by Lana Grayson
He rolled me off of him immediately. His breathing rattled, but he tucked himself within his pants and tossed his discarded shirt at me.
He turned while I dressed.
My heart clenched. I couldn’t imagine losing the beginning of what friendship we had.
“Reed…” I fumbled with the material, pitching it over my head. “Wait. Talk to me.”
“Sarah, don’t move.” He clutched his phone. “I have to…he asked for proof.”
Oh.
Ew.
He guided me into the bed. It was the first time I fought him and closed my legs. I covered my face and sunk into the blanket.
“But…” I grunted. “This isn’t…”
“I know.”
The phone’s camera clicked, and my stomach almost heaved with it. But the humiliation was quick, and I didn’t have to see it. Reed tossed the phone away. I pinched my legs shut once more as he pawed through a drawer next to his bed. He pushed a folder into my hands.
“That’s for you,” he said.
I hadn’t caught my breath or steadied my fluttering heart. Reed panted, leaning against the wall on a muscular arm. We shared a shiver even parted from each other.
Flipping through the folder’s contents exhausted me. I couldn’t focus, but I recognized the scrawling insignia and faded lettering.
“You’re giving me one share of the Bennett Corporation?” I perked an eyebrow. “So…you fuck me, then you insult me?”
For the first time in days, Reed’s smile returned—a beaming, mischievous grin that soothed the thoughts and fears jumbling inside me.
“Never know when that’ll come in handy,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow. “Do I get voting rights?”
His amusement faded for only a moment. “Ask Nick.”
“I’ll just make sure my accountant labels this stock as risky.”
“You’d be surprised.”
He quieted.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Forget it.”
Reed sighed and returned to the bed, scooping me in his arms before I could sneak away. He pulled me to his chest, and I crashed against his salty, sea-tempted scent. It wasn’t bad. Oddly comforting. He found the last show we’d watched on Netflix during my stay in the theater and settled in before the television.
None of this was normal, but I appreciated it, especially as my legs had yet to stop trembling from his delivered passion.
I let him wrap his arm around me, even smirking as he kissed my forehead. He didn’t draw his attention from the TV.
“I know I’m not Nicholas—”
“Reed—”
“And I know you’ll never think of me as your brother.”
I swallowed.
“But I’ll take care of you just the same. No matter what happens here, no matter who is the one that…” He shrugged. “You’re not gonna get hurt. I won’t let it happen.”
I snuggled against his chest. “Goddamn it.”
“What?”
I stole the remote from him. “I never wanted a Bennett for an ally.”
“You got one.”
For now.
I didn’t have only Reed. I had all three of them under my thumb, in my possession, and stricken with my lust.
And yet, the sudden allegiance with my step-brothers filled me with dread. They expected more from me than I could give, and I needed more from them than they knew.
What the hell would happen when they realized the game I played?
And how badly would it hurt when they abandoned me?
I never considered myself a criminal.
Ambitious—yes.
Determined—of course.
Ruthless? One had to be merciless in our line of work. To succeed and achieve both survival and wealth, ruthlessness was a common trait and necessary evil.
I also never considered myself gentle.
Sarah Atwood dined at our dinner table—naked, for our pleasure.
And it had been my idea.
To protect her, she needed to learn humility. I tried to shame a woman who had no reason to be ashamed by her utter perfection. But how else was I supposed to assume my authority over a woman who wielded the power to force me to my knees with a single word?
Every flush of delicate, pink innocence that haloed her body pitted my stomach. Three men had taken her. My father expected her to be humiliated and lost, broken by our strength and damaged by our violence.
He wanted us to rape her. Hurt her. Ruin her.
The only thing Sarah Atwood did was ruin us.
And I had no idea how she did it.
The collar secured around her neck—her only adornment. She arranged the table cloth over her lap and covered her breasts with an awkward arm. She abandoned her dinner and left her bread uncut to preserve her useless modesty. Instead, she fiddled with her fork, clattering it to the plate when the air conditioning rattled through the silent dining hall.
She yipped a breath and searched over her shoulder for the root of her fear.
“My father won’t be joining us.” I sipped my wine. “He remained at the office this evening.”
I admired her courage though she wasn’t brave enough to admit how he terrified her. The tension shivered from her body. She gulped her wine and earned Reed’s smirk as her arm accidentally revealed a sinfully pink nipple.
“I’d like to get dressed,” she said.
I sliced my steak. The bloody juice soaked a mound of mashed potatoes. Sarah picked at her salad.
“No,” I said.
Reed shifted. Max perked an eyebrow.
None of it mattered.
Sarah bristled, waiting for my explanation. She wouldn’t receive it.
“I’ll strip if he comes back,” she offered.
“I said no.”
“Why?”
I chuckled. “Don’t you think three men would prefer the company of a naked woman?”
Reed nodded. “Steak and tits. It’s not a bad deal.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Sarah’s glance silenced Reed’s chuckle. “You think this will humiliate me?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Fine.” Her arms dropped and her beautiful chest puffed proud. Her attention fell to Max. He no longer focused on the food. “Can you please pass the butter?”
