“I—I—,” she stammered.
“Don’t let it happen again.”
I’d stepped away as I heard David’s approach. “Here,” he said, handing over his black card.
“For your safety, don’t leave the building until I get back,” I ordered.
He nodded, then for the briefest of moments, I held her gaze. Her breath caught and I knew she understood.
I left the two of them with confidence she’d avoid his advances. As much as she preached about following her father, her kiss this morning was further evidence she was in fact mine and knew it.
When I got back, the main area was empty. For the briefest second, I thought I was wrong about my claim until David came down the hall from his bedroom and called for her. She appeared from the opposite end, dressed in jeans and a sweater, reminding me of the woman I’d met what felt like a millennia ago. Her face was free of most makeup, allowing her natural beauty to shine through.
“Ready?” I asked.
David held out a hand, and she went to him. Though she didn’t put her hand in his.
I turned and opened the door. I might have pivoted slightly when she passed so we brushed against each other.
“Oh. Sorry,” I lied and shifted so David could go by without a problem.
It had been nearing night when we arrived, and I hadn’t enjoyed the flight. I’d been so busy wondering how she would react when she found out it was me. It was different today. The sky was clear, and I showed my skills as a master pilot, feeling the rush I usually got when flying. Following David’s directions, I flew them to all the places he wanted to see. Thus, the comms were on.
“That’s where I went to school,” he said, pointing down to a historic looking building with some green space behind it. “On the way back, can you circle back to the Sears Tower? Well, now it’s called the Willis Tower,” he said to me.
“Sure thing, boss,” I said, taking a wide turn back around.
His next words were meant for my woman. “I know this morning was unexpected,” David said. “It’s just I’ve been dying to kiss you since the moment we met.” I wished there was a mirror so I could see her reaction. “It was barely a brush of lips. I wondered if you’d allow me to kiss you now.”
It was petty, but I smirked as I banked the helo to the left, forcing them to hold on. “Oops, sorry about that.” I might have flashed my dimples, though they couldn’t see.
All the reasons why I knew Natalie was lying to herself about marrying him came when she asked a question that all but ruined his moment to try and kiss her again. “Is that the Mile-High Tower?” she asked.
David, who loved his city, began to tell her the history around it. “That’s the first place we’ll eat when the city opens up.”
To myself, I promised I’d take her there first. Only one of us could win. And I swore on my life, it would be me.
After we landed and went back in the penthouse, David got a call and had to duck out as he took it.
“Meet me in your bedroom in fifteen,” I whispered, before securing the place, as was my job.
I was banking she’d be waiting when I came.
Fourteen
Natalie
Who was I kidding? I was going to wait for him as he asked.
“Natalie.”
I’d been so deep in thought. I snapped my head in David’s direction. “What?”
He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I have another meeting I must attend. I can have my admin order us lunch.”
“That’s fine by me.” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m going to crash for a little while. I didn’t sleep much last night.” We laughed at the little awkwardness.
“Yeah, I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I nodded and then I made my exit.
The penthouse was large, but not that large. Still, I held my breath as I tightened my arms around myself. Torment was pleasure and pain as I waited. Hoping he’d come. Praying he didn’t.
The knock was soft, but persistent.
I had a choice. Open the door and invite my tormentor inside. Or leave it closed, opening the door for my penance.
Liam wasn’t actually my tormentor. I was tormenting myself. I reached out and turned the handle.
He didn’t immediately come inside. His steps were slow but purposeful. Haunted eyes pinned me in place with the wall at my back.
It was as if he moved in slow motion as he closed the door. I felt the question in his stare, begging me to answer it with one word. Go or stay.
I reached out a hand, palm up. He met it with his own and guided our hands up over my head. He lowered his head, so our foreheads touched before pressing his lips to the corner of mine. An ache so deep clawed at my throat as tears burned the back of my eyes. Words wouldn’t give us the answers we sought. I went for other ways of communicating that were just as meaningful to me.
His shirt was mincemeat in my hands as I fought with the hem. He stepped back and turned the lock on the door.
We didn’t say anything. He just stood before me and peeled his shirt over his head. When he was done, I did the same. He skimmed his hands under my breasts and around my back. Soon, the constricting bra was gone. My breasts were putty in his hands. I bit back a moan as his thumbs rubbed circles around my taut nipples.
“Please,” I began to say, but he swallowed the words.
Why had I bothered to fight him? He was mine and I was his. We sank to floor unable to make it a few steps to the bed.
Time was against us and our current pace was far too slow. I kicked off my shoes and then my underwear when he took way too long getting them off.
When he slid down my body, I took a hand full of his hair and jerked his face up. I shook my head and mouthed, “Fuck me.”
He pushed up with his forearms, muscle bunching as he raised up to his knees. He pushed my legs apart with one of them. Then, he hooked his arms under the bend of my legs and pulled me to him. It was agony waiting for the pressure to fill me like only he had.
Somehow, he managed to pull out his long, hard cock while raising my ass off the floor. “Do it,” I begged with whispered words.
