the door when I saw the car pulled up outside, and I stopped so suddenly that someone ran directly into my back. I felt hot coffee drench my back and the other person swore.
“Sorry.” I turned around and pushed my way back into the building, panic rising, as they called after me about my ruined blouse. I didn’t care about the blouse. I cared about Dominick, leaning against the limo with his hands in his pockets and his blue eyes fixed on the building.
Dominick, who must have known I came here. Dominick, who’d had me watched.
He was going to kill me.
I should have gone back to Edward’s office. We could have called the police, waited it out, done literally anything less stupid than what I did. Because in my panic, I pushed my way out the back entrance, into the alleyway that ran out to the side street. In the alley, in the silence, I leaned against the wall and struggled to calm the racing of my heart.
I didn’t have to struggle long, though. Whoever it was moved without a sound, and there was a flash of pain on the back of my head. I had a sense of falling, and consciousness was gone before I found out whether I’d hit the pavement or not.
- Dominick -
I waited longer than I should have, my hands clenched in my pockets, my eyes fixed on the revolving door that led out of the newspaper building. She worked here once, I told myself. She’d gone to have coffee with a former colleague. Maybe someone had had a baby and she was signing a card or—
I knew the truth. There was no point in denying it. She had gone to the newspapers. What was she going to tell them? Some lurid story about me and Kelly? She was going to twist my words and say that I’d admitted to killing her.
I got back into the car and closed the door carefully. I did not slam doors. I did not rage. I had learned, long ago, not to be that man. And no matter what Catriona said, no matter what she did, I was not going to let her get in the way.
“Where to, sir?”
“The office. Thank you.” I sat back in my seat and drummed my fingers against the handrest.
I needed to put her out of my mind. I would know what she wanted soon enough, and—
The images in my head were unwanted, but I could not stop them: her last night, bent over my bed, taking me deep with that toy in her ass. Her moaning for me on the floor of this limo. Her locking her ankles behind my back as I thrust deep. She was always so wet for me, so damned wet and desperate for each thrust, and I lost myself in that perfect body every time. I leaned my head back and gritted my teeth, clenching my hands. She was nothing but a body. Nothing but a liar like the rest of them. She’d just been good enough to fool me.
Something in me whispered that she was more, and I refused to listen. Catriona was nothing to me now.
***
“Jack. Jack. ” I slammed my hand down on the desk, and the voice coming from the speakerphone broke off at last. “Thank you. This is not a crisis.”
“Do you understand what’s going to happen if they go through your apartment?” I’d finally made him angry. For years, Jack had slunk around like a whipped dog, cowed enough by my father and Sebastian that he kept his suggestions quiet and his objections silent. Now, at last, he was trying to be the father figure. “They’re going to find everything. Fuck, Dominick, what possessed you to keep documents—”
“You know exactly what.” I cut him off brutally. My voice was low and ugly, and it stopped him in his tracks. Good; Jack needed to learn. “Let’s level with one another, Jack, huh?”
There was a ringing silence, and I knew he was staring at the phone in horror. Who else might be on the other end of the line, listening? Russell Hayes? Sebastian? Where did Jack’s loyalties lie? We’d hit this point earlier than I thought. There was no point in berating myself over it; I would simply have to rectify the problem. I chose my words carefully now.
“We both know Sebastian
“Sorry.” I turned around and pushed my way back into the building, panic rising, as they called after me about my ruined blouse. I didn’t care about the blouse. I cared about Dominick, leaning against the limo with his hands in his pockets and his blue eyes fixed on the building.
Dominick, who must have known I came here. Dominick, who’d had me watched.
He was going to kill me.
I should have gone back to Edward’s office. We could have called the police, waited it out, done literally anything less stupid than what I did. Because in my panic, I pushed my way out the back entrance, into the alleyway that ran out to the side street. In the alley, in the silence, I leaned against the wall and struggled to calm the racing of my heart.
I didn’t have to struggle long, though. Whoever it was moved without a sound, and there was a flash of pain on the back of my head. I had a sense of falling, and consciousness was gone before I found out whether I’d hit the pavement or not.
- Dominick -
I waited longer than I should have, my hands clenched in my pockets, my eyes fixed on the revolving door that led out of the newspaper building. She worked here once, I told myself. She’d gone to have coffee with a former colleague. Maybe someone had had a baby and she was signing a card or—
I knew the truth. There was no point in denying it. She had gone to the newspapers. What was she going to tell them? Some lurid story about me and Kelly? She was going to twist my words and say that I’d admitted to killing her.
I got back into the car and closed the door carefully. I did not slam doors. I did not rage. I had learned, long ago, not to be that man. And no matter what Catriona said, no matter what she did, I was not going to let her get in the way.
“Where to, sir?”
“The office. Thank you.” I sat back in my seat and drummed my fingers against the handrest.
I needed to put her out of my mind. I would know what she wanted soon enough, and—
The images in my head were unwanted, but I could not stop them: her last night, bent over my bed, taking me deep with that toy in her ass. Her moaning for me on the floor of this limo. Her locking her ankles behind my back as I thrust deep. She was always so wet for me, so damned wet and desperate for each thrust, and I lost myself in that perfect body every time. I leaned my head back and gritted my teeth, clenching my hands. She was nothing but a body. Nothing but a liar like the rest of them. She’d just been good enough to fool me.
Something in me whispered that she was more, and I refused to listen. Catriona was nothing to me now.
***
“Jack. Jack. ” I slammed my hand down on the desk, and the voice coming from the speakerphone broke off at last. “Thank you. This is not a crisis.”
“Do you understand what’s going to happen if they go through your apartment?” I’d finally made him angry. For years, Jack had slunk around like a whipped dog, cowed enough by my father and Sebastian that he kept his suggestions quiet and his objections silent. Now, at last, he was trying to be the father figure. “They’re going to find everything. Fuck, Dominick, what possessed you to keep documents—”
“You know exactly what.” I cut him off brutally. My voice was low and ugly, and it stopped him in his tracks. Good; Jack needed to learn. “Let’s level with one another, Jack, huh?”
There was a ringing silence, and I knew he was staring at the phone in horror. Who else might be on the other end of the line, listening? Russell Hayes? Sebastian? Where did Jack’s loyalties lie? We’d hit this point earlier than I thought. There was no point in berating myself over it; I would simply have to rectify the problem. I chose my words carefully now.
“We both know Sebastian
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