Page 111 of Beneficial Misfortune

He growls and grunts as he pries my fingers from the side of the car one by one, uncaring that I’m screaming at the top of my lungs. Not that he should give a fuck. Nobody else seems to, and that had been the whole point of me screaming to begin with.

“Nobody’s going to save you, Katie. You’re mine. Always have been and always will be.”

I don’t want to believe him, but I can only fight him off for so long. I know that and so does he.

Maybe he’s right? Maybe I should just stop fighting?

Before I can make the choice myself, the sound of a gun cocking takes the choice from me as I freeze like a deer in headlights.

Chapter 34

I’d told Kat I could work from home for as long as I wanted, and while that wasn’t strictly a lie, it wasn’t exactly easy. Many clients want face-to-face meetings, which I usually prefer as well. Thankfully, most know I also have a young child and no wife, so when I moved some meetings to video conferences under the pretense that she’d been sick, nobody questioned it.

Not that I would let them. Who are they to question why I’m doing business the way I am? No, they should be happy I gave a reason to begin with.

That didn’t mean our first day back wasn’t slammed. From meetings, to conference calls, and everything in between, the day was packed from the second we walked in the door, and by the time lunch finally rolled around, I was ready to make a run for it.

It’s strange, honestly. For years, work had been my first love, then I had children, and things changed. They were the only things that I ever put above my job, but even then, balance was often tricky. Now I find I can’t wait for the day to be over, thatI’m looking for a way to cut and run to be with my queen and our princess, and I know the others feel the same.

Even Oliver, though he has yet to admit it.

Unfortunately, it’s not just us either, and I don’t even mean Vince, though he might be an issue later. For the moment, our biggest issues are Carter and Trevor.

I should have dealt with Trevor better before, but I’d thought he was simply jealous. Most jealous men will run off with their tails between their legs, all talk and no action. Never did I think he would be a danger to Kat.

Now Vince has shown his hand, and while I’m happy he was there to keep Kat safe, for the moment, Trevor is lying low. Not that we couldn’t find him if needed; no, I doubt anyone could hide from Vince for long if he put all his resources into finding them. But Trevor hadn’t been our main concern the last few days.

I’d wanted us at the house to show Kat she was safe and to make sure of it, and it seems I might have done too good of a job with the way she all but demanded we go back to work and stop coddling her.

Vince is with her and Addison now, and I make a mental note to have him start looking for Trevor in his downtime when we talk next. My mind wanders to about five hundred other things I need to handle, from business to home life, yet somehow, every thought I have brings me right back to her.

I sit staring at my lunch as she consumes everything. Images of her as Alex fucked her over my desk, the way she so easily complied, her willingness to please me. I’m so hard, it hurts, but I still can’t bring myself to think of anything but her. The idea of her round with a child, of children of our own running around the house with her while we work, a rock on her finger fit for the queen she is.

“Shit.” I shift in my chair, trying to relieve some of the pressure in my dress pants, but it doesn’t help.

The faster we finish up here, the faster I can have her in my arms, in my bed, where she belongs.

I know it’s true, but still, I have to force myself to pick up my sandwich and eat. The urge to skip lunch to make the day over faster rides me hard, but I know if I get my way, I’ll need a good meal in my stomach for later.

Maybe we should schedule a vacation. I text Alex to have him get the house in Curacao cleaned up. A smile threatens to turn up my lips at the thought of her at our waterfront home on the island. Like the rest of our lives, it’s a bit over the top, which I know she isn’t used to, but she will be someday.

I’ll make sure of it.

I finish my sandwich just as the doors to my office slam open, and I can’t stop the scowl that pulls my brows down. I hate being interrupted without warning. That's why I pay a secretary, speaking of which I need to see about replacing her. I didn’t like the way she handled Addison when she was here last and now this.

It’s not until I get a good look at who’s just barged into my office that I realize why my secretary wouldn’t have called me.

It’s Oliver.

Had it been Alex or Desmond, this wouldn’t be strange, but I can’t remember the last time Oliver came bursting into my office or anywhere for that matter.

Not only is Oliver usually all for the rules, but he’s also well put together and composed, all of which seems to have gone out the window right now as he runs toward my desk, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

He reaches my desk, panting, slamming down a few papers on the edge of my desk. I push to stand, reaching across the desk and grabbing them, my eyes flying over the papers despitehaving no idea what I’m looking at. Whatever it is must be important to have Oliver behaving like this.

By the time I reach the bottom of the first page, I think I have a pretty good understanding of what he’s trying to show me, but it seems crazy, impossible even.

Looking at him, I find him mostly composed as he straightens up, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. I want to give him another minute, but I don’t have it in me with what I believe this paper is saying, and he seems to know this because with just one look, he reaches out for the paper, and I quickly hand it back.

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