I sucked in air as he did, thrusting hard and deep. I let my eyes roll to the back of my head. It felt like heaven with a little bit of hell.
Selfish and greedy, I reached around and dug my nails in his ass urging him to pound me harder and deeper, faster and meaner. I didn’t want his tenderness. I didn’t deserve it. I hooked one leg around his back, and he slid in farther. I sighed a bit too loud as his hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shhh,” was all he said.
He moved one arm so he could use his hand to strum a chord over my clit. I skipped right to the edge of bliss and arched my back off the ground.
I lost track of moments, seconds, minutes. The only thing I could count was the orgasm that rushed up like a tidal wave, sending me tumbling to crash over and over like waves as he found his own release.
Spent, we lay in a tangle of limbs.
“Mine,” he said no louder than the flutter of butterfly wings.
I didn’t say anything in response, just curled myself around him, hanging on to the remnants of hope that passed like ash through my fingers.
In his embrace, I felt whole. That feeling didn’t last. Soon, he was setting me gently on the floor and leaving me behind.
How could he call me his and give up so easily?
I curled in a ball and sobbed before pulling myself together. Did people really live like this? Should I be thankful I was being sold to a good man? Should I do the right thing and walk away? What was the right thing? Those were only the beginning. I had other moral questions to face. Who was I hurting? Myself? Liam? My mom? David?
All of the above.
I was scrubbed free of the past hour when David knocked on the door to tell me our food had arrived. I plodded through time like it meant nothing when every moment I wasn’t with Liam was agony. I managed to keep up s
everal rounds of pleasant conversation with David while avoiding the topic of our future.
When he suggested we go back to his family’s house, I assumed he sensed the change in me. We quickly packed and followed Liam back to the helicopter that sat on the roof like an avenging angel. We rode in silence. Only the whirl of the blades filled the wordless spaces.
We landed in silence. We disembarked in chaos. Men in all black clothing came out from all directions and surrounded us.
Fifteen
Liam
Noise erupted all around us. Men came out of the shadows from the trees like we were in a war game. The man in charge walked forward, dressed in an expensive tailored suit, in stark contrast to the men that surrounded the helicopter.
“I can lift off,” I called over the comms to David.
It was a risk. I wasn’t entirely sure how far Natalie’s father was willing to go in this show of force.
“Don’t,” David said. “Let’s see what he wants.”
“What he wants?” Natalie asked, sounding outraged. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s insane.”
David took off his headset. “Wait here.” I heard him all the same without it.
I checked the gun I had stowed in my shoulder holster due to my position as David’s security detail. The one Griffin had somehow been able to get me along with a concealed carry license on short notice. My military training and his connections likely benefited me. I took off the safety before repeating David’s warning to Natalie. “Stay in the helicopter.”
I was halfway out the door to join David when she spat, “I will not.” I couldn’t risk turning to argue with her.
“What’s this?” David asked. I’ll give him points for sounding bored instead of rattled.
Nicolas stepped forward. “We didn’t discuss you taking my daughter anywhere.”
The two men weren’t backing down an inch as I tried to keep my senses open to all threats—even the ones behind me. “She’s also not a child. I don’t need your permission. Only hers.”
“That’s where you are wrong. She’s still my property. She doesn’t yet belong to you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. She’s not property. She’s a person,” David said in warning.
“And this person can speak for herself.” Natalie stepped forward. “Stop acting like children and let’s talk inside like adults.”
“We can do that. He stays here,” her father said with a nod to me.
I stepped forward but David waved me off. He had no idea what a bad idea that was. I’d counted a half a dozen men. David only had me. I’d already recognized Thing One and Thing Two as they positioned themselves in front of me, guns aimed at my center mass.
There wasn’t even a discussion. David took off with them in the first foolish mistake I’d seen him make. The rest, except two, followed David, Natalie, and Nicolas toward the house.
“Take off your helmet, hot shot. Let’s get a good look at you,” Thing Two said.
When I shook my head, he cocked his gun. There was no winning a fight with two people that had a straight shot at me. Even if I could pull my gun free from its holster before either got off a shot, I couldn’t aim at them both.
Whatever move I made, I didn’t want them hitting the helicopter. It could be our only means of escape if things went tits up.
I used the beginning motion of removing my helmet as a diversion and feinted right. The sound of shots clicked off in the air. The assholes shot at me. Lucky for me the tree line wasn’t far, which would provide cover. I dropped my hand as I dodged bullets without getting hit. It was lucky for me they needed more shooting range time. I would have hit either one of them with my first bullet.
Deep in the shadows, I pulled out my phone and made a hasty call. Thankfully, Grant answered. It wasn’t the best time to make a call, but someone needed to know what was happening.
“What’s up, bro?”
“Grant,” I said, but the connection was bad.
“Liam,” he said, and I feared we’d lose the connection.
“I can’t talk for long,” I said. “I’m in trouble.”
The static crackled in my ears as I thought I heard him say, “Where are you?”
