Rule Changer

by Deena Patel

  The tracker. It had a GPS chip. Thomas had a way to locate me.

  I had to find a way to stall Christof. But how? Hell, I didn’t even know where we were. It could be in the middle of the desert for all I knew.

  “What do you expect me to do? No matter what you believe, I can’t reprogram the software. I don’t have that level of skills. If your expert can’t active it, I’m not going to be able to do it.”

  “Your task is simple. I need you to break Eric’s passcode.”

  “And how am I supposed to do this?”

  “I remembered a conversation I had with him years before your mother’s death.”

  “You mean years before you killed her.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “One does what they need, to ensure cooperation. Your father thought he could end our association. My father sent me to remind him that wasn’t possible.”

  I grew up thinking it was a simple accident that killed Mom; now I wasn’t sure how to feel knowing she was murdered to keep Dad in line.

  They took your mother from me. I couldn’t lose you, too.

  Dad went through all the effort to protect us even after he was under investigation. The software was his insurance policy nothing would happen to Max or me.

  “Now back to the subject at hand. Eric Dane said his young daughter could memorize codes, numbers, and passwords without ever needing to write them down. I’m hoping your memory is as sharp today as it was in your youth.”

  All of a sudden, I understood what he wanted me to do. “You think something from my childhood is the code to unlock the software?”

  “Yes, Ms. Dane, we are going to put your recall skills to good use. We begin in fifteen minutes.” Christof turned and left the room.

  I stood staring at the door for a few moments, and then noticed Mr. Ellsworth was still standing in the corner.

  His gaze connected with mine as he spoke. “Would you like for me to step outside while you freshen up? Mr. Christof has provided a change of clothes, more suitable to your style.”

  I glanced at a pair of fitted leggings and a black embroidered tunic sitting on a chair near the bathroom. That definitely wasn’t my style. I preferred jeans and a T-shirt. However, I wasn’t going to argue; I’d worn the same clothes for God knew how long.

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  He moved to leave, but paused. “I would suggest you get your head in the game. Mr. Christof’s family does not practice the level of restraint Mr. Christof does. Do not waver when speaking to him. He discards anyone he deems weak.”

  Wait a second. Did he say family? Christof’s father and brothers were alive? Oh, shit, this was getting worse by the minute.

  “Why are you giving me this advice?” I studied the bodyguard.

  “Because I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t prepare you.” His voice changed, giving way to a slight American inflection. “Your safety is of the utmost importance to my employer.”

  Did his accent change?

  I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. I almost asked him about it, but he turned, leaving me inside the room.

  Let’s add that to the list of things that didn’t make sense.

  I swiftly washed my face and donned the clothes laid out for me. I opened the door and waited for Mr. Ellsworth to lead the way. He took me down a set of stairs and around a corner toward the front of the house. I took a quick peek outside and saw the ocean, but nothing distinguishing to give any clue to where I was.

  As we approached a large reception room, I heard an intense argument in Russian.

  “Wait here until you’re called. It is better not to disturb them,” Ellsworth said.

  I paused outside the entryway. Dad had insisted I learn Russian as part of my education when I was younger, and now I understood why.

  “Vladimir, you are useless. I asked you to follow simple directions. I’ve disposed of men for less.”

  “Do not blame me for your mistakes, Papa. You ordered the hit on his wife. It was Ivan and Serge who carried it out. Because of you, he spent the next decade orchestrating his plan.”

  “You dare to blame me! Your carelessness has led to the mess we’re in now.” Papers smacked a table.

  “It has been over ten years. How was anyone to know that Dane had copies of all the files? I searched their house from top to bottom years ago.”

  Could Thomas have used the files we’d taken from the safe? I knew he’d do what was necessary to help me.

  “Bring her here. If she isn’t useful, you’ll suffer the consequences. I am tired of cleaning up after you and your brothers.”

  I inhaled deep and prepared to meet the Russian dragon.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Let’s go.” Mr. Ellsworth nudged my back to move into the room. “Remember what I said.”

  I didn’t acknowledge his words, just entered the room. To my right stood two men, who from the family resemblance I could assume were Christof’s brothers Ivan and Serge.

  Dmitri Christof sat in the corner of the room. He had the identical features that made Christof so handsome, except his had a more distinguished edge brought on by age. He stood as I approached.

  His gaze bored into mine with a predatory gleam. This man did not have the polish Christof used to cover his ruthlessness. Dimitri remained quiet, staring at me.

  Ellsworth said not to let him frighten me.

  Here goes.

  I hadn’t spent years as a Domme to be intimated by just anybody. Until Thomas, there hadn’t been a man alive who could make me submit to him.

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t end you for what you did to Abram.”

  My eyes held his, not flinching at the depth of his scrutiny. If Thomas didn’t find me, I’d end up dead anyway. I’d never see Leo or Simon again.

  No, I couldn’t think like that. I had to do whatever was necessary to make it back to my babies. Even if it meant helping these bastards embezzle the funds Dad had taken from them.

  “Because you need me. I’m the only one between you and forty billion dollars,” I answered in the coolest voice I could muster.

