Deadly Retaliation: A Dark Bully Harem Romance (A Twisted, Dark and Deadly Romance Book 1)

by C. P. Mandara

  “Uh, uh, uh,” Adie admonishes me, giving my cheek a gentle slap. “What a greedy girl you are. I can see I’m going to have to keep you on a tight leash.” What’s that supposed to mean? I’m pretty sure he can’t tie me up any tighter than he has already, but I’m not about to challenge him on it.

  The fingers inside my ass pump harder, and I gasp out loud. That hurts. It’s not pain exactly, but it’s an aggravation I could do without. It’s distracting me from the main game, and I’m beginning to realise that Adie is one hell of a player. It’s not the only thing that gets harder, though. His cock begins to pump backwards and forwards, too. He’s not slamming it inside me yet, but he’s certainly beginning to show me who’s boss – and it isn’t me.

  Alternating between fingers and cock, he continues pumping inside me while his lips tackle mine. There is no gentleness to his kiss. His mouth seeks to annihilate and destroy. His lips demand my surrender, and they get it. At this stage, I am a mere pawn in his game, and until my sanity is returned, I will dance to his tune.

  Finally, his lips release mine, and though I’m glad I can breathe again, I am also sad to see them go. He could kiss me all day, and I swear I’d drown in him. Is this pheromones and euphoria? I have no idea, but it’s fucking incredible.

  Adie then tugs my hair to make sure he has my attention. He does. He most definitely does.

  Leaning on one shoulder, he then says, “In a minute, I’m going to let you come. I am going to let you cream all over my cock, not once but twice in very quick succession. All you have to do is hang on in there for the ride. Think you can do that?”

  Thankfully, Adie isn’t waiting for a response. Slowly removing his fingers from my ass, he then positions his hands on my shoulder blades and begins slamming his impressive beast inside me. The feeling is incredible. It is pain, pleasure, heat and fire, all at the same time. My body does exactly what he says it would. I come in a matter of seconds. It’s a blinding orgasm, and I mean that exactly how it sounds. I can’t see, the room goes black, and my body explodes from the inside out. The ‘ride’ goes on forever. It is easily my longest orgasm to date, and most certainly the most spectacular. I would happily go through everything Adie has just put me through to experience another one. That’s how fucking amazing it is.

  “That’s it, sweetheart. Just hang on in there.” I somehow manage to hear his voice through the tumultuous throws of my climax, but as I’ve never had a multiple orgasm, I am reasonably sure that he’s not going to make that miracle happen. They are the stuff of myths and legends. Don’t get me wrong, the man is good, but he’s not a God. Just as the power of speech nearly comes back to me, though, my clit begins tingling again. The poor little nub is still screeching in pain, and I’m pretty sure it will have an ‘out-of-order’ sign on it for the next few days, but right now it is saying, ‘I want to go again. Please let me.’

  “Oh no,” I manage to whisper, while squeezing my eyes shut. I’m still battling through the aftermath of the last one, and now everything feels a little uncomfortable.

  “Oh yes,” whispers Adie, still pummeling into my body as he searches for his own release.

  My clit is almost crying as it says both ‘no’ and ‘yes’ at the same time. If I wasn’t tied up, I might have tried to move away, but that is not an option. All I can do is watch Adie, in all of his magnificence, as he slams into me, over and over again. As soon as his eyes catch mine, I am lost. I come again, and again. I can barely breathe with exhaustion by this time. Everything feels heavy and aches, but the aftermath of such amazing sex burns through my body brightly. Finally, Adrien roars as he manages to finish off what he started so many hours ago.

  When I have enough energy, I am going to kill him. Until then, I am going to kiss him softly before I pass out from exhaustion.

  When I awake, I find that my limbs are my own again. Hallelujah. At some point in the night, Adrien must have untied me. This is good news. What isn’t so much fun is the fact that everything hurts. Seriously. My body feels like it’s been in a train wreck and I’m not sure that isn’t too far from the truth. Damn it. I swear I’m going to be walking about bow-legged all day. Turning over, I look for him, but there is no one in the room and the space beside me is cold. Shit. Where is he? I debate rolling over and going to straight back to sleep, but when I look at my watch, I realise it’s eight am, and if I don’t get up now, I’ll be late. Technically, as the boss, I’m allowed to be late. I am a stickler for punctuality though, and if I start turning up late everywhere, it’s a little unfair of me to expect everyone else to be on time.

