by Jayne Rylon
Ryan nodded. “If you’re not back in an hour, I’m coming after you.”
“Fair enough.” She tugged him lower for a gentle kiss. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.”
But he didn’t look certain when he disappeared behind the curtains.
Lily ignored the fine vibration of her fingers as she laid them on the brass handle at the top of the short flight of stairs. She hadn’t had to use her mind-your-own-business glare even once on the trip to Morselli’s office, though she’d passed several housekeeping carts at a brisk yet reasonable pace.
Bits of muffled conversations bulged then faded away, echoing through the hallway as she passed by. She wondered if anyone had heard her cries as she submitted to Jeremy last night or the gentle murmur of their hushed conversation this morning.
Damn him for conning her. He played the game like a pro—she’d give him that.
Shaking off the lingering blend of disgust and disappointment laying heavy in her gut, she pressed her ear to the door and held her breath. As she expected, she heard exactly nothing. Not even the rustling of someone dusting the mantle disturbed the absolute silence.
In and out, Lily. Get it done.
She shoved the panel far enough to slip behind the thick, blood-red curtains. The reek caused by overpowering cologne with a hint of expensive whiskey choked her. Morselli probably considered the stank attractive. Nasty.
Early afternoon sunshine sparkled through the window, casting her shadow across the desk and a trophy case on the opposite wall when she nudged the material aside. The pounding of her heart obscured the sound of birds swooping over the lush grounds or the splash of gentle waterfalls emptying into the nearby pond.
How could something so disgusting be nestled in the heart of such beauty? It would have seemed more fitting if the estate had looked like the wicked witch’s tower or maybe the cracks of doom. Instead, she wondered where to begin her search. Skipping obvious spots like the notes on the desk blotter, she aimed for something a little subtler.
Without the security of locked doors and easy access to house staff, Morselli wouldn’t dare leave crucial information in plain sight. Skimming the shelves of a barrister bookcase, she found nothing but antique volumes on hunting. After riffling through a chest in the corner, turning up nothing more damning than a bone-handled knife, which looked brand new, she wondered if the trip had been a bust.
Lily spun in a circle, scanning every surface for signs of recent use. Dust-free and pristine, the room provided no clues. The light glinted off a crystal decanter on the mantle. Sparkles danced off the surface and the mirror behind it.
A smudge marred the gleaming surface.
She snuck around a wing-backed chair and across the floor with a glance toward the open door. Something about the mark raised her suspicions. It didn’t seem like a brush from someone reaching for a drink. Besides, who kept the good stuff here when a full mahogany bar graced the corner of the room?
Thankful for her gloves, Lily put her thumb on top of the larger print and gripped the edge of the mirror. It swung a few inches outward. Braced for a monumental crash, she was surprised by the glide of well-oiled hinges.
Holy shit.
If she’d discovered a safe, she could send someone to try and crack the code. Despite their personal differences, she would share the info with Jeremy and the rest of the men in blue. Nothing mattered more than putting Morselli out of business and eliminating the threat he posed.
The computer whiz had suffered a lot of trouble to break into the inner sanctum, even going as far as fucking her senseless to secure what he sought. He’d do the right thing. When it came to the case.
Lily shook her head, averting her thoughts from the rocky slope. Damage could be buried. She’d learned pain management techniques at a young age. Refined them by the time she turned twenty.
Disappointment hit like a tidal wave when the space behind the mirror turned out to be solid wood paneling, no pinpad, dial, keyhole or other anomaly in sight. Elation began to drain from her bloodstream, leaving exhaustion in its wake. Stretching to secure the fixture in its original position, her fingertips curled over the bottom of the mirror.
They landed on a tiny cubby hollowed from the inside section of the frame. A thin capsule the size of her pinky tumbled out when she wiggled her fingers inside the space.
She caught a USB drive in the center of her palm before it could smack the ground. For the space of several racing heartbeats, she stared at the device, unable to believe her luck. A grin spread across her face, distorted in the beveled edge of the mirror, as she resealed the hiding spot.
