by Lexi Blake
“But that could be worth a lot of money. Why would Jessica squash that research?” Her brain was racing with the implications.
“Because Genedyne is a house of cards,” Chris explained. “She’s running it like a multi-level marketing scheme. She pays investors and her legal team by bringing in new investors and selling promising research to people who would like that research to never reach the marketplace. From what Hutch has given us, we believe that she sold Madison’s research to that pharmaceutical consortium for fifty million dollars.”
“She’s selling my research and getting rid of me. She killed Madison.” That truth felt like a kick in the gut.
“Good.” Tag sat up straighter. “We’re all on the same page now. In light of this new information, can we all agree Noelle is potentially in physical danger?”
“Why have her arrested?” MaeBe spoke up. “What was our spy doing there? She said she was meeting with Sidirov, so I would bet she’s not working for Jessica Layne.”
“No, she’s working as a corporate spy, trying to get the real research. If they have the pure data, they can prove Layne’s lying about how far along the research is and knock the price down in exchange for not talking about it,” Hutch surmised. “Someone in the corporate world caught on to her shakedown. They had you arrested to create chaos and to discredit you in case they decide not to pay at all.”
“They’re driving down the price of my work.” She thought she’d been stunned before.
“Genedyne is literally built on nothing. It’s a work of fiction fueled by fear of Jessica Layne,” Cara pronounced. “And I’m going to take her down. Hutch gave us an excellent start, and he believes no one is going to even question that he has the financial data because Layne will be so concerned with the data breach on research.”
His eyes were intense as he stared at her. “That was not my intention.”
But he would use it. She understood that. There was no reason to put his investigation at risk when the damage was already done.
Jessica Layne had taken everything from her. Including Hutch, since she now knew what he truly thought of her. He might care about her, but he’d lied to her.
It seemed like everyone had. There was only one way to handle it. She had to fight, had to throw all of her personal feelings to the side and survive this the best way she could.
She turned to Cara. “I’m going to help you. What do you want me to do?”
Chapter Seventeen
Two hours later Noelle sat on a spanking bench contemplating the turns her life had taken.
When she’d woken up this morning, she’d had a promising career, a relationship with a man she was falling in love with, and a nice apartment that she could feel comfortable in.
Now her career was in shambles, her boyfriend had lied to her, and she was a prisoner in a dungeon. She wasn’t technically in the dungeon, but Sanctum had one. The second floor was a big old dungeon complete with a hamster wheel that was being used by her bodyguard, who needed to literally run away from his demons.
She was confused and on edge, and she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She was never going to be able to sleep.
Was this how Madison had felt before someone had set her lab on fire with her in it?
Why had Madison texted her name to Cara?
Why had Hutch done what he’d done?
The questions pounded at her brain, making her hands shake with the need to… She wasn’t even sure what she needed to do, and that was part of the problem.
Tomorrow she’d promised to call her father, and then she would probably have to go back to Louisiana because they couldn’t keep a 24/7 guard on her for long. She would go home and be that poor pitiful girl she’d been. She loved Papillon, but gossip was a big part of life there, and she would be a story. A cautionary tale about what happened when a young woman tried to fly too high.
Sanctum was her home for now. Given what had happened to Madison, they hadn’t been willing to risk even letting her go back to Hutch’s place. She was stuck in what they called a “safe room.”
It was late and Sanctum had finally closed down, though Hutch and Big Tag were still talking, and MaeBe had promised to run by Noelle’s place to grab some clothes for her. Kyle had been the one to settle her into this room. She wondered how many other “safe” houses had spanking benches in them.
Tomorrow Chris and Cara would figure out if they had enough data to charge Jessica Layne. They would decide if she would try to get more. There had been a lot of talk about how she would get back into the building. Hutch had shot every single scenario full of holes until the special agent had thrown up her hands and told Ian Taggart she would talk to him tomorrow.
Where the hell would she be in a week’s time? Back in Papillon, hoping someone would let her teach high school chemistry? Would she be fighting off a lawsuit that would take everything she had? Jessica Layne wasn’t known for backing down. Even if she was in the middle of an indictment, she would still come after Noelle.
Her life was utterly changed, and she had no idea how to stop it.
There was no stopping it. This would change her life as surely as the car accident had. She’d never seen it coming, and it would affect her forever.
There was a knock on her door, and there was no question who was on the other side. “Go away, Hutch.”
She didn’t need to hear about how heroic he’d been. She didn’t need to hear about how he’d risked everything to ensure she wasn’t prosecuted for a crime she hadn’t even come close to committing. Did he think she didn’t know anything about the law? She’d grown up in a law enforcement family.
The door opened even though she was sure she’d locked it. This man didn’t need keys to get through a door. He’d proven that tonight. Of course she was also in a space he felt comfortable in.
He walked into the room carrying his laptop bag and another she recognized from her place. It looked like MaeBe had found one of Noelle’s tote bags and filled it with a change of clothes. She didn’t care about any of it.
