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He’d seen her naked before, of course, during their training modules over the years. He always enjoyed the spectacle of a naked girl, whether she was one of his half-sisters or not. Nicole’s body was fit and beautiful, as was her perfectly made-up face. But he was disturbed by the unsightly raised scarring on her cheekbone that makeup did not entirely hide, ruining the smooth texture. And that ugly red, puckered scar in her shoulder, too. Relics from her adventure with Freya Masters and Clearwater. Flaws that urgently needed to be dealt with.
“After the Event, organize cosmetic surgery immediately to correct those disgusting scars,” he said. “They’re repellent. They lower your value.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“Well?” he said sharply. “What are you waiting for? Go through the portal!”
She moved very slowly through the portal. Maynard stepped forward to study the readout on the screen embedded on the outside surface. It took him a few minutes.
“The portal did not recognize any frequency, toxin, or other substance that is in its database,” Maynard announced. “Shall I integrate with a physical cavity search?”
Vincent was taken aback by Maynard’s bold question, but it was understandable. Maynard was angry, and eager to intensify Nicole’s humiliation. Vincent was tempted to agree. And Maynard had an erection. All the men in the room but himself had one.
He could order Nicole to put her sexual skills to work to service his men. That was clearly what they were hoping. She’d done worse to him in the past, when she was team leader. But it would make it more difficult for her to exercise authority with those men thereafter. Nicole was flawed, but still quite useful, he mused regretfully. It was difficult to effectively give orders with a dick shoved up one’s throat.
“Bring in Dr. Silvano,” he said. “And the chair.”
Nicole betrayed herself by turning to stare at him, wide-eyed. “What? Who?”
“I require a demonstration of loyalty,” he told her. “I decided Halliwell’s system was a good one. Streamlined. You’ll get a loyalty tooth today…keyed to me.”
She stared at him in stark horror. Dr. Silvano was the oral surgeon Halliwell had used to implant the loyalty teeth. He was also an icy-blooded sadist.
If one of Halliwell’s bastard children failed him in some significant way, he or she was compelled to get a loyalty tooth, as a final trial before execution. A molar was pulled, and a fake one implanted that had three components inside it; an electronic receiver, a tiny charge of explosives, and a fast-acting poison. Halliwell had an implant that monitored his vitals. If he died, a signal was sent to all of those implants. They would burst open and release the poison. His erring children would die instantly.
So, of course, would all the others with a poison tooth that was keyed to his vitals, those who had not erred. But no system was perfect.
Halliwell had given Vincent permission to implant a loyalty tooth keyed to her brother. It was fortunate neither of them had one that was keyed to Halliwell…at least, not yet. But it could always happen.
Yet another reason to be sure the Event took place as soon as possible.
“No, Vincent,” she said. “Please. You don’t have to—”
“Call me ‘sir.’ This will keep you honest. Now our fortunes are forever linked, Nicole. You know the drill. Anesthesia won’t be necessary. Neither will painkillers afterward. Halliwell even shipped me the special chair, the one he always uses for the loyalty teeth. I’m supposed to send it right back, because the old pervert is attached to it. Fond memories, and all. Try not to piss yourself, Nicky. But you know they always do.”
Dr. Silvano walked in. A tall, cadaverous man with sunken cheeks, dead eyes. Dyed black hair in a strangely lacquered comb-over. He looked at Nicole’s naked body with casual appreciation, but Nicole looked far less beautiful now, having gone a gray color, which made her heavy make-up stand out grotesquely vivid.
They wheeled in the chair, which was an old dentist’s chair with a few extra leather buckled straps attached. Wrists, ankles, throat, waist, forehead. Dr. Silvano had insisted on it. Dental work was difficult to perform when the patient was writhing.
“Maynard, strap her in,” Vincent ordered. “You can all stay to watch.”
CHAPTER16
Ethan
My mind kept looping and spinning in wild circles as I lay in bed, dazed and confused, with that stunning, enigmatic girl in my arms. The contact with her skin was thrilling. I kept pulling her close to feel the rush again, all along my side, my arm around her shoulder, her silky hair coiled up against my neck, tickling my nose.
It didn’t matter how many times we’d had sex. One fresh squeeze or stroke or caress, and my dick just sprang up for more, more, more.
Like it was doing now, but I ignored the impulse so I could think. Something at which I usually excelled. But it was hard to think straight around Kat Banner, woman of mystery, object of extreme desire, because I kept getting derailed by feelings about her. And that fucked up everything.
I was ninety-nine percent convinced that she was not a honeypot spy. If she’d wanted to hurt me, she’d had many opportunities, with me naked and dozing.
She hadn’t. She’d cuddled me, and dozed herself. Boneless, relaxed. She would have to be skilled sociopathic liar to put on a show like that, and I was dead sure she wasn’t. She was passionate, intense. On fire with fierce integrity.
I was inclined to trust her. To believe what she told me. Maybe I was a dickhead idiot, but fuck it. I still had to figure out what her problem was, and how I could help her solve it. Letting her walk away wasn’t an option. Nicole’s people would kill her.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
