by Casey Hagen
There was only one woman who fit the bill now, but he had a feeling Karen would not be okay with his steering the woman he wanted into the company, and then if they approved Beatrice, making sure she was paired with him.
They guarded their reputation with a ferocity he respected. Now he just needed them to give him the latitude to manipulate it.
No challenge there.
He’d never expected things to escalate the way they had at The Cellar days before. He’d hoped she’d discover her father’s infidelity, but not by Wallace Addington’s vulgar display, acting like a horny teenage boy with no finesse, groping a woman half his age.
And not the woman in the pictures Sebastian had brought to him.
Micah knew through the information gathered thus far by Sebastian and his team of private investigators and informants, that Addington had a girlfriend who they could practically guarantee was carrying his child.
Apparently he liked to spread himself to the masses.
Lovely guy.
He’d spent two short weeks with Beatrice, such powerful weeks that his mind couldn’t wrap around the idea of ever laying a hand on another.
So if she walked away?
A sharp rap on the door cut into the dark turn to his thoughts. “Come in,” he called.
Sebastian stepped through the door, impeccable as always in a crisp, black suit. “Good morning, Sebastian.”
“Mr. Alessi,” Sebastian said, laying his briefcase on the desk and popping the clasps.
Micah cocked a hip against his desk and crossed his arms. “How much do I have to pay you to call me Micah?”
Sebastian pulled out a stack of papers, never looking up at Micah when he answered, “There is no amount.”
“And if I make it part of your job description?” Micah asked.
Sebastian glanced up. “I’ll quit.”
Micah grinned. “And if I somehow got your wife to order you to?”
Sebastian’s lip twitched, and he knew he had him. “She scares me, so yes, then I’d call you by your first name.”
Micah pushed away from the desk and took a seat in one of two leather high-back chairs. “Good to know. So, have a seat and tell me what you’ve got.”
Sebastian dropped down to the end of the chair opposite Micah and opened a manila folder. “Where do you want to start? I have a little bit of everything,” he said, shuffling around papers. “Infidelity, information on Bellini, Addington’s dealings, ideas on how to get more information.” Sebastian glanced up. “Pick your poison.”
Micah crossed his ankle over his knee, rested his elbows on the chair, and steepled his fingers. “Infidelity.”
Sebastian nodded. “Okay, so here’s the deal. Karen Flores cannot be bribed. It’s impressive, really. However, she wants to make her clients happy.” He pulled out a business card and handed it to Micah. “She’s willing to interview Beatrice to keep a high profile client happy. You need to sign up for service, but Beatrice has to go through a rigorous interview process. If she passes the interview, Karen will evaluate how you two pair up. If the match looks like it falls in their parameters, she’s willing to facilitate a contract between the two of you.”
Micah flipped the thick card embossed in gold over to find a private cell number. “And if she doesn’t believe we suit?”
Sebastian tipped his head. “Ordinarily, when they hire someone, that person is in the minute they pass all the screenings and interviews. No backing out no matter who they’re paired with. Beatrice would be given an out that others aren’t if she’s paired with anyone other than you. This is huge. Ordinarily, the staff does not get any say in who they’re paired with.” Sebastian rubbed his jaw. “This generous offer has an expiration date. You have three days to get Beatrice in for an interview.”
Micah tapped the card on his knee and imagined the look on Beatrice’s face at the mere suggestion. Here she was, a woman of impeccable breeding. There was no doubt in his mind that she’d see this as reducing her to nothing more than a paid piece of ass. She’d never say it that way of course, and no matter how upscale this company and their employees were, this tipped their already precarious relationship into dangerous territory. She’d be locked in for a year, but damage to their foundation would have been done.
Of course, staying the course came with a mountain of risks as well. Especially if her dad had gotten into bed with Bellini. “Convince a woman with her social stature and a mind of her own, to be employed as a permanent escort of sorts. Of course, three days is plenty,” Micah said with a sharp exhale at the idea of pulling off the impossible.
“You’d be doing her a favor,” Sebastian said, his mouth going hard, all signs of humor gone.
“How’s that?” Micah asked.
“You’d separate her from her family… and Bellini,” Sebastian said.
Micah’s blood ran cold. “So he’s an issue? You’re sure?”
Sebastian leaned back in the chair and sighed. “Unfortunately, yes.”
He clenched his fists, his fingernails curling into his palms and digging into his skin. “Anything else part of the deal?”
“Yes, there is. A half-million-dollar donation on behalf of Infidelity to Safe Haven Domestic Abuse Centers.”
“Done,” Micah said with a nod.
“I told her that part would be no problem.”
“Before she gets out of the tub, what about Bellini?”
Sebastian pulled out the second portion of his report. “He’s expanding the business. Apparently, he also wanted a piece of the pie when the investment opportunity came up with Infidelity. I suspect he wanted to invest through Addington because there’s no way a company like Infidelity would allow a connection of any kind to a known mobster. And of course, Addington had already given the opportunity away,” Sebastian said.