  Dragging myself out of bed, I wrap myself up in a sheet and head downstairs in search of Adie. The house is eerily quiet. He can’t have left me here on my own, can he? Mind you, this is Adrien we’re talking about. He is a law unto himself.

  I walk through the hallway and into an empty lounge with a massive red sunken sofa in the middle of the floor, decorated with gold and cream scatter cushions. It looks tempting. All I want to do is lie down and sleep for a week, but I don’t dare. In the back of my mind, I remember that Adie has a naked photo of me somewhere on his phone and I need to track down that fucker and get it back ASAP.

  Padding along the massive red Chinese rugs, and taking a brief glance at the floor to ceiling bookcase and oversize floor lamps, I sigh with regret. I could spend some serious time here. The place is stunning. There’s no way he afforded this on the salary that I’m paying. He’s either borrowed it to impress me or earned it another way. The mind boggles.

  Walking into the kitchen, I find it just as empty, though there is a jug of coffee percolating in the machine and a couple of fresh pastries laid out on a plate beside it. The man does have a heart. Perhaps there is hope for him yet.

  Pouring myself a generous-sized mug of the steaming-hot brew, I look around yet another stunning room. The centerpiece is without doubt the massive wooden ceiling lamps that hang down in great giant bowls with cleverly constructed beige and black slats. A beech table resides underneath it, surrounded by a rectangular beige suede sofa. The whole room is of minimalist design. All the cupboards are also made of beech, and they open by pressing them inward. There isn’t a handle in sight! Everything bar the coffee machine and sink are hidden behind closed doors. Everywhere is wood, glass or brick. Even the dividing brick wall has been painted beige to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings. It has a nice feel to it, though.

  Settling myself down at the table gingerly, as my ass still stings like fire, I place my coffee and pastries in front of me and breathe. I still can’t quite believe what happened yesterday evening, or the fact that I let it. What was I thinking? He’s an employee for Christ sakes. This can only spell trouble. Maybe I’ll let him down gently after work today. All I need to do is give him some spiel about why we can’t mix business and pleasure. I mean, it’s not very professional, is it? What would happen if someone found out? We’d be the subject of office gossip for the next century, at least.

  I laugh inwardly. It might almost be worth it, though. I can’t lie. Last night was incredible. There is still a subtle hum of arousal floating through my body, and I can’t deny that it isn’t pleasant. No, you can’t think like that. He’s unpredictable. Hell, I employ him because he’s dangerous. You might wake up one day, only to find out that you’re dead. Except, you wouldn’t wake up because you’d be… never mind.

  While I’m trying to come up with reasons not to dump Dumortier on his ass, I see a little white envelope peeking out from between three glass candleholders, which are situated in the center of the table. I should have noticed that earlier, but I’ve been in cloud cuckoo land this morning while I slowly come down from my high.

  Plucking the envelope gently from its mooring, I lift the flap and wonder what sweet nothings Adrien has left me. Is it wrong that a warm, fuzzy feeling begins to flutter through my body? Do not fall for that man. Do not. You’ll regret it. Seriously, it will be worst mistake you will ever make. Yeah, yeah, whateve
r. Let me live in the moment for a second.

  Morning sleepyhead,

  You’ve probably forgotten that I have a naked photo of you on my phone. Actually, that’s a lie. While you were sleeping, I took a few more shots and got some video footage in, too. So, I now have several photos. Did you know that you snore? It’s this really soft ‘put put’ sound. It’s quite adorable, really. Anyway, I’m straying from the point.

  If you don’t manage to beat me into the office this morning by nine am, I am sharing my goodies by mail shot to everyone who’s on my email list. Honestly, I can’t wait to see their reaction. I suspect it will be quite entertaining.

