Page 20 of Cruel Dreams

She flinches.

“And you remember what I say. Your daddy’s going to get you into big trouble if you tell your mama what I do to you in the middle of the night.” He sits on the bed.

“It’s our secret,” she promises in a little-girl voice, nudging him onto his back.

She wouldn’t appreciate it, but my heart breaks in sympathy. Huxley’s pretending Nathalie is his daughter, and they speak as if they’ve done this several times before. It’s horrid she fed sick men’s fantasies for several years only to make Clayton and Ash even richer.

Nathalie digs handcuffs and a red satin blindfold out of her bag. “Let’s play, Daddy,” she says, and he lifts his head just enough to give her room to slip the blindfold over his eyes. She licks his lips, and he twists the straps of her dress around his fingers, trapping her on top of him.

They’re positioned well—Nathalie’s wig hangs perfectly to hide her face—and Mel will have a goldmine of shots to splash at the guests at the fundraising gala. She sits up and fastens his wrists to the cheap wooden headboard. Once he realizes she tricked him, he might be able to break free if he’s mad enough, but hopefully we’ll be long gone. She kisses him again, and I can’t wait to leave. I’d throw up in his mouth if I had to do that. I need to give Nathalie more credit.

“You’re being a naughty girl, Rachel,” Huxley huffs, testing the cuffs. “Daddy’s going to spank you.”

“I’d like that,” Nathalie says, crawling off him.

“Where’re you going, baby?” he whines.

“I want another drink.”

She motions at me, and I step out of the closet and deeper into the room. I pause on his whale of a form. He looks ridiculous, and I would laugh if he wasn’t so dangerous.

Nathalie quietly shoves the scotch bottle into the bag and hikes it onto her shoulder. She jerks her head toward the door. “Let’s go,” she mouths.

I’m glad to do what she says.

“Rachel, baby, where’d you go? I want your mouth on my cock right now, you sweet little whore.”

“Just a second, Daddy. I need to visit the little girls’ room.”

“Be fast. Daddy’s horny.”

Slowly, without moving her gaze off him, she backs toward the door. As quietly as I can, I turn the knob and open it, letting in a welcome gust of sticky evening air. Right at that moment, a car horn blares.

Huxley starts yelling. “Nathalie, where the fuck are you? Get your ass back here or you’ll get my fist in your face instead of my cock in your mouth.”

Startled, I suck in a breath.

Nathalie laughs. “He sounds worse than he is. Come on, Stella, let’s get out of here.”

We leave Huxley’s angry shrieks behind.

CHAPTER SIX

Zane

The minute Nathalie says Stella’s name, fury drains the blood from my face and a static buzzes in my ears so loudly I don’t have a clue what Mel’s saying. That bitch, that fucking whore, just destroyed weeks’ worth of planning to keep Stella underground.

Max is quiet.

Denton looks just as pissed as I am, but he hides it better.

Quinn sits and chews on her lip deep in thought, a frown crinkling her forehead.

We all know what Nathalie did—no one has to say it aloud.

Mel tries to calm me down, but I shake her off every time she tries to touch me.

Stella turns the camera off and their voices stop filling Max’s sitting room through the Bluetooth speakers connected to Mel’s laptop. There’s nothing to do now but wait for them to come back to the hotel.

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