by Cynthia Dane
To be fair, Alice had no idea she was capable of this, either. She did, however, know that she was sick and tired of being used as a convenient scapegoat, of being undervalued, and having people – yes, including Damon – assume that her role was to be a sweet and coy behind-the-scenes woman.
Fuck. That.
She was Alice Monroe, one half of the most powerful couple in the city. The state. The whole damn eastern seaboard. Barack and Michelle thought they were powerful? They had never met the formidable force that was Damon and Alice, a pair unafraid to yank a whole company’s rug out from beneath a stack of shareholders. This wasn’t just Damon’s company. This was her legacy too!
“You are nothing.” Alice’s voice became a toxic whisper that sank its cruel tentacles into Russell’s sinewy body. In her voice carried the fear and despondency Julia Monroe felt when everything she was raised for was taken away from her, most of all the two sons she so desperately wanted to protect but ultimately failed to achieve. Her voice was Sarah Clayborn’s, used, discarded, and then abused when a twist of biology occurred. Who knew how many other women suffered beneath this tyrant? Alice didn’t need her own strength. She needed theirs, too.
This man would have me killed. He would kill my child.
“And you are a cockroach,” Russell snapped back. “No matter how many times I try to quash you, you come right back again. Why don’t you scurry away now, little cockroach? Shit.” He turned away. “I’ve seen those eyes before.”
“I bet you have.” Alice was enjoying this too much. “I look like Clarise, right?”
That black and white folder in the dossier had haunted Alice for more than a few days. Everyone had forgotten to mention that Clarise Livingston was a lean blonde with high cheekbones. No wonder Russell had pissed himself when he realized Alice was becoming a problem. Now that she had effectively taken his role in the company? It was his parents’ death all over again. How dare that old bitch take what was his, right? Didn’t Clarise know that it was Russell’s birthright to lead a large company even though he was only sixteen? Shit, this man’s ego and megalomania was so out of control that he probably had something to do with his parents’ own death.
Alice did not doubt he had something to do with Clarise’s death.
“Yes, and she was a lot easier to get rid of than you, Ms. Culver.”
“So you admit it. You admit you killed your own grandmother!”
“If by killed you mean I conveniently left a bag of my delicious snack that she was allergic to by her bedside for her to wake up to, then I suppose you have a generous definition of that word. I’m not surprised. You don’t seem like the brightest bulb in this room.”
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, sir. I am quite bright. Ask my husband. You know, that man you allowed to actually be born because he was a happenstance of good genetics? This man right here?” Alice gestured to Damon, who kept a respectful distance from this verbal altercation but kept a watchful eye on it anyway. “You keep blaming me for all of this, but isn’t he the one you trained for this role? You knew this day would come. The young always overcome the old in the end!”
“May your foul offspring do the same to you!”
“Father,” Damon rumbled. “It’s time to step down. You’ve been at this a very long time. Don’t you have some private island you can fuck off to for the next twenty years?”
“You would depose me?”
“You would depose all of us, if you could.”
“That’s right,” Alice continued. “Except he wouldn’t do it himself. Because he’s a fucking coward who won’t bother getting blood on his own wrinkly hands. He’s ruined many lives without touching a single one of them himself. He doesn’t deserve to retire to some comfortable island where he can make everyone there miserable too. He deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
“Good luck making that happen.” That was the Monroe smirk hurled at Alice. Funny. She could hurl it right back at Russell. “You’ll never be able to pin anything on me. What? Do you think I’m stupid? You two can do your cute little takeover behind the scenes all you want. In the end, I am this family.”
