His Vengeance, Marriage and a Baby: He hated her for cockolding him with his brother. Now he wanted vengeance.

by Sabel Simmons

  “Your father was wrong, my beauty. You were beautiful when you were eighteen. Now you are exquisite and all woman.”

  His hand loosened around her hair and he allowed it to fall between his fingers, following the silken strands with his eyes.

  “I love your hair. It is quite a pity your daughter takes after you. It would have been so much easier had she taken after her father.”

  “I told you she is too young to be …”

  “Here’s the thing, Amber. I don’t believe you. If you were so innocent, why did you run and hide for eleven years?”

  “You are kidding, right? You are a Jordan, now the most powerful of them all. Back then it was your parents too. You were all set out to destroy me for something I had no guilt in. If you were in my shoes, would you have stayed?”

  “But I am not in your shoes and you are correct, my beauty. I am powerful. Extremely so. It would be in your best interest to never forget that!”

  He dropped his hands from her arms and turned, striding to the door. He looked at her over his shoulder.

  “Are you coming, Amber?”

  The inappropriate thought flashed through her mind.

  Not yet, but I am damn close!

  The grin on his lips told her he read her thoughts and she cursed him viciously. He laughed outright when she stormed past him and he followed her slowly. Watching her provocative hips swaying seductively in her anger.

  He sobered as he thought back over time and how he came to hate this woman. It would take little provocation to wrap his hand around her throat and squeeze. Squeeze until she could not beg anymore, until her voice cracked, her eyes dimmed.

  “God dammit!”

  His hoarse curse echoed around him and he stopped to bring his emotions under control, his hands fisted inside his pant pockets.

  How fickle was the mind … and in his case … his damn body! Even with thoughts of hate and vengeance churning through him, all he wanted to do was throw her on the floor, spread those beautiful long legs and bury his aching shaft so deep inside her that she screamed. He promised her once she would take all of him. The time was near that she would. She would not escape him again, even if he had to keep her under lock and key.

  Yeah, right … with the thought of her whoring herself under Paul’s body flashing through my mind all the time!

  No, he would refrain. Refrain until he has expunged all the vengeance he had to avenge his brother’s death. His mother’s destruction and resulted plummet from grace. His father’s inability to accept his youngest son’s death and to this day became a shell of the man he used to be. They stopped living eleven years ago … they just were … from day to day … leaving him to pick up the pieces and ensured they continued to … just be … at the age of twenty three. Turning him into a hard, ruthless bastard that did not think twice to destroy people. He learned his lesson at a young age. No one was to be trusted, especially redheaded, purple eyed witches who took your heart and crushed it ruthlessly and carelessly.

  Once she has paid her dues for that, he would demand his own and take his vengeance. For her biggest injustice was against him … and for that he would take ultimate pleasure in extracting his vengeance!

  “Your father told me you decided to stay in Miami.”

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you go after Cleveland, Amber?”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Suffice it to say that it does. Where?”

  She stubbornly kept her lips pressed together. The moment they entered the coffee shop he guided her to a separate table in the corner away from her family. Damien’s eyebrows rose and his eyes glittered dangerously.

  “It would be in your family’s interest to cooperate with me, Amber. I am sure you are aware of my … ehm … how shall I put it, my vested interest in your family?

  She glared at him, clearly not as intimidated by him as she should be, had she known him better.

  “Sitka, Alaska.”

  He stiffened and he cursed viciously making her cringe.

  “You brought your daughter up in a small town such as that! A gifted daughter! How bloody selfish can you be?”

  “Go to hell! If you just let me be, I wouldn’t have had to!”

  “If you did not run, it could have been over eleven years ago!”

  “Really? Just like that? I might not know you for the man you are now, but I sure as hell knew some of you and your family back then. It would never have been just … over!”

  “Hmm … you do have a point. So, where are you going to stay?”

  “At my parents place for now.”

  “For now?”

  “Oh, drop the act! You know very well I am back for good! You and Dad already discussed my future employment!”

  He chuckled and leaned closer. The anger and resentment in his eyes in contrast with his mirth.

  “Yeah, but you do react so well. Feisty and exquisite. Quite a combination you’ve turned into. What does Zoey’s father say about you taking her away?”

  “It’s none of your business!”

  “Ah, but that is where you are wrong, Amber. Everything as far as you are concerned, from this point forward, is my business.”

  She fumed and her eyes obliterated him. He leaned back in his chair. Amber noticed that Zoey watched them covertly and she cursed. With her sudden infatuation with who her father was, she was most probably putting two and two together and came up with thee.

  “Have you arranged for your furniture to be moved here?”

  “No.”

  “So, you’re leaving an open door to run back to.”

  “Now that you know where to, what would the point be?”

  He searched her eyes and his body was stiff and unyielding in the chair. He was even more handsome now at the mature age of thirty five than he was in his twenties. His body was big and strong, she could feel the hard, muscled contours when he pressed her against him. His body was the perfect tapered male form, with wide shoulders, a broad chest, narrow, lean hips and long, muscular thighs. At first glance she had to force herself not to gape at the strength and tensile beauty of his exquisite musculature enhanced by a natural bronze tan. He carried himself with dignity and confidence oozed out of him.

