Текст книги "Corrupt "

Автор книги: Penelope Douglas

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 26 страниц)

My hands fisted, and I licked my dry lips. “No, you don’t,” I contended. “I think you like it.”

His lips curled, and I fought not to back away again. He wanted me to be scared. He counted on it.

“I’m not scared of you.” I cocked my head, my heart racing despite my steel resolve.

The music blared outside, and between that and the waterfall, I doubt anyone would hear me if I screamed.

He stopped just in front of me, an inch between us. “Yeah, you are.”

And then he wrapped his arms around my waist like a steel band and lifted me off the ground.

I grunted, planting my hands on his shoulders and pushing away. “Damon.”

“I could tear you limb from limb,” he threatened, his breath falling across my face. “And I wouldn’t even break a sweat.”

I pressed my hands into him, pushing harder and twisting my body left and then right. “Knock it off. Let me go.”

“You know what I thought about in prison?” He took hold of my hair at the back of my scalp, and I gasped as he pulled my neck back, holding me tight and still with his lips only an inch from mine. “You…and our last night together,” he finished.

He kissed me, soft but possessive, dragging my bottom lip out with his teeth. I jerked away, digging my nails into his upper arms as my heart hammered in my chest.

“Damon, fuck off,” I bit out.

But he tightened his fist in my hair, brushing my lips with his. “Every time I was alone, I stroked my cock, seeing you in my head and taking it like a good girl.”

I darted out my hand and took his neck in my fingers, squeezing as hard as I could and trying to push him away from my mouth.

He laughed as if he didn’t notice. “You never told Michael what happened that night, did you?”

“How do you know I haven’t?” I growled, baring my teeth.

He pushed his head in closer. “Because he would’ve killed me already.”

I clenched my fingers around his neck, digging in my nails. “Then maybe I will tell him,” I threatened. “Now take your hands off me, Asshole.”

“Enough.”

Michael.

I sucked in a breath, and Damon shot his eyes up over my head at the deep command.

I breathed hard, watching him sneer as he probably debated whether or not to challenge his friend.

I couldn’t keep up. Two hours ago they seemed on the same page, and now Michael was reeling him in.

Damon finally released me, pushing me away, and I caught sight of the half-moon marks I’d made on his neck. He was bleeding, and I couldn’t help the feeling of satisfaction that coursed through my chest.

Good. Maybe it wouldn’t deter him, and maybe it would even turn him on, but he now knew I’d fight back. That was worth the risk of inciting him.

He left the cave, and I turned around, not even having to force myself to relax. I felt stronger already.

“You like all that attention, don’t you?” Michael pinned me with a hard stare. “How badly are you begging for it, Rika? Does it even matter who gives it to you?”

I laughed to myself, climbing the small steps up to the spacious stone bank. “Ask Trevor,” I taunted, pulling my hair up into a ponytail and very aware of how his eyes scaled down my wet body. “Even he couldn’t keep up with how much I needed it. All the time. God, I love to fuck.”

He tipped his chin down, a sick grin spreading across his face. Walking over to me, he backed me up into the cave wall, his gaze never leaving mine.

“Open your mouth,” he commanded, lifting his rocks glass.

I hesitated for only a moment. I wouldn’t let him see me falter. Little scared, timid Rika who couldn’t manage to take a step without permission? She was gone.

I tipped my head back, opening my mouth.

Michael poured a drab of his brown drink into my waiting mouth, and I swallowed it, careful to hide the pain of the burn as it coursed down my throat.

“Tell me more,” he urged, a challenge in his eyes.

I held his stare, diving in as I leaned against the wall, eyeing him. “I’d suck him off in the morning,” I told him, keeping my voice low and steady, “taking him down my throat and getting him so hard, so I could ride his dick before school.”

“Yeah?” Michael egged me on, a fire starting to burn in his eyes as he lifted the glass again. “Keep going.”

I leaned my head back again, opening my mouth for the sip.

Swallowing it, I continued, softening my voice, “He’d make me come so good,” I cooed. “His hands were all over my body, squeezing my tits as he bent me over the couch while your mother was in the next room.” I hooded my eyes, seeing his gaze drop to my mouth as I licked my lips. “He had to put his hand over my mouth when I came, because it was so fucking hot I couldn’t stop screaming.”

“Mmm…” He responded, tipping up the glass again to feed me more and then setting it down.

“And his dick is built for my ass,” I went on, curling the corner of my lips and playing with him. “When he slides it in, he owns me.”