“Wrong, Grandpa.” Alice pointed to the screen showing her portfolio. “I am this family now! I am the matriarch of a mighty legacy that will put everything you and your ancestors did to shame! I was chosen by fate and your son to lead this family and its company to greater glory! You think I won’t do it? You think I can’t handle it? I have overcome every fucking obstacle you have hurled at me this year. I have done the damn impossible! Let me tell you, I must be carrying some stellar fucking genes if I can still be pregnant after all this mess! You think this baby is going to be weak? Do you think it will disappoint us? Do you think it won’t deserve the name Monroe when it one day picks up where my husband and I leave off? The most fucked up thing is that you won’t even get to know or appreciate everything we’ll do. You’ve made your decision to play no part in it.”
Sweat trickled down Russell’s forehead. His cheeks flushed. The corner of his mouth? Twitched in anger. So much anger that he was probably going to burst on Alice at any moment. Good. She was ready for him. Alice was ready to put this dog down and become the new leader of the pack.
One day, not so long ago, Damon Monroe thought he had spotted a submissive woman willing to fulfill his familial fantasies. He had no idea he had really found his perfect business equal and the partner who would help him take down the corruption in his own family – and company.
“Look at you,” Alice spat. “You’re pathetic.”
Russell’s left arm trembled against the table. His lips attempted to speak, but all that came out was a low, disturbing groan that even made Alice take a step back.
“He’s having a stroke,” Nigel Clayborn announced from the back of the room.
So he was. The big and mighty Russell Monroe, patriarch of what he thought was a mighty dynasty, was nothing more than a shaking, blubbering child about to take his last fall in a cut forest.
“Someone please call an ambulance,” Alice said with a sigh. “Don’t be in a rush, though, if you have other things to do first.”
Damon was the only one who went to his father. Alice did not hold it against her husband. It’s his father. I’d be more worried if he didn’t go to him. Didn’t mean Alice was rushing to Russell’s side.
Neither was Sarah Clayborn. The two women exchanged tired looks. Could this hurry up already?
Chapter 24
At least this time Alice was not in the hospital because of her own problems. Was a nice change of pace after spending two, no three separate occasions in this smelly abode, each one the result of Russell Monroe’s narcissistic bullshit.
Damon leaped up from his seat when the doctor came out with a grim face. Was it too much to ask for the devil to be dead? Alice would never say it out loud. She wanted to be better than that, especially around her rattled husband.
Russell wasn’t dead. The doctor pronounced the eldest Monroe alive and stable. There was, of course, some dire news.
Naturally, the definition of dire was up to interpretation. Alice felt no pity when she was told her father-in-law had suffered major paralysis of his face and body. His mental faculties were not as bad as they could have “feared,” but right now the doctor’s prognosis was Russell Monroe had a “long, staggering road to recovery ahead of him.” Given his age, it would be even more unlikely to ever hear that man’s voice again. Watch out for all these tears I’m crying.
Damon wanted to be alone while he processed everything that happened that day. Alice gladly vacated the ICU and went to the maternity ward. There she used the power of her name and status to track down a doctor who would be willing to do a quick pregnancy test. While she waited for the results, Dee arrived with a few police officers to take Alice’s statement regarding the events of that morning.
Was it weird that she had almost forgotten about that?
“Hey, Candi,” she said into her phone an
hour later. “I’m having the roughest day. What are you doing tomorrow? I’ve got a shitton of stuff to do for work, but if you’re game, let’s meet up for a late dinner. Bye.” She disconnected from her friend’s voicemail as the doctor approached her with some papers.
Hearing that he was officially becoming a father was the first bit of good news Damon Monroe had in a while. When his wife let the test results flutter into his hands, the man hugged her, his hot face burning in the crook of her neck.
“Don’t worry,” Alice said, patting his back. “When this is all cleared up, we’ll go home and relax.” She didn’t want Damon to turn into his father, having one health problem after another once he reached a certain age. That stroke had not been quite the coincidence. Russell’s doctor said he was unfortunately due one thanks to his unhealthy lifestyle and all the stress he had accumulated recently. Stress from me. Alice couldn’t help but smile as she realized she contributed to her father-in-law’s downfall.
