He inserted a finger and I moaned in acceptance. My body was burning with desire as he moved his fingers in heavenly ways.
“What a wet, horny girl you are,” he said as he bit my lip.
He pulled my bra straps off my shoulders and started sucking my nipples. As his tongue circled my erogenous zones, my ugly memories of the murders turned into a spinning white lantern.
“Oh God … oh my God … stop,” I groaned as I turned from side to side, melting into divine pleasure under his experienced hands.
“Be still,” he said as his second finger entered me.
He pushed his fingers in deeper and deeper, sending electric shocks through every nerve in my body. He was inside me and I’d lost control of the situation.
“Here it is,” he cooed. He hooked his fingers at the right angle and pressed at my sweet spot deep inside.
“God … save me,” I moaned softly, grasping at the soft sheets as my pelvis lifted off the bed.
He jabbed his fingers in and out of me—fast, slow, fast, and slow again. Every muscle in my body tensed as I clawed the sheets and pulled them off the side of the bed.
“Don’t hold back. Let yourself go,” he said in an authoritative whisper.
I held my breath and he went faster and deeper until my body jerked uncontrollably and I came. I let go of the sheets as all my muscles relaxed. I sank into the soft bed, whimpering in reverie as his fingers rested inside me.
“That’s what you needed.” Conan smiled as he looked down at me. “You needed to let go.” He removed his fingers and caressed my legs as if they were instruments. “I want you Scarlet.”
“Why?” I was in ecstasy and I couldn’t think clearly.
“I can’t help but want you. You’re my Scarlet Queen.” He looked adoringly at my body. “You’re my goddess, my queen. You’re perfect.” He kissed me as his long fingers stroked a spot on my neck.
I groaned in pleasure again. God, he found my weak spot.
“Ah, you’re sensitive here too.” He circled the spot with the tips of his fingers as he gently kissed my neck.
I moaned beneath his touch as I drifted into a world of fairytales and happy endings—the world where we would be king and queen and no one could tell us what to do. The world where we’d be in control, living happily ever after instead of being rats in the game of life.
“Conan … you have to take me with you,” I said, knowing it could never happen.
“I’ll take you anywhere, everywhere, you want to go,” he whispered, pulling my head toward him.
I put my hand around his neck and kissed him passionately. I wanted to consume him, reach into him, take him into my paradise … the Scarlet Queen’s universe of pleasure and pain. But we lived in the Red Hourglass’s world, defiled by the blood of evil men. There was no redemption, no relief from the pain. The Red Hourglass lived in a world devoid of love and hope, full of sin, guilt, and despair.
“What a tease,” I mumbled under my breath.
I cuddled up to his warm body, feeling safe and secure. I fell soundly asleep in seconds.
* * *
The morning sun shone through the translucent white curtains, gloriously filling the bedroom with soft light. There was a slight taste of whiskey in my mouth and I looked around the room. It was minimalist with blond wood furniture.
Conan was still wearing his pants. He propped himself up on his elbow and slowly caressed my hourglass waist. I admired his body. He reminded me of a beautiful Roman statue carved from white marble. He gently rolled me over and began rubbing my back.
“A red hourglass. How interesting. What does it symbolize?”
“An hourglass reminds me that our time on earth is finite,” I said. “Like the grains of sand falling to the bottom of an hourglass, our lives are always slipping away. Every moment is lost to time, never to return.”
“That’s very serious.”
“Did you really believe me?” I giggled.
“It makes perfect sense, and you do take things very seriously.”
“Here’s another interpretation. Black widow spiders have red hourglass markings. Their bites can be fatal to humans, and the females have been known to kill their mates.”
“So what does it really mean to you?”
“It’s up to you to decide which version you believe.”
“I think the truth is that it represents something very personal, something you’re trying to hide. It doesn’t matter what you tell me. I’ll learn the truth in time. Anyway, I have a secret of my own.”
“What secret?”
“I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough.” He laughed.
He sat up and put on his shirt and tie. I grabbed the tie and pulled him back down.
“Be careful. You may not want to find out what I do with my ties.”
“You wear ties to work. That’s what they’re for.” I slid my fingers along his torso and began playing with his morning erection.
“Ties are for tying things.”
“Tying what?”
“Depends on the version you believe,” he teased.
“Show me what you do with your ties.” I undid his tie and handed it to him.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into little girl,” he said as he ran the silk tie through his fingers.
I wanted to say the same thing to him, but I kept quiet.
“Show me,” I begged.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to know?”
“You know about my tattoo, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t know what you do with ties.”
“It can be dangerous.”
I looked down and laughed to myself. I doubt you’re more dangerous to me than I am to you.
“I’m the sort of girl who likes dangerous things.”
“My dear secretary, you certainly don’t look like a girl who flirts with danger … or kink. But I know you’re a wild little thing that needs to be controlled.”
“Really? Try me … or tie me then. What’s your pleasure?”
“Hmm.” He smiled and kissed me gently on the mouth. “Once I do, there’s no going back.”
“I think we’ve already crossed the point of no return. Show me.”
