by ZN Willett
“That’s not going to happen.”
I glared at him. His tone was harsh. “If I say that I need some time then—”
“You can say whatever you like, Quinn. But I’m not going anywhere.”
“The hell you won’t!”
He pressed against me. “You don’t want that any more than I do.” He looked at me daring me to say I did. The ass was right. “You can punish me all you want, but you will not push me away.”
“You have no choice—” I felt his hand sliding up my leg. “Colby! Don’t even think about it. You can’t always think that sex will make me submit.” He pressed harder against me, and I felt exactly what was on his mind. My body instantly started to pulsate everywhere as my thighs squeezed tightly together trying to control the ache between my legs. Christopher’s eyes said he knew exactly how I was affected.
“I’ve hired a nurse to look after Joseph.”
“I will be here—”
“He needs a professional for a while. She cooks as well, and will make sure he eats proper meals. Constance will be over tonight to stay with him.”
“No. I didn’t ask you to do that.”
He ignored me. “She will be here at seven. The car will pick you up then. You’re staying with me tonight and—”
“Are you serious? I’m not going anywhere—”
“Then we stay here. But, either way Quinn, you are staying with me.”
I inhaled deeply, while I tightened my thighs. “You think that I’m going to sleep with you after what you did? You’re lucky that I’m even talking to your dumbass.”
He chuckled, which only annoyed me further. “No, like I said. I expect to be punished for what I did. But tonight, I plan to start making up for that mistake. Quinn . . . let me take care of you . . . of this.”
I focused on his green eyes as they willed for my submission. “ . . . I’m perfectly able to clean up the mess that you have created.”
He stepped closer, moved a strand of hair off of my face and said, “Very capable.”
I knew that Christopher loved me, but did he love me enough to watch me destroy everything he had worked for? “We’re at a crossroad,” I said more to myself. “It’s not fair,” I whispered under my breath. Our time had been short, and the thought of losing Christopher . . . I didn’t want to think about the future alone with him not being there. When he started to wrap his arms around me, I stepped away. “We need to end this now . . .” My voice cracked. He stepped closer, as I took a step back. “Please. . . I can’t.” Closer, then back. “Nothing good will come of this.”
Another step closer and he breathed out, “Tell me to go . . . tell me that you never want to see me again.” He took hold of my hands, and stared into my eyes before stating, “Did you think I blindly walked into this relationship? Not weighing all of the facts? I knew what loving you would mean. When I said I would fight for us, that’s to the end.”
“It’s your family.”
His eyes darkened, as he stood looking through mine. You could tell he stopped himself from saying something as he composed himself. “And they will always be my family.”
“Until they find out what you’re up too.” I knew his calculating mind was hard at work.
“It’s time for a change in government.”
“And you’re willing to cross your Mother on my behalf?”
“Our behalf.” He raised our clasped hands to his lips, as they brushed over the back of my fingers. “The question falls to you, are we in this together?” He knew the answer before even asking me. The confidence on his face was clear. “Say it.”
“Yes.” Even though I sounded a bit hesitant, he looked assured. To my surprise, a bit relieved. He wasn’t the only one.
“Tonight, I will give you some space. But Friday, you are mine. I’ll have the car pick you up at seven. Dress for dinner.”
“I’m not in the mood—”
“You’re having dinner with me. I have a feeling we’re going to need to be seen in public, and I know of the perfect place.”
Christopher’s mind was turning, and whatever he was thinking intrigued me. “What are you up to, Colby?”
He grinned, as he leaned in to kiss me. “You’ll see.”
“You look beautiful.” His eyes unhurriedly perused down my body as he took me in. “Is that new?”
“You know it’s not.” Christopher’s eyes darkened at the memory.
That familiar grin came as he said, “Oh, I remember this dress. Quite well, in fact. I am a bit disappointed that the other ‘dress’ hasn’t come out to play.”
The last time I wore it, I almost dislocated my hip bone. Christopher seemed to have a thing for corset bodices. He had held my legs wide and high that day, on the bathroom countertop during a break from a meeting. Every time the women’s bathroom knob started to turn, he would spread me wider, daring me to scream out. If someone asked if anyone was in there, he would pull back, before pounding deeper inside me. I almost screamed out for mercy a few times, but when I came for the second—or fourth—time, he broke me. The moment my orgasm rushed over me, he fell immediately to his knees, and his mouth engulfed me. The pleasure intensified and Christopher refused to let up. Another surge ripped through me, and I remembered thinking that this was how I was going to die. And then, not caring if I did.
You could tell that Christopher was remembering the same thing, which made me think that I should have chosen something else to wear. “You will be waiting a while before I let you ‘play’ again, Colby.”
He stared at me grinning, and perusing my body again.
“Shall we get this over with?” I asked, a bit too breathless. I took a few deep breaths and focused as I stepped into the back seat of the car; Christopher sat down next to me as the driver took off.
The restaurant was crowded. It looked as if a large event was going on next door at the connecting hotel. Christopher hadn’t mentioned his plans, yet. I asked, demanded, and threatened, but he only kept telling me soon.