“Is that right?” Michael asked lightly, thinning his eyelids and wrapping one arm around my waist, holding my face with the other. “Tell me more.” His breath fell across my lips. “I want to know everything my brother doesn’t do to you, you little liar.”

My chest shook with having him so close. I could almost taste his mouth. I parted my lips, feeling him hover, feeling him about to take his bite, and I fucking craved it.

Michael.

“After he comes,” he whispered, “and after he leaves you, leaves you wanting more and wanting everything you know only I can give you”—he snatched up my bottom lip between his teeth and let go—“is it my cock you think of when you slide those fingers in your pussy?”

I groaned, a rush of warmth hitting between my thighs, and my clit throbbed so hard, I had to be wet.

“Sometimes,” I admitted in a whisper, forcing myself to hold his eyes.

He cocked his head. “Sometimes?”

I nodded.

His glare hardened, and I knew he felt challenged.

My heart raced, beating faster and faster, and I didn’t know if my gamble was a huge mistake.

I only ever thought of him. Every fantasy, every orgasm…

Every time I was alone and touched myself, I only ever pictured him, his gorgeous eyes and body pinning me to a bed.

Or to a couch, a table, or the floor. It was always Michael.

But he had gotten my attention for far too long, and it was time for him to get jerked around. He wanted to play? I could play.

“Why did you lie to Jake?” he asked, suddenly changing the subject. “You watched the games in high school. You were at every one of my games.”

I tensed. “You knew that?”

I couldn’t believe he knew I attended every game. Even when he was in high school and I was still in junior high, I tagged along with Mrs. Crist, never missing a game until he went off to college.

“Why did you lie?”

I opened my mouth, searching for words. “I didn’t,” I finally forced out. “I said I never watched the games, and that was true. I just…” I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked back up at him, dropping my voice to a whisper. “I just watched you.”

He held my eyes, his expression hardening. His breathing sped up, and his rich scent flooded my head as I closed my eyes.

“Rika,” he whispered, sounding desperate as he grazed my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue.

Tingles spread over my face, and I felt higher than I ever had.

“When you think about me…‘sometimes,’” he added with amusement in his tone—he knew I was lying—“show me what you do to yourself.”

I blinked my eyes open, looking at the heat in his eyes. My nervous heart pounded harder, but I fought to restrain my excitement, too.

I’d never done that in front of anyone, and I hesitated, worrying about all the other women he’d had. How experienced they were, and if he’d snicker and laugh at what I had…

And then I heard Michael in my head from what seemed like ages ago, in a dark room, the first time he got close…

Own it. Don’t apologize for who you are. Own it. You can’t win if you don’t show up, right?

I held his eyes, intense and not blinking, as I slid my hand down into my bikini, and between my thighs.

Michael ran a hand over the left side of my neck, and I faltered, not used to having anyone touch me there.

But he didn’t seem to notice anything. He continued, threading it under my hair, holding me as his eyes dropped and he watched me move my fingers inside my black swimsuit.

His chest rose and fell quicker, and his hard gaze stayed trained on my hand as I circled my clit with two fingers.

My pussy started throbbing harder, and I whimpered, my insides flooding with heat as he watched me play.

“Take them off,” he breathed out, eyes never leaving my hand.

I shook my head.

“Do it.” He shook me, and I gasped.

Jesus. A rush hit my stomach, and the pulse in my fucking clit pounded harder.

I groaned.

“Please, Rika,” he begged, kissing my lips and drawing them out with his as he pulled back. “I need to see.”

I licked my lips and slipped my fingers under the straps at my hips and pushed the bottoms down, stepping out of them.

I caught his sudden intake of breath, and, without hesitation, I slid my hand back down between my thighs. I moved my fingers in and out, swirling the wetness up and over my clit as I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes.

I arched my back and lifted my leg up, letting Michael grab it under the knee and hold it at his waist.

Much better now.

Rolling my hips in small movements, feeling his cock grow hard as I brushed against it inside his pants, I continued fingering and playing, hearing his breathing grow labored. He must’ve liked what he was seeing.

“Is this what you wanted?” I whispered, sliding two fingers inside myself.

“Yes,” he choked out.

I smiled. Whether or not I thought I was sexy or just a stupid kid was irrelevant. Michael Crist was losing his grip.

“Sometimes I do other things,” I taunted.

He snapped his eyes up to me, narrowing them. “What else?”

“I can’t tell you.” I licked my lip. “Maybe I’ll show you sometime. Or maybe I’ll do it tonight when I take off my clothes and crawl into my bed alone”—and I leaned in, whispering across his lips–“naked, hot, wet, and alone.”

