Page 41 of Seduce & Destroy

She gave me a funny look, I wasn’t usually this bold. “Do you not like me as I am?”

“No, I do. I just think there’s more to know about you. Like…what is your family like?”

She swallowed and looked down. “My family wasn’t the nicest to me. I will spare you the details.”

“No!” I asserted louder than I meant, “I’d like to know the details?”

She looked me in the eyes, her eyes growing soft despite her earlier apprehension. “Princess, some things are not for sharing. The weight of such confessions are not carried alone.”

“I know. My mother died in childbirth. Every year my father mourns more. My birthday is a burden.” Kenna turned and opened her arms to me, and I fell into her warmth. While we had had sex, this was the first time we’d been genuinely intimate. I made sure to treasure it.

After a couple minutes of silence, Kenna confessed a morsel of personal detail. “When I was younger, my father and brothers used to drag me out of bed at night, tell me to grab a blanket and we’d lay on the trampoline watching the stars. Sometimes, I still go out at night to watch the sky. It’s those memories that I’d like to remember. Not the bad ones.”

Chapter 16

KENNA

Jesus Christ, I’m in too deep. I’m in too deep. Ten days until the funeral.

For years I had equated attachment to weakness. Dad drilled it in my head before I could even cohesively form a sentence to refute it. Family came first, don’t grow attached to something that could compete with that. Laney knew as best as I did that loss comes easy in organised crime, I feared what would happen if I lost her.

I was naive to think I could get over her.

The thought sobered me up. Tension and grief weighed down the air on the estate, but I had to physically force the giddy smile off my face. It had been plastered across my face for almost a week, I feared I was going to get wrinkles from it.

It was only ever meant to be sex. How did we get here?

Our usual song and dance continued this week until a note appeared in my locker after another disciplinary run.

On the note was an inscription in dainty cursive letters.

Skip lunch today.; meet me by the firepit!

L xx

It made me smile again. Attachments were pressure points that could easily be exploited, but boy, was it a joy to be captured by it. This was all new to me. I only allowed myself lust without strings, but Laney had shown me that I wanted to be completely wrapped up in those strings. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.

It was why I now wondered when she had the time to deliver this note. Laney had been sitting with her father on the small balcony when I returned from my run, so she must have written it quickly.

I’d never received such a message before, and honestly, speaking in code was a kind of foreplay in my eyes. Stuffing the note in my bra, I moved to the IT room for my final week of training—finally, a desk with a computer on it.

I could almost scream with relief. Surveillance was my favourite kind of enforcement, no good operation in the modern day was complete without it.

After the fire, my family lost all their income. We managed to retain relationship with some private drug and arms dealers but those were few and far between to conserve our identity when we went underground. Our names weren’t on any census data, no phone numbers were in our names, and we had sparse access to Wi-Fi. It’s why I never had a proper education, and it was why I was thrilled to have high tech, expensive as fuck, equipment in front of me.

But it didn’t seem others shared the same excitement as me at this prospect. There were notable gaps in attendance as Forrester Waite led the session. It confused me, until Sir Waite addressed my question.

“Some of your fellow cadets are held back for further questioning. You, too, will be called for interrogation soon, but Miss Laney has affirmed your loyalty to me as the most trusted members so far of your group. Security is of the utmost importance, especially in these trying times, no word of information discussed today will leave this room or risk condemnation in the dungeon below our feet. Walking free is not an option after this.”

I gulped and pushed my shoulders back, but I was inwardly blushing at Laney’s assessment of me. Though, I shouldn’t be surprised, I was sleeping with the boss after all.

As if I summoned her with my mind, she walked through the door in dark jeans, a ribbed camisole and a blue sport jacket. I came to learn this was her preferred loungewear for long days at the office, and my assumption was greenlit as she moved toward the direction of her office.

Our eyes met as she traversed the room. I wasn’t the only one staring, but I was the only one to receive a knowing look. I’ll see you later. Then, faded from view.

“God, the boss's daughter is hot.” One guy whispered to another.

“Almost creamed my pants at target practice each time she commanded us to shoot.” He stroked his chin suggestively.

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