by Diana Ames
“Why don’t you start with your relationship with Gillian?” Alondra suggested. “From what I gathered from her, you were childhood friends…” She trailed off, hoping he would pick up there.
“Gillian was—well, we thought she was one of those distant royals,” he said, his eyes taking on a glazed look as he got lost in the past. “We were really all each other had. There has always been a class system around here, even among the servants. Security is higher than the cooks, the cooks are higher than the maids—you get the idea. Gillian and I were the only royal children. Damian had yet to know that he was my brother, and while he was included in a few things because of his father’s position, he wasn’t around much.
“Gillian was the only person who knew what I was going through with my mother. She was a sick woman.” He shuddered slightly as memories raced to the forefront of his mind. “I’ll spare you and myself by skipping the details, but suffice it to say that while I wasn’t technically sexually abused, I’d probably be better off if I had been.”
Alondra watched Anton closely as he talked about hurting animals to release his anger and frustration and how that had evolved into beating women for his sexual gratification. She was horrified at how he fit the profile of a serial killer to a tee, and she began to wonder if she were safe in his presence. But the tortured look in his eyes convinced her that he wasn’t proud of his actions, and he was in fact remorseful.
She hated to interrupt his monologue, but she had to ask, “When was the last time you harmed a woman?”
“The last woman I harmed was Gilly,” he said. “Before that…” He paused. “I’ll get to that in a minute.”
“You harmed Gillian?” Alondra asked, stunned.
“The need to harm, to draw blood—I called it my beast,” he said quietly. “It allowed me to separate myself from what I was doing, to pass responsibility to another me. Gilly and I began our affair shortly after I nearly killed Jenalynn Felix. See? I can say it,” he said, looking at Alondra. “I can take responsibility for what I’ve done.”
It was as if he was looking to her for acceptance, to give him a pat on the back for owning up to his brutality.
“Jenalynn Felix?” Alondra noted. “Isn’t that the surrogate who carried Dominic?”
“She wasn’t exactly what I would call a surrogate,” Anton said with a snort. “She applied to be my submissive life partner.” He paused at Alondra’s raised eyebrows, but he continued when she didn’t comment. “I hurt her badly. I nearly ripped every inch of skin from her back.” He hung his head. “The worst part was that I didn’t even care. I was more upset that I didn’t get to steal her virginity.” When he raised his head, his eyes were shining with moisture. “I even demanded to know the minute she could come back to my bed.”
“Anton,” Alondra said softly. Her heart was breaking for both him and the woman he’d ruined. She could see the regret in him, and she knew it was a rare emotion for someone who had escaped severe punishment.
“Gilly basically kidnapped Jenalynn. Gilly was supposed to start skin grafts on Jenaylnn’s back. Instead, Gilly implanted embryos from her egg and my sperm, which she collected from her own body after one of the times we had sex. She also managed to give Jenalynn an infection that allowed Gilly to put her into isolation. No one knew what was happening.”
“I was trying to find Jenalynn, so I could talk to her,” Alondra told him, “but no one seems to know her.”
“Oh, you found her,” he said wryly. “How do you think Damian found you? She’s not going to talk to you though. She’s trying to rebuild her life after all this.”
Alondra began putting the pieces together in her mind. “Do you mean…Lynn?” All of it added up—the horrible scars on her neck and legs, the meeting that had ended up being with Damian rather than some random contact.
Anton nodded. “Let me get through this, okay? I’m having a hard time keeping it all together. If you have questions, ask me after we’re done. Right now, I just need to get this out before I can’t.”
Alondra sat quietly for the next hour as Anton told the entire story of his tumultuous relationship with Gilly and how Dominic had come to be. She’d had difficulty not speaking up when he began talking about how he found out Gilly was his sister and not some distant cousin thirty times removed. When he’d gotten to the part where Gilly murdered two innocent people, one for having sex with him and the other for driving her home, Alondra had gone from having difficulty with not speaking to biting her tongue to keep the words in. When he’d told her of the evidence, she’d paled and felt slightly dizzy.
“Alondra?” Anton said. “Are you all right? All the color just drained from your face. Are you going to pass out? Do you feel sick again?”
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to shake off the light-headedness. “Just a little shocked at how easily she duped me,” she said with a harsh little laugh. “Is that everything?”
“Pretty much,” Anton said. “I wanted to have the fetus aborted after we found out about it,” he said softly. “I was convinced it was going to be a monster or deformed or something, considering that brother and sister were its parents. Not to mention, we’re both screwed-up.”
“So, why didn’t you?” Alondra asked. She didn’t believe in abortion personally, but she wasn’t in a position to judge someone else’s decisions after realizing how skewed her judgment really was.
“Mellissandra,” he said with a smile. “She told me that enough innocent lives had been lost in this whole debacle, and she refused to allow me to take another one.”
Alondra felt like someone had ripped her heart out and stepped on it when she the smile on his face just from mentioning his sister-in-law. There was no denying what she’d begun to suspect a few weeks ago. Anton was in love with Mellissandra.