  Naughty kisses on all your sore spots,

  AD.

  I look at my watch in horror as the bottom of my stomach falls to the floor. It is eight fifteen am. I have forty-five minutes to get dressed and head into central London, while dodging rush hour traffic. My chances of success? Nil.

  Failure is not an option, though.

  Leader

  “I need you to do a favor for me.” Jake looks at me from the corner of his newspaper, this time it’s the Financial times. The color pink somehow looks wrong in his hands.

  “Ask away,” I reply. He’s done plenty of favors for me in the past, so it’s only fair I reciprocate now and again.

  “I want you to impersonate my sister, let yourself be kidnapped by a complete nutter, and then wait while I come and rescue you.”

  “You want me to do what?” Now there are favors, and there are favors. This one sounds a bit on the extreme side, and I don’t think I’m going to enjoy it much.

  “He’s going to kidnap Ione. He wants revenge for what happened back at Lavande. I can’t let him do that. She’s a doctor – a pediatrician. She works with kids, for Christ sakes. I’ve already made her change her name and move to another hospital, which she is really unimpressed about, but if he doesn’t get hold of someone, he will find her eventually. The man works in the same line of business that we do. Someone will trade secrets with the right incentive, and that someone will probably be Elizabeth. I didn’t leave on good terms.

  “It’s a big fucking favor,” I manage to splutter. Yes, I am paid to do this shit, but it’s generally for the good of the country and not because some shmuck is jonesing after the boss’ wife. “Can’t we solve this any other way?” Killing the bloke would be preferable. It would also be a lot quicker and a much better use of valuable resources. If I nip in and kill him, I’ll be instantly available for another assignment.

  Jake peers at me from over the top of his newspaper. “You mean can we kill him?” I nod hopefully.

  Jakes sighs. “No, we can’t. We may need him at some point, and we go way back. Besides, I’m rather fond of him when he isn’t in full-on revenge mode.”

  “Define ‘nutter,’” I say warily. I already have a bad feeling about this.

  “Someone without much of a conscience who’s capable of pretty horrific torture, including rather appalling stunts of a sexual nature.” James’ face looks grim. If possible, mine looks worse.

  “Are you mad?” I whisper. “If I sign up for a round of torture, I could be in there for three days or more if you fuck up. I could also end up dead, if I’m really unlucky.” Putting my hands on my hips, I flatten my lips and give him an acerbic look. “This is Adie we’re talking about, isn’t it?” That isn’t a question. It can’t be anyone else, but I’m just thinking out loud.

  Jake nods slowly. I want to scream. “You must be fucking kidding me,” I say, royally annoyed now. “You know he has a reputation for some really nasty shit. All kinds of awful things could happen if I let myself be kidnapped by that asshole.”

  “You’ve handled worse,” Jake says, pretending to be very interested in the day’s stocks and shares. What he’s doing is trying to avoid the fallout this argument is guaranteed to generate. I’m not about to let him get away with it, either. Snatching the newspaper out of his hands, I then scrunch it into a little ball and throw it halfway across the room. Somehow, it manages to land in the bin. Score one for me.

  “That was to stop some madman from blowing up hundreds of thousands of people, or to prevent another one from trying to drop uranium in the water supply. I was doing my country a service. This, on the other hand, is just getting you out of a tight spot. What is this about, anyway?” I already know what it’s about because gleaning information out of people is what I do, but I want him to tell me in his own words.

  Jake grimaces. “Adie thinks I stole his girl. Lois and I thought he’d died back at Lavande. We didn’t even realise he was back in the picture until you mentioned it a few days ago.”

  “And did you? Steal his girl?” I ask. I have a feeling I don’t want to know the answer to this.

  “No. She was always my girl. Adie just has an over-inflated opinion of himself. Lois slept with him once, and there was a reason for that. There’s no way she’d ever marry him because he’s a completely crazy sadist with a…” Jake’s voice tails off as he realizes what he’s just said. “Anyway, Lois is very happy being married to me and we’d like to keep it that way,” he says.

