by Sofia Finn
“I sent her home.”
“You fired her?”
“No. But she had a bad case of nerves because today was her daughter’s first day of preschool. I know what that’s like. She wouldn’t have been good for the rest of the day, so I let her take the day off. I hope that’s okay. ”
It was hard to explain the feeling that ran through me, a clenching feeling that gripped me in my chest. “Daughter?” For some reason, my voice sounded hoarse. “She has a daughter?”
“Yep. A 3-year-old. Said she’s starting school today.”
I let the new information sink in, and then the shock turned slowly to rage. Three years old? It didn’t take a genius to do the math on that and realize that something wasn’t adding up. I let out a snarl that had Carol glancing at me sharply.
She had been pregnant. Maddie fucking Flynn had been pregnant when she ran out on my brother.
4
Cage
The questions had fired through my mind as I’d driven to the address on Maddie’s file. Nothing short of murderous thoughts had followed. She had to pay for what she had done, how she had betrayed Ben.
But, standing at her doorstep and staring down at her, it was hard to know what to say.
She’d changed out of her scrubs and was now wearing a breezy sundress that molded her figure. Her breasts were a little bigger than I remembered them to be, a peek of cleavage hinting at the soft, creamy skin underneath the flowy garment.
I felt a stirring in my cock.
Fuck.
After all these years, why does she still have that effect on me?
The desire only heightened my anger, and I dragged my eyes back to her face tight with fear.
“What are you doing here?” she croaked.
For some reason, her fear pissed me off even more. She had no right to be afraid of me. She was the criminal here. She had stolen my brother’s child, had not given him a chance to know his daughter…or the daughter a chance to know her father. And I was completely certain that Ben had no idea of the existence of the child. He wasn’t one to keep secrets like that. Even if he did keep it from everyone else, he would have told me. He told me everything.
And the fact that he hadn’t meant that Maddie hadn’t told him.
And God only knew what she was doing with the child because the Maddie Flynn I knew didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. If she was still drinking, she could be worse than an incompetent mother. She could be a plain old abusive one.
“Who is it, mommy?” a soft voice said, followed by a pattering of feet.
The voice was like a bucket of ice water, bringing my fury down several notches. A little girl with bright blue eyes and curly red hair blinked up at me, one hand on the hem of her mother’s dress.
Holy shit. Besides the hair and eye color, she was the spitting image of Ben as a child.
She had the same upturned nose, the impish gleam in their eyes, and dimples that looked like they were carved deep into her cheeks. She had a few freckles over her nose, which she likely got from her mother, but her skin was a few shades darker than Maddie’s. Just like Ben’s. Everything about the girl, from the way she cocked her head inquisitively to the fact that she couldn’t stand still, shifting from one leg to another, told me that she was definitely Ben’s child.
“Care to introduce us?” The anger was still simmering, but I kept my voice light and curious to not frighten the child.
“Um….” She clearly didn’t want to, but my expression dared her to say no. “Ela, this is my…friend from work. His name is Cage. Cage, this is my…daughter, Ela.”
“Hello,” Ela said with a little wave.
I dropped down in a squat so that I could be closer to eye level with her. “Hello, Ela. Is that short for anything?”
She shook her head vigorously. “No. It’s just Ela.” Pause. “You smell nice.”
“Do I?” I gave her a grin as she nodded. “Well, you smell nice too.”
“Are you really a friend of my mom’s? I didn’t know mommy had any friends except Sina.”
“I’m an old friend.” I looked up to find Maddie staring at us with an undecipherable look on her face. “Your mother has a lot of old friends.”
“Did you know my daddy?” Ela took a few steps forward, although she still didn’t let go of her mother’s dress. “If you’re an old friend, then you must have known my daddy. Mommy says he’s gone off to save the world.”
“Ela,” Maddie interrupted. “Go back inside, sweetie and finish your food, so you can take a nap.”
“But I don’t want a nap. I wanna talk to your friend.”
“Ela Christina, do what I say right now and go finish your food.”
If anything, the little girl’s face became even more stubborn. “I don’t want to, mommy. I hate Brussel sprouts.”
“Ela Christina,” Maddie sounded exasperated.
“Ela.”
They both turned to me.
“I hate Brussel sprouts too, but you need those to get big and strong. So that when the monsters come, they can’t eat you as easily. You don’t want the monsters to come after you, do you?”
Eyes wide, she shook her head.
Maddie glared at me. Clearly, she didn’t like the monster talk.
I ignored her, focusing on Ela. “Good. Then you have to eat your vegetables, including Brussel sprouts.”
Ela considered my proposal for a brief second, her face scrunched up in concentration. Then, she held out her hand. “Will you eat them with me?”
I glanced at Maddie, who looked like she was stuck in a nightmare of her own making.
I smirked and took Ela’s hand. “Of course.”
Maddie’s eyes met mine as we crossed the threshold. There was a mixture of fear and fury in them that made them sparkle like little emeralds. I’d always thought she resembled some sort of magical pixie, with her pale skin, red hair, and green eyes. The same eyes that had crept their way into my fantasies more times than I would like.