Pushing down the irrational pain, she asked him the question that had been nagging her since she’d opened the test results. “Why are you so sure Gillian is your sister? Damian could have heard wrong. He was just a child.”
“Every royal for the last—oh, I don’t know how long, ever since blood testing became available, I guess—has had a blood sample stored and recorded,” Anton told her. “With the DNA testing available, it was pretty simple to test hers against my father’s. They were a match. He is her father as well.”
Alondra sat there, stunned. They had done the test. They knew who Gillian’s father was. But that meant—
She couldn’t finish the thought. It was too horrible to contemplate. The test had to have been tainted.
“I think you should run that test again,” Alondra told him finally.
“Why would we do that?” Anton asked, giving her a funny look.
“You didn’t read the test results I had, did you?” she asked him. At his confused look, Alondra continued, “When I spoke with Gillian, she adamantly insisted on tests for everyone included in this twisted mess. The tests prove that you and Gillian are not brother and sister.”
***
Gilly wiped her mouth and got up off her knees. After calling him Anton, she’d had to make it up to Stephen. When she’d been led into his office, she’d immediately dropped down, pulled his flaccid member out of his trousers, and pleasured him with her mouth. He’d been resistant at first, but he’d quickly capitulated to the moist heat of her tongue stroking the thick vein on the underside of his cock.
“Gillian,” he said as she rose, “I’ve done some more thinking—”
“Stephen, I’m so sorry about yesterday,” she said quickly, cutting off what she knew was going to be second thoughts. “I suppose it just shows how little I’ve progressed in forgetting about him.” She bowed her head, hiding the irritation in her eyes.
She was annoyed with Stephen. How many men would turn down free sex, especially after a blow job like I just gave him?
“Truthfully, it shows me that you are man enough to help me get over him,” she said, lowering her voice to a husky whisper. “It felt so good,” she said, licki
ng her lips, “but it was different from when I was with him as well.”
“Yes, well—” he said uncomfortably.
“Please don’t give up on me, Stephen,” she said. “You are my only hope of ridding myself of this horrid obsession,” she pleaded with him.
When he didn’t respond, she glanced at his face. His eyes were focused on her breasts, the rise and fall that came with her panting breaths.
“The way you felt inside me…” She moaned a little as she slowly dragged the zipper of her jumpsuit down. “So long and hard,” she continued, allowing her breasts to spill out from the material. “It drove me wild,” she said, fingering her nipples. “My pussy is wet from just thinking about it.”
***
Stephen had never been a particularly strong-willed man, and the temptation proved to be more than he could withstand. He lunged for her and latched on to one nipple with his mouth while his hands quickly rid her of the jumpsuit. He wasted no time in forcing two fingers into her wet pussy and stroking that special spot sure to bring her to her knees.
She cried out at the invasion and began riding his hand. He pulled out before she could come though, determined she was going to recognize that it was him giving her pleasure this time. He shoved her down to the floor and intimidatingly stood over her.
“Spread your legs,” he said roughly.
When she complied, he fell to the floor and buried his face in the juncture of her thighs. He lapped at her, slurping her cream into his mouth. Her breathless moans were making him hard all over again, but he was going to make her scream his name before he put his cock inside her.
“Say my name,” he demanded before sucking gently on her button.
“Stephen,” she whispered on a pant. “Stephen, Stephen, Stephen.”
He flicked her with his tongue again, and it sent her over the edge. Before her climax was finished, he rose to his knees and plunged into her. He could feel the contractions of her orgasm still rioting through her body, and he began to pump furiously.
“Say my name, you bitch,” he demanded. “Say my name!”
“Stephen!” she screamed as another orgasm gripped her.
The combination of her orgasm and her screaming his name was enough to make him feel like the head of his cock was about to explode. Pulling out of her, he kneeled over her shoulders.
“Open your mouth, bitch,” he panted. “Swallow my cum, and lick my cock clean.”
She didn’t hesitate. She just followed his orders. Seconds after her mouth engulfed him, he shot jets of semen down her throat. Spent, he rolled off of her and collapsed onto the floor of his office.
“Get out,” he told her. “Your session is over.”
***
Alondra spent the night alone in Anton’s apartment. She didn’t even try to leave this time, figuring it would be pointless. She had a lot on her mind anyway, and it had given her time to think things through.
She’d decided she wanted to see the evidence against Gillian before just taking his word for it. It wasn’t that she trusted Gillian’s word over his, but Alondra wasn’t going to just blindly accept anything anymore. She’d never seen or heard of such a screwed-up situation before, and she obviously didn’t have enough experience to be able to tell lies from truth.
Alondra realized now that she’d been biased when coming into this country. She’d already convicted Anton of railroading an innocent woman before she’d ever stepped foot on the island. She’d allowed her own history to skew her impartiality, and as a good reporter, that wasn’t something she could afford to do. It was hard to admit, even to herself, that she might have been wrong, but she was determined to learn from her mistakes.
Rising from Anton’s big bed, she padded lightly through the apartment. She was headed for the kitchen, but light snores drew her to the living room. Anton was there, sprawled out on the sofa, and from the position of his head, he was going to wake up with a crick in his neck.