“Noelle, we need to talk. You are not taking part in this investigation.”
She got to her feet, reaching for her cane because she had to go toe to toe with this man. “You don’t get to make that choice for me. You’ve made enough choices for me.”
His gorgeous face looked confused for a moment. “Is that why you’re upset with me? You think I made a choice for you? Baby, what other choice was there to make?”
“I don’t know because I wasn’t allowed to make one.”
“What should I have done?” The question came out quiet, his sincerity hard to deny.
But her anger had a place, too. “You should have told me what was happening. Not only am I the woman you were sleeping with, I was your client. And don’t tell me you couldn’t have found a time.”
“I was going to explain everything to you this evening.” Every word he said was soft, as though he knew she was a powder keg and he didn’t want to be the one who made her explode.
The trouble was she kind of wanted to explode in a spectacular fashion. It might be better to destroy everything good left. She could do it herself before anyone else had the chance.
“After you ruined my career.”
He paled slightly. “I didn’t have any intention of ruining your career. Did you forget the part where your boss was selling your research to the bad guys? Did you think they’re going to hire you to finish it and take away a part of their business?”
Yes, this was what she wanted. She wanted to snarl his way and have him claw at her, too. That would feel good and then she wouldn’t have to miss him when he was gone. If they burned down everything they had, he would be nothing more than a regret. “Do not call me naïve.”
“If the shoe…” He stopped and took a long breath. “I’ll insert that shoe right in my mouth. Noelle, I did not come up here to argue with you. I came here to give you what I didn’t give Cara and Chris.” He held out a thumb drive. “I switch
ed your research data to a new drive and erased it off the one I gave to them. Only you and I and MaeBe and Tag know that I downloaded your research data. It should be almost everything that was on the Genedyne system. You updated the file twenty minutes before I downloaded it, so I think it’s almost everything.”
She stared at that drive knowing there was a woman out there delivering the same information to a group of businessmen who would store it away and never look at it again. Whose only use for all her hard work was to trash it so it didn’t dent their profits. Those people only cared about their bottom line and not about the fact that her work would make it easier and cheaper to advance humanity.
“What do you want me to do with that?” All of her numbness was starting to melt, giving way to a bubbling rage that threatened to overwhelm her. Rage and fear and sorrow. It was all being held back by that wall of ice that had started to crack the minute he’d walked into the room.
Because Hutch is safe. Because even though he did something dumb, he did it for the right reasons.
No. No. Fucking no. She wasn’t giving in. She wanted one good thing to come out of this, but how could it be him?
He didn’t put you in this position. He tried to get you out. Put yourself in his place.
He was still holding the drive. “I expect you to take it and do something with it.”
He was the naïve one now. “And what’s that? Because at the end of the day it’s not mine. It belongs to Genedyne, and she has the right to use it however she wants. She has the right to sell it. God, how stupid was I? I even read the contract and I still signed it.”
“Because you were young and hungry and she offered you everything you needed to get started,” Hutch insisted. “I’m going to get a copy of your contract, and Mitch will find a loophole. There’s always a loophole. Lea will ensure that no criminal charges even come close to touching you. You have people who will look out for you. Jessica Layne knew what she was doing, and she took advantage of you. You are not the stupid one.”
Oh, but she had been. So stupid. Her stepmom had even pointed out how the contract heavily favored the company, but had she listened to her? No. She’d known better. She’d known that this was how the business worked.
His hand was up, offering her all she couldn’t take. It was hers. Her work. Her soul. And she’d stupidly sold it all because she’d thought she was smarter than anyone else.
Without thought, she slapped that dumb drive out of his hand. It hit the wall, pinged onto the floor, and she started moving toward it with every intention of smashing it into pieces. She needed to, needed to destroy something the way she’d been destroyed.
Hutch’s arm went around her waist, hauling her back against him. “Don’t you dare.”
She tried to push his arm away. “Why? It doesn’t mean anything. Not a damn thing.”
“It means everything because if her company is a fraud then they can’t enforce your contract. And honestly, even if they tried to, I’ll find a way to get this back for you,” he whispered. “I won’t let this happen. I won’t let them take it.”
She wanted to believe him, wanted to throw all of this on him. She could take the drive and work on what she could while she didn’t have access to a lab and let Hutch and his superhero team get her out of this nightmare. But she didn’t think he could fix this. “You can’t, and if you think I’ll let you do anything for me again, you’re wrong.”
He went stiff behind her and then relaxed. “It’s okay. Take it out on me. You’re angry. I can handle it. I know what this feels like. You need to get it out or it will poison everything in your life.”
Rage threatened to bubble up, and it suddenly was too much. The day had been horrible. She’d been left with nothing. Nothing.
And she couldn’t scream. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t breathe. It was right there. Her rage needed an outlet. Her fear needed to come out or it would drown her.
Her sorrow… It was hers and they’d taken that from her, too.
“Please.”
Hutch turned her in his arms and there were tears in his eyes as he looked down at her. “What do you need?”