The crowded dining room felt as if it were closing in on us as we both sat watching the other. Little was said, but he spoke volumes with his eyes. The intensity of his stare grew as he sat back, drinking his red wine. I watched as his lips pressed against the glass, mouth opened as the tip of his tongue tasted the sweet liquid. His Adam’s apple trailed down the wet . . . damn it! “I hope this isn’t one of your tricks, Colby!”
Puzzled, he tilted his head and asked, “Quinn? Why . . .” He lifted the glass to his lips again and smirked.
“Are you telling me the plan or are we going to sit here all night?”
“You know I enjoy the pleasure of your company, so the latter is fine with me.”
“You either tell me, or I’m going back. I shouldn’t even be here, away from Joseph.”
“Joseph is in capable hands and you know it. Constance will take excellent care of him. He told me so himself.” He chuckled.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Christopher shook his head, brushing me off. He acted as if I didn’t notice that the moment my father knew that Constance was coming to stay with him, he put on aftershave. Without shaving. She walked through the door, and he offered to help her in the kitchen. The man had never turned on the stove, let alone knows where his pots are kept. Constance was old school and assembled her soup from scratch. She had made the broth ahead of time, but all of the other ingredients for the chicken udon soup had to be prepared fresh. Christopher and I left them to it, and part of me felt weird that my father was obviously attracted to a woman other than my mother. I knew that my mother would have wanted him to move on eventually, and she would have loved Constance.
When the entrees arrived, I asked Christopher, why? Why would he risk everything to help me? Yes, I knew he loved me, but did he love me enough to go against his family? Our love was new, and I wanted the bitch to go down. But I knew that if Christopher went through with whatever he was planning, he might regret it one day.
I was afraid that “one day” would be sooner than we thought.
Christopher listened while I expressed my concerns. He didn’t say anything, which only served to make me more irritated than I was before.
“I know what I’m doing, Quinn.”
“That may be, but I know you are protective—”
“Of the people I love.”
“For now.”
“That’s what you’re worried about?” He moved his chair closer. “I thought that I had lost you when you walked into that meeting. And, I never want to feel that way again.” I looked away from him. The intensity of his eyes, combined with his words overwhelmed me. And I wasn’t feeling comfortable with that feeling.
We eventually finished our entrees, which we ate mainly in silence. We both had a lot on our minds. When the waiter came to take our dessert order, I couldn’t go on like that anymore. “No, I do not want dessert.” I snapped, startling the man. “Sorry.” He scurried away. I addressed Christopher. “Why am I here?”
He placed his napkin over his plate, sat back, and crossed his legs. “Patience, Quinn.”
“I’ve been here all night without any answers.”
“It will be well worth the wait.”
“That’s what you’ve been saying for the past two hours.”
“I’m not entertaining enough for you? Just last week, you seemed not to mind my company when—”
“That was different, and you know damn well a lot has happened since last week. So, you can stop this . . . whatever it is you’re doing or planning to do. I am very capable of handling your mother, myself.”
He arched a brow, looking damn sure of himself, which only pissed me off more than I already was. As I started to reach for my handbag, I heard the bitch’s voice. Hell no!
“Mother, father, what are you doing here?”
“I was going to ask you the same question. Tonight is the charity gala.” She looked back and forth between Christopher and me.
I was about to ask what kind of a game he was playing, but, the witch turned to me and had the audacity to ask me about my father. “I’m surprised you don’t know. He died today.”
The bitch didn’t even blink. It took everything she had to hold back the joy that was rising in her cold dead soul.
“Quinn?” Christopher looked over somewhat surprised and amused.
“Ms. Cordell. I find no humor in that.”
Oh, we were back to Ms. Cordell.
I stood, about to express exactly how I felt about her, when all of our cell phones rang. Mine showed a 911 text from the home office stating a security breach. It looked as if we had all received the same message.
“How is this happening?” Millicent asked Thomas. She looked at Christopher. “Wasn’t a new security system put in last year?”
Christopher didn’t answer, just placed a call to Brian, Vice President of corporate security. “Talk!” He listened while getting as many details as he could. “We’re heading over now. No need. We’re all together.” He looked at me and said, “We need to go.”
I grabbed my things as we headed out of the restaurant.
“Christopher, what is going on?”
“I’ll fill you in when we get there.” He told the maître de, “Put it on my tab,” as we walked out and into the waiting car.
There was no way I was waiting until we were across town to find out what the hell was going on. From Christopher’s reaction, this was not a part of his plan. The moment the driver shut the door, I grabbed Christopher’s arm. “Tell me. Now!”
“It looks as if someone broke into the main server,” he said, a bit too calmly.
“How could that happen? We performed updates just last month.”
“It could be a hacker, perhaps.”
We’d had our share of cyber-attacks. Many had tried to get our cardholders’ personal banking information. We had been able to block these attacks by periodically upgrading our system. “I don’t get it. We have one of the best security systems in the world. They would have had to go through hundreds of firewalls alone to start with. And once they penetrated the walls, the system’s alarms activate immediately. It doesn’t add up.” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I noticed Christopher pouring himself a drink as he savored the liquid, immensely.