A flicker of movement in the space behind her stopped her dead.
Morselli’s chuckle sent ice down her spine. “Oh, this is going to be the most fun I’ve had in years.”
It took another precious second for her to realize he hadn’t spoken directly to her.
He wandered from the office door deeper into the room next door. Whether on the phone or conversing with someone accompanying him, she couldn’t tell. And she didn’t wait to find out.
Lily bolted for her escape route. She’d barely ducked behind the curtain when the clink of glasses on the sleek bar assured her the monster had joined her in his office. Searching her memory, she couldn’t be sure the door to the passage had opened silently.
Before she could decide to risk it, Morselli wandered nearer. He plopped into his executive chair, kicking his feet up onto the surface of his desk. Reclined, he balanced his highball glass on his paunch. If he turned his head a fraction more he’d spot her in the shadows. Thank god for her dark red leather, which blended as well as could be hoped with the dreadful curtains.
“Are you sure you’re willing to do what it takes to earn more of the drug? I can’t say I blame you. The spectacle your Mistress made on her knees last night would be enough to tempt most men. Too bad you can’t get her there without chemicals. They don’t come cheap.”
Jeremy! It had to be him. Could he really plan to drug her again? Maybe after today. He had to know she wouldn’t bend for him willingly ever again. Still, some sliver of her heart prayed for a mistake. Some crazy explanation.
“Once she’s mine, I’ll have her daddy’s money to spare. No problems there, friend.” Jeremy’s sleazy tone cut her to the bone.
Too bad for him, she’d spent the bulk of her share of the Buchanan fortune in aid packages for the women she’d rescued earlier in the year and the hefty fees she’d earned as a Mistress on supplying allied buyers cash to purchase freedom for others.
Lily grasped for rage. She tried to pull indignation around her like a shield as she had so often before. This time when she pumped the well, all she surfaced was misery and desolation. She couldn’t fight on her own anymore.
That hadn’t been a lie.
A tiny gasp escaped her throat.
“What was that?” Morselli’s feet clomped to the floor.
Her eyes widened as her fingers curled in the starchy fabric abrading them. She prayed the end came quickly though she couldn’t imagine fate helping her out now when it never had before.
Chapter Nineteen
Jeremy bolted for the window, attempting to appear calm when his guts quaked like a mountain of green Jell-O. The squeak had become familiar to him sometime around three am when he’d slid his cock into the tightest, hottest pussy he’d ever had and fucked his way to nirvana.
How could she believe it’d been nothing more than carnal satisfaction?
Oh, maybe because she’d been drugged. Add to that the fact no one had ever earned her trust in her entire life. Of course she’d expect him to deceive her at the first opportunity. He couldn’t wait to prove her wrong.
To do that, they both had to make it out of here in one piece.
He stepped between Morselli and the curtains Ryan had frantically explained concealed a tangle of paths riddling the compound. Every cell in his being screamed for him to peek i
n Lily’s direction and reassure her. Instead, he concentrated on the landscape outside the window.
“Must have been one of those birds.” He motioned toward the pond with his untouched drink. Like he’d ingest anything this loser handed him. “What are they? Herons?”
“Yeah.” Morselli grabbed a set of binoculars off a pile of junk near his desk. “They’re loud as shit sometimes. Maybe I’ll take a little target practice later.”
Jeremy reined in the urge to punch the asshole. Satisfying as it might be, it wouldn’t serve his purpose. He glanced toward a display case overflowing with antique guns on the far wall, opposite Lily’s hiding spot. “Looks like you have a sweet collection over there.”
“Sweet.” Morselli laughed so hard he burst into a coughing fit.
From the cover of his hip, Jeremy waved his fingers toward the wall. Run, Lily.
He slapped his host on the back hard enough to inspire another round of giant exhalations then laughed as loud as he could justify as reasonable. “Drink much?”
