Page 38 of Seeds of Sorrow

Peyton stepped closer, grabbing Hadina’s ass to increase the pressure of the gun. A smile started to creep onto her face as Hadina moaned, threw her head back, and rode the metal with abandon. “You don’t know what you’re offering. What you’re getting into,” she hissed, reaching out a hand to grip Peyton’s waist for support as she climbed closer to climax.

“Then maybe I’m clueless,” Peyton said, pressing her lips to the dip of Hadina’s neck. Circling the barrel against her employer’s hole, she teased and tested to see how ready she was for more. Hadina groaned, biting down on her lip as the tip of the barrel pushed inside her, scratching against her sensitive skin as it entered.

“Naïve,” Hadina called her through gritted teeth, her fingernails digging into Peyton’s hip.

“Perhaps. But do you know what else I am?” Peyton asked. She pulled the gun away, slowly, before thrusting it forward again. Hadina screamed and threw her head back. “I’m in fucking control of myself, andImake my decisions.”

Hadina’s breathing came in heavy pants as Peyton continued to assault her pussy, using her wetness to lubricate the gun as she thrust it in and out. Hadina couldn’t think straight, couldn’t form words or argue. Instead, she ground down against the gun and worked herself harder, loving the stinging bite the sight caused as it scraped against her insides. Lips pressed soft kisses against her neck, sweeping away the sweat beading on her skin. She didn’t resist when Peyton brought their mouths together in a passionate, messy kiss. Peyton swallowed up her cries as Hadina felt herself reach the precipice of release, needing to let go.

“Corrupt my soul all you want, Hadina,” Peyton said quietly. “You’ve already ruined me for everyone else.”

Hadina blinked back tears as Peyton twisted the handle of the gun and thrust the barrel inside her one last time, hitting a spot she hadn’t reached before. Shattering completely, Hadina crashed into Peyton’s lips and let herself fall off the edge. As Hadina came apart around her weapon of choice, soaking Peyton’s hand, she hoped Peyton could feel everything that was running through her mind.

Peyton had lured her in and now Hadina was ruined too. The queen of shadows and her little temptress.

Chapter26

PEYTON

“Now what?”Hadina asked.

After she had come down from her post-orgasm high, they had picked up the remnants of Hadina’s phone and headed back to the house. Hadina had assured Peyton that she’d send one of her guys to retrieve the car that she’d borrowed from Don’s collection.

They were sitting in the car in front of the house, Hadina’s hand gripping Peyton’s thigh, where she rubbed circles with her thumb. Peyton could feel the nervousness rolling off her.

“With us or with everything else?”

Hadina smirked. “Both, I guess.”

Peyton thought about it. In all honesty, she wasn’t quite sure what came next. Telling Hadina that she wasn’t walking away was a big deal that came with even bigger consequences. She just didn’t know how everything would play out.

“With us, I’m all in. I wanna know everything, learn everything you have to teach me. After my sister died, my relationship with my family completely disintegrated. I don’t have anyone.” Peyton took a deep breath before linking her fingers with Hadina’s. “You’re it, Hadi. This madness you bring out of me is what I want—whoI want to be.”

“I can’t tell if the truth will be better or worse than the image you probably have conjured up in your head.”

Peyton hated the anxiety underlying Hadina’s words. No matter how dark the truth was, nothing would make her want to leave. The moment she had admitted that to herself, she felt free. Free to embrace love and all the tarnished parts of herself that she had been burying for years.

“I’m here either way,” she said.

Hadina forced a smile. “Then I think it’s time for a history lesson. You should know exactly what we do at Adis & Co.”

* * *

Peyton tookthe seat behind the desk as Hadina flurried about the office, grabbing documents and folders hidden behind various pieces of furniture. She stole glances at Peyton every so often, almost like she was checking to make sure she was still there.

“Okay,” Hadina said after ten minutes, depositing all the files in front of Peyton. “Are you ready?”

Peyton nodded. “Tell me everything.”

Hadina perched on the edge of the desk, opening a folder to reveal a collection of photographs.

Peyton reached for one before dropping it immediately as though it were aflame. “What the fuck?” she said, feeling nausea rise up her throat.

The focal point of the image was a young girl—no older than fifteen or sixteen—lying dead atop a dirty mattress on a stone floor. Her body was beaten and bruised, cigarette burns and cuts dotting her exposed skin. It was the blood covering the dirty white nightdress and fingerprint bruises on her throat that finally caused Peyton to vomit into the trash can beside the desk.

“Keep looking,” Hadina demanded, though she showed sympathy by rubbing circles over Peyton’s back while she emptied her stomach.

Picking up the piles of photographs with shaky fingers, Peyton forced herself to look through them. It seemed like each one was worse than the last. Poor girls left broken, bloodied, and dead. Her heart ached as she took in the atrocities in front of her. While she knew that these deaths weren’t at the hands of Hadina—she knew that with absolute certainty—Peyton couldn’t understand why the Adis sister would have such horrid pictures in her possession.

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