The first three years had flown by because she’d still been in college, and then she went to law school. After she’d passed the bar, Ralph had demanded she be with him in Denver where he was on the Broncos team. He was already on rocky grounds with them, and he thought her presence would influence John Elway, the general manager. That was her Ralph; he was always willing to exploit her beauty to get his way. He loved the fact that his teammates had been in awe when they’d first met her. Whenever any man showed an interest in her that seemed to turn him on more, and his lovemaking later would be almost violent. Of course, he’d apologize afterward with the same explanation—that he’d gotten carried away with lust.
Nakia had long since learned to turn off her emotions during those episodes, because, while she didn’t mind rough sex, she realized that he wasn’t trying to have rough sex with her. He was trying to punish her for being desirable to other men. She knew he had problems, but he was so sweet to her when he wasn’t being a demon, and she was trying to live a Christian life, cleave to one’s husband and all that. But Lord, this road was rough sometimes. She’d somehow talked him into letting her move to Miami after she’d passed the state bar and now worked at one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States. That was why her feelings for one of the senior partners of the Ragnarson Law Firm was such a no-go zone.
Her crush on Justin had started innocent enough, and then hearing him give a speech at a legal symposium in Miami had changed all of that six months ago. He was not only a gorgeous virile man; he was incredibly brilliant. She’d gone into overdrive researching his previous cases and arguments and had fallen even more in love with him. Nothing could have prepared her for their meeting today. Today was the first time in her life she’d feelt such intense desire for any man. She felt both ashamed and sinful that her husband had never gotten that response from her.
Ralph maintained his litany of complaints for the next half-hour until their flight was called. She was happy when he fell asleep ten minutes into their almost-three-hour flight to Miami. However, she knew her reprieve wouldn’t last for long.
They’d been home for about an hour before he lit into her again about the man at the airport. Granted, it was after he’d received a call from his agent, dropping him as client. She should have expected what happened, but never would she have anticipated such violence from him.
It happened after she’d taken a shower and was sitting on a stool in the bathroom meticulously taking off her makeup, as she did nightly.
“You won’t let me fuck you anymore! You think I don’t know what you’re about? You’ve been working in that damn white law firm too long. Now you want white cock. Is that it?”
Not turning away from her chore, she made three mistakes in that moment. First, she rolled her eyes, next she let him see her do it from the reflection in the mirror, and then she was not on her guard immediately after.
His fist connected with the side of her head, causing her neck to snap awkwardly and her head to turn and extend to an angle that wasn’t natural. The flesh inside of her cheek smashed against her teeth, causing it to split, and blood immediately pooled in her mouth. Pain ricocheted throughout her head. She was a mass of pain so intense she almost fainted.
“Are you crazy?!?!” he yelled. “You think I’ll let you fuck another man right under my nose?”
She tried to stand, but her legs and her head weren’t steady enough to navigate something as complicated as walking. She immediately fell back into the chair she’d been sitting in.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He punched her in the face again. “Maybe if I rearrange this pretty face of yours, men will stop eye fucking you all the damn time!”
Nakia knew she had to move, even if she had to crawl, and let the dead weight of her body and gravity drag her to the floor. Thank God it wasn’t far, so the fall wasn’t painful. However, his booted foot to her ribs made up for any caution she’d taken. The hard crack of something within her—she wasn’t sure what it was—seemed loud in her ear. Pain unlike anything she’d ever felt in her life crashed through her body. Then the sound of a blood-curdling scream pierced the air. She only realized then that screaming was coming from her when his boot connected to her bruised ribs again and it knocked the wind out of her. The only thought she had then was to get help, because the gun in her handbag and those self-defense classes she’d taken couldn’t help her now. She could barely raise a finger, much less a foot or a hand, to fight him off. She pressed the panic button on her watch, which was linked to a domestic violence hotline. The person at the other end of the panic call could track where she was and would call the nearest police station.
Ralph kicked her again, this time breaking something that made her numb and so dazed she had only seconds of consciousness left.
She only hoped that help arrived before he killed her.
Chapter Two
Justin Ragnarson paced his office in Austin, Texas, with a glass of whisky clasped tightly in his palm. This was his third, or maybe his fourth, glass of the potent brew. He was wound so tight from waiting on news about the mystery woman he’d bumped into at the airport that he doubted whether he could get drunk at this point. She really wasn’t much of a mystery. While he didn’t know her name, he knew that she worked for their firm in the Miami office. He’d seen her a few months back, and he’d had to continuously remind himself that he was trying to save his marriage. If he’d acted on his interest then, at least he would have known her name. As it was, given the Miami office had over three hundred employees, he didn’t even know which department to look in and not every employee had a photo in their records.
Letting her go with that maniac husband of hers had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. He kept telling himself that this was about his innate need to protect and to act when wrong was being perpetrated. The soldier, the man in him, hated that this had happened under his watch. He had to make this right.
