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Rich’s teeth bare in a wide smile. “Now, Skye.”
I repress a shudder. Somehow, I hadn’t thought this man would bother to learn my name—I figured I was just Ian Banner’s sister to him. Rich knowing even that much about me suddenly makes this all feel so much more real. What the hell do I think I’m doing here?
“Would you call this ugly?” He spreads his arms wide at the office. Monotone wine-red carpet, black leather couch that feels far too sweat-slick beneath me, his tall, leering employees, both of their faces blank because they’re so out-of-touch with the world. They might as well be robots hulking in the corners waiting to attack at their master’s command.
Dogs on a leash.
“The company isn’t my first choice,” I say, keeping my voice purposefully even. I’m surprised I can manage it. Who knew I’d turn out to be decently cool under pressure?
But there’s something almost freeing about this. I’d been afraid of this all coming to a head for days now. Now, I’m the one who took the leap. I st
epped off the cliff toward certain doom, and I might be falling, but at least I’m not stuck up there staring at the drop, afraid I’ll be pushed.
Rich snaps thick, meaty fingers, and the bodyguards all snap to attention, eyes locked on him, awaiting orders. “Leave us,” he growls, and they file out of the room, no questions asked, not an instant of hesitation in any of them.
Is this how Stone acts around Rich? Mindless and groveling? Somehow I can’t picture that. Even earlier, when he was stabbing the knife in my back, twisting it in deep, he sounded defiant still. Disdainful of Rich. He might not care about me, but he doesn’t give a shit about his boss, either.
I’ll take whatever crumbs of reassurance I can scrounge at this point.
“Better?” he asks with that same leer on his skinny, pale lips.
“Not much.”
“I’ve treated you well considering the circumstances.”
“You tied me up and gagged me on a couch the minute I got here,” I point out.
He spreads his hands wide, tilting his head to one side. “Details. I needed to be certain of where someone else’s loyalties laid.”
Stone. He was using me as bait for Stone. My stomach does all kinds of strange things then. Turning itself inside-out. I ignore it along with the wrench of chest pain that comes along with it.
Studying my expression, Rich barks out a laugh. “You know, I like you, Skye. You’re nothing like your brother. I’m sorry that you’ve been saddled with a family like that. A woman like you deserves better. You deserve to be treated right, by someone who knows how to do it.” He steps closer, and I fight the urge to cringe back against the couch. It takes all my willpower to sit still as he leans over me. His scent makes me cringe—the overpowering odor of sweat and cigar smoke and sex. I swallow hard against a sudden gag reflex.
“Did Xander treat you right?” he demands in a voice that menacingly soft. “Did he make that sweet little pussy of yours sing?”
Trying to forget everything Xander did to me—all the delicious ways he made me feel, I clear my throat. “Using someone to blackmail their brother is hardly treating them right, wouldn’t you agree?” I reply.
“Fair point.” His hand touches the top of my head, and I can’t help it—my entire body flinches in shock. He runs his fingers through my hair slowly, almost gently. He breathes in deep, and I can practically hear the drool accumulating on his tongue. “You know, business and pleasure don’t need to be separate things. You can mix them. Our night together, waiting for your brother’s arrival tomorrow, doesn’t need to be a waste.”
Fuck. I knew he was awful, Stone warned me. But this is somehow so much worse than I expected. I swallow again, but my throat’s gone dry as the desert. “No.”
To my surprise, his face cracks into another smile. “You’re so quick to say no before I even offer you a deal.” He moves his face closer to mine and his eyes harden. “Fifteen minutes of your time. And you can have this whole office to yourself until tomorrow. I won’t even tie you up when we meet your brother. You can walk freely over to him and explain that you’ve been good to me. You’ve treated me well, and he can breathe easy now. He’ll give me my money, and we’ll all go our separate ways.”
“What’s the other option?” I demand in a flat voice, my eyes fluttering shut.
There’s a long pause. I don’t look at him, but I can imagine how he’s reacting. How angry he is that I don’t want to take him up on his generosity.
“I tie you up again, shove the gag so far down your throat you’ll probably choke on it, and you’ll wait it out in the basement. There are no pleasant leather couches there, I can assure you. Concrete floor. Stone walls. No heat. No water or food for the night.”
Some choice, I think. Because really, it isn’t. Not at all. I only need one thing from him, and it’s not comfort or care. “What are you going to do to Ian, in that case?”
“That depends on what he brings me. All five hundred thousand that he owes me, plus an extra hundred thousand interest, and we’ll be fine. We’ll be square.”
“An extra hundred?” I gape. “You didn’t tell him—”
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about the math, Skye. You’ve heard your options; I’ve given you a fair chance. So, what do you choose?”
I clench my jaw hard. “I’ll take the basement, thanks,” I spit.