“I don’t know how I could relax after today.” Damon pulled away, his face long and disturbed. “Between officially taking over the company, my father, and…” He stared at Alice’s abdomen. “It’s a lot to deal with.”
Alice rubbed her nose against his. The tender affection she offered him made some of the tension vacate his stiff body. “I’ll help you deal with it… sir.”
Heat suddenly exploded between them. Damon grabbed his wife’s head and mauled her mouth with his own. Alice welcomed the power overcoming her. She may be his formidable equal in the boardroom, but she was perfectly happy to help him fulfill those domestic fantasies too. You think they aren’t mine at this point? A girl can only take so much boardroom stress. What had Damon told her weeks ago? That people in their position either exerted the same type of control in their sex lives or looked for someone to take that control for a while? Alice could be that second person. Willingly. Happily.
“Ahem.”
The Monroes broke apart. Standing only a few feet away in the hospital hallway was Natsuko Matsuda, holding a small bouquet of daisies.
“I heard about Mr. Monroe,” she said, offering the daisies to Damon and Alice. “I know they won’t let me see him, but I thought he might like to know that someone was thinking of him. A man as unfortunate as him right now…” Why, was that a Monroe-tier smirk on the heiress’s face? “He might need a young and feminine touch to help him recover.”
“That’s diabolical,” Alice said with a smile. No smirk for now.
“That’s good business.” Natsuko handed the flowers to Alice, who accepted them with newfound gratitude. “Our families together would be very wealthy. Not just here, but in Asia too.”
“Do you make a habit of hitting decrepit old men up for their money, Ms. Matsuda?”
Natsuko did not take Damon’s words with offense. “Only when I know I’ll be safe doing so. I could be the first Mrs. Russell Monroe to not almost meet an unfortunate end… son.”
Both Monroes shivered from the hand dealt to them. This is almost too much for one day. “From love interest to stepmother,” Damon muttered. “Like you said, precious. That’s diabolical.”
“What does your boyfriend think about this?” Alice would never be able to look at Natsuko without remembering what she looked like riding that young man’s cock. Especially when I thought it was my husband’s cock…
“Why, he’s excited that I’ll finally have my own jet! We’ve always wanted to go on a romantic adventure to the Caribbean.”
“Doesn’t she sound like someone who would fit right in with our family?” Alice sweetly asked Damon. Her fingers tugged on the buttons to his shirt.
“The question is… for better or for worse?”
“Oh, I assure you, Damon,” Natsuko said with a serene smile, “I only have the best of intentions for our family. You won’t even have to worry about little… how do you say? Rugrats? From me. We never told your father, but I’m tragically barren. So even if your father has some DNA stashed away somewhere, it would be useless on me.”
Alice could tell from her husband’s face that he wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth. I personally don’t care either way. Alice’s business brain was already calculating the amount of money a marriage with the Matsudas would bring in. On the other hand, no one should ever have to say they were married to Russell.
“If it’s all right, I’m going to try to see Mr. Monroe.” Natsuko waved at them on her way by. “Have a pleasant day. Er, more pleasant, anyway…”
Alice was not in a hurry to let go of her husband. “We should go clean things up at the office and head home early. Celebrate our promising victory this morning. Because in case you have forgotten, Mr. Monroe, we now control our vast empire.”
“I have not forgotten.” Damon held her closer. “My father and what happened to you this morning aside, I know that there has been a lot of good news today. Perhaps the work will help take my mind off it.”
“Then we’ll go home, pop open a bottle of champagne for you and sparkling cider for me, and make love all night long.”
“You’re too much sometimes, Alice. Just a little bit.”
“I’m too much?”
His grin against her cheek sent delightful shivers through her body. “What will we do during dinner and drinking our cider?”
They began a slow walk toward the hospital exit. “We should start discussing baby names. Oh, and didn’t someone promise me a wedding once we got what we wanted?”
Damon chuckled. “How pedestrian.”