He exhaled, his lungs emptying. “Fuck.”

And before I knew what was happening, he dropped to his knees, hooked my leg over his shoulder, and took my bare pussy in his mouth, assaulting me fast and hard with his tongue and teeth.

I cried out. “Michael!” Oh, God.

He sucked my clit into his mouth and then released it, rubbing his tongue over the sensitive skin again and again. I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Oh, shit,” I choked out. “Fuck.”

He dived in between my legs, eating me like he was starved.

I fisted the top of his hair, arching my neck as he nibbled, sucked, and licked, going around in circles and circles and then diving back in to claim me hard.

“Fuck, you’ve got a nice pussy,” he whispered against my skin, looking up at me as he flicked my clit with his tongue. “You’re a pretty girl, Rika. So soft and tight.”

I sucked in air through my teeth and pressed myself into his mouth, watching him lick the length of me as he stared into eyes.

And then he dived down and slide his tongue inside of me, and I groaned louder.

“Oh, God!” I moaned. “Michael, I need more.”

“You want my cock?” he asked, dragging my clit through his teeth, an ache building deep and hard.

I nodded frantically.

“My cock or someone else’s?”

“Yours!” I cried.

“You mean the only one you think about when you finger-fuck yourself, right?” he argued, sliding his two fingers inside me as he continued to circle my clit with his tongue.

“Yes,” I moaned, feeling my orgasm build and gather deep in my belly.

“So you’re a fucking liar then, huh?” he growled, rubbing my nub harder and harder with his tongue as his fingers plunged in and out.

“Yes!” I fisted his hair tighter.

My muscles tingled and weakened, and I breathed faster and faster, feeling it coming.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling as he ate me out, but then my head snapped to the left, seeing Kai.

My eyes widened, and my heart jumped into my chest. “Wha—!” I gasped, my orgasm building and building, and my head feeling dizzy.

He leaned his shoulder against the rock wall with his arms crossed over his chest, watching us with impassive eyes. He may as well have been watching the news.

I shook my head, wanting to tell him to get out, but then I groaned, tightening every muscle in my fucking body as the orgasm exploded inside me.

“Oh, God!” I cried, my body taking over as I rode it out and ground my pussy against Michael’s tongue. “Oh, fuck!”

My clit beat like a drum, and I could feel the heat of my cum between my legs.

I heaved, trying to catch my breath as the bursts of pleasure inside my stomach and between my thighs pulsed and spread and slowly dissipated.

My chest shook with aftershocks, and Michael’s mouth slowed, licking me soft and slow.

He then kissed my clit nice and soft and looked up at me with a gloating curl to his lips.

“Does she taste as good as she looks?” I heard Kai ask, and I snapped my head up, remembering he’d been watching.

“Better,” Michael answered calmly, staring up at me as if he’d known Kai was there the whole time.

I glared at Michael and then pushed him away, taking my leg down. Grabbing my bikini bottoms, I hurried back into them and made for the exit.

Back and forth, back and forth…Michael challenged me, and I met him, pushing back the whole time.

But in the heat of the moment, he got to me. He knew he was the only fantasy in my head, the only one I wanted.

And worse, Kai was challenging me, too. Their games had changed, and I was thinking faster, but not fast enough.

I brushed past Kai, and he turned his head over his shoulder, following me with his eyes.

“Run all you want, Little Monster,” he said, sounding like a threat. “We’re faster.”

Present

I DRAGGED MY BOTTOM LIP between my teeth, every nerve in my mouth craving more of her. Fuck, she tasted good.

I stood up, seeing her disappear on the other side of the waterfall, and Kai turned his head back to me.

“You’re eating off the community plate, brother,” he charged, “and you’re taking more than your fair share.”

The corner of my mouth lifted, and I walked up to him. “You know,” I said, hardening my tone, “this leash you keep trying to put on me is getting tighter. The day I start feeling the need to explain myself to you, I’ll be dead. You got that?”

“I’ll remember you said that.” He pushed off the wall but kept his arms locked across his chest. “The same goes for Will, Damon, and me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

But he only looked at me, a sinister smile in his eyes.

And for the first time, I didn’t trust Kai. Yeah, I’d touched her when I’d told them all to leave her alone. I knew he was pissed, and he had a right to be.

But she’d surprised me. I came in to get Damon off her and found myself losing control as soon she opened that mouth. She got smart, and she didn’t back down.