Before I could question him, he picked up his cell and asked, “It’s done?” While he listened to whoever was on the other end. I soon found out it was someone named Lex. “Good. We’re on our way.” He hung up, taking another sip of his drink.
I stared at him as he swirled the ice cubes in his glass. He looked back, saying nothing, waiting while I sorted everything out. I called Brian, asking if there was a specific area that had been hit. He stated the financials were breached. I had assumed that, although when he mentioned the hit had been on the charitable foundation specifically, I was curious as to why. We kept the nonprofit sector separate from the other financials. It had been a request from the Colbys. Millicent Colby, to be exact. The Colbys had a substantially large established endowment, and keeping it separate had been part of the merger agreement.
I continued to sort this out while Christopher sat calmly beside me. “What are you up to?”
He grinned. “Sit back and relax. I think you’re going to enjoy watching the fireworks.”
“Is it unethical?”
“Don’t ask.”
“I have a right to—”
“I’m not saying that you don’t. I’m asking you to trust me on this.”
“You’re asking a hell of a lot, Colby.”
“Trust me.”
I sat back in my seat. This had better be good.
When we arrived, we headed straight for Brian’s office. “Anything else?” Christopher asked.
“No. But . . .”
“What is it?” I asked.
“They were able to download everything.”
“How the hell does that happen?” Christopher yelled out, startling me.
Damn! He could act when he wanted to. This information made me wonder how many times he had “acted” with me.
“Brian, you need to contain this or you will find yourself out on your ass by morning!” Millicent spoke up behind us. She was ever the snake, slithering in quietly on her belly.
“We need to control the damage before the markets open in the morning,” Thomas added.
“I called for a lockdown, sir. My team will find out who did this.”
“They had better. You have twelve hours to contain this. Christopher—”
“Mother, I’m on it. Quinn?”
“I called Evan, he’s on his way. I want a full audit done by morning.”
“Find out who did this!” Millicent shouted, as she stormed off.
“Son, as soon as you know something,” Thomas said, and then looked at me. “Quinn . . . I haven’t . . . my sincere apologies. I’m sure that Christopher has told you everything that occurred regarding this situation with the Board and Joseph.”
“He did. It doesn’t change the fact that you are a coward. None of this would have happened if you were half of the man your son is.”
I had heard Christopher’s reaction before I saw it on his face as he stood behind his father. Thomas, frozen, was searching for something before he gave me a pathetic, apologetic, grin. “You know, you remind me of someone I used to know.”
“Who gives a damn?”
He chuckled. “True indeed. Again, my apologies. I truly wish Joseph good health.” I had snorted at him before he left.
Christopher walked up to me. “Can you excuse us?” Brian quickly collected a few things as he left his office. “Twelve hours!” Christopher shouted behind him.
The moment the door closed, he grabbed me and pressed his warm lips firmly against mine. We stood, each staring at the other before I relaxed into the kiss. My lips began to loosen up as he kissed first my top, then bottom lip. Soft, yet gently pulling me in deeper. My heart was beating rapidly with each breath. The heaviness tha
t weighed down on my chest grew deeper with each sweep of his tongue.
I pulled back first. “Christopher . . . I can’t.”
His forehead met mine, and he stared into my eyes. I was expecting him to protest, yet he took a step back and said, “I’ll be in my office.”
I wanted nothing more than for him to come back and take what he wanted. However, I knew he would never do that until I gave him permission, and that wasn’t something I was ready to do . . .
. . . yet.
“Quinn, it looks as if nothing was tampered with, though Reagan did notice something strange. The figures are off for the foundation. She found an accounting error in reporting the contributions. We’re going through and checking the figures again.”
“Whatever you have to do Evan, do it quickly.”
“I’m trying to, but the lockdown only left me with the bare minimum staff.”
In events like these, only key officers are informed. A security breach of this magnitude could tank our stock. A leak of any sort could do damage. We bring in only the necessary people and no one else. Reagan was called in because she had been working alongside Evan. And, she was a Colby, who we could trust. After all, it was her bottom line that could be affected in this.
Where was Christopher again?
His office, I thought. Doing who knows what, while he left me to figure out the puzzle he had created. We were at code red, and Christopher didn’t even leave me a hint. And I thought we were doing this together. I knew he had done this to protect me, nevertheless he could have made this—whatever it was—easier to find.
I wasn’t sure how far Christopher would go, and the crumbs that were left behind were getting harder to follow. All the financials had been touched in some way, and even though nothing seemed to have shifted, something was off. And, he was making us work to find it.
The moment I saw Reagan’s eyes, I knew she had found it. She kept saying that it had to be wrong. I knew it had to be right. It took all night, and the ass made us work for it. Again, another way that he covered for me. Whatever it was, if I were called into question, I would not know anything. I truly had nothing to do with it. And, all of my actions were straight by the book. Finance was under my department, and if any tampering had been done, the Board would eventually look at me. There were only three Board members who could withdraw from this particular account; another stipulation from the merger. Me, whoever became CEO, and Millicent Colby. The foundation was controlled solely by her.