by Laura Bailey
Her shattering orgasm against his mouth excited him more than anything he had ever experienced, his balls feeling like they were going to explode from her wanton sexuality, her uninhibited abandon like nothing he had felt with anyone before and he fell in love with her in that instant.
He had wanted nothing more than to tease her slowly, but her wildness broke his will and he couldn’t stop from rising and untying her legs, lifting them high above his shoulders and plunging straight into her, desperately needing to bury himself as deep as he could inside her beautiful sex, and he pounded his cock into her, studying the expression in her eyes as he drove her to orgasm with hard fast strokes, her head thrashing, her eyes never leaving his as he let himself go without restraint, unifying them in a primal mating as he exploded into her.
He lay on top of her, gently sucking and caressing her breasts before taking her again a little later, much more gently in a slow exquisite seduction.
Chapter Seventeen
The next day, she expected Daniel to come into her room to tell her that he would see her that evening. She hadn’t seen him all day. She stayed working until seven thirty and when Daniel still hadn’t come in, she decided to go next door and see him, hoping he would suggest they leave together, but his office was empty, and she realised he had left without talking to her. With disappointment she made her way home and sat listlessly for much of the evening, in restless contemplation.
The next morning she was eager to be at work, excited at the thought of seeing him, happy she realised for the first time in so long. On the way through the office she stopped at the reception desk to check if any post was for Daniel, looking for an excuse to go and see him. Sahira was standing behind the desk.
“He looks so handsome,” she said to Madeline.
“Who?” She wasn’t really interested, just being polite.
“Daniel. Look”
On the screen was a picture of Daniel in a dinner suit with the most stunning woman on his arm.”
“Last night at a fundraiser,” Sahira said.
The caption above the picture said, “Daniel Harker and Caroline Rodgers back together again.”
The woman had her arm through Daniel’s, pouting seductively for the camera.
Madeline felt like she was going to throw up. Her heart was hammering in her chest and nausea wrestled with the rising anger she felt. Her hand went to the desk to steady herself, as she bent over. Sahira looked at her.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes, well no, I feel a bit off. I woke up like it this morning.”
“You don’t look too good, you’re really pale.”
“I think I might have to go home, I fell pretty nauseous.”
“Yes I think that’s a good idea. I will let Daniel know for you, ok?”
“Ok, thank you.”
“Take care.”
As she reached the elevator, waiting for it to come, she hunched over, cramps coming in her stomach and tears forming in her eyes.
Out on the street she let the tears come, walking in a daze wanting to get home as quickly as possible. She hailed a cab and within a few minutes was home just wanting to hide herself away from the world.
For two days she stayed inside. She heard nothing from Daniel. She barely ate and when she did there was no taste to it. On the second day having slept late, unable to find the will to get out of bed, she finally got up with a new resolve and purpose to complete the task she had set out to do, the very reason she had come here. Even more so was her need for revenge now.
Rifling through all the files she had taken from Daniel’s office, she lay them across the floor and categorised them into two piles – one to be disregarded as irrelevant and the other to be given to a forensic accountant who would look into the information in order to determine if he could find any irregularities, any hint of wrongdoing. Those files mostly related to his charitable affairs.
Her doorbell rang making Maddy jump. She went to the window and looked out to the doorstep but her view was almost completely obscured by a shrub. She could just make out what looked like a bouquet of flowers. At first she thought it was Daniel but she couldn’t see the limo parked outside and guessed it was a courier. Angry that he could so smoothly have the nerve to send her flowers, she stormed to the door ready to throw them in the bin once she had collected them. Stunned she saw Daniel standing there as she opened the door.
“Hey. How are you feeling?” He handed her the flowers and she took them automatically. She was conscious of how unkempt she must look, hair down, no make up on and just a robe wrapped around her.
“Are you not going to invite me in?” he asked, though he gave her no option, coming forward to enter.
Madeline tried to stop him. “I’m not feeling too good.”
“Let me in and let’s take a look at you. Maybe you need a doctor.”
He took hold of her arms and eased her sideways to give him room to come in.
His arrogance astounded her, barging his way into her tiny home.
“I’m not sure you’re girlfriend would approve of you ‘taking a look at me!’ She couldn’t hold it back.
“My what?”
“Your girlfriend.”
“I don’t have a ‘girlfriend’ although if you want to use such terms then you would be the closest thing to that.”
“Really, that’s funny because apparently you were with your girlfriend at a fundraiser a couple of nights ago and I’m pretty sure I didn’t go to it.”
“Madeline. I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.”