Fuckwad. He appended the insult in his mind, but he couldn’t restrain himself from stealing a glimpse of the gently swaying curtain. A slice of light hung behind it where only shadows had lingered moments before.
Morselli swiped at his mouth with the sleeve of a silk shirt that probably cost as much as the Chief made in a month. “What kind of pussy says sweet, anyway?”
The kind that just snuck his woman from your grubby clutches. Jeremy grinned and shrugged, wondering how much longer he’d have to endure the slimy bastard before he could reunite with Lily.
Even more difficult to predict was whether he’d squeeze her in half or turn her ass bright red first.
Jeremy marched toward his quarters, attempting to maintain a sedate pace while dreading what he would find inside. Would she be there?
She had to be there.
Please God, let her be there.
The instant Matt and Clint came into sight, his heart plummeted. Dread etched deep grooves around their eyes and mouths.
“JRad. I’m sorry, man.” Clint shook his head.
He threw his hand out, skimming it over the wall to keep from crashing as he staggered the last ten feet toward his rooms. “She didn’t come home?”
“Not willingly.” Matt’s hedging ignited a spark of hope. “Ryan called off the 10-57 when she showed up in her office.”
“Oh, shit.” He clutched his chest. Relief weakened his knees. Matt’s arm slung around his shoulders for the instant it took to regain his balance. He waved toward the partners. “So what’s with the angst?”
“Like I said, she didn’t seem to appreciate how upset you were when you realized she’d taken off on her own.” Clint ducked his head. “She fought us. I didn’t have a choice. To bring her back here—”
“We had to tie her up and force her, carry her, kicking and screaming.” Matt flinched when Jeremy shifted out of his grasp.
“What kind of dickhead do you think I am?” He glared at his friends. “You kept her safe no matter what the fool tried to do to herself. Hell, probably looks good for Morselli on the cameras anyway. I’m not going to beat you up for doing as I asked.”
“You could try.” Clint couldn’t help the knee-jerk reaction. The men in blue talked shit on a fairly constant basis. In some twisted way, the familiar taunting lightened Jeremy’s load.
Muffled shouts leaked into the hallway.
“Uh, she’s still pretty pissed,” Matt warned.
“That makes two of us.” Jeremy’s enduring terror vaporized into a cloud of steaming anger. What if he hadn’t blocked the hacker and they realized she’d fought on their side for months, if not years? What if he hadn’t intercepted Morselli on the way to his office? What if the fucker hadn’t been half-sloshed in the middle of the afternoon? What if the evil bastard had turned one instant sooner and caught Lily behind the curtains?
Clint groaned. “And I might not be able to have kids. She speared me with one of those hot-as-hell heels.”
“Okay, that part was pretty classic.” Matt chuckled. “But someone’s going to have to smooth things over with her staff or they’ll riot. Lucas and Steve will need backup pretty soon. She has a lot of guys rooting for her. You better fix things quick so she can order them to stand down.”
“Or take her back.” Clint looked as though he’d drunk a swig of bitter beer.
“If she’s changed her mind…” Jeremy scratched the prickle of his beard. “If she isn’t the woman I thought, I’ll let her go. We’ll figure something out. Either we’ll lock them in safely or ship them out before someone really gets hurt.”
The bitch of it was he already had. If Lily had lied to him—if she’d run the moment his back was turned—she couldn’t be the woman he’d fallen hard for.
Damn it.
He stormed into his apartment and slammed the door behind him. The vase gracing the nearby table rattled. If he could have done it twice as hard he would have when the sight of his disobedient lover, trussed and gagged in the middle of his bed, inflated his cock from soft to full erection in a heartbeat.
The sway of her ass as she wriggled against the silky sheets launched him beyond sane reasoning straight into raw reaction. He leapt onto the bed, blanketing her struggling form with his, smothering her attempts at escape.
“Oh no you don’t.” He pinned her, face down, to the mattress. “You wormed away from me once. Not again.”