Micah let out a low whistle. “If that’s true, Bellini wouldn’t have taken kindly to that.”
“No. It kind of makes you wonder what he’s forced Addington to do to compensate, doesn’t it?” Sebastian asked.
“Micah?” Beatrice said from the doorway. Her gaze darted back and forth between them.
“Come in, Beatrice,” Micah said, standing and meeting her in the doorway. He took her hand and led her into his office where Sebastian now stood. “I’d like you to meet my most trusted employee, Sebastian Perry.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Beatrice said, offering her hand.
“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Addington,” Sebastian said.
Her hand fell away, and she glanced at Micah, her hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I heard you mention my father.” She turned to Sebastian. “What’s going on?”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Micah said with a wave of his hand.
She slid at glance toward Micah. “And I wasn’t asking you, was I?”
“With all due respect, I work for Mr. Alessi, and I can’t discuss any information I’ve acquired for him without his permission. I hope you understand,” Sebastian said.
She patted his arm. “I do. You’re a loyal employee, and I respect that.” She turned and gave Micah a deceivingly sweet smile. “So what’s it going to be, Micah? Are you going to tell me, or are you going to give Mr. Perry permission to tell me?”
“Please, call me Sebastian.”
“Thank you, Sebastian,” she said with a nod before turning back to Micah. “Well?”
He could tell by the determination in her eyes that she wasn’t about to let this go. Last night, when he’d found her in the chair, she had that same hard edge in her eyes. Like a woman who’d spent her whole life, every last minute, being sugary sweet to everyone around her, and had run clean out of polite.
Every day she spent following her desires, she distanced herself from her parents. The distance and the awakening of all her sexual desires emboldened her to take power, even if it meant against him.
He didn’t like that part.
“It looks like your father is getting into questio
nable business dealings. We don’t know who with or what those deals are just yet, but I intend to find out,” Micah said, careful to leave out all details of Bellini, hoping Sebastian would get the hint to keep that part to himself.
“This is all part of your need for revenge?” she asked.
“In part,” Micah said.
She raised a perfectly arched brow at him.
He gave her a grin. “Surprised I’m admitting it?”
“Actually, yes,” she said.
He clasped her shoulders and kissed her forehead, looking to soften the blow. “I’m not going to back down on giving him his due. At the same time, I’m not going to lie to you about it, either.”
She nodded and smiled. “Good. How can I help?”
Micah froze. “What?”
Sebastian let out a laugh that he quickly concealed behind a cough.
She crossed her arms. “I’ve spent my life devoted to my family. I’ve done everything they’ve asked in order to make them look better. Specifically, my father.” She leaned against the chair and vigorously rubbed her arms. “He’s making a mockery of us. And if he’s getting into questionable dealings, he’s putting my mother’s financial security at risk. While she and I haven’t seen eye to eye of late, she doesn’t deserve to have a man she’s devoted thirty years of her life to running around groping women in gentleman’s clubs all over the city.”
“If I may,” Sebastian said. “If your father is getting into illegal dealings, there’s more than just the family money at risk. Yours and your mother’s safety are at risk, as well.”
“So what do we need to do?” she asked.
Sebastian glanced at Micah. “It wouldn’t hurt to have her take a look around at home and see what she can find.”
It was a wonder Micah’s head didn’t explode at the mere suggestion. “No,” Micah bit out.
“Mr. Alessi—”
“No,” he repeated.
Beatrice shot him a pointed glare. “Yes.” She turned to Sebastian, effectively cutting Micah out of the plan altogether. “What should I be looking for?”
“Receipts for odd amounts,” Sebastian said.
“Sebastian,” Micah growled.
“Contact information with names you may not recognize. Slips of paper with random numbers and no names,” Sebastian went on.
Micah threw out his arms. “Am I standing here?” Micah asked.
“Yes, you are,” she said over her shoulder to him before turning back to Sebastian.
“Beatrice, this isn’t a game,” Micah practically growled.
She whirled on him and pointed her finger right at the center of his chest. “You don’t think I know that? I’m twenty-seven years old and don’t have a job. My parents pay for everything as long as I do their bidding. The day I defied my mother and went out with you, I put that support on the line.”
“You don’t need them. You have—”
She raised her hand in the air and closed her eyes as if grasping for the last bit of patience she possessed. “Don’t you dare say it. I’m not going from parents who support me to dependant on a man to take over where they left off. I have a college degree that’s five years old. How hireable do you think I am? I have an inheritance that I don’t get until I marry. How long until my father dwindles that on women with the direction he’s headed? It doesn’t get any more serious for me, Micah.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to. I don’t like everything you do, either,” she said.
Micah glanced over her head. “Sebastian, would you mind excusing us? We have a few things to discuss.”
“Say no more, Mr. Alessi. Miss Addington,” Sebastian said, taking her hand in his and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “It was an absolute pleasure.”
She smiled and bowed her head slightly. “The pleasure was all mine. And please, call me Beatrice. You’re not on my payroll, and I have a feeling you and I are going to be very good friends.”