“Next time.” He stood up and put on his shoes. “I have to go to work for a little while. You can stay here and make yourself breakfast. I’ll be home later.”
“It’s Saturday,” I whined.
“I have a meeting. See you later.” He kissed my forehead and left.
I got out of bed and put on my dress. I walked into the living room and perused his large book collection. There were business books, a Steve Jobs biography, classic novels, and a lot of works by David Eddings. A black leather book called The Black Rose caught my eye and I pulled it off the shelf. It was a historical romance novel written in 1945. He certainly has diverse tastes.
Conan’s desk was covered by neat stacks of files. Being his secretary, I knew the contents of the files. I even knew how much tax he paid. I shouldn’t be poking around.
I went into the kitchen and looked for coffee. I found an electric kettle, a French press, and ground coffee under the island.
Zhong Yuan
“Roses for my Scarlet Queen,” said Conan as he greeted me with a bouquet of flowers on Monday morning.
He was wearing a shiny gray suit. The sharp cut of the jacket highlighted his well-defined features.
“Thank you … Conan.” I was surprised, to say the least. Everyone was looking over their cubicles at us and I was embarrassed. I smiled shyly in their general direction.
“My pleasure.” He winked at me and walked back into his office.
I breathed in deeply and let the aroma of the flowers fill my senses. He was everything I liked in a man—strong, solid, secure, smart, and suave. He’s so dashing. Life is beautiful. I shook my head and put the dozen red roses underneath my desk. The last thing I needed was to get caught up in fantasies about running off with
Conan and living happily ever after.
He came out of his office with a MacBook Air tucked under his arm. It matched his suit.
“Did the roses delight you?” Conan looked around to see if anyone was watching us. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“Oooo … I love the roses. They bring out the Scarlet Queen in me,” I squealed. I was caught off guard by his public display of affection and I couldn’t control my response. My mind began racing with fantasies.
“I’m glad,” he whispered. “I’m off to meet the new security trainees. We’re meeting downstairs if you need me.”
Conan was so charming and disarming. I had to talk some sense into myself and I gave myself a quiet little speech under my breath: “You aren’t supposed to fall in love. Don’t compromise your mission. Remember Max. He used you, abused you, and tore out your heart. Remember what your stepfather did to you. Conan is the same—a dirty, filthy, liar. These lowly men aren’t even worthy of your attention. They’re only worthy of being your minions.”
I clenched my fists and felt my confidence go up. I caressed my tattoo through my blouse. I’m the Red Hourglass, not a secretary falling in love with her boss. I have to continue working here, but there’s something for me at the end of it. I’m an agent and I should’ve been on the hunt by now, but I have to do this if I want to find my mother. I am in control. I used an NLP technique to reinforce my positive thoughts and I felt much better.
I picked up a stack of papers and started my filing. I came across an important-looking press release.
Zhong Yuan Holdings buys stakes in Wilmar Enterprises
Zhong Yuan Holdings has acquired a 30% stake in Wilmar Enterprises. This move will secure Zhong Yuan’s continuous overseas land acquisitions.
“We are very impressed with Wilmar’s growth,” said Yuan, the CEO of Zhong Yuan. “We will continue to work closely with Wilmar.”
Yuan and his team will travel to New York City later this year for a meeting with Wilmar’s board of directors.
I googled Zhong Yuan Holdings. It was a state-owned enterprise of the Chinese government. They’d recently acquired a whole town in Los Angeles County and were planning to redevelop the land as an upscale retirement community.
Most of the town’s residents had purchased their homes at the peak of the latest property boom, and many of them ended up defaulting on their mortgages. Property prices plummeted, and the remaining homeowners wanted to sell up. Zhong Yuan bought them all out. Then the government sold all the public land at cut-rate prices to Zhong Yuan—with huge tax breaks—bailed out the mortgage companies, and gave the rest of the land to Zhong Yuan.
Zhong Yuan headquarters were in Shanghai and they had subsidiaries in solar energy, construction, and land development. I found an article with a picture of Zhong Yuan’s CEO shaking hands with the Premier of China. It was obvious that the Chinese government used Zhong Yuan to acquire property and influence in foreign countries. If they gained a controlling share in Wilmar, they’d exponentially increase their US holdings.
Is Zhong Yuan going to buy up New York next and make it a mega-Chinatown for the rich? The thought sent shivers through me. An influx of rich foreigners would drive up property prices, force out the locals, and the cost of living would skyrocket.
It’s exactly as the White Queen said, and it’s going to get worse now that Zhong Yuan’s involved. I’m sure The House lost their lease because of Wilmar or some other big developer. A café serving the community for three generations … gone in an instant.
With all economies now linked, this was the sheer force of globalization. Our city was, next and I wanted to save it from the greedy bastards. I’ll have to find out when Zhong Yuan is coming to meet Wilmar’s board.
I checked Google News for the latest info on Wilmar Enterprises and White Holdings—the White Queen’s conglomerate. The news was flying in with updates every minute and I saved all the articles to my encrypted flash drive. I opened another window and watched the stock prices of both companies fluctuate wildly as investor confidence waxed and waned with each bit of news.
