Page 1 of Fool Me Once

Chapter One

Leah Masters was notsurprised by what she had seen. Her boss, Cain Knox, was not an easy man toplease. When he discovered money missing, drugs, women, whatever he owned, theguy had been pissed. He didn’t like being lied to. He valued honesty aboveeverything.

From the moment they firstmet, she’d been honest with him. Now, as she looked at the man who wascurrently whimpering in pain, she couldn’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t justtell the truth. Yes, his death was certain, but the man had stolen nearly halfa million in drugs, and then tried to make a deal for twice as much.

She waited.

And the inevitable deathfinally came.

Cain stepped away and thenturned toward his men, ordering the disposal of the body. She didn’t know ifhe’d given her a job and then taken her to all these bad negotiations onpurpose.

She was never going tosqueal, and she certainly wasn’t going to snitch. You learned a thing or two aboutsurvival when living on the streets, and also how to avoid predators thatlurked in the shadows.

Leah tried not to look atCain’s naked chest. He’d taken off his shirt the moment the man had startedlying to him, and then stayed shirtless throughout. He hadn’t needed to,because he’d not gotten a speck of blood on him. She should be terrified, andyet she didn’t feel anything. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but she refusedto acknowledge what she did feel.

Cain looked at her as hetugged his shirt back on. They had been doing this now for the past six months.She didn’t know if he was waiting for her to fail, or something else, but she hopedshe had won whatever test he was giving.

The first moment they met,Leah thought he was going to kill her. She didn’t realize at the time that sheworked in one of his bars. His only son, Danny, had been known to be a littletoo grabby. Leah hadn’t experienced this at first. Then, one day, she wascleaning up the bar, and Danny paid the owner to be alone with her.

It started innocent atfirst. He flirted, and she hadn’t been interested so she shot him down. WhenDanny realized she wasn’t going to allow him to get close and that she wantednothing to do with him, it got dark fast.

To make a long storyshort, he attacked her, intending to take what he wanted. Clearly his fatherhad gotten him cleared of rape before, only Danny wasn’t expecting her to fightback. She kicked the crap out of him. Left him with a broken arm and nose, andseveral bruises. There might have even been a few cracked ribs as well. Shewasn’t counting. Either way, she got away, and Danny went to the hospital.

Cain kidnapped her andtold her she had two options. He either killed her, or she came to work for himand would have to do everything he told her to do.

She didn’t want to die.Although her life had been pretty shitty, she still wanted to live her life,her own way.

Working for him came withbenefits, the first one being she didn’t have to worry about dealing with herlandlord, and the guy had turned into a creep. A big creep, and he was a littlescary. Not that it bothered her, but putting him in the hospital would alsomake her homeless. She now lived with him.

Second, she didn’t have topay for her wardrobe. Cain—or Mr. Knox—insisted on not only supplying herwardrobe, but also telling her exactly what she should be wearing.

Third, the money was damngood. Better than she had ever made in her entire lifetime.

Fourth, she didn’t doanything. She stood by his side and was quiet the whole time. Sure, he dressedher up to go to business dinners, and she sat, waiting, eating, doing what wasneeded.

There was only one timeshe had done anything, and that was when one of his exes had been a littlepissed, and she tried to attack him. Leah intervened, stopping him from gettingslapped.

So far, Cain Knox was agood bad guy, which was so damn strange.

She should hate him, buthe stayed true to his word, and she hadn’t once seen Danny again. In fact, Cainhad also offered her an apology on behalf of his son. She couldn’t help butwonder how many other women had gotten an apology from him.

Cain stepped up to her,placed his hand at the base of her back, and they left the warehouse, goingtoward the elevator that would take them to the luxurious casino that offeredthe people a chance at winning millions. She also knew it was all a fix. Therewas enough offered to keep the people coming for more, but never actuallywinning the big leagues.

She expected them to gostraight out to his car, but instead he veered her off to the right, where theVIP section was located. There was a guard standing there, and he gave them anod before allowing them to enter. This was a new guard. She tried to rememberall the people that worked for Cain, just to be polite. She knew what it waslike to work, be invisible, and not feel appreciated, so she attempted tobridge that gap.

She had a feeling most ofthe people that worked for Cain assumed he was sleeping with her. Nope. Theyhadn’t had sex. She imagined he would die of laughter to learn she was avirgin. Surviving on the streets, and still a virgin at twenty-five years old.

One of the guys she methad not been into kids, but they had hit it off, and before he died in a drive-byshooting, he’d taught her how to defend herself. It was why she knew how tofight.

It had been a long time sinceshe thought of Ben. The guy had been one hell of a fighter. A savage. No onecould beat him, until a bullet ran through his heart and took his life way toosoon. She’d witnessed it. He’d died in her arms, and she ended up in fostercare the next day. He might have been the only person in her life she evercared about.

Cain took them to hisusual seat, and Leah sat down beside him. She crossed one leg over the otherand waited.

A waiter came, and heordered a scotch for himself, and she got a glass of water. She didn’t drink ordo drugs. Cain had made sure she took multiple blood tests as he didn’t believeher. It was rude, but she understood why. In their world, or in the real world,everyone lied. She was used to that.

It was why she couldn’thelp but tense up from time to time. She kept expecting Cain to kill her. Shehurt his son, and she hadn’t gone easy on him. Danny was an egotisticalasshole. He assumed he was above the law because of who his father was, whichwas complete and total bullshit.

“Relax,” Cain said.

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