He’d encountered enough domestic violence cases to recognize the behavior, the aggression, and language they used. He shouldn’t have let her leave with him. On the pretext of looking for a better coffee shop for Melissa, he’d combed the airport in the general direction that they’d taken and had found them purely by the stunned look on some spectators’ faces as they witnessed the husband continue to berate her. Justin had had an overwhelming urge to pick her up and take her out of there. And when she’d put the earplugs in her ear and her Kindle in her face, he was slightly mollified that she would be okay. Lifting his phone discreetly, he’d taken a picture of her and noted that their flight to Miami was in about an hour.
The fact that he’d taken out her picture at least fifty times in the past hour to look at her beautiful face and stunning body should have warned him of what he was really feeling.
“What’s going on, little brother?” His brother Colt walked into the office without knocking.
Justin scowled at him and continued pacing without answering the question. He looked at his phone for about the hundredth time in the past hour wondering what the fuck was taking Roscoe so long to call him back. Roscoe was a cop friend he knew from his army days, who thankfully worked for the police in Miami. Despite the picture, they had yet to identify who his mystery woman was. He could’ve easily called human resources and gotten the answer quickly, but he didn’t need that kind of gossip in the firm about him and whoever she was.
“You called my wife in a dead panic a few hours ago looking to locate some woman you met in the airport. My wife, who tries hard to stay out of our family drama, was most upset that she might be helping you to cheat on your wife. Is that what this is? Are you cheating on Melissa?”
“Fuck you, man. Does it look like I’m cheating on my wife? I don’t know who she is! How the fuck would I be having an affair with her?” Justin tried to control his escalating impatience. He didn’t give a shit what Colt thought of his determined focus on finding her. Yes, he found the woman ext
remely attractive, but he would never break his vows. At least, he tried to tell himself that he wasn’t lying. “Do you have the information or not?”
“You’re talking about Imani, right? Of course, Imani found her,” Colt murmured drolly as he handed Justin an envelope. “She’s one of ours,” Colt told him before he opened the package.
“One of ours? You mean, someone who works in our firm, right?” He wanted to clarify, not that he didn’t already know she worked for them, but he hated Colt taking any kind of ownership where she was concerned. And he had no problem pretending that he didn’t already know that she worked for them. Colt would be asking even more damning questions he wasn’t prepared to answer.
“Yeah. Nakia McKenzie is one of our junior lawyers in the Miami office.”
Justin savored the name on his tongue; even her name intrigued him. He knew he was all kinda messed up now. “And her husband?” Justin didn’t bother opening the file now that Colt was being so forthcoming.
Colt gave a short bark of laughter. “You mean besides being an arrogant prick? He’s a football player.”
“Of course,” Justin muttered bitterly. Now he understood the over-exaggerated testosterone levels. He was a bit disappointed that she was so easily swayed that she’d fallen for a jock.
“He was training with the team in Dallas for a few weeks before they released him three days ago with a promised consideration of a contract. That’s why you saw them on their way home to Miami.”
“Where are they now? Did Imani find out where she is? Is she okay?”
“She’s at Doctor’s Hospital—”
“What the fuck!” Justin grabbed his keys from his desk. “You knew this and didn’t…” He stared at Colt in disbelief. Didn’t he realize how worried he’d been?
“Justin, wait!”
Of course, he didn’t wait to hear what his brother had to say. He sprinted for the door.
But Colt wasn’t like any normal brother. He was a decorated US colonel and hadn’t lost an ounce of his fitness since his retirement from the US Army three years ago. He grabbed Justin’s arm, and the only way for Justin to dislodge it was to hurt his brother.
“I said wait,” Colt bit out.
“What?” Justin wanted to see her. The only thought in his head was getting to her as soon as possible.
“The husband has been arrested. Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.” Colt’s grip tightened on his arm. “She’s in intensive care.”
“Why are we still here?” Justin roared. “I need to see her.” Now in a cold fury, his emotions were volatile, out of control, and he wanted to tear her husband apart bit by bit.
“That’s what I don’t understand, little brother. What’s going on? Is Melissa right? Are you having an affair with Nakia?”
“Dude, I met her face to face for the first time in the damn airport! When was I supposed to have fucked her or had a damn relationship with her?” How could he explain his feelings to Colt? Hell, he couldn’t explain them to himself.
“You just met her today and you’re ready to kill someone for her? What’s going on, Justin? If you don’t have feelings for her, what the fuck is going on?” Colt’s voice softened. “What’s this about? Help me understand.” His brother gave him a penetrating look, and Justin knew he wasn’t going to like what Colt said next. “You’ve never been into African American women before. Is this about Imani?”
“Fuck you, man! I’m outta here.” Justin made it as far as the elevators before Colt caught up to him. This time Colt didn’t try to stop him; he entered the elevator with him.
“I’m sorry. That was out of line.”