  I begin pacing. It helps me think. “Why can’t you approach him and go talk to him?” It’s a reasonable question. If I go in for him, it might take the heat off for a week or two, but eventually Adrien will find out he’s been lied to, and then Jake will get it in the neck. He’s just putting off the inevitable.

  “If I go in, Adie will want to see my wife. He’ll want to lay into her. She’s three months pregnant. I need to put this off until after I get her somewhere safe, and whatever you do, for fuck’s sake do not tell him that she’s pregnant. There’s no telling what he’ll do. As soon as you go in, I’ll get her somewhere safe, and then I’ll rescue you.”

  Famous last words, those. I’ll rescue you. “You’ll rescue me if he hasn’t moved me, deviated from his original plan, or killed me.” This is not without risk. If it all goes wrong, I will be the one buried six foot under.

  “I’ll make sure you’re wearing a tracker. I will know where you are at all times. I will have surveillance on him constantly.”

  My eyes narrow. “How do you intend to do that? I assume I’m going to be naked for the duration of this stunt?” Jake has the grace to look slightly guilty.

  “Well, yes, but technology has moved on. It’s an injectable.” He shrugs his shoulders apologetically. Geez. This assignment is almost like going to the dentist, knowing you’re about to have all your teeth pulled out before you go in. It looks like I’m going to have a rip-roaring time.

  “What’s the M.O. if it all goes wrong?” I raise my eyebrows at him and give him a filthy look. My day has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, and it’s left a rather sour taste in my mouth.

  “Get out of there by any means you see fit.” Jake takes a deep breath. I know that look.

  “But don’t kill him,” I add, smiling tightly.

  “I’d really prefer it if you didn’t,” Jake says.

  Well, that’s something at least. If I kill him, it won’t be the end of the world.

  “Then you should go in and sort your own problems out,” I say, shaking my head.

  “Please, Mel. You know I would do anything for you.” The annoying fact of the matter is that I know he would. If I ever found myself in a tight spot, Jake would be there in a heartbeat. Even if it was almost certain death, he’d still try. He has never left an operative in the lurch. Never. If they disappear, and they do occasionally, Jake will always go in and try to find them. Sometimes he’s successful and sometimes he isn’t (usually because they’re already dead), but he will at least try. That’s what makes it so difficult to say no to him.

  Think this through rationally, I caution myself. Can I handle Adrien Dumortier at his most dangerous? Yes, I probably can, although I really don’t want to. Still, maybe it’s good practice for later. Any kind of torture will pale in comparison to what that bastard can dish out.

  “What if I sa
y no?” I feel I have to get that out there because saying no is very tempting at this point.

  “Then you say no. I’ll just have to keep hawk eyes on my sister and hope that I somehow manage to prevent her from being scarred for life when Adie finally gets his hands on her. Most people require years of therapy after he’s had them for a few hours. At least I know a good therapist. It is going to put a definite rift between family relations, though. I’ll be surprised if she speaks to me ever again. It was bad enough that I made her change her name and insisted that she relocate elsewhere.”

  My face screws up. Jake is not selling this assignment to me.

  “Oh, and I’ll also have to hope that hundreds of children don’t die when she is stolen from her rounds at the hospital, and that no permanent damage is done to her. Then, hopefully, she can return to being a doctor after I get her back.” Jake can’t look me in the eye as he says that. It’s blatant blackmail, and he knows it.

  I can’t help but laugh. “Is that really the best you can do? No way am I going to take a day or two’s hardcore torture for that. You’d better have something else up your sleeve.” I mean it, too. This is Jake’s problem, and he should be dealing with it. All he’s doing is putting off the inevitable. “The answer’s no, Jake. You can sort out your own shit.”

  “Okay,” he says, in a small voice. He doesn’t try to plead with me or change my mind. He just nods his head and his eyes dip downwards towards his hands. He’s thinking. Jake has a brilliant mind. He will now be computing the best way to get himself out of this mess without my help. He won’t hold this against me. He’s not that kind of man. He’s brilliant, talented, and bloody fantastic at what he does, and I can’t lie – I’m a little bit in love with him.