  She forgot how handsome he was, no, scrap that. He was plain gorgeous, so much so that glancing at him now she found it impossible to look away. Amber felt her heart beat faster and then time slowed. Her heart followed, slowing while thumping louder and louder in her chest.

  His faced was chiseled with a square jaw, straight nose and almond shaped eyes, of course in that steely, ice grey, silver shade that could tear her to shreds. His mouth was wide and his lips firm with a slightly fuller bottom lip. So damn kissable, her mouth watered. He caught her watching him and she lowered her eyes. His hands … oh damn … those hands that could drive a woman insane with need … they were large and just as masculine as the rest of his body.

  “Like what you see, Amber?”

  He drawled seductively and his jean clad leg caressed against her naked calves below the table. She nearly jumped out of the chair, but cognizant of Zoey’s watchful eyes, forced herself to remain still.

  “Don’t flatter yourself!”

  He chuckled, his eyes lowered to her chest and then back to taunt her.

  “Every word out of your mouth might be a lie, my beauty, but your body on the other hand …”

  She pressed her lips tight in a straight line, well aware that her traitorous nipples have shriveled and were hard, pointy nubs. His discerning eyes clearly not missing anything.

  “I’m waiting, Amber.”

  She took a moment to realize he was referring to their discussion, not his last question and she felt a slow blush color her cheeks. There was no sign of the strong, considerate man he used to be. One that showed how much he cared for others. She sighed. He was worse than Zoey. He just did not let up!

  “It would have cost more to get everything here than they are worth. I broug
ht everything I could fit in my car. Once everything is settled and we move into our own place, I’ll buy what we need.”

  His jaw turned rigid and his eyes blazed into hers. Zoey sauntered over and flopped down in the chair between them, looking from the one to the other.

  “Are you fighting?”

  “No, hon.”

  “It sure looks as if you’re fighting.”

  “Like your mother says, squirt. We’re not. What I am trying to find out is where you lived in Sitka.”

  “You know where Sitka is? I did not think anyone but we knew where it was!”

  “Yes, I do. As a matter of fact … I’ve been there three times over the past six months.”

  “Really? You should have let Mom know and came to visit! We never got to see anyone.”

  “Wha … what were you doing there?”

  Amber asked quietly, now sure it was him she saw one afternoon on the road when she was on her way to the gym.

  “We took over the airport there. We will start operating there within the next two months.”

  “Why there? I hated that place! Now that Mom agreed we could move here, Sitka will never see me again! That’s for sure!”

  “So, where did you stay and what did your Mom do there?”

  “Damien! Leave Zoey out of this!”

  “Well, I want answers and if you don’t want to …”

  “We lived in a two bedroom apartment on Lincoln Street across from the harbor and I worked at the Alaska Housing Department as a Bookkeeper.”

  “And she was a personal trainer at the Varsity Gym three nights a week and on Saturdays. She also baked and decorated cakes and cupcakes.”

  The more information Zoey so willingly spurted out, the angrier Damien became. His face a veritable thunderstorm, ready to explode. Amber sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

  “You have a headache again, Mom? I told you to go to the doctor weeks before we left! She’s been waking up with headaches for months!”

  Zoey told Damien frowning at her questioningly. Amber lifted her head and held her hands up.

  “Please Zoey, I am fine! It was nothing more than stress. Now please go and get me some more coffee.”

  “You had three jobs and your whole household was not worth bringing with?”

  She looked at him, angry that he would not let this go.

  “It was Sitka with less than seven thousand people. I earned peanuts!”

  He still glared at her and she snapped.

  “What the hell do you want from me, Damien? Do you want me to tell you that we were poor and there were nights that I went to bed hungry? Or that all the furniture in our apartment was bought at the secondhand store and so worn out they were falling apart? Or how about that I hardly slept two hours most nights between the three jobs and trying to study for my degree? That I could not afford to put Zoey in a school for the gifted where she belonged? That she had to make do with cheap retail store clothes and never in her life experienced a birthday party with all her friends!”

  By now tears ran down her cheeks. She jumped up, nearly throwing the chair over in her haste and ran outside.

  Damien was so angry at her outburst and what she said it took him a moment to kick his chair back and rush after her. He found her around the corner leaning against the wall, her breathing haggard and her body shaking. He cursed and walked into her, pushing her back against the wall and engulfed the rest of her body with his muscled frame. She shrieked and pushed against him, but he was like a brick wall.

  “Damn you! Let me go!”

  She had nowhere to go. His arms were pushed up beneath her arms and rested flat against the wall behind her, effectively trapping her and her arms could only go one place, around his shoulders.

  “Look at me, Amber.”

  She refused and kept her gaze glued to the top button of his shirt. He pressed deeper into her, flattening her breasts against his chest, his torso flush against hers and he grinded his hard arousal into her softness. She gasped and his mouth swooped down to take full and hungry possession of hers. The kiss was over as quickly as it began and he pushed away from her, standing a step away drawing harsh breaths into his lungs.