“I can’t…” She could barely breathe. Her hands were shaking, and she wasn’t sure what was happening. The world felt utterly out of control.
Hutch’s jaw tightened. “I can. I can make this right and I will. I need you to understand that I will change the whole fucking world for you. I won’t stop. Not even if you can’t forgive me.”
His hand came up and tangled in her hair, giving her a bite of pain that sliced through her, forcing her to focus.
He was offering her his dominance, offering to take control, to pull out everything that was making her cold and unfeeling.
She shouldn’t let him. She should hold on to her anger, but in that moment, she wasn’t alone. She was back in that car, her whole future ripped out from under her, surrounded by wreckage, but a hand was there to help pull her out. She didn’t have to drag herself out. All she had to do was take this man’s hand.
All she had to do was be brave.
“I can’t tell you I’m going to stay with you.” She couldn’t make that decision. Or maybe she couldn’t say it because she also couldn’t imagine leaving him. The thought left a hole inside her.
“Then I’ll have to convince you because I love you, Noelle. You might not be ready to hear that yet, but it’s there. I love you and it won’t stop because you can’t love me back. I will always be here for you.”
She wasn’t ready to hear that yet, but she needed him tonight. She needed what only he could give her.
“I don’t want you to be tender. I need…I need you to make me cry, make me scream.”
“Because it won’t come out any other way,” Hutch said, his eyes taking her in. “I will help you. Always. I know exactly where you are, and I know how to bring you home.”
His hand twisted in her hair again, biting through the fog that had enveloped her.
She didn’t know where home was anymore. Maybe Hutch had been right in the beginning. Maybe the city was too much for her. Maybe she belonged back in Papillon where it was safe.
Except it wasn’t. Nowhere was safe. Nothing was promised. No tomorrow was promised. No happiness. No joy was certain.
“I don’t think I can trust you again,” she said, wanting to push him.
“Hush. You think I don’t know where you are? I do. And I spit every bit of bile I had when I came back. No one knows this but two weeks after I came home from saving Theo, I was ready to leave again. I didn’t know where I was going. I only knew I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I couldn’t sit there and watch everyone go on with their lives. So I quit and Big Tag…he threw me in his car and brought me here and he pushed me until we beat the shit out of each other. I needed that release. I couldn’t find it any other way, and then we sat down with Kai and we were bleeding and I couldn’t see out of one eye and I told them everything that happened to me. Things I’d sworn I wouldn’t tell anyone, and I cried. I’m not ashamed that I cried. Feeling emotions is what we’re meant to do, and I’m so glad Tag didn’t let me go. I’m grateful he didn’t leave me in that dark place alone, and he knew how to get me where I needed to go. I wouldn’t ever leave you alone.”
She didn’t want to think about what kind of a man Hutch was. Good. Loyal. True.
Had it all been a lie? If it had been, why would he be here now? What did he gain?
Hutch pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side.
He picked her up, her cane clanging to the floor. “The good news is you selected the Rumpus Room. That’s what we call this room. There are several privacy rooms we also use as bedrooms if we need to, and you picked the one with the spanking bench.”
She’d walked into the first door she’d come to, but it was obvious Hutch thought it was destiny.
Where would she be if she hadn’t met him? Things would have played out the way they had, and she would have been alone. She wouldn’
t have had someone to hold her the way Hutch was.
Was he the only real thing in this world she found herself in?
Hutch strode over to the spanking bench and set her on her feet in front of it. He gripped the neckline of the dress she wore and she gasped as he ripped it open, exposing her in an instant. She didn’t complain about the loss of the clothing. She liked the sound of the fabric tearing, enjoyed the savage look in his eyes. She shrugged out of the remnants of her dress, letting them slip to the ground. Her body was starting to heat up, nipples already stiff and wanting.
This was what she needed. She didn’t need to cry. She didn’t need to shout out her pain. She needed his hands on her. She needed to forget everything for the next hour, and then she would decide what to do later.
Hutch moved into her space, his mouth a flat line as he gripped the nape of her neck with one hand. The other hand found the back of her bra and twisted it off with the ease of a man who’d been taking bras off women for years.
She let that thought go because he seemed to want her. It didn’t matter what he’d done before. He seemed to need her.
God knew she needed him.
He tossed her bra away and his hand found her breast. “You’re strong enough to handle what happened today and what will happen in the future.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk.”
He tweaked her nipple, a hard twist that made her knees go weak. “We don’t have to talk about you and me, but we will talk about this. We will talk about the fact that you are not stupid.”
Or she could say her safe word and make him go away. She could curl up into a ball and be the fragile thing she’d always worried she was deep inside.
He tightened his fingers, pushing her to the point of pain.
“I’m not stupid,” she said on a breathless whisper.
He eased back. “Good. You are young and so fucking smart, and you made a mistake. Lay down on the bench. Your breasts go on either side, your ass will be in the air.”
“Should I…” she began because she was still in her underwear.
