by Maya Banks
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF MAYA BANKS
“Takes readers into the black depths of anguish . . . Her characters are a testament to the strength of the human spirit and to the power love has to heal even the deepest wounds.”
—Linda Howard, New York Times bestselling author
“Incredibly awesome . . . I love Maya Banks and I love her books.”
—Jaci Burton, New York Times bestselling author
“Really dragged me through the gamut of emotions. From . . . ‘Is it hot in here?’ to ‘Oh my GOD’ . . . I’m ready for the next ride now!”
—USA Today
“[A] one-two punch of entertainment that will leave readers eager for the next book.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Any book by Maya Banks is a book well worth reading.”
—Once Upon a Twilight
“For those who like it naughty, dirty and do-me-on-the-desk HAWT!”
—Examiner.com
“Hot enough to make even the coolest reader sweat!”
—Fresh Fiction
“Definitely a recommended read.”
—Fallen Angel Reviews
“[For] fans of Sylvia Day’s Bared to You.”
—Under the Covers
“Grabbed me from page one and refused to let go until I read the last word.”
—Joyfully Reviewed
“An excellent read that I simply did not put down . . . Covers all the emotional range.”
—The Road to Romance
“The sex is crazy hot.”
—Scandalicious Book Reviews
TITLES BY MAYA BANKS
FOR HER PLEASURE
BE WITH ME
The Sweet Series
SWEET SURRENDER
SWEET PERSUASION
SWEET SEDUCTION
SWEET TEMPTATION
SWEET POSSESSION
SWEET ADDICTION
The Kelly/ KGI Series
THE DARKEST HOUR
NO PLACE TO RUN
HIDDEN AWAY
WHISPERS IN THE DARK
ECHOES AT DAWN
SHADES OF GRAY
FORGED IN STEELE
AFTER THE STORM
WHEN DAY BREAKS
DARKEST BEFORE DAWN
Colters’ Legacy
COLTERS’ PROMISE
COLTERS’ GIFT
The Breathless Trilogy
RUSH
FEVER
BURN
The Surrender Trilogy
LETTING GO
GIVING IN
TAKING IT ALL
The Enforcers Series
MASTERED
DOMINATED
ANTHOLOGIES
FOUR PLAY
(with Shayla Black)
MEN OUT OF UNIFORM
(with Karin Tabke and Sylvia Day)
CHERISHED
(with Lauren Dane)
SPECIALS
PILLOW TALK
EXILED
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This book is an original publication of the Berkley Publishing Group.
Copyright © 2016 by Maya Banks.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Banks, Maya, author. Title: Dominated / Maya Banks. Description: Berkley trade paperback edition. | New York : Berkley Books, 2016. | Series: The enforcers ; 2 Identifiers: LCCN 2016003596 (print) | LCCN 2016008630 (ebook) | ISBN 9780425280669 (paperback) | ISBN 9780698191822 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Man-woman relationships—Fiction. | Sexual dominance and submission—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Romance / Contemporary. | FICTION / Contemporary Women. | GSAFD: Erotic fiction. Classification: LCC PS3602.A643 D66 2016 (print) | LCC PS3602.A643 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016003596
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition / May 2016
Cover art: Steel chain over Vintage black background by usanee hirata / Shutterstock Images.
Cover design by Rita Frangie.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Praise for the Novels of Maya Banks
Titles by Maya Banks
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Epilogue
PROLOGUE
He took the express elevator that only ran between his penthouse and the lobby, praying the entire way that Evangeline would even look at him, much less listen to anything he had to say.
God, let her be sweet, generous and forgiving one last time and he’d never give her reason to doubt him again.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, he bolted into the apartment yelling her name. He winced when he saw the mess in the kitchen, the contents of what appeared to be an extensive menu dumped on the floor, skillets and pots strewn across the bar, the stove and the floor along with the contents.
When he hit the living room on the way to the bedroom, his dread only increased when he saw the silver trays with appetizers scattered all over the room, liquor and wine bottles smashed and huge wet stains on his furniture and carpet.
Paying them no heed, he burst into the bedroom, prepared to beg, on his knees, for her to forgive him. He had a hell of a lot of explaining to do, and that explanation would raise questions he wasn’t prepared to answer without further fear of driving her away. If he hadn’t done so already.
But Evangeline was nowhere to be seen. All the jewelry he’d gifted her with, including the items she’d worn tonight, were scattered on their bed, and the remnants of the dress she’d worn lay in pieces on the floor.