  “A confident woman.” A smile touched his lips. “I like that. Now deliver what my son has promised. Don’t fail me, Ms. Dane. As I told my son, there are severe consequences for those who disappoint me.”

  Christof stepped between us before I said something in response. “Come.” He led me to a table covered in various types of computers.

  As I walked around the couch, I noticed the front page of a national newspaper.

  The headline read:

  THIRTY-TWO ARRESTED AS

  CO-CONSPIRATORS IN THE DANE

  EMBEZZLEMENT SCANDAL

  I came to an abrupt stop, and for the first time since I entered the room, my hands shook.

  “Now you understand the urgency behind what we require of you,” Christof said as he maneuvered me to the table.

  A woman stood upon my approach.

  “Ms. Billings is here to monitor your actions while logged onto the server.”

  I glanced at her for a second as I sat down and then did a double take. I knew her from somewhere. I thought back to anywhere I’d interacted with a British IT expert, and then I remembered. She was one of the MI6 agents I’d worked with during graduate school.

  A brief moment of hope sparked to life, and then it disappeared. If she was here, then either she was a plant, or she worked for Christof. There was no point in getting ahead of myself.

  She pretended she hadn’t seen my reaction and stretched out her hand for me to shake it. “I’m Veronica. I’ll log you in and then once I confirm we’re on a secure network, you can begin.”

  “You’re the one who hacked my computer.”

  Veronica shrugged in response as she connected to various networks all over the world, routing and rerouting until she was comfortable with the level of encryption and traceability of the network.

  “Now we can begin, Ms. Dane. I’ve tried all combinations of you, your children, a
nd your brother’s personal information without any luck, so you can leave those out of the possible number-letter combinations.” Veronica repositioned the screen toward me.

  As I adjusted the laptop, I noticed the screen flicker, and a small window appeared and then disappeared. Instantly, I knew Veronica had connected the laptop to something outside of Christof’s server.

  My heartbeat accelerated. I wasn’t alone. She still worked for MI6.

  I placed my fingers over the keyboard.

  “One more thing. If you enter the wrong password five times, the system will lock down. It will take at least a few hours for it to come back up.”

  “Ms. Dane, I suggest you don’t make too many mistakes,” Dimitri said from behind me.

  I released a deep breath. “No pressure whatsoever.”

  I had to make sure I made mistakes on the first three, or they’d grow suspicious. I typed in two combinations I knew would fail, then peeked at Veronica, who seemed to be taking notes. She gave me no sign as to what to do. I looked around, and all focus in the room was on me.

  Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed on Veronica’s pad the words sign in underlined three times.

  Here goes, I was about to either help out the authorities or knowingly become an embezzler. I keyed in my parents’ anniversary and pressed enter.

  I held my breath, and a red screen appeared that read one attempt left.

  “Oh dear God, it has to be it.” I couldn’t hide the quiver from my voice.

  What was I going to do? Every bit of confidence I had in knowing the password disappeared. I’d wasted three chances on the careless assumption I knew all of Dad’s passwords. I ran a hand over my head and rocked. The next thing I knew, Christof had my head pulled back and a gun pointed against my temple.

  “Ms. Dane, you have wasted four chances. We don’t have the time to wait for a second go at this. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Y-yes.”

  He released me, and I fell forward, catching myself with my hands against the edge of the table.

  I closed my eyes and thought back to my childhood, what words it could be. I disregarded all nursery rhymes and household passcodes. Those were too obvious.

  Dad had to have left some hint somewhere. If the best hackers in the world couldn’t figure it out, how was I going to do it? It has to be something straightforward, something so simple no one would expect it as a password. All of the sudden, it came to me.

  “I know what it is.” The clue was in the safe the whole time.

  I carefully typed in BUTTERFLY CUFFLINKS and then hit enter.

  Immediately the system activated, and all the air left my body.

  I sagged back against the couch, closing my eyes. Immediately, buzz sounds surrounded me and glass flew everywhere.

  I couldn’t understand what was happening. Veronica looked as surprised as I did, but it didn’t last long and she threw me to the floor, covering me with her body.

  “Keep your head down. This isn’t part of my operation. I don’t know who the fuck authorized this. Go now.”

  I crawled to the hallway, crouching behind a half wall near the stairs. Shots continued to ring out around me, then all of a sudden they went quiet.

  Tears clouded my vision as the true fear of never seeing Thomas or my boys hit me. I’d done all this and now was going to die in this house.

  “There you are, Ms. Dane. I was looking for you.” Christof towered over me. Blood covered his face, and what looked like a bullet wound bloodied his shoulder.

  He hauled me toward him. “Are you part of this?”

  I shook my head. “I…I don’t know what happened. I did what you said. You’re the one who brought me here.”

  “If you deceived me, I will kill you, but before I do that I will make sure you suffer more than you ever knew you could handle,” he gritted out. He looked behind him at Ivan and Serge, who lay dead on the floor. “They thought to kill me would win them favor with Papa. They should have known he’d never pick the children of his whore over the one from his wife.”

  Ellsworth came up behind him, holding Dimitri’s limp body. “Sir, we have to leave now.”

  “My father?”

