Page 14 of Cruel Dominion

“Derek! So good to see you here,” I said, not bothering to pretend and sound warm.

He gulped. “Carter. You’re…here.”

“So I am.” I had a good foot on him, and an excellent view of his thinning blond hair. “We haven’t had a chance to meet in person about my acquisition.”

“Yes, er, I usually send my representative for that,” Hobbes says. He was obviously nervous seeing me, which could mean one of two things. Either he’s as high strung as his miniature poodles around an alpha dog, or he was second-guessing my purchase of his company.

Which would royally piss me off.

“I hope you still find my offer attractive,” I said. “I was told the last meeting ended well.”

Hobbes’ ruddy complexion went pale. “Yes, well. Certain things have come to light that I have to investigate. Legal issues, you know…”

Fuck. He was getting cold feet. Either he had a higher bidder in mind or someone was threatening an antitrust suit.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed hard enough to bruise. “I’m sure it’s nothing our lawyers can’t work out between them,” I said smoothly. “I would hate for us to be on opposite sides.”

Hobbes physically cringed. Good—he knew my reputation. That might be enough to scare him off. I wasn’t opposed to a little bloodshed in the boardroom, but I hated wasting leverage on a small fish like Hobbes.

“So true,” he croaked out. “Well, I should be going…”

He turned and practically ran away, the plate of tarts clutched to his chest. I would have laughed at the pathetic display if I hadn’t spotted my other target. Seeing the two of them, my entire body went cold.

Hudson Vaughn was hard to miss. Tall with excellent posture, even as a man in his sixties. He moved smoothly through his second gubernatorial term and rumor had it he had his eye on the presidency afterward. We made eye contact, and I was not to scowl at the man. We met often at things like this and every time we went through the motions of pretending we were on good terms.

That man was responsible for one of the worst days of my life. If he were anyone else, I’d have killed him. But he was Anna’s father, and she had the heart of a goddamned saint.

Usually, he was with his wife at these events and tonight was no different. Michelle Vaughn smiled broadly in a white evening gown at his right hand side. On his left was…

Her.

I couldn’t be certain at first, but then she lifted her chin to greet a man coming to welcome her home and there was absolutely no mistaking it, even from across the room.

Anna Vaughn.

She was in a fitted lilac gown that swept the floor. Her hair was curled old Hollywood style, waving down one side of her face. The face that’d haunted my waking and sleeping hours for the last six years.

Her lips were painted soft pink and there was a delicate diamond necklace around her slender throat.

God.

I wanted to use that necklace to pull her to me, making the platinum and diamonds cut into her delicate skin. I bet she would moan. I could hear it, that sound. Like sounds she made that time on the beach when I entered her for the first time. That little whimper of pain that morphed into the most beautiful sound as she moaned my name.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I wanted to smudge that perfect lipstick with my cock. Wipe away the tears trickling down her high cheekbones while she gagged on it, submitting to me like she used to. Making foolish teenage promises to be mine forever.

Foolish or not, the promise was made, and I was going to make damn sure she kept her end because I’d made her a promise too.

That my heart was hers. That I’d never give it to anyone else.

And I hadn’t.

I’d kept my promise.

Now it was time for Anna to keep hers.

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