Max’s grin issued the challenge. “No.”
“Christ.”
“Come get it.”
Sarah stiffened. We waited. She tossed her napkin and stood.
My cock couldn’t harden any more. The softness of her skin still marred with bruises, but the pale tease of her body held more power over us than any command, whipping, or restraint.
I might have ordered her to strip, but she bared our souls with a single sway of her hips. She circled the table, leaned over Max, and waited for my approval. Her breasts brushed Max’s arm. He grinned.
She didn’t tease. Sarah dared.
I tamed my jealousy with a bottle of wine and fierce devotion to my brothers, but Sarah still devastated my control.
I entertained a fantasy of tossing her over the table, breaking glasses and pitching dishes from my path. I’d rut her right there. Let my brothers watch as I earned her squeals, forced her to come, and filled her with my authority.
Max took her, but I buried myself within her almost immediately, marking her again as mine.
Reed had his taste, but I had yet to take her again. It would be rectified.
Sarah hoarded the butter and sipped the last drops of her drink. Reed casually shifted the bottle toward him as she reached for it.
She sighed. “Reed, may I have some more wine?”
“Nope. You’ll have to come around.”
“You guys are acting like children.”
“Most fun I’ve had since this afternoon.” He gave her a grin, dimple and all.
She didn’t react, but in her caution, she revealed everything.
After all the deviancies we forced upon her, it
was Reed who triggered her shame.
What had he done that drove her to silence? My brother wasn’t cruel. My father doubted he’d even touch the girl. How did she convince him to fuck her?
A moment passed. Max scraped his fork against his plate. Reed surrendered and offered a refill.
The stillness laced with a perverted inelegance.
“So.” Reed was never one for awkward silences. The wine glugged into her glass. “Which one of us was the best fuck?”
Sarah choked.
“I’m not answering that!”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” She covered her face. “Because you guys forced me into bed!”
“I’m just curious.”
“And you’ll stay curious.”
Max dropped his fork. The flogger wasn’t a usual utensil at our table, but he rubbed the leather anyway. It rested next to his plate. His grin pinned her in place, though she fixed on the weapon.
“I’m curious too,” Max said.
Reed folded his arms behind his head, forsaking his dinner. “Come on. What’s it gonna hurt? We all had you, so who was the best?”
I didn’t speak. Sarah’s eyes flicked to me in a moment of weakness before looking anywhere else.
She’d deny me.
That was fine.
All the more reason to return to her tonight and recover what was rightfully mine.
“Stroke your own egos,” she said. “You all raped me like fine, upstanding gentlemen.”
Reed laughed. “And you liked it.”
Max’s voice lowered. “Be a good girl and answer the question, and maybe we’ll do it again.”
I sipped my wine. “There is no maybe.”
Sarah’s shudder didn’t go unnoticed. My brothers and I shared the same smile.
The little Atwood, trapped within the Bennett’s lair. She tried to hide the tightening of her nipples, the rise of her chest, squirm of her hips. Her puffy lips parted only enough to let the tip of her tongue tease over the plumpness I longed to bite.
“You were all…” Her voice wavered, but not in fear. “Good.”
“Just good?” Max expected more.
She cleared her throat and sipped her water. The glass condensed, and she rested the chilled goblet over her breast. Her nipple teased harder, a little nub begging for attention.
“Well…Reed was very…” Her eyebrow perked. “Attentive.”
Reed grinned, tilting his chair with a cocky flourish. “I aim to please.”
Sarah waited for me. I said nothing, gesturing with my wine for her to continue.
“And Max…” She bit her lip. “He was demanding.”
The flogger edged into his grip. Sarah exhaled a heated breath.
So she had liked his treatment. My little Sarah, taken in hand.
She was a fragile thing—delicate and timid and perfectly submissive to me. I hadn’t needed to be attentive, and I never required a flogger.
When Sarah’s hesitant glance fell to me, I knew exactly how she felt about our embrace.
Because I felt it too.
She was flawless.
From her whispered breaths to her silken, heated core. Every inch of her body was created for me, and it was by my grace and patience I let my brothers have a fleeting moment with perfection.
No matter how much Reed had offered her, or how intense Max’s strikes had been, Sarah Atwood belonged to me.
She knew it.
They knew it.
And she’d never escape me.
“And Nicholas.” Sarah flushed. The deeper the pink, the harder I became. “He was…passionate?”
It wasn’t the word she meant.
I’d have to correct it. Soon. Just so she understood how passionate I was.
“So.” Reed leaned in, flashing his dimple. “When do we try again?”
“Classy.” Sarah tossed her bread at him. “Eat your dinner.”
“Rather eat something else.”
“Reed, I swear to God.”
“Get used to it, baby.” Max shared Reed’s enthusiasm. “You got off easy before.”
“Stop making puns!”
“Little girl, the fun’s just starting.”
Sarah tucked a fallen lock of blonde hair behind her ear. If possible, she looked even gentler. A trapped fairy fluttering at our table. But she ignored my brothers.
