Page 24 of Becoming His Pet

“First, you’re an asshole. Second, hold on a second—” Blake talked off the phone at Bella. Greg would get annoyed except it sounded like his little niece was doing a fine job of irritating her dad for him.

“Blake,” Greg said after silence stretched between them.

“Yeah. I’m here. Sorry. Okay. This girl, Nora? Her full name is Elenora Santucci. She’s the daughter of Elliott Santucci.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Greg peeked down the hall. Door was still closed.

“Probably not. About a year ago, he was killed. Two years before that he was sentenced to ten years for money laundering.”

“So, he was killed in prison?”

“No. His lawyer did some fancy footwork, got him off in the appeal. Never made it inside a cell.”

“Speed this up, what does any of this have to do with Nora now?”

“From what I found out, it’s suspected Antonio, the flower shop owner, is the one who took him out.”

“Was Elliott working with the DA?” Greg asked.

“No. As far as I know, after he got off on the laundering charge, he stayed clean. No other arrests or investigations.”

“Okay, so he gets off, goes home, and two years later some old associates take him out? And then a year after that, his daughter goes to work for the guy thought to have been responsible. Am I getting this straight, because I haven’t had coffee yet.” It was too much to take in. Nora was out for revenge?

“That’s what I found out.” Blake sounded pretty pleased with himself. Probably from having a few minutes that he wasn’t playing super dad.

“She said she’s a journalist—or trying to be.”

“Well, maybe she was going to take him down by exposing him?” Blake offered.

“Yeah. Maybe. But I think it’s time I found out.”

“Greg... Greg. Wait.”

The door to the bedroom opened and Greg squared off with the girl he thought was so innocent. So fucking pure. Convinced she’d just gotten in over her head with her stupid story. Now, looking at her, seeing her rub the sleep from her eyes, wearing his T-shirt, he realized when the brothers said they had business with her, they didn’t mean her harm. They probably wanted their payment.

“What?” Greg snapped at his brother.

“Calm down before you talk to her. You’re jumping to conclusions, just talk to her and see what she says.”

His eyes met hers. Those pouty lips he wanted to kiss so badly the night before parted, and fear, real fear crept into her features.

“Okay.” Greg clicked off the call before Blake could say anything else.

“Greg?” Nora’s voice was so small, so innocent. She’d used the same tone last night, trying to convince him to show her his playroom.

Calm ran through his body.

“Nora. I’m going to ask you one more time, give you one more chance to tell me the full truth.”

“Not this again.” She huffed, her whole attitude wasn’t in it, more of a show, but that didn’t matter. It was exactly the spark needed to light the fire.

“Yes, this again. And just so we’re completely clear with each other.” He stalked up to her, ignoring the small flinch she gave as he neared her, and snatched up her arm. She tried to pull away, but he didn’t give an inch.

He threw open the door to the playroom and pushed her inside. She stumbled a step but righted herself, shoving her bedhead hair from her eyes. Eyes that widened when she saw the crate. Eyes that swept across the room at his extensive collection of heavy floggers hanging from one wall. Eyes that roamed finally to him with fear building along with unshed tears.

“Honest girls get to sit comfortably in the cabin. Little liars...” He gave a purposeful look at the crate. “Don’t.”

“What happened? Why are you acting so crazy?” she asked, taking a small step back. There was no escape from the room. Not that he had planned it that way. The girls he took to the cabin weren’t looking for that sort of escape.

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