AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was unacceptable in my world.
What my father hadn’t told me was how easily the conflicts between my responsibilities to the organization and my personal life could lead to my demise. What had occurred with Whitney’s father couldn’t be ignored. It had become very personal to me.
However, I was also reminded of one of the first lessons my father had taught me. I’d been a kid, a teenager when an asshole bully had picked on my kid sister. I’d tracked the son of a bitch down and even though he outweighed me by almost forty pounds, I’d beaten him so badly my knuckles had remained bruised for over a week. As he lay in a pool of blood, my father showed up with several of his soldiers, pulling me to the side while they cleaned up the mess.
I’d asked him if the asshole would live. To this day, I’d never forgotten what he’d told me.
“If you care at all whether he’s dead or alive then you care too much. Never think twice about an action you take, or it could be your last.”
I raised my glass in a nod of respect to the powerful man. Even though he’d marginally accepted his retirement, taking Mama to Florida for a full six months of the year, he was still as influential as he’d once been. But his physical and mental problems were beginning to take a toll. He’d learned the hate the Armenians, especially Arman Zakaryan, the current pompous asshole who’d turned a nuisance operation into an empire over the last ten years.
Theodore’s mindless betrayal had set the tone for severe consequences. And the stunning woman sleeping beside me had become a part of the scenario whether she was aware of it or not. It was up to me to either defuse the situation or end Arman’s reign. I took a deep breath as I heard her stir, my cock already aching even after several hours of rough passion.
The darkness inside the room was only cut by the strange amber glow of a safety light near the door. I preferred the shadows, the usual quiet of night allowing me time to think.
The Armenians believed I was weak, my jovial personality not brutal enough for them. Little did they know the monster lurking deep inside. Emotions made for weak leaders. Those who surrendered to a single deed of humanity were already lost. It was just a matter of time before their life and position was torn away, until death was the only comfort possible.
Closing my eyes, I rubbed my hand across my jaw, snorting from the feel of soon to be three-day stubble. I’d gotten emotional about Elena’s predicament. That in turn had pushed me into making the decision to toy with Whitney in hopes of discovering what she’d been told.
Was her wide-eyed innocence all an act?
I’d need to play out the next few days very carefully.
I took a sip of my drink, holding the scotch in my mouth. At this point, my father would have annihilated the entire Armenian population in Philadelphia, toasting with bottles of ouzo while blood rained in the streets.
I wasn’t my father.
I’d made certain Stavros knew that without question.
Yet here I was in bed with the daughter of a known enemy. Maybe there was some sense of irony in the situation. Meanwhile, my dick ached, the longing to drive my shaft deep inside her tight pussy stronger than before.
As the sounds of the train ticked away in the background, I concentrated on her soft breathing. She still had her back toward me, falling asleep with her head facing the window. If she sensed she’d succumbed to an artful master, she hadn’t shown it. Her trust that I had no ill intent was surprising, given what I’d learned about her profession and her life.
She was a tenacious little thing, feisty when faced with any direct conflict. She was highly respected in a city where piranhas feasted on even the strongest. She’d never had a close relationship with her father and had done everything in her power to keep the distance between them significant.
She’d parlayed her honors from Stanford into an internship that had led to a partner position with the powerful real estate development firm in Miami. Rich, talented, intelligent, and beautiful.
A deadly combination.
As I shifted my gaze to her hourglass figure, easing the sheet down to her waist, my balls tightened. I rolled the smooth glass all the way down her back, smiling when she issued a single moan. Her naked body shifted in the cheap sheets and all I could think of was seeing her underneath ones made of Egyptian cotton and silk instead. Then the image was quickly replaced with one more befitting my sadistic tendencies.
Her wrists and ankles shackled by thick chains, waiting inside a locked room for my return. I took another sip, enjoying the smoothness of the liquor. Maybe that’s exactly what I’d do with her but only after finding the information her father stole from Elena’s computer and the money he’d embezzled.
His bank account had been swept, only a few thousand dollars found. What Jonas has discovered was that he owed money to several loan sharks. It would seem Mr. Canfield had a habit of gambling his money away, indulging in high stakes poker games. My instinct told me if he hadn’t died of natural causes, he would have been killed by one of three individuals who didn’t take kindly to loans remaining unpaid.
There were no indications of offshore accounts or any suspicious activity on his home computer, which had been confiscated only hours before Whitney had gone inside with a real estate agent. If she’d found anything in the man’s pigsty of a house, I’d be surprised, but I couldn’t rule it out. A single jump drive could easily be hidden but the contents would be explosively detrimental.
She’d been watched since directly after the funeral. When she’d booked a train across country, I’d been shocked. That didn’t seem like something a woman would do while holding damaging evidence against a ruthless crime syndicate. Maybe that’s why I’d become determined to get to know her.
She truly had wanted nothing to do with her father.
I half laughed to myself as I brought the glass to my lips. Seeing her at the funeral had left me with a slight desire, but the moment I’d walked into the dining car, my body’s reaction had shocked the hell out of me. Her face had appeared angelic at first, until I’d been within two feet. With high cheekbones and a perfect nose, rosy lips meant for devouring, my thoughts had turned from the need for retaliation to the desire to devour.
My chest remained tight as I slowly brushed the tip of my index finger down the length of her back. The rumble of desire forced me to fist my hand. As I reminded myself that she should mean nothing to me, the ache in my gut was already increasing, weaving thick strands throughout my body.
The dull ache in my temple couldn’t match the heated one in my loins. What I’d told her was the truth. I’d already claimed her as my possession. I’d done that once before in my life, a mistake that had cost me more than I’d been able to recoup. But this was entirely different.
I felt the slow of the train’s engine and immediately reached for my weapon, only to realize I’d buried it in the bottom of my suitcase. As I sat up, she stirred again, rolling over onto her back. Within seconds, I was able to let out a deep breath. We were pulling through a small station, the railroad engineer showing no signs of stopping. As the lights of the platform shimmered in through the glass, my mouth watered from the sight of her hardened nipples.