Despite the gravelly tone of his voice, she didn’t seem deterred. If anything, she fought harder, bucking like a world-class bronco beneath him. He squelched her revolt without mercy.
Unfortunately, the full-body tackle left his hard-on nestled in the valley of her ass.
Shrill shrieks ebbed into moans. Lily quit fighting.
“Careful, darling,” he growled into her ear. “Don’t mistake my lust for leniency. You better have a fantastic reason for skipping out on me.”
He flipped her over, sinking over her again.
Icy blue eyes met his, unblinking.
“Tell me why you did it.” He tugged the cloth from between her lips onto her chin, and left it in case he needed to replace it quickly. If she spouted one single lie that had his heart yearning to make poor decisions, he’d silence her.
Sharp teeth sank into his finger.
“Son of a bitch.” He turned her again. The crack of his hand on her leather-coated ass startled them both. He’d bet the noise far outweighed any sting that penetrated to her tight cheeks. Rolling on top of her, he settled in, his legs spread on either side of her bound ankles and knees. Trussed, her hands fisted in the small of her back. They formed two small rocks beneath his abs.
“Why, Lily? Why didn’t you wait for me?” He buried his face in her hair, grateful despite her betrayal to have her close. Safe.
“Fuck you,” she snarled. “Don’t play the injured party. You had to know I would run if I could.”
Suspicion had infiltrated his mind on the long walk from Morselli’s office. It couldn’t be, could it? “Do you want Sex Offender for yourself? All this time…have you been waiting for a chance to cut in on the action?”
With one side of her face mashed against the mattress, she stared at him from the corner of her pretty eyes as though he’d lost his mind.
“Is that what this is really about, Lily? Are you trying to one-up me for information?”
“Fuck no. And I heard your buy from Morselli. As if it’s not bad enough you conned me into giving it up willingly.” All the fight leeched from her body. “Now you’ll take me by force.”
Jeremy struggled to maintain his fury when she played possum. The appreciative Dom inside him ached to cuddle her close and relish her yielding. She would anticipate his triggers better than anyone. She could turn his instincts against him.
“Quit playing games! You know that was bullshit. I had to do something to keep your ass out of the fire. I had to think of a reason to show up there. Alone.” He tried to ignore her flinch when he bar
ked in her face. “Don’t you fucking realize how close you came to ending it all? For you and every person you claim to care about.”
Jeremy didn’t bother spelling it out. He’d counted himself among those ranks for a little while. Dumbass.
“I’m not the one who broke my promise.” Fragmented speech could have resulted from true emotion or his bulk, which squished the breath from her lungs.
Moving now would be impossible in either case. “You didn’t? Running off by yourself without taking a single person for backup? What the hell was so important you couldn’t wait thirty more minutes for me to take care of the cyber attack?”
“What—”
“Not a great strategy in any case. You could have roped me into it with you and still screwed me over afterward. I would have been blinded by the stars in my eyes. At least I would have protected you while you snuck around there like James fucking Bond. Or maybe Austin Powers is more like it.”
“You abandoned me.” She glared at him through slitted eyes. Sharp claws pinched his stomach. “Don’t try to turn this around.”
“Shit.” He hissed at the sting of the slices she’d raked across his six-pack. How sick did it make him that the burn steeled his cock further? “Would you rather they had dug around in my files? Maybe I should have allowed them to poke through all the pictures I’ve collected of you? All the testimonials and evidence I’ve hoarded to fireproof your ungrateful ass when the shit hits the fan?”
“I’m confused,” she whispered. Eyelashes swiped her cheek as she blinked furiously. “What are you saying?”
“That even though you played me like a fool, I’d still never stand for anyone to put you away. Because despite whatever fucking shenanigans you pulled today, I don’t believe for one second you’re in this for the drug. So tell me. Now.” He shook her. “Why the hell didn’t you wait for me to handle shit so we could visit Morselli together?”
“I didn’t know there was shit to handle other than him. Steve told me you were gone. That you’d ordered them to hold me until you came back. A prisoner in my own fucking space.”