“Until next time, Beatrice,” Sebastian said as he headed for the door.
“Sebastian?” Micah called.
“Yes, Mr. Alessi?”
“You’re fired.”
Beatrice gasped, her blond eyebrows snapped so low over her eyes it would be a wonder if she didn’t give herself a migraine.
Sebastian nodded to Beatrice. “Don’t worry, Beatrice. He’s sulking. I’ll be in touch, Mr. Alessi.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Micah said, waving a hand and turning away from him.
At the soft click of the door behind him, Beatrice whirled. “What on earth is wrong with you, and why did you treat him like that?”
“It’s fine. He knows I didn’t mean it,” Micah said, resisting the urge to grin at the fire raging inside her.
“It was rude. And unattractive,” Beatrice said in a haughty tone he’d never heard from her.
One that he wouldn’t mind her turning on him in the bedroom.
He took a step toward her. “So you’re saying you’re not attracted to me anymore?”
She backed up a step. “This isn’t a game.”
He snagged her arm and pulled her to him. “No, it’s not.” He cupped her neck and pulled her under him for a quick, hot kiss, careful to not hover over her lips for too long or he’d be lost and taking her right on his desk.
“Relax,” he murmured. “He’s been with me since my last street fight. He knows I didn’t mean it.”
“Street fight?” she asked with a curious tilt of her head.
He took a step back. “That was another lifetime ago.”
“One that I want you to share with me,” she said softly.
“No.”
“Why not?” she asked.
Micah shook his head and slid his hands in his pockets. “You don’t need to know that version of me. He’s dead and buried.”
She shook her head. “Oh, I don’t think so. I think he’s very much alive in you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you can’t let the need for revenge go,” she said, meeting his suspicious gaze.
“I don’t want you to know that side of me,” he said quietly.
She leaned into him and cupped his cheek. “Micah, if you want me. If you really want me, you’re eventually going to have to let me in.”
He cupped her hand, and turned his lips into her palm. “What if I can’t?”
“You’ll have to let me go,” she said, slipping her hand from his grasp and walking away.
Chapter 3
Beatrice slid on her pumps and stood just as Micah flew around the corner, his eyes taking on that hard edge she both loved and hated.
That intense stare fueled desire in the bedroom, but outside of it, it was the look of a man determined to assert his will and anyone who didn’t comply be damned.
Every time he aimed that look at her, the urge to break through that steel barrier to the damaged man underneath grew.
As did a little resolve of her own.
She could ignore it the way he tried to, but that anger simmered underneath his armor of designer suits and refined power. He operated in a world of moneyed men in an intricate web of old friends and favors owed.
When plans fell apart, he tapped into that raw anger born of poverty, struggle, and pain.
Hatred for the privileged lay in wait to be taunted and manipulated. And when someone cheated him, as those with money in positions of power often did to one another, his rage awoke, and he’d strike.
She had no intention of spending her life with a man driven by revenge to the point that he’d destroy his own life and the lives of those around him to get it.
She wanted to see her father knocked down a peg for his misdeeds, too, but she didn’t need to burn down the house to kill the spider. She would not see everything her mother worked for reduced to ashes as collateral damage.
The last time she saw her mother, they’d fought about Beatrice’s newfound independence. She’d said things to her mother she n
ow, in light of recent events especially, regretted. She’d acted as a petulant child instead of the grown woman she was.
No matter her mother’s assertions on Beatrice’s life, born of years of duty and breeding, she didn’t deserve to be humiliated among their social circle because her father was a misogynistic, womanizing pig.
“Beatrice,” he said with a searing growl, his hands curled into fists at his sides.
“Yes, Micah,” she answered, leaning against the island and taking a sip of her coffee.
He took a deep breath, his rigid shoulders so tight it was a wonder he didn’t snap. “My past wasn’t part of the deal.”
“I’m making it part of the deal,” she said.
He ate up the space between them and loomed over her. “No.”
“Yes,” she said, cupping his cheek, offering him comfort. He’d never hurt her. She’d bet her life on the fact that he’d never lay a hand on her in anger, but the volatile energy within him fed a constant thrum of tension that sapped her of energy and dulled her happiness.
And his.
Inserting herself into his deal of revenge against her father wasn’t just about saving her mother.
It was about saving Micah from himself.
He closed his eyes and when they opened, they shone with a newfound determination. “Then I have a deal of my own. If you want me, all of me, including my shame, I want a commitment.”
She shook her head and took a step away from him. “I’m not marrying you.”
“I’m not asking you to,” he said quietly.
Her gaze snapped to his. What was he up to? “Then what’s the deal?”
His lip twitched. “A year-long contract with Infidelity as my companion.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and set her coffee down next to her. The sound of ceramic clanking against granite too hard echoed throughout the room. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
He leaned against the island and crossed one ankle over the other as if they were talking about how they were planning a day of antique shopping when she had the terrible feeling that he might have actually suggested that she become a high-priced hooker for him. If that was where he was going with this, she might just unearth enough rage of her own to skin him alive for it.