangerous of a genius as all the men in his family seem to be. There’s no need to verbally answer. Those penetrating eyes, that razor-sharp mind, rip the truth from the surface of my very skin as he analyzes me.
“Well, Ms. Berkman. You make an intriguing offer. Especially since it’ll help us take the storm by market. I’ll begin assembling the proper teams.”
The glass door slides open silently and Drew steps inside, his mother nowhere in sight. “What teams?” He stares between his uncle and I.
“I have a feeling your woman will do a good enough job of explaining that to you.” Richard begins walking towards him. “Evelyn?”
“Mom’s waiting for you by the elevators.”
Without another word, Richard exits, heading in that direction.
Drew turns back to me. “What teams?”
“Andrew Drevlow, get in here and sit down. We’re having a talk.”
chapter 33
e yeing me warily, he does as I demand, resuming his position on his desk chair.
I don’t waste any time. “Roll up your sleeve.”
His eyes dart to the open case. “Um . . . Lexi?”
“Roll up your god damned sleeve, Drew.”
Beneath his slacks, I can see his dick swel
ling, his body reacting to my bossiness in an unpredictable way that leaves my mouth watering. “Fuck.” He shrugs off his black blazer and unbuttons the cuff on his right side. Thank God. I don’t know if I’m ready to see that scar bisecting his left forearm. To face the memory of what it means. His mom’s pained words echo in my consciousness. “You tried killing yourself for her twice!”
Once Drew’s forearm is bared, with its roadmap of dark pink track marks, I reach for the syringe.
“Lexi . . .”
“Shut up. At least I’m doing it to you while you’re fully awake.” I slide the needle into his forearm and press down on the plunger. “I’m assuming there’s an app you can set up on my phone to tell me where you are at all times?” I drop the needle on his desk.
Drew shifts on the chair again, fully hard. A fact that confuses him, if the way he rubs his hand over his close-cropped hair is any indication. “Yeah, baby, I can set it up right now—”
I drop to my knees before him next, going straight to work on his belt buckle.
“Oh God,” he groans towards the ceiling, neck bulging, hips twitching off the seat.
“This is how it’s going to go from now on, Drew.” His belt snaps open and I tug down his zipper next. “We communicate about everything. Everything.” My fist wraps around his dick, the rigid length trapped along his thigh, and I bring him out.
“Yeah. Okay,” he groans, nodding frantically.
I pump his cock, thumbing the head, before leaning in to place a kiss on it. “I’ve told your uncle to prep a team. We’re completing the Providence goggles, holding the press conference to take Menahan by surprise, then shrinking the tech to spy on him.”
Drew cups the back of my head. “Whatever you want, baby. Just don’t mention him right now. Or my uncle.” He’s already lost to me, stare unfocused, lips slack as he struggles to breath, and I haven’t even begun yet.
I circle his tip with my tongue, loving the fact I can get him this wild this fast. “And Kaylee, Drew. I want her to suffer.”
With a short, desperate moan, he brings me down on his erection, forcing his way in me. “You know I’ll give that to you. I’d make anyone that hurts you suffer, baby.”
That comment rips a moan out of me as I choke on his dick. Mouth stretched tight, I breathe through my nose, relaxing my throat as much as possible.
Stephen tried to force me to learn this skill repeatedly. I never fully gave him the satisfaction. But Drew’s cock in my mouth is my own personal version of heaven, his taste, his reactions, spurring me on to try.
I take him as far as I can, close to the base, my throat jumping when he twitches.
“Holy shit. Holy shit, baby. Suck it just like that.” Holding my head with both hands, he begins thrusting shallowly, breaths punching out of his chest. “Fuck, you’re taking me so deep.”
I’m so fucking wet I can feel it sticking to the inside of my thighs. Losing myself to this sense of power, to this new, vicious, in-control woman he’s bringing about simply by being back in my life, I let him fuck my mouth however he wants, yanking his pants down enough to grab his tight balls.
“Jesus.” He slams one fist against his desk, clearly struggling not to come yet.
On purpose—and because my sweet, psychotic, egotistical man needs to understand I will never be under anyone’s control again—I swallow convulsively around him.
“Crap. You’re going to make me come down your throat. Slow down, baby. Let me enjoy—fuck!”
I tug his balls harder, bobbing my head.
His thighs start shaking, his upper body curling. “Uhhh . . . fuck. Shit. Where did you learn—GOD.” Like a rubber band snapping, all his efforts at controlling himself fly out the window, and out of nowhere he’s fucking my mouth like he did days ago in the back of my truck.
Like he fucks my pussy.
No mercy.
Straight savagery.
By the time he pulses and comes down my throat, I swear I’m wet down to my knees. I have a feeling I’d only love this coming from him, which is fine, because I have no plans of losing this man ever again.
Drew collapses on his chair, coughing as he tries to catch his breath. “Holy shit, Lexi.”