“Anton,” Alondra said softly. She didn’t want to jar him awake and get a repeat of what had happened with Damian. “Anton,” she said again when he didn’t budge.
Kneeling beside the sofa, she tried to adjust his head so that his neck was at a more natural angle. It didn’t work. He was just too tall for the sofa.
“Anton, please wake up. You can move to the bed and be comfortable.”
Anton’s eyes snapped open and looked directly into hers. “Alondra,” he whispered, “was that an invitation, or am I dreaming?”
Her lips parted in stunned silence. He took it for an invitation and lifted his mouth to hers in a soft kiss.
His lips were incredibly soft yet firm against hers. He didn’t try to pressure her with the kiss or ravage her mouth. He didn’t touch her in any other way either. He just leaned up on his elbows and pressed his mouth to hers, and it was the most erotic kiss she’d ever received.
Alondra was shocked by his actions, but she was completely helpless to pull away. Still on her knees, she felt herself sway toward him slightly. Every part of her was tingling and yearning to feel the same contact as her lips.
She knew she should be afraid. He had admitted to her that he abused women for sexual pleasure? But she couldn’t bring herself to feel the fear that ordinarily would have had her reaching for her can of pepper spray in these circumstances. It was as if her body had formed a mutiny and selected Anton as its new captain.
They were both startled when the phone rang. Jumping back, Alondra looked at Anton. She was horrified at what she’d just done. He must have sensed her panic, and he reached for her arm, but she was able to pull away.
“Don’t run from me,” he told her huskily. “Don’t run from this.” He motioned between them.
Rising to his feet, he snatched the telephone receiver from its place on the end table. “What?” he snarled into it, a completely different tone in his voice.
Alondra used his distraction to run from the room and lock herself in the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she noted her flushed face and swollen, pouty lips. A glance down at her body revealed peaking nipples trying to escape the oversized T-shirt that belonged to the man she’d just run from.
“Don’t do this, Alondra,” she said aloud to the mirror. “Don’t get caught up with him. You’ll only get hurt.” The woman in the mirror didn’t appear to be listening though. “He’s in love with his sister-in-law,” she told herself harshly. “He’s a freaking sadist. He’ll use you, if you let him, and then he’ll throw you away. He has no heart. He won’t even claim his child.”
After running through all his faults, she’d finally found the one that seemed to wake her up from her fevered arousal. The lovely flush coloring her face drained with the thought of Dominic. It was a hit too close to home for her heart not to hurt.
Turning on the cold water, Alondra splashed some on her face and arms as she tried to get herself under control. She hadn’t been through this much emotional upheaval since she was a child, and her instability right now was a reminder of why she closed herself off. The pain left her too raw, too weak, and she refused to be weak ever again. She wouldn’t allow him to play his games with her. She wouldn’t be the victim.
***
“Alondra,” Anton called, knocking on the bathing chamber door. “Let me in, or come out of there,” he said with a growl.
When the phone had rung, interrupting the sweetest kiss of his life, he’d had the urge to smash it, so it could never bother them again. A cooler head had prevailed though, and he’d answered the call rather than destroying it.
Ryan had been on the other end, explaining why he couldn’t come up this morning. That had suited Anton just fine. He’d rushed the man off the phone as quickly as he could, but he hadn’t been quick enough to prevent Alondra from escaping.
He knew the moment she’d run from the room that the kiss had shaken her as much as it had him. He felt more like an adolescent with his first girl than a full-grown man with a string of broken women behind him. But no pa
rt of him wanted to break Alondra. In fact, he felt a tenderness toward Alondra that he had never felt before, even around Mellissandra. It confused him, but he wanted to explore the new feeling.
“Alondra, if you don’t open this door…” he shouted, banging on the door.
“If I don’t open this door, then what?” Alondra asked sharply, swinging the door open to face him.
“I’ll keep knocking,” he said sheepishly. He reached for her hands, only to frown when she pulled away.
“Whatever that was,” she said, waving her hands in the air, “can’t happen again. It’s inappropriate and a conflict of interest.”
“That,” Anton said through gritted teeth, “was the best kiss of my life.” He didn’t like the way she moved past him into the bedroom as if the conversation was over and he had been dismissed.
He relaxed as he watched her stiffen at his words. She wasn’t as unaffected as she pretended to be. It was just another mask, one he intended to strip from her.
“That barely qualified as a kiss,” she said harshly. “It was more of a bumping of mouths.”
“When was the last time you got turned on by bumping into someone?” Anton goaded. “Don’t try to tell me you weren’t turned on, Alondra. I’m not going to buy these lines you’re throwing out there.”
“You don’t want me, remember?” she taunted him. “I’ve been around the block, and you only like virgins.”
Angry passion was sizzling in the room. The air was electric with it.
“I might have been a bit hasty,” Anton said. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make up for that insult because it had been clear that it cut her to the quick. “I have a feeling that I grossly misjudged you.”
“Oh, so now you think I’m not too used for you to play with?” she snapped. She met his stare, fire flashing in her eyes.
“That’s not what I mean,” he told her. “Don’t twist my words.”