“You can’t keep doing this,” she said.
“Why not?” Reed stabbed his steak. “Working so far.”
“This isn’t working. This is insanity. You guys can’t keep me here forever.”
Max shrugged. “We don’t have to. Just until we knock you up.”
Sarah said nothing. It wasn’t as though she had forgotten the purpose of her stay, but she stiffened like it was the first time she had understood our intentions.
Like it was the first time she considered it.
And she still wasn’t afraid.
Why was that?
“It’s not going to work.” She tried to scold us. “This plan is foolish. And…and cruel. And impractical.”
“This will work, provided you are amenable to it,” I said.
“Yeah, well…” She attempted diplomacy and failed. “I’m not. This got out of hand. And…we’ve all done things that I’m sure we’ll regret sooner rather than later.”
“Doubtful.”
“You’re working on the takeover, Nick. Once you have the company, you won’t have a use for me anymore.”
It wasn’t true. We needed her more than she understood, more than she could have possibly realized. And I couldn’t tell her why.
“Sarah, we’ll take care of you,” I said. “We’ll provide for you, protect you, and ensure you are comfortable. In return, we ask only for your cooperation.”
She huffed. “It’s not cooperation. You’re keeping me prisoner. There’s no reason for it. You know I’ll do whatever you want to take down Darius, but you don’t have to…”
“What?”
“You don’t have to rape me anymore.”
“Have we ever raped you?”
She touched her collar. “Did you ever give me a choice? You’re keeping me here against my will. You’ve made me drop out of school. Forced me to take a leave of absence from my job. You won’t even let me leave the grounds.”
“And you won’t. Not yet.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” She appealed to Reed and Max but earned the same silence. “You guys don’t understand what you’re doing. This plan isn’t going to work.”
“Why?” A prickling suspicion tingled in my gut. I trusted my instinct in business, and I didn’t like how frantic Sarah’s breath rumbled in her chest. “What’s wrong with our plan?”
“I can’t…” Her voice wavered with hesitance. She swore and looked away. “It’s insane. You can’t hold a woman against her will and breed her like savages.”
“You said you understood. You promised your submission.”
“And you had it for those nights,” she said. “I did my part. Now you have to do what’s right and help me find evidence of my father’s murder.”
How was I supposed to find what didn’t exist? “Sarah—”
She anticipated my argument. Her hand slammed against the table. “People are going to start questioning where I am. They’ll wonder what happened to me, where I’ve been, and when I’m coming back. How do you plan to fight that?”
Reed shifted. Max gestured for me to field the question.
The family heir had many rights—I just never expected breaking an innocent girl’s heart to be one of my responsibilities.
“Your mother has spoken on your behalf,” I said. The thought sickened me, but I downed my wine to fortify my resolve. “She’s explained the severity of your asthma to your Board of Directors. She convinced them you’re still sick and seeking additional help.”
“At Darius’s request, no doubt.”
“Sarah, you sealed your own fate when you revealed the c
lause in your father’s will. You aren’t in control anymore, you’re a figurehead.”
“I’m still in charge.”
“Not with the leave of absence. Your Board controls hiring now, and they’ve begun nominating new candidates for CEO.”
“How do you know that?”
“I answer your emails.”
Her jaw clenched. “How dare you.”
I exhaled. “No one expected you to take the company. Sarah, you’re a twenty-year-old girl with no business experience. If a billionaire heiress suddenly drops from the public eye following a family tragedy and severe health issues, no one will question it. Your company, the public? They won’t miss you because no one will realize you aren’t exactly where you’re meant to be.”
“You son of a bitch.” She kicked away from the table. “I can’t believe I ever…”
Trusted me?
Not a single moment passed that I hadn’t shared the same disbelief.
She stalked from the dining room. Max and Reed exchanged a glance.
“That could have gone smoother,” Max said. “Let’s see you fuck her now—get that heir without her kicking the shit out of you.”
I silently swore. An aggression wove within me, ignited by the pure instinct rampaging my thoughts. She ran. I would chase. The adrenaline surged. The urge to claim her as my own poisoned me. Everything was at my fingertips. The girl. Both companies. The ultimate wealth.
I could do it.
I could have it all.
But it depended on her.
How had the Bennetts fallen so far that our survival depended on our greatest enemy?
But Sarah wasn’t her father. She wasn’t a monster. She was a beautiful, spirited, unbroken woman who surrendered under my touch and still fought me as though she had an escape.
Or a secret?
The thought burned me. Something gave her courage beyond what she should have possessed. My father terrified her. Our goal disgusted her. And yet she offered herself without a fight.
She accepted us, came for us, even flirted with us, and it wasn’t because she thought she’d seduce us and learn a family secret that labeled Darius Bennett a murderer. She had something else up her sleeve—even when we ripped the clothing from her.
I tossed my napkin to the table. “Excuse me.”
Reed laughed. “She’s gonna tear your throat out.”
“I’ll be on my guard.” I hesitated only to drink the rest of my wine in hopes it’d dull the animalistic urge to chase, seize, and dominate.