I saw the Little Monster again. The one who breathed fire and made people see her. I’d needed to touch her. I couldn’t think past that.

But as much as Kai deserved revenge, there was no way in hell I was apologizing to him. I was, however, starting to fear him. Not for my sake, but for Rika’s. I couldn’t help the feeling that his premonition from Rika’s first night in Meridian City was true, not only for Will and Damon but for Kai as well.

Things never go according to plan.

Did they each have agendas I didn’t know about?

“What about her house?” Kai spoke up. “Where do we stand on it?”

“I’m taking care of it.”

“Where do we stand on it?” he demanded again.

But I got in his face, challenging him. “She’s in Meridian City because of me,” I gritted out. “She’s at Delcour because of me, and she’s isolated because of me. We’re on the home stretch.”

And then I walked out, proving one thing. He, Damon, and Will may have changed, but I hadn’t.

I didn’t explain myself.

BY THE TIME I’D MADE IT OUT OF THE CAVE, Rika’s clothes by the pool were gone. After a search of the party, and also noticing Alex’s absence, I’d finally figured out she’d asked her for a ride and left without us.

Will and Damon had stayed at the party, and after the confrontation in the cave, I couldn’t find Kai.

We needed to get this shit done so we could all get on with our lives.

I was constantly distracted from basketball, Kai was turning more and more inward, Damon was a ticking bomb, and I was pretty sure Will couldn’t get through the day without a drink anymore.

I thought they’d slowly start re-acclimating to life and the possibilities of what their futures held, but it was getting worse, not better. This bullshit needed to end, and I needed them back on track. Pretty soon, those three years away would just seem like a bad memory.

They’d been offered jobs, places within their family’s circles to get their lives going again, but none of them wanted to even talk about it. Nothing existed beyond Rika and today. They didn’t even want to see any family or spend time in Thunder Bay.

My friends—my brothers—were dead on the inside, and the more I thought about what she’d done to them—to us—I wanted to rip her apart. I only hoped what we were about to do would bring them back, though.

“Mr. Crist,” Stella greeted as I strolled into my father’s office on the top floor of his building.

I nodded, offering her a half-smile as I walked past. She never tried to stop me, no matter if he was in a meeting or on a call. My brother and I rarely came down here, but the truth was, I think she was just as afraid of us as she was of my father. She didn’t interfere with family.

Even if my father didn’t like us here.

My mother, Trevor, and I learned early on that his life in the city, with us tucked away in Thunder Bay, was just how he wanted things. Family hanging around his work was a nuisance. He kept the two lives separate and didn’t involve us.

And as much as I fucking adored my mother, I respected her less and less for staying married to such a prick.

To them, though, they had a good arrangement, I guess. He gave her the money to buy anything, have the home she wanted, and secure the place in society she enjoyed. In return, she stayed respectable and gave him two sons.

They were both liars and cowards. My mother wasn’t brave enough to demand the life she deserved, and my father would never open up himself to anyone. Not his wife or his sons. And he didn’t have any friends. Not really, anyway.

In the spider’s web of Thunder Bay, with its endless lies and secrets, its fake smiles and bullshit, I thought I’d found one person who was different. Who saw everything I wanted and craved it with me.

My brother was right. I’d seen that look in her eyes long before I even noticed her face or her body. That look of something being contained and wanting to claw its way out.

Rika and I had always circled each other, even before either of us was aware of it. And her betrayal was as close as I’d ever come being gutted.

I walked straight for the door, and opened it without knocking.

My father was seated behind his desk, the furniture polish of the dark mahogany tables and bookshelves hitting my nose and reminding me of a museum.

His lawyer, Monroe Wynn, sat across from him with his back to me.

“Michael.” My father looked up, tapping his finger on his desk with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “What a rare surprise.”

I shut the door behind me, already feeling the air filter into my lungs like oil. He wasn’t happy to see me, and I hated being in his presence. Our relationship died long ago when I started standing up for myself, so his mock pleasure at the sight of me was merely for his lawyer’s benefit.

“Monroe, you know my son,” he offered, waving his hand between us.

Monroe rose from his chair and held out his hand. “Hi, Michael.”

I took it and nodded once. “Sir.”

I released his hand and crossed my arms over my chest.

“We’re expecting great things from you this year,” Monroe said. “Wife was mad enough I bought box seats for the season, so it better be worth it. Don’t let us down.”

“No, sir.”

“He’ll do his job,” my father assured. As if he had an ounce of fucking control. He hated my career and never supported it.