The first time I met Maddie outside Radisson hotel in upper Manhattan, I had been attracted to her. The fact that she was drunk at the time should have been enough to kill the attraction. Or maybe the fact that she was my brother’s new girlfriend.
It had however, infuriated and sickened me that I was attracted to her, the kind of woman I had avoided like the plague throughout my entire life. The type of woman who thought nothing of shirking all responsibilities and drowning in bottle after bottle to soothe whatever demons they lived with, no matter what their addiction did to those around them. The type of woman my mother had been.
That was who Maddie Flynn was, and I promised to never let myself forget it.
The apartment was small, barely 500 feet by my approximation. It was organized, and she definitely used the space efficiently. However, it still pissed me off that my niece was living here, especially since she didn’t have to.
Although it would have been easy to, I thought as I watched her interact with Ela. She was very attuned to the child, almost overly so, paying attention to every single move Ela made. Once Ela had tried to subtly nudge one of the vegetables off her plates to the floor, and Maddie had caught it and put it back on her plate without batting an eyelash. But apparently, Ela had a streak of stubbornness about a mile long because she tried it three more times before finally giving up. I finally decided to tell her a long story about how Brussel sprouts gave her magical powers of ‘immunity’ that kept the monsters away, to get her to eat the damn thing.
“But how does the monster know I’ve eaten them?” she asked, frowning as she eyed another stalk on the end of her fork.
“They have these machines in their head called antennas. They basically scan around to see who and who has not had their vegetables, and then they come for the ones who hadn’t.”
“But I never see mommy eating Brussel sprouts,” she insisted. “Does that mean the monsters will come for her?” Her eyes widened with fear.
I glanced at
Maddie from the corner of my eye. She’d been watching me all night with trepidation, but now there was some amusement there too. “No. I’ll make sure mommy eats hers.”
“But she has not been eating them, so she probably doesn’t have enough for her powers of ‘munity’ yet.”
“Don’t worry, Ela. I’ll make sure the monsters don’t get your mommy.”
I’ll be the only monster taking a bite out of her.
I waited patiently as Maddie put Ela down to sleep, telling her a long bedtime story about a princess and a dragon. She dragged the story longer than necessary, long after Ela had already dozed off. I knew she was trying to delay the inevitable. But I wasn’t going anywhere. She wasn’t getting away that easily, and I was willing to sit there till morning if I had to.
Finally, Maddie returned to the living room, shutting the door to Ela’s room behind her.
There were a few beats of silence as I watched her squirm.
“You really should eat your vegetables,” I said. “Children usually follow the examples of their parents.”
“Cage…”
“What the hell were you thinking, Maddie?” All the rage I’d felt earlier today bled into my voice. “Did you think you would just take his child, disappear into the sunset, and no one would know?”
She swallowed. “Ben never wanted kids.”
“That doesn’t fucking matter, and you know it. Not only is she Ben’s daughter, but she is also my niece. She is a Burke, damn it. Her bloodline alone is worth a fortune, and you have her living in this squalor because you wanted to be selfish.”
“That’s not true! And this isn’t squalor. Just because I don’t live in a fucking mega-mansion like you doesn’t make it a squalor.” She glared at me. “And your brother was very clear about the fact that he did not want any children. Had I told him I was pregnant, he would have wanted me to…” She made a face as if she couldn’t stand to say the word.
I got up then, my body itchy with the need to fight. Or do….something. “And what was your plan? To show up after years and demand money in exchange for custody? Blackmail? What?”
She looked shocked and then enraged. “How dare you think I would use my daughter in such a way?” Every word echoed with sincerity, but I didn’t buy it. I had seen way too many people corrupted by money to be deceived that easily. Besides, why else would Maddie have kept the child?
I stepped closer to her, and she shrunk back against the wall, but I didn’t stop until my body was flush against hers. “If you think that I’m just going to let you take that little girl and fuck up her life the way you fucked up yours, then you are completely mistaken. First thing tomorrow, I’m filing for custody on behalf of Ben.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “They’d never give it to you. I’m the mother.”
“A mother who is a raging alcoholic with God knows whatever else in her system.”
“I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in three years!”
“Even if I believed you, it doesn’t matter. You’re still not fit to take care of my niece. And if the courts don’t see that initially…” I gave her a venomous smile. “I have my ways.”
Her entire body froze for a brief second, and then she sprung into action, fists flying and hitting every part of my body, she could reach. I didn’t stop her, mostly because I barely felt it.
“Don’t you ever threaten to take my daughter away from me!” she yelled, hands bouncing off my chest. “You bastard! You fucking bastard! How dare you? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
I finally caught her hands, and she began to kick me with her feet. I pressed my body against hers to halt it, and all the blood in my head rushed to my cock at the feel her softness against me.
Fuck.
Before I could think, I captured her lips with mine.
5
Maddie
Cage’s kiss was a shock to my system. It completely wrecked me.
