Page 123 of Broken

I slam my fist onto the table, and Bryce flinches. “If you ever interrupt my wife again while she’s speaking, I will punch your teeth down your throat. Do you understand me?”

His face turns an unusual shade of pale, and he nods. I offer Mel a smile. “Go on, corazón.”

She smiles sweetly at me before turning her attention back to her mother and brother. “She has a lot of great ideas, and we believe she can turn the company around. Early projectionssuggest Edison Holdings could turn a profit again within two years.”

“So your husband’s brothers are the new trustees, and they ensure that you’re the only one who benefits from the trust?” her mother asks, her tone dripping with disdain.

Mel leans forward, keeping her voice clipped and assertive. “That is not how trusts work, Mother. Managed properly, they benefit the people they were supposed to. Elijah and Mason have no need of anything from the trust. I don’t need the trust either.”

“Not now that you have your rich husband,” Miranda taunts.

Mel’s back straightens and her jaw tenses. “I haven’t taken a cent from either of you in eleven years. I don’t care about the money, Mom. But Ashley deserves it. She deserves to finish college and concentrate on her studies without having to take two jobs to make rent.Shewill be the beneficiary of the trust. Which is exactly how it should be.”

“And what about us?” Bryce whines, like the pathetic man-child he is.

“Mother, you will be given a monthly allowance that will allow you to keep the house and maintain a certain lifestyle, although maybe a little more modest than you’re used to, but certainly enough to be comfortable.”

“And me?” Bryce says, his face turning almost purple and spittle flying from his mouth.

“You, my dear brother, will get exactly what you deserve.” Melanie offers him a sweet smile, her hands clasped in front of her as she stares him dead in the eye. “Nothing.”

Oh, I fucking love this woman.

Bryce opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water.

“Relax, it’s not like you’ll be homeless,” I offer with a shrug.

He pushes back his chair, looking like he’s about to throw an almighty temper tantrum. “You can’t do this. I’m a beneficiary of Dad’s trust too.”

“Well we can always go with the other option, and you can enjoy free room and board for the rest of your life, courtesy of the United States government,” I remind him with a grin. I fucking love watching him squirm.

Bryce is practically foaming at the mouth. He jumps to his feet, and his chair falls to the ground. My muscles tense. I am ready and willing to drop this piece of shit the minute he takes a step toward Mel. But Miranda stands too and puts a hand on his arm. “We’re leaving,” she says coolly. She’s a shrewd woman, which means she knows they don’t have a chance in hell of fighting this and that she’s being afforded much more grace than she deserves.

I get to my feet, fastening the buttons of my jacket. “Before you go, there’s one more thing.”

Both Miranda and Bryce turn and glare at me. “Melanie is signing over her stake in the company to Ashley. You will no longer be a part of her life. Not ever. You hear something about our life that intrigues you, you fucking ignore it. You feel like reaching out to her and seeing how she is or if she can help you out of a bind, you fucking don’t. You hear she has our child and you decide you want to play the doting grandma or uncle, you fucking forget about it. And if she ever has to hear from either of you again, Iwilldestroy you both, and I won’t lose a single second of sleep over it.”

Mel stands by my side, exactly where she belongs, and laces her fingers through mine. With a final look of contempt, Bryce and Miranda walk out of the boardroom. As soon as they’re gone, my wife lets out a long breath and leans against me. I wrap a steadying arm around her. “You were incredible, corazón.”

“My legs were shaking the entire time.”

“Nobody could tell. I’m glad I’ll never have to go up against you in a courtroom, Goose.”

She laughs, and the musical sound makes my pulse quicken and my dick twitch. I trail my fingertips down her spine and over her hipbone. She shivers at my touch. “Have you ever had sex in this boardroom?” she asks with a soft purr, catching me completely off guard. That twitch in my pants turns into something much more dangerous.

Never a man to mix business with pleasure, I have never in the seven years I’ve owned this building even considered fucking anyone in my boardroom. Now it’s all I can fucking think about. “Not yet. Why, you have something in mind?”

She backs away from me, catching her luscious lower lip between her teeth. “Maybe.” She keeps walking backward until she reaches the chair at the head of the table. Pulling it out, she takes a seat, a devious smile on her face and a wicked glint in her eyes. Her tongue darts out, moistening her full lips. “Crawl to me.”

I cock my head, sure I misheard. “What?”

“Oh, you heard me, Ice. Crawl. To. Me.”

I shake my head and suppress a laugh. “Oh no, corazón. That is not how this works.”

She purses her lips, her eyes raking over my body. Then she stands and slowly peels off her pants and panties, kicking them off with her socks and sneakers. When she sits back down, she spreads her legs wide, putting her perfect pink pussy on display for me. Already glistening with her juices and begging to be eaten and fucked. “I said crawl to me,” she repeats.

I blow out a breath, my eyes bouncing between hers and the space between her thighs—my nirvana. Running my tongue over my teeth, I will my dick to stop throbbing and clouding my senses, because I can’t think straight. And surely that is the only logical explanation for why I drop to my knees in my own fucking boardroom and crawl across the room to her. Thewicked smile on her face grows, and as I get closer, the scent of her arousal gets stronger, making my mouth water.

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