Monroe nodded, and I turned my eyes on my father.

Sensing the uncomfortable silence, Monroe finally grabbed his files and briefcase, his arms full as he turned to leave.

“We’ll talk soon,” he told my father.

He left the room, and my father leaned back up in his seat, looking at me through annoyed blue eyes. He and my brother looked alike with dark blond hair, pale skin, and narrow jaws. Both of them stood at least three inches shorter than me. I inherited my height from my mother’s side of the family.

“I’m surprised you even remembered where the building was,” he sneered.

“Fair’s fair,” I retorted, leaning my shoulder against the bookshelf. “I’m here as much as you’re home.”

He leveled his gaze on me, looking unamused. “Have you talked to your mother?”

I nodded. “Yesterday. She’s spending a few days shopping in Paris before heading to Spain. You’re meeting her this week, correct?”

“As usual,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”

I shrugged, shaking my head. “No reason.”

Actually, there was a very good reason. I wanted to make sure he was leaving. And soon. Rika believed her mother was with mine on board Pithom off the coast of southern Europe.

No. Pithom was still docked in Thunder Bay, and my mother hadn’t seen Ms. Fane since before she left for Europe, by plane, over a week ago.

Rika didn’t know where her mother really was. I did.

And when my father joined my mother, Rika would have zero support around her.

My parents always left in the fall for several weeks to visit various friends and business partners out of the country. And while my father traveled extensively throughout the year, their annual excursion was always together. My mother was useful with her charm, wit, and beauty, so he insisted she accompany him when he made the rounds in Europe every autumn. It was the one thing I knew I could count on.

The house in Thunder Bay was currently empty, with my mother having already left and my father staying here in the city, at the private fuckpad he kept on the other side of town.

At the very least he had the decency not to keep an apartment at Delcour and flaunt his sluts in a building he owned.

“Have you spoken to Trevor?” he asked.

But I just stared.

He breathed out a laugh, realizing that was a stupid question.

A young woman came into the office with an armful of file folders. She smiled at me, looking sexy in her bright blue dress and perfect blonde hair.

Walking behind my father’s desk, she placed the folders on top and reached over it, taking a post-it and writing a quick note for him.

He didn’t even try to hide his leering as he reclined in his chair and gazed at her ass as she bent over next to him.

“So why are you here?” he broached, and I didn’t miss his hand disappearing up her dress.

She bit her bottom lip to stifle her smile.

I fisted my hands under my arms. God, I fucking hated him.

“To talk about my future,” I replied.

He cocked his head, narrowing his eyes on me.

I hated this. I didn’t want to deal with him for another second, which is why it’d taken me so long to deal with what should’ve been settled long ago. I hadn’t wanted to come here.

His lips curled. Pulling his hand out, he gave the girl a pat on the behind. “Close the door on your way out.”

She walked around the desk, casting one last glance at me before leaving the room.

He exhaled a heavy breath, peering over at me. “I seem to remember trying to have this conversation with you many times. You didn’t want to attend Annapolis. You wanted to take a full scholarship to Westgate.”

“They had a superior athletic program,” I reminded him.

“You didn’t want a future in this company,” he continued. “You wanted to play basketball.”

“I’m a professional athlete,” I responded. “I’ve been in more magazines than you.”

He snickered. “This isn’t about making better choices, Michael. This is about you consistently defying me. Whatever I want, you do the opposite.”

He stood up from his chair and took his glass of what I assumed was his usual Scotch and stood next to his floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. “As you grew up and became a man, I thought you’d be more agreeable, but you haven’t stopped. At every turn of the hand, you—”

“Back on topic,” I cut in, straightening my back. “My future.”

We’d had this conversation—or fight—several times. I didn’t need a rehash.

“Fine,” he allowed. “What do you want?”

“You were right,” I admitted, swallowing the bitterness in my mouth. “In ten—fifteen—years I’ll be looking for college coaching positions, and as I look ahead, my career loses its luster. It doesn’t have a future.”

He inhaled a deep breath, looking as if he liked the sound of that. “I’m listening.”

“Let me try something on for size,” I suggested. “Let’s see what I can do with some of your interests.”

“Like what?”

I shrugged, pretending to be thinking, as if I hadn’t come in here with plan. “How about Delcour and fifty thousand shares of Ferro?”

He laughed as my audacity, which is exactly what I wanted. I knew he wouldn’t go for it.

“Fifty thousand shares would make you a partner,” he pointed out, setting down his glass and taking a seat again. “Son or no son, you don’t get those kinds of perks just handed to you.”