Human are unpredictable and stock markets are in constant flux. The market is a strange beast. I didn’t quite understand the rules of this game of chance. All I knew was that the forces of globalization had created a level playing field for foreign competitors to invade a market and create chaos for established home players like White Holdings.
“Hey Scarlet,” Kelvin snorted.
I almost jumped right off my seat. I saw him walking up to my desk out of the corner of my eye, but I was still startled.
“Kelvin … hello. What can I do for you?” I shut the window with the stock ticker and ripped my flash drive out of the USB port.
“Will you remind Conan that we have a meeting at three this afternoon? We usually have our meetings in the mornings, but he’s with the new trainees today, so I think he should get a reminder.”
“Of course.” I opened Conan’s calendar. “The meeting’s in his calendar, but I’ll remind him. Kelvin, three o’clock. No problem.”
“Good. Thank you.” Kelvin sauntered back to his office.
* * *
I uploaded all the articles into the White Queen’s Wilmar database when I got home from work. We didn’t use the database to communicate our analyses or future plans, so I wrote a short report in agent code.
I reported that it looked like a merger with Zhong Yuan was on the cards and we needed to get the date of the meeting. I ran downstairs and left the report for Vanus in an old built-in milk box that we were using as a dead drop. Then I sent her a text saying “I forgot the milk.”
I thought about last Friday night with Conan. Out of all my sisters, I was the closest to Johnson Wilmar … because of Conan. Did the White Queen know who Conan was when she told me to apply for the job as his secretary?
I’d never been on an assignment that put me in close proximity to my target for a long time. My assignments had always been simple—marked target, predetermined location, seduction, and murder. Like a spider, all I had to do was wait for my prey and kill it.
This assignment was taking place in a complex arena of human dynamics, corporate espionage, and global capitalism. The White Queen was playing chess with Wilmar. Conan Casey was a knight, and I was just another disposable pawn. She was maneuvering me so that she could checkmate the king. Would I be killed, or have to sacrifice myself, in this game? I shuddered just thinking about it.
I realized I was closer to learning the truth behind all the lies I’d been taught. I started questioning my beliefs, my identity, and my place in the world. Questions that I had no answers for were spinning through my mind. Where do I belong? Does the White Queen really believe that I’m meant for bigger things? Or has she been deceiving me all along?
I was an orphan with nothing to live or fight for other than the White Queen. She was my mama and I’d never questioned her love for me. I’d always believed that her love was worth fighting for, worth risking my life for, but was it true? I feared that I would never know.
My Submission
I went home with Conan after the tango social on Friday. I was having my doubts about the White Queen—and the mission—but I wasn’t going to give up. I still wanted to find my mother and the White Queen was the key.
I woke up early on Saturday morning. Conan was in the shower and my stomach was growling. There wasn’t much food in the kitchen, but I found bread, eggs, and butter in the fridge. I grabbed the French press and kettle from under the island and made coffee.
“What’s for breakfast?” Conan asked as he came out of his bedroom.
“Eggs and toast. Do you want coffee?”
“Please.” He gave me a soft peck on the cheek. “I have to reply to some emails.”
Conan went over to his desk and turned on his laptop. I poured him a cup of coffee and set it down on a coaster next to him. The smell of sweet sandalwood wafted off his skin.
“I’ll turn you into the per
fect girlfriend in no time.”
“Hmm, I’m not your bitch,” I said as I ruffled his wet hair. He was my boss at work, and I had to play the part of his girlfriend, but I wasn’t going to let him call all the shots all the time.
“How do you like your eggs? Scrambled, sunny side up, over easy?” I asked from the kitchen.
“Scrambled eggs are my favorite.”
“Coming up.”
I melted butter in a frying pan as I beat the eggs with a little salt and pepper. I poured the eggs into the hot pan and put the bread in the toaster. When everything was ready, I buttered the toast, scooped the eggs onto the plate, and took it over to Conan’s desk with a fork.
“It smells delicious.” Conan pushed his laptop aside and shoveled his scrambled eggs onto the toast. He took a bite, closing his eyes as he crunched away. When he opened his eyes he looked like a content wolf pup. “It tastes good too. Thank you.”
“You found the right girlfriend, huh?”
“Yeah, you should stay here with me. I’ll train you to be my perfect servant.”
“Very funny. I’m not your servant. Besides, I have to go home. I don’t want my cat to starve to death.”
“I didn’t know you have a cat.”
“There’s a lot about me that you don’t know.”
“I’m sure there is,” he said. “Maybe I’m too busy to train you during the week anyway, but you can spend weekends here. I’ll buy you one of those automatic feeders for your pussy.”
“I haven’t agreed to spend weekends with you.”
“Will you?”
“Maybe.”
We spent the day watching movies and frolicking around his apartment. Just as the sun was setting, we headed out to buy groceries.
* * *
Conan cooked a simple steak dinner. He didn’t like processed food, and he made a mushroom gravy from scratch. He used crimini mushrooms, butter, garlic, thyme, salt, and black pepper. The gravy was thick, savory, and to die for. We polished off a bottle of Merlot with the meal.
Red Hourglass Page 13
