Page 24 of Fallen Roses

I realize I’m beaten and completely controlled by this man and as I nod with a tense sigh, he stands and smiles approvingly.

“Then we are both of the same mind and will work well together. Unravel the mystery and you will never see me again and James?—”

I stare at him with a hard expression as he turns toward the door.

“Miss Starling.”

“What about her?”

I hold my breath when his mask slips and reveals the darkest soul as he hisses, “Is of considerable personal interest to me and I would appreciateyourinterest in her remaining strictly professional.”

I hold his gaze, my heart in ruins as his meaning is clear. She is out of bounds, but that is one condition I’m not sure I can accept.

Like most drugs, they intoxicate the mind and despite the personal risk involved, an addict will lie, cheat and steal for a fix. I already know I’m not prepared to give her up, but one look into Mikhail Romanov’seyes tells me that where it concerns Annabel Starling, I am dancing with the devil and the only place I’m going to is hell.

CHAPTER 13

ANA

Iam still shaking. My legs are like jelly but they somehow dragged me to the restroom, which was thankfully empty where I cleaned myself up and attempted to regain control of my senses.

I can’t believe what just happened. A shiver of damnation surges through my veins as I cast my mind back on what happened in the boardroom.

James took me completely by surprise and showed a side to him I wasn’t expecting. I have never been so desired. So corrupted and so used. My fingers fly to my throat as a reminder of what it felt like to be so consumed. If anyone could see me now, they would know what happened. My eyes are bright and my hair wild and it’s obvious what just went on because I’m still wearing his mark on my skin and am burning inside.

I take a deep breath and attempt to regain my icycontrol because I’m still required to head into my office and work at unraveling this mystery.

The trouble is, I can’t move past those dark, disturbing eyes and his words chanting at me on repeat. He called me a slut, and he was right. I am. I’m his slut because that is the way he makes me feel, and I wonder why I love that so much.

After several deep breaths and copious amounts of water splashed onto my flushed skin, I head out of the restroom and toward my office, wondering what my story will be if anyone asks where I’ve been.

As I head inside, I note David’s now empty desk and wonder what that means for us. We are a team without a leader and yet will probably work better for it and I can already sense the lighter atmosphere as I take my seat at my desk.

Eric glances up and scoots his chair closer to mine and whispers, “I never saw that coming. David was pissed when he left, but he deserved it. He’s been freeloading off the rest of us for months now and he won’t be missed.”

I smile and register the curious smiles of my fellow workers and it’s up to Eric to ask the question they are all obviously dying to know the answer to.

“So, what did he want?”

“Mr. Warner?” I shrug as if it was nothing. “He wanted my observations on the corporate donations. There appear to be a few anomalies that he wanted to go over.”

“A few.” Eric raises his eyes.

“Those spreadsheets are riddled with anomalies. I’m just surprised it’s taken him so long to wake up to that.”

“What do you mean?”

My pulse races as I sense some answers heading my way, and he lowers his voice.

“When you work in the charity business, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Not every donation that lodges in our banks is there and, shall we say, above board?”

I lean closer and he glances around before tapping his nose.

“It’s all there if you read between the lines. I mean, take the Gold group as an example.”

I tap my screen and note it’s the fifth one on my list and he points to the figure on the screen.

“Look there. They have donated close to one million dollars in the last seven years. If you delve into their company accounts, you will notice they made a loss for the past three years, but the donations always remained the same.”

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