  “Gone, sir. I didn’t want to leave him here.”

  Christof’s face dropped, and then he nodded. He pushed me toward the back of the house but came to an abrupt halt.

  Thomas stood before us, with a gun pointed at Christof’s head. “Go ahead. Give me another reason to kill you.”

  “We are at an impasse, Mr. Regala. You want Ms. Dane, who I don’t plan to release, and I want to leave, which you don’t want to accommodate.”

  “You have five seconds before I put a bullet in your head.” Thomas cocked his revolver.

  At the same time, two identical clicks echoed behind me. “It looks like you’re outnumbered, Mr. Regala.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Ellsworth said as he pressed the barrel of his pistol against Christof’s temple and shoved me to the side.

  Surprise flashed across his face two seconds before Ellsworth knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head.

  I looked back and forth between all of them. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I had to have imagined this.

  “Thomas,” I gasped, trying to brace myself against the kitchen table, but I lost my balance.

  Thomas caught me before I hit the floor. “Easy, baby.” He cradled me against his chest. “We aren’t leaving the ranch for at least a year after we get back home. You’re going to be the death of me.”

  I curled into his hold. “I knew you’d find me.”

  He kissed the top of my head and turned to Ellsworth. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you.”

  “You’ve saved me enough times. We’ll call it even.”

  Ellsworth leaned down, made sure Christof was still breathing, and then clasped hands with Thomas. “It good to see you again, man.” His British accent had turned into full-blown Southern country boy. “It’s time I took out the trash. The cleanup team will be here in ten.”

  Thomas nodded to him and carried me to a waiting van. Before the door closed, he buried his face in my hair. “Don’t ever put me through that again.”

  “I promise. No more crazy adventures.” I closed my eyes and soaked into the heat of his body. “I’ll make it up to you. Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.”

  He took my hand and rubbed the engagement ring he’d given me. “You can marry me.”

  I looked up. “I thought you said the engagement was real.”

  “You never said yes.”

  “Ask me.”

  His eyes lit up. “Will you marry me, mi cielito?”

  “Yes.” I slid my fingers into his hair and drew him toward me. “I’ll do anything you ask of me, Master.”

  EPILOGUE

  Who’s in charge?” I asked while running my nails down his shoulders and arms.

  His skin prickled. “You are, Mistress.”

  “Do you want me to continue?” I pressed my fingers against the base of his spine.

  “Yes, Mistress.” He groaned and then moaned, pushing his restrained body back into my caress.

  “Naughty, naughty. I said no movement.”

  Stepping away, I strolled to a table positioned at the far end of the room and glanced over my shoulder.

  My lover clenched his jaw and kept his gaze down. His muscles bulged from the shackles holding his arms above his head.

  “I’m sorry, Mistress.”

  I smiled at his apology. This man submitted to no one, but he kneeled before me, offering me everything for a moment of my attention.

  I turned back to the table, flipped my black hair from my shoulder, and then selected a leather-braided crop from my favorite selection of instruments. Pivoting, I returned to my slave. Sweat trickled down his muscular shoulders, honed from work in the field and not the gym. He nuzzled the inside of my thigh, and it took all of my strength to hold back my own desire
to moan.

  His cheek twitched as I shifted away and around him. He smelled my arousal.

  “I’m here to relieve your discomfort, Mistress.”

  I snapped the crop against his back, making him flinch. “Not a sound or you will wake the boys,” I ordered.

  He didn’t respond so I flicked the crop again, but this time over his beautiful, firm ass. His wrists tugged against the manacles attached to the ceiling, and a growl escaped his lips.

  I dropped the rod and crouched in front of him. I reached out, gliding my hand along his leather-covered thighs and stopped once I reached his straining erection. I cupped his cock, running my palm up and down, squeezing with each stroke.

  The feel of him under my fingers sent a prickle down my spine. I expelled a shallow breath and licked my lips.

  All of a sudden I realized he was watching me.

  “Did I give you permission to look at me?”

  “My Mistress craves her release?”

  In response, I pinched his nipples, and his hazel eyes immediately dilated. I cupped his face, kissing him with all the desire the past hour had brought to a peak. Our tongues dueled, but I pulled away. I had to regain control of myself. A Mistress remained in charge at all times, sacrificing her pleasure for her submissive’s.

  I stood up and moved back to the table. I closed my eyes and bit my lip.

  Get it together, Carmen.

  I wasn’t sure if I could hold off much longer. Wetness pooled between my legs, dampening the crotch of my bodysuit. I steadied my breath and then jumped as hands clamped around my wrists, pulling me back against a firm chest.

  “Now it’s time for the Mistress to become the slave.”

  My heartbeat accelerated, and excitement coursed thought me. “How did you get free?” I peeked at the floor behind me and found the shackles open and on the floor.

  “You’re no longer in charge, Carmen,” his raspy voice murmured in my ear. “You always smell wonderful, mi amor. Like gardenias.”

  He slid his palm down my stomach to my fabric-covered crotch and rubbed, starting a steady rhythm.

  My head fell back, and I moaned aloud.

  “Time for the orgasm you’ve denied both of us for the past two hours.”