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He says softly. “It means they want you to party with them. Word has obviously spread and now it’s Todd’s turn to play. These men like to share so phase four and five may well run together.”
I gasp and whisper, “You don’t mean?”
There’s a tense silence before he says softly. “I’m afraid so. The biggest fish may well be there, and we’ll need our heads firmly in the game.”
He hesitates for a moment and then says softly. “This is it, Katherine. Our chance to put this to bed. Just say the word if you want to bale and I’ll make it right.”
I feel light headed and picture the men in my sights. With a deep breath, I say in a hard voice. “What do I have to do?”
There’s a short silence and then he says softly, “Dress to impress and wait for me. Things are crazy here, and I have several things I need to do first. We can’t talk on the phone, I’ll fill you in on the way there.”
I hang up and look across at Susan, who doesn’t appear to have noticed the change in my mood. She smiles. “Everything ok, Katherine?”
I smile back and try to look normal, although I feel anything but.
“Sam’s going to be a little late, but said we’re heading out tonight. I’ll just go and soak in the tub while I decide what to wear.”
She looks excited. “Sounds lovely. Where are you going, anywhere nice?”
I try to ignore the knot forming in my stomach. “I hope so, Susan. It sounds interesting if nothing else.”
I leave her to it and head to my room. I don’t use Sam’s bathroom because it doesn’t feel right for this mission. I need to distance myself from the feelings I’ve developed for one last time—hopefully, anyway.
My mood has shifted and everything comes rushing back. Kitty the whore just won’t go away and even though I am trying to place her firmly in my past, I need her more than ever now.
I think about the remaining men in my sights. Senator Todd Preston, ivy league asshole, and the one Ryder can’t stand the most. I remember back to the conversation in his office and he almost spat his name across the desk. This is the one he wants to pay, and I wonder just what he did to spark the white-hot fury in Ryder’s eyes. I can kind of guess and just for a moment I picture the woman who destroyed my life.
Ashton Mortimer. Billionaire’s daughter with that innocent look of the vulnerable. She walked into the club with her brother and stole everything. I hated her on sight because I saw the way Ryder watched her walk toward us. She was broken, I saw it in her eyes and he loves nothing more than repairing a broken angel. I should know, he did a good job with me.
My mind flashes with images of my time spent with the Reapers. When Snake took me to the compound, I was scared and damaged inside. Like Ashton, I walked into that clubhouse and felt the stares. Ryder watched me in much the same way, but I felt none of the heat in his gaze, or the ownership flare in his eyes. I felt an interest and those dark eyes burned through to my soul.
Snake filled him in and he called me forward. I was shaking and nervous in front of him and yet couldn’t tear my eyes from his. He sat me down and told me firmly but gently how it was going to be. I had a home there if I wished. They would care for me and provide everything I needed. It was my choice if I took a job there helping around the compound or they would find me a job somewhere else. I could even go back to college if I wanted to.
I remember feeling nothing but relief when I saw they weren’t a threat. They never demanded anything from me that I wasn’t prepared to give.
Over the coming months, I was taught how to fight. Never again would I be in the position they found me in. I could defend myself and others around me. I soon relaxed around the guys and settled into my new home as if I’d lived there all my life.
It was inevitable I became a club whore. The guys were so hot and the choice was endless. They made me and the other girls feel loved and special. We were treated like princesses and yet the one I wanted the most kept his distance—emotionally, anyway.
Like the others, he wanted a warm body to warm his bed and drive the images away of a hard day in the field. I noticed he changed it up all the time and favored no one in particular.
I tried everything to get him to notice me. He was the hottest guy there, and his hard-bastard act just kept me wanting more. I hated it when he chose another over me and so started to warn the girls off. I made sure I was always the one waiting when he returned, and soon we had an understanding. The other girls kept away when he came calling, and I inevitably became his unofficial number one. All I wanted was a sign that he wanted me too. Just a show of affection or a small smile, or a gentle touch. I did everything to make him mine and then some. All I got in return was his cock and then a night spent on my own when he returned to his daughter.
Then when Ashton arrived it appeared to light a spark inside him and I lost him in one second flat.
I try not to, but the tears fall as I mourn the past. I’m not crying for Ryder, I know that now. What I have with Sam is real. It was never real with Ryder. Sam has done the unthinkable. He has driven the whore from inside and made me a woman. He has won my heart and claimed my soul, and I would kill to keep him safe. Ryder is now a memory of a battle lost. I have won the war though because meeting Sam made everything fall into place.
Ryder was never my destiny, Sam was.
Chapter 17
Sam
My mood changed as quickly as it took to open that handwritten envelope. I saw the crest of that fuck club and the scripted ink extending the invitation to debauchery. I’ve heard of this club, of course, I have. Membership is only available to the invited and is the playground of the men with the greatest power in the land. Senators and diplomats from foreign lands rub shoulders with high-class prostitutes and vulnerable girls. Men with more money than sense and a taste for the hard stuff meet within its discreet walls.
I feel the disgust form a knot in my heart as I picture Katherine at their mercy.
Tonight is a masked ball. It will be busy that’s obvious and will be a tricky mission to control. Todd Preston has extended the invitation and you refuse at your peril. He’s the Senator responsible for business and could ruin Carrington Steel and everything I’ve worked for in seconds. He’s also Ryder’s target number one, and that makes him a dead man walking.