When he checked her closet, it was full except for a couple pairs of jeans and a few casual shirts and one pair of tennis shoes. Most noticeable was that his small travel bag was missing.
He sank to his knees, his chest so tight it felt as though it were being crushed.
His
worst nightmare had come to life. She was gone. He’d driven her away. He’d treated her despicably.
Not since his childhood had he felt such desolation and helpless despair. But this, this was his doing. He’d done the unthinkable. He wasn’t the victim. Evangeline was. His sweet, innocent angel whose only crime was loving him and wanting to take care of him and show him he mattered.
And he’d repaid her by taking her gift and throwing it back in her face in the most despicable way a man could hurt the woman he cared about.
He buried his face in his hands, raw agony clawing at his insides. “I fucked up, Angel. But I’m coming for you. So help me God. I know I failed you. I let you down. But goddamn it, I will not let you go. I’ll never let you go. I’ll fight for you with my last breath. I can’t live without you,” he whispered. “You’re the only thing good in my life. The only sunshine I’ve ever experienced in a life steeped in gray.
“I can’t live without you. You’re my only reason for living. You have to come home, because without you, I have—I am—nothing.”
1
“Find her,” Drake said harshly, the nights without sleep evident in his haggard appearance. “This is your only priority, your only job. Find her and bring her back to me.”
He’d gathered his sentinels. The only men in his inner circle, a tight band of men—brothers—his partners in business and the only men he trusted with his life—and Evangeline’s.
The only men he’d allow to see him at his lowest, unguarded. Vulnerable. Nothing mattered to him. Not exposing his weakness. Not allowing his iron control that had maintained him through most of his life to slip. They all knew that Evangeline was . . . special. All important. They liked and respected her. Rare enough to garner one of those traits. Unheard of for a woman to have been awarded both.
Because of this, they were all pissed. At him.
“Goddamn it, Drake,” Maddox hissed out. “How could you do it? There had to be another way.”
“There was no other goddamn way and you know it!” Drake raged, fury and helplessness eating him alive, gutting him until there was nothing left but a soulless shell of a man standing helplessly in front of his brothers begging for their help.
Looks were exchanged. Some of sympathy, some of resignation as they realized Drake was right, and still others of quiet fury that Evangeline had been treated—betrayed—in such a despicable manner.
Goddamn useless woman. Can’t even give good head. Your only use is in my bedroom.
His cruel words sliced through his mind, a jagged cut making him bleed all over again, a vicious reminder of the unforgivable things he’d said to her. All in the effort to convince the fucking Luconis she meant nothing to him.
When in fact, she was his goddamn world. And, he couldn’t find her!
He couldn’t blame her. He’d devastated her. Had ripped her to shreds until she was bleeding from the verbal wounds he’d inflicted. And Jesus, his physical treatment of her. No, the only person at fault was himself.
Silas had remained silent, his features carved in stone, but his eyes were a dead giveaway in a man who usually gave away nothing at all.
“She didn’t deserve this,” Silas said in his quiet voice. But then he never had to raise his voice to make his point. When he spoke, others instinctively ceased talking and listened to him. He was a man who commanded authority and respect.
“No, she didn’t,” Drake said hoarsely. “Don’t you think I know that? Do you think a single night goes by that I don’t replay the image of her broken, in utter despair, her tears—goddamn it, her tears—and worse, her fear. Of me. Of her humiliation. Her absolute belief in every insult, every word I hurled her way in an effort to make sure the goddamn Luconis never suspected what she meant to me. I’ll never forget. As long as I live, I’ll never forget that night.”
His tone grew savage, fury radiating from him like a beacon.
“She could be anywhere out there. Alone. Afraid. Her parents haven’t heard from her. And those bitches she called her best friends . . .” He broke off and had to visibly compose himself.
He and Maddox had gone there first only to discover that they hadn’t heard from her either. Except, when after making their disgust known, they’d turned to leave when Lana caved, admitting tearfully that Evangeline had called that day, the day she’d planned to visit them. To reconcile. And that she’d told her not to come. Guilt had been reflected in the eyes of all her “friends.”
It was then that Drake had understood that she’d never planned to execute her surprise to him, hadn’t lied to him in order to set up her playing hostess for him. She’d been hurt by her friends’ rejection, and so she’d turned to the one true thing in her life, seeking his approval, needing it, because she had no one else.