“Damn straight it was. Imani is my sister. What the fuck, man?”
“Again, I’m sorry. You know how I get when it comes to my wife.” Colt looked away sheepishly.
“Yeah, a real asshole.”
Colt laughed.
Justin didn’t return his smile.
Colt sobered, cleared his throat, and then followed Justin off the elevator. “I’ve already told Dirk to fuel the jet.”
Justin was still too angry to speak. His grunt would have to serve as a thanks.
They were in the car speeding toward the airport before Colt spoke again. “I was out of line back there, but I had to know. If you’re not having an affair, the way you’re acting gives every indication that your interest in Nakia is less than innocent. I’ve never seen you this intense about a woman, not even Melissa.”
“Leave it,” Justin muttered. He wasn’t ready to talk about Nakia yet. His entire focus was on getting to her and making sure she was okay.
“All right, I’ll leave it. But you have Melissa very worried.”
Justin laughed bitterly. “I’ll bet she is. Any woman who has been lying to her husband for the past five years need to be fuckin’ worried.”
“What happened?”
Justin shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about that either. And he sure as fuck didn’t want to think about his wife. He’d been avoiding that topic now for the past two months, and he still had no idea what he wanted to do about her. He knew what he had to do. The fascination about Nakia notwithstanding, he’d thought himself in love with Melissa. There had never been a divorce in their family, and he’d had no intention of being the first one. Fuck it, he’d think of this shit later. First, he had to see Nakia and ensure she recovered from the damage he should have prevented.
“Justin? And don’t tell me leave it. You’re my brother, and you were there for me when shit started going sideways with Imani. Let me return the favor for you now.”
Justin stared straight ahead. He had no idea how to tell his brother that he’d been made a fool of. That he, former Special Forces Ops, had been suckered and led around by the nose by a manipulative woman for five years! Fuck, he’d thought himself sterile and was almost to the point of taking fertility drugs all because his wife from jump had insisted that she’d wanted a baby and then had done everything in her power to ensure that she never got pregnant. She’d convinced him that he was the one with fertility issues.
He’d felt so guilty over what he thought was his deficiency that he’d overlooked shit she did like spending money faster than he could make it. Until he found out that he was on the brink of bankruptcy. No way would he ask his family for financial support.
However, he’d caught her, and he grimaced now thinking about how he found out. After performing to produce this phantom baby his wife insisted that they were trying for, he’d gone in her bathroom to clean up for the first time in years. To this day, he still had no idea why he’d done that. It wasn’t as if his bathroom was occupied or far away; he’d just wanted to be close to her. For fuck’s sake, he’d wanted to cuddle, to hold her.
Instead, he walked in on her removing a vaginal contraceptive. He’d blinked and shaken his head to try clear it. There was no way he was seeing what was in front of him. It had to be a mirage, or he was being punked!
She’d stared at him in horror for a split second before she’d started lying. “It’s not what you think, Justin.”
“No? You’ve no idea what I think, sweetheart,” he’d said coolly, completely masking the bitterness he’d felt inside. The bile churning his stomach had everything to do with the realization that the woman he loved was lying to him. And he had to wonder, what else was she lying about?
“You don’t know what I’m going through. Tiffany and Bianca were featured on the front page of the Chronicle for the annual Heart Ball two years in a row. I can’t get pregnant now, Justin. I need to fit into my dress. When you see it, you’re going to love it! It’s the most amazing dress, and it’s a Valentino original. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? They’ll have no choice but to feature me on every newspaper in the city.”
“If you didn’t want a child, why go through the pretense of trying for one? Why make me think that I was shooting blanks? Why make my life so fuckin’ unbearabl
e for the past few years?” Justin spun around and stalked back into the bedroom. He had to get dressed. He’d had to get out of there before he did something that would get him arrested.
“Don’t be like that, baby,” she pleaded as she ran behind him. “I saw how you were after Colt and Imani had their baby. You wanted that happiness, and I was trying to help. Besides, I thought you were having fun. You know, with all that unlimited mind-blowing sex. I thought you’d like the trying part immensely.”
“You’re fuckin’ unbelievable.” He’d starred at her as though seeing her for the first time, and it probably was the first time he’d seen her through the veneer of truth. And she was coming up far short.
“I know, honey. I know,” she soothed. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about having to stay in shape for my dress. But after Imani’s dress that one year, and then my girlfriends, I just couldn’t—”
“Christ! Are you for real?” He couldn’t believe that she was trying to pass this off as something as casual as not telling him about fitting into a ball gown. As though she hadn’t just ripped his heart from his chest and stomped on it. Not to mention almost forcing him into bankruptcy with her woman-of-leisure bullshit! Between the extravagant shopping trips, expensive cars, and the countless plastic surgeries, he’d lost his savings and had been steadily working on losing all that he’d earned in the past two years since leaving the army.
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