His lips were almost punishing in their intensity, demanding my response. He took my mouth like it was his, molded my body to his like I belonged to him. Like I didn’t have any choice but to respond to his total and complete command over me. There was probably no way I could have resisted his onslaught, but I tried anyway.
Of course, my body betrayed me. I felt a rush of wetness flooding between my legs at his touch. My nipples hardened as they pushed against his chest. I brought my hands up to pull away, but couldn’t bring myself to. As my mind shut down, beat by beat, there was still a small spark of fury inside of me that demanded that I put a stop to it. That I should ignore the need in my body and push him away.
But the kiss softened. Instead of punishing, it became persuasive. Cage’s lips rolled into mine, tongue teasing me, seeking entrance into my mouth.
And that’s what broke me.
The drop from anger to arousal was heady.
I moaned as his tongue swept in. Cage tasted like a storm. He ravaged my mouth, showing no mercy, but I didn’t want him to. I wanted the roughness. And as much as I hated myself for it, I was an active participant in the embrace, thrusting my hands in his hair and pulling him closer, urging him to go deeper, to take me. Just take me.
Unconsciously, my hips pushed forward, searching for something to ease the ache that had started, a resonating throb in my clit. His lower body shifted away from mine, and I heard myself make a sound in frustration. I wanted it, wanted the big thing I had felt between his legs. I wanted it badly, slowly moving in and out of me until I went mad from desire. Despite how he treated me, I wanted Cage Burke to fuck me until I couldn’t see.
And at that moment of realization, Cage pulled away with a rough shout. “No.”
He strode to the other side of the room without looking at me and braced his hands against the wall. The air was filled with the sound of my gasping breaths, and my body remained trembling, my mind foggy with need. It was hard to comprehend much of what was happening, but as reality returned, I registered that I wasn’t the only one struggling in my state. Cage’s back was tense, muscles bunched together with strain.
He wanted me too.
Even as the alarm bells went off in my head, the fantasies overpowered them, flashing through my mind one by one until it stopped on the one that had tormented me for years: Cage holding me captive, my arms tied above my head as he moved in and out of me at a slow teasing pace. A pace that made me cry and plead and beg.
“Two months.”
The words were filled with meaning, but my confused mind struggled to decipher it. “What?”
He turned around. His eyes were cold once more, showing nothing of the man who had kissed me against the wall. “You have two months to convince me that you are not a danger to the child, that you’re not the same alcoholic who used to be out of her mind every waking weekend.
“I’m not…”
“Within those two months, I will spend every non-working minute with you and Ela. I will observe you closely because I know how well you alcoholics can hide. And if I see any hint, any sign of anything that could be a danger to Ela, I will sue for custody and believe me, Maddie, when I say,” A shiver of fear through me at his tone. “I will get it.”
My throat was choked with tears of frustration. It was so unfair. I had worked so hard to change my life around, provide a life for my daughter and become somebody, and all of that could go away in the blink of an eye, thanks to Cage. The arrogant asshole who was also my boss and had more rights over Ela than even he knew. The man my body still ached for, even though he clearly hated me.
I had no doubt though, that he meant everything he said. Cage was a man known to fiercely protect his family, who would do cruel things to defend them.
I had no choice but to give in.
And after I did, he left me with a body trembling and wound up from a lethal combination of anger and desire.
It was the same dream.
It started in a dark room, and my hands were bound above my head, my naked body shivering slightly from the col
d. I couldn’t move, but I’d had this dream so many times that I knew what was coming, and my body tensed in anticipation. He was already there, at the foot of the bed, watching me silently. His gaze felt like a touch on my skin, and as he moved closer, the moonlight slashed across his face, revealing that unyielding blue gaze.
“Cage,” I whispered as he walked closer, trailing one finger up my body as he did. More goosebumps broke out at the touch. I tried to squirm and bring his hands closer to my cunt that was already on fire, but my legs were secured against the bedposts. I was helpless against his caresses, spreadeagled against the bed.
“You’ve been very bad.” His voice was low.
“Have I?” I asked, but the question turned into a moan as his finger began to circle one nipple, light as a feather. The fever in my body ratcheted up, and I couldn’t stop wiggling. Everything in me begged for more pressure, more of his touch.
But he kept it light, his big thumb only barely touching on skin. “Yes, you have. Or do I have to spell it out for you?”
“Please,” I gasped. He was barely doing anything, and I was already ready to go off like a rocket.
“Well, let’s see,” His finger left my breast then, going on a slow journey towards the middle of my thighs. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I could feel the jut of my clit, already obscenely huge and throbbing with arousal.
Just touch it once. Please just once and I’ll come.
But Cage avoided it like the bastard he was, as he listed out my sins. “You were completely incompetent at work today. You hid the existence of Ela from me. Oh, and what else…you wore that dress knowing it would tempt me, didn’t you?”
He softly spread my slit, circling his hands around my opening. Unintelligible sounds left my throat, pleas that seemed to fall on deaf ears as Cage continued his slow torture. Until I thought I would lose my mind. Until I did.
And then he did it.
He reached up and pressed against my clit, at the same time using his other hand to squeeze my nipple. Hard.