He fanned out his suit jacket, leaning back in his seat and pinning me with a stare. “And not in Meridian City,” he demanded. “If you embarrass me, I’d like it less visible.”

“Fine.” I nodded. “What about…FANE then?”

Rika’s family had given their jewelry store the family name when it’d been opened years before she was born.

He pinched his eyebrows together, looking suspicious. “FANE?”

Shit. I’d moved too fast. He was going to say no.

I shrugged, trying to downplay it. “Everything is tucked away in Thunder Bay, isn’t it? Out of sight? Let’s see what I can do with the shop, the house, and the Fane’s holdings.”

“Absolutely not,” he answered. “All of that will be your brother’s someday.”

I stilled. Trevor’s? Not Rika’s?

In his will, Schrader Fane had named his daughter as his sole heir. Rika would inherit everything upon either, her graduation from college, or her twenty-fifth birthday, whichever came first. Mr. Fane had named my father, Rika’s godfather, the trustee until that time, which had been just fine with Rika’s mother. She took no interest in business, nor was she capable of even running her own household, let alone a multi-million dollar estate.

If everything went to Trevor, though, that meant—

“You must realize by now that they will eventually be married,” my father told me when I didn’t say anything.

Married.

My muscles ached, every single fucking one tight as I stared at my father and fought not to lose my shit.

What did I care anyway? She and Trevor deserved each other, and I was sure we’d be more than done with her by then.

“Makes sense,” I agreed trying to unknot my stomach.

“It’ll be sometime after they both graduate,” he told me. “We can’t have her spreading her wings too wide and taking off. He’ll marry her, put a Crist baby in her, and everything Fane will be ours, including Little Rika. That’s the plan.”

And I’d bet everything I had that she wasn’t aware of any of this, either. Sure, we all knew the family had been trying to push Rika and Trevor together, even though she’d broken it off.

But there was only so much a person could take. They’d continue to pressure her, including Trevor, and Rika would eventually fold.

“She doesn’t love him,” I pointed out, wanting to burst his little bubble.

He raised his eyes, meeting my challenge. “She’ll take him back, and she’ll marry him.”

“And what if he can’t get a baby in her?” I argued.

Rika didn’t want Trevor. They may get her down the aisle, but there was no guarantee she’d be pliable in the bedroom.

“If he can’t,” he said, looking at me pointedly, “then maybe you will. As long as it’s a Crist, I don’t really care.”

He tipped up his glass, taking another sip. “Hell,” he continued, a hint of a grin on his face, “I’ll do it if I have to.”

Motherfucker. Her life was already as good as over.

I fixed him with a sarcastic smile. “So you need me then.”

“Yeah, but I don’t trust you,” he retorted.

“But I am your son,” I shot back. “And I know that scares you, because you can’t control me, but you know why that is? Because we are exactly the same.” I tipped my chin down, challenging him as I stood my ground. “The same qualities you hate in me are the ones you prize in yourself. And whether or not you want to admit it, you respect me a lot more than you do Trevor.”

Pushing off the wall, I kept my arms folded across my chest as I approached his desk.

“It’s time I joined the family business,” I stated. “I’ll keep nothing. FANE belongs to Rika, as well as her property and finances, when she graduates college. That’s in her father’s will and can’t be changed. Let me manage it until she and Trevor are ready.”

He narrowed his eyes, turning it over in his head.

What did he have to lose? I couldn’t keep anything. The law protected Rika. And as far as my father knew, I had no reason to mismanage her estate. Why would I want to seize her house, close down the business, freeze her assets…?

“FANE,” he said, finally coming to terms with the idea.

“And the house and all their other holdings,” I reminded him. “And if I do well, I get Delcour and the fifty thousand shares.”

I didn’t give a fuck about Delcour and the shares, but I wanted to keep up the pretense that the Fane estate wasn’t the real prize.

He paused but finally nodded, accepting the deal. “I’ll have Monroe change over the power of attorney and fax you the papers later today.”

And then, looking at me sternly, he pointed out, “You’re getting a chance, because you’re blood, Michael. And only because you’re blood. If I were you, I’d prove my worth by not fucking this up. You might not get a second chance.”

I kept my smile to myself. I wouldn’t need a second chance.

I turned and walked for the door, ready to leave, but then I stopped.

“Why not me?” I pivoted back around, looking at him. “Why didn’t you consider me to marry her?”

“I did,” he answered. “You’re too volatile, and I need her happy and pliant. You’d make her miserable.”