Page 18 of Cherry Auction

“When I get back, our training can begin.” I feel giddy and alive with anticipation as I reach for my white, pressed shirt and the suit-coat I hung on a hook near the door.

Her screaming abates for a moment at my words, only to pick right back up again as I head for the elevator. They getespecially piercing when the elevator doors open, as if she thinks the sound will carry better that way.

It’s adorable.

I give her a little finger wave and a wink as the doors close, then breathe in deeply as the elevator starts to ascend. A glance at my phone showed me who’s at the door, and it’s nothing but a small nuisance.

All that matters is that I finally have her in my grasp.

Madison Harper.

I never stopped looking for her. But she and her father were good at covering their tracks, always on the move. Her father taught me so much of the foundations of what I know about hacking and security systems, after all. He was so good at searching out weaknesses and then exploiting them. Both with people and technology.

I smooth down my coat jacket as I head towards the door, pausing to check my face and hair in a mirror. I pull a little travel wipe from my inner coat pocket and unpackage it, swiping back and forth across the stubble of my mouth and beard.

There. It’s ungentlemanly to answer the door with the gleam of the woman you’ve just eaten out all over your face.

I have a facade to maintain, after all.

When I open the door, it’s to an angry-looking, cross-armed Quinn.

She looks down the hallway behind me. “Where is she?”

“She’s fine.” I block her path with a hand when she tries to storm past me.

“That’s not what I asked.”

My jaw locks. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“Only if you don’t produce the girl. Moira and I gave her assurances. I don’t go back on my word.”

“You haven’t. The contract specified the money was in exchange for her virginity. There was no time condition. Now if you would please get the fuck off my property, Quinnlynn.”

Quinn adopts her domme stance that tells me to back the fuck up and rethink my last statement. But I’m the one man in this city who’s not intimidated by her little act.

I step into her face, forcing her to take a step back, which I can tell pisses her the fuck off. But I won’t be intimidated in my own house, even by someone I respect as much as Quinn.

“Well, Domhnall Bryce Callaghan,” she spits, getting right in my face. Toe to toe with me. “I promised her she’d be safe, so you better be able to produce her within the next ten minutes or I’ll make a scene. And not the spanky kind you’d enjoy. I won’t be made a liar, even for you.”

“Oh?” I lift an eyebrow dangerously. “Even when I hold the future of your career in my hands?”

Her eyes widen and her mouth drops open, but I don’t back down.

“You’re not even supposed to have access to a calculator for another decade. Remember that little deal I worked outwith the Texas district attorney for you? I took you on as an intern because of your talents, but there are limits if you question my authority again.”

Her abilities with a keyboard are undisputable, but it got her into trouble when she’d barely turned eighteen. She was trying to hack into the Federal Marshals, and almost got in before she was caught. I recognize young talent and have a soft spot for the rebels.

But my conscience doesn’t even twinge at making the threat. Sometimes when you finally jump off that last cliff to the full-on dark side, there’s no looking back.

“Money can’t buy everything,” Quinn snaps, glaring up at me.

“You’ll know better when you aren’t young and poor.”

“I thought you were one of the good ones,” Quinn hisses. “Glad to know sooner rather than later I was fucking wrong. Iquit. Now show me the girl.”

“I’ll escort you off the premises instead.”

Quinn glares and plants her feet. “Touch me, and I’ll break your hand,” she warns, deadpan. “I’m not leaving without Brooke.”

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