Page 38 of Cruel Dominion

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CARTER

The sand gave way under my feet as I went into my final sprint. I loved the brutality of running on the beach. It looked so serene, but it felt like fucking hell, my muscles straining to balance my weight as the ground shifted underneath me. Sweat streamed down my face even though the wind was cool. Every cell in my body felt ready to combust.

I deserved that pain.

Finally, my watch beeped, marking that my last interval was over. I hunched over, hands on my knees while I breathed in knife-sharp bursts.

In business, I couldn’t afford to let guilt make me soft. So I pushed the feelings down, only letting them out with punishing daily workouts.

I made this one especially shitty after what I did to Anna.

I didn’t regret using her desire against her. I needed confirmation that Josh was the one who hurt her before I could put my plans in motion.

That didn’t make the self-loathing I saw on Anna’s face any easier to live with.

She obviously blamed herself for those bruises. I saw it on her face whenever I asked her for a name. Nothing that he’d done to her was her fault, she still felt responsible for it. It only made my revenge fantasies toward Josh get bloodier.

One way or another, I’d make him pay.

The waves crashed against the shore in thick, foamy swaths. There must have been a storm off the coast to make the water so choppy. Just two nights ago, it was calm.

The night I finally tasted Anna again. I hadn’t wanted to kiss a woman in six years but three minutes with her on the beach and I couldn’t get enough of the feel of her mouth on mine.

Fuck, it’d been years since I lost myself in a woman like that. Sure, I liked my partners getting off, but Anna was different. She was the only one whose pleasure I cared about more than my own. I could have stayed between her thighs, tasting her for fucking days.

It made me think about our first time together on the beach. I was so careful back then. Anna was still a virgin, and I was terrified of hurting her. It was a miracle I didn’t spill inside her immediately once I finally felt her tight little pussy squeeze around me. I barely survived a few minutes.

I was anything but careful the other night. Anna made me fucking feral, and I didn’t hold back for a second once I got her underneath me. I got everything I wanted—her fucking abuser’s name, and her sweet cries as she came all over my face.

My phone dinged, and against all reason, I hoped that it was Anna texting me. Maybe she could sense I was thinking about her. I shoved down my disappointment when it was just my PI, Paulson. I quickly dialed his number, and he picked up on the first ring.

“Hey, boss,” Paulson said. He sounded tired. Good. He should have been up all night working after his little slip two nights ago.

“What do you have for me?” I asked impatiently.

“Josh Porter’s full biography. I’ve already emailed it, but I’ll give you the highlights. Can’t hold down a relationship, can’t hold down a job. Parents are loaded, some bigshot corporate lawyers in St. Louis. They’ve been bankrolling the kid for years now. He should’ve been in jail with all the women he hit, but they’ve got connections. They kept him free.”

I clenched my jaw so hard that I could practically hear my molars crack. He was the worst kind of scum, the kind who thinks they’re better than anyone thanks to their birthright, even if they’re so pathetic, they have to prove their power by hitting a woman.

“Where is he?” I growled.

“Working on it,” Paulson said. “He left his apartment when Anna snuck out of it. I’ve got a guy surveilling it, but I doubt he goes back. I think he caught our scent while we were trying to sniff him out and he’s running scared. He’s been hopping from cheap motel to cheap motel, but we haven’t been fast enough to catch him before he moves on. I don’t think he knows where Anna is now, since the motels he’s staying at are scattered all over the place with the closest one still a state over.”

It was wishful thinking and I knew it. Even if Josh was stupid enough not to be able to find her by now, I knew the dark web scum he was probably in contact with would’ve figured it out and likely filled him in.

No. He was just biding his time. But for what?

“Keep your man there, and three guards on Anna at all times. Other than that, I want all your resources on finding Josh. I don’t care what it costs, drop all your other cases and get it done,” I hissed.

“Right. You got it, boss,” Paulson said, wisely hanging up.

He knew now would be a dangerous time to piss me off.

There was a special place in hell for men cowardly enough to hit their girlfriends. And when I finally got my hands on Josh Porter, I was going to send him there.

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