  Amber leaned against the wall, trying to pull herself together. She could kick herself for how she reacted, for everything she said. Not even her parents or Ashton knew the things she just threw at his head. She took a deep breath and looked at him. The dark hatred in his eyes burned a hole in her heart.

  “If you think telling me your woebegone story of hardship is going to sway me, you are sadly mistaken, Amber. I am sorry though that your daughter had to suffer for your actions of being a coward that could not face the repercussions of your actions.”

  She paled and shivered at his heartlessness. Her distress clearly not softening his hate for her.

  “Now here’s another warning. If you lied to me and I find out that Zoey is a Jordan, you will pay for withholding her from a life she deserved from the day she was born. I ask you again, Amber. Is Zoey Paul’s child?”

  “Go. To. Hell!”

  Chapter Four

  “Who is Paul, Mom?”

  Amber felt every cell in her body turn into stone. She closed her eyes and prayed for strength. She turned and found Zoey standing just inside her bedroom door with her hands clasped in front of her and her toes crossed over. Exactly how she used to when she was little and did something wrong.

  “Who told you about him?”

  “I’m sorry, Mom. I know you taught me it is wrong to eavesdrop, but I went looking for you because you looked so upset when you ran out of the coffee shop. I … heard Uncle Damien ask you if … I was Paul’s child.”

  She drew her hand over her eyes and sat down on her bed. She was tired. So tired of all the years of running, of loneliness, of lying … she was just tired.

  “Paul Jordan … he is … was Damien’s brother.”

  “Wa … was?”

  “He died in a car crash … eleven years ago.”

  Zoey’s legs gave way and she sank down on the floor against the wall. Her eyes were huge in her face.

  “Died … he is … dead?”

  “Zoey, honey don’t cry.”

  “But he was, wasn’t he? He was my Dad?”

  Amber rose and sat down next to Zoey and drew her in her arms, but she slapped her hands away.

  “NO! No, Mom! I want to know! Was he my Dad?”

  She saw a movement in the door and looked up and cursed.

  “What are you doing here? Why the hell can’t you just leave me alone?”

  “I came to see if you were alright and I seem to have come at just the right time.”

  His eyes burned into hers and the expression on his face promised retribution of such nature she shivered. His eyes swung to Zoey. He went down on his haunches in front of her and stroked her hair. She leaned into his hand and he swallowed hard.

  “How old are you, Zoey?”

  “Te … ten.”

  He took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. His voice sounded like death itself in the now quiet room. He kept his eyes on the teenager in front of him.

  “We are waiting, Amber. Is Zoey Paul’s child?”

  She swallowed and looked at her beautiful daughter. She could not answer him with her here. She could not allow her daughter to hear what happened … how she might have been conceived. All because of retribution.

  “Zoey, honey. I promise I will tell you later, but will you please let me talk to Damien first.”

  “You swear, Mom!”

  “I swear, Zoey.”

  She watched her walk away and heard her close her bedroom door behind her. Damien rose and turned to close and lock the door. Amber slowly stood up to face him.

  “I warned you not to lie to me, Amber. How much longer are you going to make me wait?”

  “Damien … it is not that easy.”

  “Enough! Is she Paul’s child?” He nearly shouted at her.

  “I don
’t know!” She yelled back at him.

  He blanched and turned into a statue. He incinerated her with the hatred in his eyes.

  “You don’t know? How many others did you whore yourself to after me?”

  She gasped. The pain in her heart quadrupled at the hurtful attack.

  “Answer me, damn you!”

  “No one!”

  “Are you telling me she could be mine?”

  “Yes!”

  His face turned ferocious. His heart felt on the verge of exploding with anger at this beautiful woman. He emitted a vicious growl and slapped her. The blow was so hard she spun and fell on the bed. Before she could catch her breath from shock he fell on top of her, his legs clamping her lower body on the bed. Her cheek was on fire and tears trickled over her temples. His large hand closed around her neck and he squeezed. Amber panicked realizing he lost control. His anger culminated into a furious cruel rage with annihilation his single aim.

  “How could you! How could you keep my child from me!”

  He squeezed harder and Amber started struggling to breathe. Her hands clawed at his hard hand around her throat.

  “You … do … n’t … know. She … could be …”

  He squeezed harder and she coughed desperate to draw a deep breath, to alleviate the hard pressure around her throat.

  “I know she’s mine. I can feel it, I felt it the moment I looked into her eyes. You kept her from me, Amber!”

  Her eyes were wide and pleading, she felt dizzy and knew she was close to passing out. He was slowly denying her the oxygen she needed and she pleaded in a raw voice.

  “I … can’t breathe … Please stop! Da … mien!”

  He rose higher over her, adding more pressure around her throat, his face harsh and cruel.

  “You don’t deserve to breathe! Ten years! You had ten years!”

  “Pl … ease … oh God … I .. ca .. n’t …”

  He slowly eased the pressure around her throat until his hand only clasped her tight, but at least she could breathe. She coughed and struggled against him. Desperate to sit up to draw deep breathes, but he refused to budge. He watched her with an expressionless face drawing deep desperate breaths into her painful lungs. Her chest rising and falling with her desperation. The tears continued to run over her temples.