And Maddox felt as guilty as Drake did because if he’d gone up with Evangeline, as he usually did, he would have known her girls weren’t home and he wouldn’t have hesitated to take her somewhere else for the evening. He’d never expected her to make her escape and hurry back to Drake’s apartment to pull off her surprise for Drake. To let him know he mattered to her. She’d put everything on the line for him and he’d repaid her with a betrayal so cutting, so deep that he’d destroyed something so beautiful and innocent that he couldn’t think about it without losing his tenuous grip on his sanity.
Justice cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair, hesitating almost as if he worried about Drake being even more pissed than he already was at what Justice was about to say.
“This may sound crazy, Drake,” Justice began warily. “But hear me out, okay?”
Drake made a sound of impatience. Every moment they stood in his office talking was another moment Evangeline was God only knew where on the streets, alone, devastated, thinking he’d lied to her about everything.
“Make it quick,” Drake snapped. “While we stand here discussing her, she’s out there, cold, alone, hungry, with nothing.”
Grief swamped him all over again, and he was forced to sit down in the chair behind his desk or risk collapsing. He covered his face with his hands, missing the shocked looks of his closest men and the uneasy looks they exchanged.
“I think you’ve gone about this the wrong way,” Justice said quietly.
Drake’s head came up, his lips twisted in a snarl. His other men stared questioningly at Justice, wondering if the man had lost his mind by crossing Drake or questioning his judgment.
“Hear me out,” Justice repeated. “You’ve protected her at all turns, kept her secret, afraid she would be used against you. Which is why you had to do what you did when things changed and there was no other way to protect her.”
Silas’s brooding expression became one of distaste, letting Drake—and the others—know exactly what he thought of what “had” to be done to ensure her safety—her life.
“Instead of hiding her, keeping her secret, I think you should go public with her. Very public,” Justice said emphatically.
“Are you insane?” Drake asked hoarsely. “Are you just trying to get her raped, tortured, killed?”
Justice held up his hand in the same request for Drake to hear him out. The others also fell silent, suddenly very curious as to where on earth Justice was going with this.
“No, you don’t hide her,” Justice said quietly. “You make her your fucking queen. You let the goddamn world know she is yours and that you’ll kill anyone who so much as looks at her wrong, threatens her, tries to use her to get to you. Think about it, Drake. You are the most feared man in the city. Do you honestly think they would be fool enough to go after what you value the most?”
“He has a point,” Silas said quietly, surprising the others by speaking up. “We would double, even triple her security, but the thing that will protect her the most is your name. Think about it, Drake. When have you ever publicly laid claim to a woman or made it clear that anyone harming her will die a long, agonizing death?”
Drake growled impatiently. “Having a sec
urity detail, even as good as all of you are, won’t protect her from a sniper, a bomb or someone simply walking up to her and shooting her.”
Maddox swore and sent Drake a look of disgust and agitation. “You’ve lost all intelligence and rationality when it comes to Evangeline. Killing Evangeline does fuck-all for your enemies except piss you off and have you out for blood. Their blood. Something that no one wants, not even the most powerful of your enemies. They’d be stupid fucks who could kiss their lives and empires good-bye the minute they ordered Evangeline’s death. The only way Evangeline could be used to ‘get’ to you is if they take her alive and keep her alive to extort what they want from you in return for her release. And in order to get to her, they would have to go through her security detail and there’s no way in hell that’s ever going to happen.”
“We,” Justice interrupted, thumbing toward the other men gathered in the room, “would never allow someone to get close enough to Evangeline for someone to abduct her, and someone will be on her twenty-four-seven when she’s not in your place. And when you and Evangeline are out, a security detail protects you both and monitors your every movement.”
“Only in private will you not have the security team. Your apartment’s security system is top of the line. Better and more sophisticated than most classified security systems. At the push of a button the entire building goes into lockdown mode and you have a safe room that is impenetrable, even to explosives,” Silas interjected. “I know because I installed it myself.”
“I don’t want her to be a goddamn prisoner,” Drake said in an agonized voice.
“It won’t be any different than before,” Jax said, speaking up for the first time. “When did Evangeline go anywhere without one of us? She never seemed to mind. Hell, she liked us. Or at least she did . . .”
His voice trailed off in what sounded like regret and remorse, as if Drake’s actions would alienate her from them all. And judging by the looks on his men’s faces, it was something they’d all considered. And didn’t like very much at all.
His men adored her. They liked her when they truly liked no women. And now they were faced with losing her trust every bit as much as Drake was. He couldn’t find it in himself to be jealous. The only emotion he could conjure was guilt because through his actions, Evangeline would lose people who’d become important to her, people she’d taken under her protective wing, and she’d made them all feel as though they were important, that they mattered.