“Do we understand how everything works from now on?” I ask calmly, tucking him back into his pants. Acting like my own pussy isn’t brutally demanding his attention.
In a flash of movement, I’m lifted off the floor. I haven’t even fully registered the fact and I’m deposited on the desk, my skirt shoved past my hips. “Yeah, we do. Equal partners, baby. Which means I get to eat this pussy now as payback.”
Laughing breathlessly, I lean back as Drew slides my thong down my thighs. “What’s the most important thing in Kaylee’s life?”
“That’s easy.” My legs are spread and my man gets comfortable between them. “Her daddy’s approval.” His first kiss on my clit electrocutes me with pleasure and I jerk into it.
“Tell me you already have some dirt on her,” I say between moans.
“Mm-hm,” he mumbles between licks. “But not enough yet. Haven’t been able to get that close.”
“With the new . . . with the new . . . God, right there. Lick. Right. There. Ungh. With the Providence software loaded into the nanobots, that’s about to change.” I cup his head to me like he cupped my head to him, riding that tongue.
Drew pauses to look up at me, a stream of sunlight making his eyes glow. “God, I love you, Lexi. I’m so fucking grateful to have you back.”
I don’t get a chance to reply before he sets back in, eating me like a man possessed, making damn sure I’ll feel him once he’s done feasting on me.
chapter 34
“l
exi, open the door.”
It’s mom.
How do I face her like this? How do I let her see? Hours ago, I dragged myself into the shower because I couldn’t stand to smell him on my skin a second longer.
But the marks he left on my face? Those will takes weeks to fully disappear.
My mother slams her fist against the door. “Lexi, what’s going on? I tried heading to the store this morning and the doors are locked. The phones are down. My cell phone isn’t catching a signal either and there’s no internet access.”
THE FUCK?
Forgetting about the condition of my face, I rush to the door, my broken heart pounding with disbelief.
He already took my virginity against my will.
Violated my mother by injecting her with a tranquilizer in her sleep.
Nearly broke my face apart because I wouldn’t willingly give him what wasn’t his to take.
Now he plans to hold us prisoner here?
I swing the door open—
My mom’s sharp gasp at the sight of me ricochets throughout the hall. “Lexi, what—”
Rushing by her, before the look on her face finishes wrecking me. Within seconds, I’m at the door, tugging on the handle with every ounce of strength left in my sore and aching body.
“Lexi!” Mom grabs me by the shoulders, whirling me to face her. “Oh my God. What did he do to you?” she screams.
Can’t answer that. Feel like I’ll tear apart at my straining seams if I vocalize what was done to me last night.
Shrugging out of mom’s grip, I run to the desktop, trying that next.
Like she stated, no internet access. Only access to my work files for Menahan Industries. No. No. No. It isn’t just me in here. I once again convinced my mother to follow me down the wrong path. He can’t condemn us both to a life imprisoned here.
He can. He can do anything to you now that you’re in his power. To you both. And it’s all your fault.
I run to the apartment’s phone next.
My mother screams my name, following me.
The line is dead. Not even a ringtone. “No. No. He can’t.” My cell is my last hope. Mom already told me hers has no connection, but there’s no way he managed to block the signals from in here.
Right?
Always lying to yourself. No wonder you keep making the wrong choices.
Mom catches me again in my room as I rip my cell off the charger.
Her next gasp is a shattering impact, a bomb that leaves behind the kind of devastation that can never be fixed.
Because I ripped the covers off the bed once I showered in my disgust, but I left them lying on the floor.
The white covers.
The ones stained with my blood.
“Tell me he didn’t. Tell me he didn’t!” she demands, fisting them in her hands, face red and eyes watering.
There’s no service on my phone. Restarting it to troubleshoot would be the next step, yet what’s the point? He did this. He’s using his company’s tech to trap us here.
“Lexi, you talk to me right this instant and you tell me he didn’t do what I think he did.”
I collapse to the floor as she reaches me.
Mom is down here with me in a second, cupping my face, careful to avoid my bruises. “My girl. My little girl. Please tell me this isn’t happening.”
“It’s happening,” I cry. “And it’s all my fault. It’s always my fault. I keep convincing you to run in the wrong direction with me!”
My confirmation drags her down into the trenches of this tragedy with me and the tears leaking down her face will forever be seared in my mind.
In my heart.
She hasn’t cried this hard since Dad died.
I’m jerked into her arms and she rocks me back and forth. “Oh God, no. Not my little girl. No.”
It’s the same exact words that left her mouth that morning that I rushed to get her, screaming at the top of my lungs, the image of that hole in my father’s head seared forever in my mind. I remember it clearly, how she ran to the doorway of the study, took one glimpse at my father’s body, and then rushed to pick me up in her arms. She’d slid down the wall of the hallway and sat there, rocking me just as she is now, repeating those same words like a plea to the God that had abandoned us.
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