“Ok, then let me show you. Obviously it has slipped your mind, given the number of women you are involved with I guess you are hardly to blame for not remembering them all.”
She stormed into the living room to grab her laptop to show him, when in the heat of her anger she suddenly realised the mistake she had made. He had followed her into the lounge.
He stood staring at the paperwork strewn across the floor. Momentarily frozen in shock, she rushed to the laptop.
“What the hell is this?”
He could clearly see the files were on his headed notepaper, the company logo plain to see.
She came toward him in an attempt to block his view, obscure the files from his sight but they were spread all over the floor.
“I’m just catching up on some work I brought home.”
“Move out of the way.”
He bent to pick a couple of the pages up.
“Just what the hell are you doing with my financial records?”
This couldn’t be happening. How was she going to explain this?
“I told you; I was just going through some work.”
“My financial records have nothing to do with your work. These are not in any way relevant to you. This one,” He held it up to her face, “is over ten years old, from my locked files.”
If she had been a man, she was pretty sure he would have hit her from the tightness of his body and the anger blazing in his eyes.
“I want an explanation. Now.”
She was shaking, frightened at his reaction, upset that she had been caught before she had even found what she needed. This was too soon.
“I’ve told you.”
“Don’t be absurd Madeline. I’m not a fool. There’s a term for this. It’s called industrial espionage. The penalty being a prison sentence, possibly quite lengthy. Who hired you to do this?”
He was shattered, his faith in her destroyed in this moment. Why would she do this to him? Although people had done worse over the years. Why was he even surprised at the depths people would sink to anymore? He just hadn’t thought she would. Though he had known, in truth, that she had been holding back, that there was something secretive and hidden about her. He had known . He had even recognised something in her, a cold ruthlessness that he had seen as a kindred reflection of himself. A secretiveness that he had believed hid a vulnerability of sadness. What he hadn’t expected was that it would be turned on
him.
As the silence grew between them Madeline wondered what would he do to her now, once she confronted him? He had left her with little choice but to tell him now, but this had gone horribly wrong, her victory looking far from triumphant.
“These are one of two copies; the other I gave to a forensic accounting investigator. He is looking for the irregularities going back over many years, with particular emphasis on your charitable affairs, and more specifically on your investments in children’s homes, including the sudden withdrawal of funds and the resulting closure of Summerfield House. Do you remember that one?”
“No I don’t. When was that?”
“It was seventeen years ago.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“You don’t remember it?”
“No. That was before my time. I was not involved in the business then, I was eighteen. “
“No, but your Father was, your Father, who left the entire business to you.”
“And?”
“He closed down that children’s home, suddenly, with no warning, withdrew the funding. It was an independent charity, a single home, and when he closed it the children were forced to go into state funded care. Have you any idea what state funded care would have been like for those children, as you lived with your Father, playing in your ancestral mansion?”
“I attended a boarding school from the age of five. I spent very little of my childhood in our mansion. My Mother died when I was four years old. My father sent me away. When I returned for the holidays he was seldom there. I was raised by hired help.”
This revelation halted her. She had followed Daniel’s adult life, not his childhood. She had no idea he had grown up without his mother.
“But regardless, I do not know what it would have been like in a state run home. Why don’t you tell me Madeline?
He had guessed, quite obviously, that she had been one of those children forced out of the home she had loved and placed in state care.
“Your Father was responsible for sending those children to be ill treated in the most cruel ways.”
“My Father. Not me.”
“Your Father’s gone. I couldn’t get to him.”
“So you wanted to get to me. I’m sorry.”
They stood looking at each other.
“No-one will ever hurt you again.”
Tears fell from her eyes as the memories flooded her and her heart broke at the false promise of this man.
“You are not a man to trust.”
Bitter tears ran down her face as she grabbed the laptop and quickly found the picture; the caption still below. She held the screen to him. He looked at it and then immediately back at her.
“I would never have expected you to read such trashy websites. My God, you seriously believe what these kind of sites publish? For God’s sake! I dated that woman a couple of times over four years ago. She is not my ‘girlfriend’ nor was she ever, and we are not back together. She does however often attend the same fundraisers as I and is a very generous supporter of many of the same Charities I support. You know I am heavily involved in several charities. I know this doesn’t make up for what happened to you Madeline, but I am not my Father.
He took hold of her by the shoulders.
“Look at me. I will never let any harm come to you again. You are mine, and I will protect you. No-one will ever hurt you again. We have a long journey ahead of us Madeline, and I am going to be there with you every step of the way.”