Page 24 of Dangerous Vengeance

I head home to find Flynn guarding her door as I requested, but now I have another request. Natalie and I have to have a talk, so I tell him to bring her to me in my study—the place she is never allowed to be. Her response after I caught her in here the other day makes me think she is willing to do as I order her, maybe more. She didn’t shy away from curling up on my chest last week either.

I unlock my study and flip the lights on, then find two tumblers and pour a bit of gin in each of them. It isn’t long before I hear her whimpering and whining. She’s protesting something and I’m sure it’s Flynn’s handling of her. When I sit on the sofa and set the glasses on the coffee table, Flynn walks in with Natalie. He has her by both arms, forcing her forward. She stiffens when she sees me and goes silent.

“Welcome, Natalie,” I say, gesturing to the couch opposite the one I’m sitting on. “Have a seat. Flynn, leave us alone.” I flick my wrist and he’s gone, out the door, shutting it behind himself.

Natalie grabs an elbow and stands there looking sheepish. The same t-shirt and shorts she’s been wearing for days hang from her thin frame. She looks tired, drawn face and disheveled hair. She’s lost weight since coming here too, not a lot, but it’s noticeable in her face.

“I… Can I go back to my room?”

“Sit,” I say firmly, and she tenses. Her stiff walk as she approaches the sofa humors me. She hasn’t even seen my dark angry side yet. That smack to her ass was only the beginning for her if she doesn’t submit to me, though I know she will. She won’t let it come to the point where I’m really angry with her. I can see it in her eyes. She wants to obey me.

She sits right on the edge of the cushion and puts her hands on her knees. She’s timid and her hands shake a little. My reaction to her snooping put the fear of God into her. She knows I’m not a man to mess with now. That’s a good thing. Now, we can get down to business.

“Drink,” I order her and nod at her glass as I pick up my own. I down the contents in one gulp and it burns on the way down.

“What is it?” she asks, picking the glass up gently with two fingers.

“Gin.”

I watch her as she, too, downs the entire contents in one swallow. She coughs and splutters a bit, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before setting the glass back down. “It’s awful.”

“It’s a five-hundred-dollar bottle.” It’s strong too, eighty proof and ready to peel the paint off walls. I already feel it hitting me after the brandy at Dominic’s.

“What do you want?” Natalie scoots back on the couch a little, but she still looks uncomfortable.

“Tomorrow is the day you take me to the paper. I need to know who else has copies of your work, and I need the truth. If you’re a good girl and tell me what I need to know, you’ll go to bed happy.” I lick my lower lip just thinking of how badly I want to do very nasty things to her body.

She stares at me calmly and shrugs. “I gave a copy to a few friends. They have instructions to mail it to every major newspaper in New York if I disappear.” She says the words so firmly and convincingly I almost believe her. It is the wise thing to do when investigating someone as dangerous as me—as my family. But there is a hint of something in her eyes that makes me wonder if she’s telling the truth.

“What friends?”

“As if I’d tell you. You’ll just kill them.” Her chest puffs up and again I’m almost convinced. Her posture straightens and she keeps her eyes locked on me even as I stand and walk around the table toward her. When I move to her periphery, rounding the sofa she sits on, she looks straight ahead where I was just sitting.

“We’re not telling lies to each other, Natalie. If this is going to work, you’re going to have to be honest.” I stand behind her and pull her hair back over her shoulder, exposing her neck. Then I lean down and breathe across her creamy skin as I look into the collar of her shirt. “Because I wouldn’t want this pretty neck of yours to be tarnished by my brother’s blade.”

Leaning over the couch farther, I kiss her neck softly, then nip at it. She gasps and twitches but remains sitting with perfect posture, facing the other wall. I slowly move my mouth closer to her ear and whisper, “And besides, how can I have my way with you if you’re a corpse? Lies have a way of ruining things. And what we have deserves to stay alive, doesn’t it, Natalie?”

She shivers and I watch the goosebumps rise on her arms, causing her hair to stand on end. But she says nothing. She’s stonewalling me, which could mean she is very confident that her story will be told, or it could mean she’s bluffing and that she is fantastic at it. I wrap my hand around her neck, lightly touching her skin as I do. Her body tenses again as I slide my hand upward to her throat and force her chin upward.

She looks at me out of the corner of her eye and grits her teeth. “Are you lying to me? Did you really make copies of the files and send them to your friend for insurance?”

Natalie blinks a few times and tries to turn away, but I grip her neck so tight she gags and then coughs. She looks me directly in the eye and I loosen my grip. When I do, she says, “Yes, I did.”

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

“No,” she chokes out and I let go of her. Her hand flies to her neck and she rubs it, her chest heaving. I round the end of the couch again, but this time I head for the liquor cabinet. I want another drink, and I want her looser. She’s going to remember everything, but she is too rigid right now to be any real fun.

I grab the bottle of gin and when I turn to head back, I see her like a flash dart to the door. I chuckle and shake my head. She is out the door and running and I can’t wait to hunt her down. The house is dark. The doors are all locked, so she can’t get out even if she wants to. She’s afraid now, which means it’s a good possibility that she was lying to me and she has every reason to be afraid. I take a swig of the gin and set the bottle down as I head into the hallway.

“Natalie,” I call out as I walk down the hallway. I hear a whimper in the darkness and choose not to turn on the lights. It’s more fun this way, searching for her like she’s my prey and I’m the wolf stalking her in the night. “Come back, little minx. Your wolf is going to hunt you down and have his way with you.”

I move deeper into the recess of the home. I keep the doors locked, so there aren’t many places for her to hide. Even if she got into a room and locked the door after her, I have a master key. “I will find you and when I do you will learn another lesson.” A sound to my left pricks my ears, so I turn that way. She’s in the kitchen. “You like being hunted, Natalie? Like playing hard to get?”

There is no response, but I hear a thump and I push the door to the kitchen open. It’s dark here too, but my eyes are adjusting now. With the glimmer coming in the window from the moonlight overhead, I see a vague silhouette moving slowly. She thinks she’s invisible or something. “Now, now, Natalie, you’re starting to anger me.” I unbuckle my belt and slide it from the loops in stealthy silence. “And you don’t want me actually angry, do you? Or did you like when I spanked you for breaking into my space?”

Her heavy breathing is a turn on. She may not be able to see me because I’m in the shadows, but she stands against the back door. Her form is clearly visible.

“Shame, really, that I have to do this to you yet again. I thought you learned your lessons.” I move in for the kill, only a few steps left. I’m stunned to see something shiny in her hand. My mind races. What the fuck? She has a knife? What the fuck is she going to do with that? I’m shocked for a second, but I keep going.

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