“I think you’ll find I’m perfectly capable of enjoying the small, domestic things in life as well as smashing some balls beneath my Louboutins.”
“As long as it’s not my balls you’re trying to smash.”
“Why would I do that? They’ve served me well so far.”
The hospital doors slid open to reveal a bright, sunny day. The Town Car was already waiting for them by the curb.
“Remember when we were in Chicago and you told me to find ways to show my devotion outside of the bedroom to you?” Alice asked once they were in the car. “Well? Have I passed my training, sir?”
Damon forewent buckling his seatbelt to pull her into another fantastic kiss. The driver couldn’t ignore that as she started the car. “Don’t get cocky, Mrs. Monroe.” Damon searched beneath Alice’s blouse to find her collar. The silver ring looped around his finger… and he pulled. Hard. “Unless you want me to put you back into your place when we get home.”
“Maybe,” Alice purred against his lips. “Keep tugging that collar and you might get your way, sir.”
He nibbled on her chin, his stubble tickling her skin. “I always get my way. Even when you’re running the show, Mrs. Monroe, I get my way.”
“Call me that again.”
“Mrs. Monroe.”
Damon’s lips were on her throat, his hands frisky enough to dare diving beneath her skirt. There was no privacy window in the Town Car, meaning the poor driver got a grand show of her bosses making out the whole way back to the office. Don’t care. Alice couldn’t be embarrassed. She couldn’t be made to feel ashamed about what she had with Damon Monroe, the man who came into her place of work one night and changed her life forever.
He had stained her. He had trained her. Together they would reign over the vast, global empire they carved out as their own. It was the simple kind of life they both always wanted.
FIVE WEEKS LATER
One month wasn’t ideal for planning the getaway wedding of the year, but when Alice was married to a billionaire, anything was possible.
Having a wedding abroad was the best of both worlds. Alice and Damon escaped the tabloid fodder back home and ensured that they could only invite a small group of guests to their public nuptials. Going to Europe became even more attractive after the couple decided they wanted their colors to be emerald green and white… and some snotty American wedding planner named Jenny dared to imply they could not use green because some other nobody high society coup
le already had that year.
What the Monroes wanted, they damn well got. If this included a destination wedding to the Czech Republic planned in less than a month, then it was done!
Alice wore an empire-waisted wedding gown that accounted for her ever-growing waistline while still showing off the rest of her physique and tastes. Silver embroidery flowed down with white silk, a short and convenient train gliding effortlessly behind her. Silver appliques studded with diamonds covered her chest and dangled from her shoulders. This dress cost a fortune. Nothing for the Monroes. Alice considered it a point of pride that she was able to pay for her own wedding dress out of pocket using funds she earned from the investments her husband made for her the day they were legally wed. Soon she would be paying for things using money she actually earned at her new business.
Her blond hair was coiled on top of her head, also studded with tiny diamonds that twinkled in the Czech afternoon sunlight. A cold breeze tickled her bare arms as she walked through a garden hundreds of years old. Before her, a Bohemian castle set the stage for the wedding of a lifetime. Damon said I was his queen, and I damn well feel like one today!
Her husband was the stunning image of perfection in his tuxedo, emerald cummerbund wrapped loosely around his waist. Damon hadn’t shaved that morning. Instead, he had his groomer clean up the stubble until it looked so purposeful that no one would ever guess he was halfway to growing a brand new beard by the time he took Alice’s hand at the makeshift altar. Alice took one last sniff of her lily bouquet and passed it off to her mother. The Culvers were still suffering from whiplash when it came to their daughter’s whirlwind romance, but they had definitely come around. Even Alice’s father sat in the front row with a huge smile on his face and a camera constantly going off in his hand. Linda was doing her best to not cry into her handkerchief. Terrence was on strict watch to not, for once in his life, play a handheld game while at a fancy event. I won’t hold it against him if he does, though. Seeing her brother smile at her was worth it.