“I’m not in New York. I’m still in Chicago. I’ve been found out. Can you come get me?”
The connection died and I pocketed my phone. They were coming. The two heavyweights were a lot slower, or they were taking their time, not knowing if I had backup.
I positioned myself and waited for the dumb and dumber duo to show up. I clotheslined the first as he came thumping through, leaving him sputtering on the ground. I spun and cold cocked the second, sending him stumbling back into a tree. Both lost their guns, evening out the playing field. Thing Two was the first to recover and was surprisingly agile. He dodged my first few punches while I dodged his.
Thing One got to his feet and I had to employ martial arts to evade two attackers at the same time. I caught one with a right hook and the other with a foot to his solar plexus. I was just beginning to enjoy the work out when out of nowhere a third person caught me square in the face, cracking the visor that still shielded my eyes. Not expecting it, I went down to one knee.
“We had him,” Thing One protested.
The third man said, “He had you.”
Adrenaline drained as all their gazes fell on me. The third removed my helmet and Thing One was the first to react. “I know you.”
He raised a fist, but the third man caught it. “You know what happened the last time you messed up his face. We take him to Mr. Cortez.”
The two assholes flanked me on either side, hooked their arms around mine and literally did what the third man said, dragging me out of the woods.
I didn’t fight it and they’d yet to relieve me of my weapon. Though once we were in the house, the smarter of the three did.
“This here is Romeo,” Thing Two said proudly.
Nicolas who’d been facing Natalie and David turned.
“Ah, Romeo, Romeo, where have you been hiding? Two little birdies told me of your demise.” Though at first he wore a smile, the longer he spoke anger replaced it and it wasn’t directed at me.
“You two,” he pointed at the meatheads. “Take care of this.”
“Wait,” David said, marching forward. “If you’re saying what I think you are, it’s not happening here.”
I got to my feet, despite the two doing their best to hold me down. “I have a solution for us all,” I announced.
Nicolas narrowed his eyes. “And what’s that?”
“Let me marry your daughter.”
You would have thought I’d spoken the best punch line ever the way Nicolas laughed. “You have balls.”
David eyed me. “You know them.”
Nicolas’s sardonic grin was flashed at the other man. “He didn’t tell you.” He didn’t give David time to answer. “He fancies himself in love with my daughter.”
David whipped his head in my direction. “Is that true? You played me?” David asked.
“I came to protect you and talk to her,” I admitted.
David tossed up his hands. I doubted he believed me in this moment.
“Kill him,” Nicolas ordered.
In the second it took for the two muscle heads to raise their guns, Natalie dove into my arms. “No,” she cried.
“Step aside, Daughter.”
“Hear me out,” I began. “David, I know you don’t think you can trust me, but you can. You don’t want to marry her. Not right now. I do.”
“You can offer me nothing,” Nicolas yelled.
“I can. My name is Liam King.” It was a stretch of the truth but the easiest way to get my point across. “My father is sometimes referred to as the King of New York.” That got him quiet. “I can offer you the same thing that the Royal name could offer.”
Natalie had said something interesting a day ago. She’d said her father would have a good reason why he’d chosen David Royal as her future hu
sband. Add to that his purchase of several legit companies and I came to one conclusion.
“Marrying your daughter would give you the same benefit in society as her marrying David,” I said.
“Hold up,” David said.
I spoke to him next. “What was he offering you? Money to help your failing business. But how were you going to get that money into banks? The Feds frown on things like that. And if anyone ever found out, they’d assume you were partners in all his businesses, legitimate and illegal ones.”
Now that I had both of their attentions, I spelled out my plan. “Mr. Cortez, you can pay me. David, I’ll offer you the same deal he would have but as a loan. Coming from me will not only keep your good name clear, but it will also allow you to earn your families’ respect by saving your business in a legitimate way.”
Natalie’s father arched a brow. “Royce King has two sons. Jeremy and Connor.”
“True. He also has a bastard son. You know a little something about that, don’t you?” Nicolas was his father’s mistress’s child.
I’d caught him off guard with that knowledge, but he covered it well. “Can you prove it?” Nicolas asked. I nodded. “I’m not agreeing to this yet. I’ll give you two days and then I want a face to face with Royce King. I’m not taking your word for it.”
“Wait,” David pleaded. “Saving my company wasn’t my only reason for marrying Natalie.” We all faced him. "He’s going to help me find my sister. She disappeared. The last thing our private detective could find was that she may have been unknowingly communicating with known human traffickers. He’s the only one who can help me.”
“You have a sister?” Natalie asked.
“Half-sister. But that doesn’t make her less important to me.”
She nodded.
“He’ll still help you with that. I promise.” I was making a lot of promises I had no way of keeping on my own. But whatever it took.
Nicolas didn’t agree. He pointed at me. “Two days.” Then, he pointed at his daughter. “Come. Now. Don’t make this ugly.” She looked at me, pleading for me to let her walk away. I didn’t have much of a choice as guns were pointed at the lot of us.
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