Page 29 of For Wrath and Redemption
“NDAs kill the mood.”
“Too fucking bad,” I snap, anger boiling hot in my stomach. “NDAs are going to save your dumb ass from more slutty tabloid stories, and you know it.” I stomp around the room and pick up his clothes as I argue with him. “You’re lucky I don’t require all your conquests to provide medical records of their sexual health. You’re lucky I don’t badger them about birth control before they’re subjected to ten minutes of subpar sex.”
I turn and toss his pants at him. They hit his chest, then hit the floor. He makes no move to pick them up.
“Sober sex only from now on,” I snap. “Youandyour partner.Neverin my bed. And you’re getting tested. Celibacy until we get the results back.”
His brows rise. “That’s a violation of my privacy.”
“While I’m here, you have no privacy.”
He takes a step toward me, humor giving way to something more sinister. “You’re not in control here.”
“I am. It’s my job to?—”
“Fuck your job and fuck my father.”
The sudden vitriol in his tone makes me flinch, and for the first time since I walked in here, I’m actually worried about what he’s going to say next. His biceps flex, and I have a feeling if I glance down, I’ll find him picking at his thumb again. I don’t, though. His hands are too close to his possibly diseased penis.
“I looked you up, Claire Davis. You know what I found?”
My eyes widen and sweat prickles the back of my neck as he continues. Every cruel sentence is a blow to my confidence.
“Just a poor, small-town girl from Podunk nowhere with big city aspirations, right? Majored in marketing at a throwaway university in a throwaway town. Graduated middle of your class. Rented a shitty apartment you couldn’t afford in Manhattan because that’s the dream. Now you’re a little country bumpkin mingling with the rich city socialites in your secondhand Manolos. You want so bad to fit in, don’t you, Davis?”
I keep my spine rod-straight and my face stone. I don’t cry. I don’t even blink. But every word out of his mouth makes me shrink down further inside myself, and I know he can see it. His sharp blue eyes are carving at my skin, exposing bone and muscle, hitting every nerve.
“Then you get hired as a junior creative developer at Innovation Media, one of the best marketing firms in the world, despite not attending a prestigious university. Despite not graduating with honors. Who’d you fuck, Claire? Was it your boss? Did your boyfriend make some calls? I bet he’s some rich prick investment banker with a wife and kids at home. Bet you’re his pathetic little side piece.”
I hate him. My eyes sting. My chest throbs. Ihatehim.
He huffs out a laugh and tilts his head to the side as he runs his eyes over my face, then lowers his voice and speaks to me like a lover would.
“I bet you’re the success story of your shitty little town. Bet your family just loves to show you off during the holidays. Do they know about the two-month stay at a ‘wellness facility?’ What about your hospital stay? Are you just a pretty little lie, Claire? Keeping up appearances for your married boyfriend?” He shakes his head, eyes dragging over my face in an almost curious manner. Collecting data. Testing a hypothesis. Studying. “I don’t think you’d be so celebrated back home if they knew the real Claire Davis. Do you?”
I glare at him for what feels like hours, and he stares back. It’s infuriating how unbothered he is. His face is placid with just a hint of amusement, and his muscles are relaxed and loose despite having just eviscerated my insides. He’s standing here completely naked, and yet I’m the one who feels exposed.
I. Hate. Him.
I force my breaths to slow. I wait until I think I can speak without my voice cracking.
“Congratulations,” I clip out, fury and pain licking up my insides, burning in my throat. “You know how to do a background check. You know nothing.”
He shrugs. “I know you need this job. I know any position you’d get if you’re fired from Innovation would be a serious downgrade.”
“I won’t get fired.”
“You will if you fail to polish up the CEO’s son into something shiny and presentable.” He reaches toward my face, but I swat his hand away, and his cruel smirk returns. “Play it my way, or I’ll fuck everything up for you.”
I narrow my eyes and stay silent. When he realizes I’m not going to reply, he must think his threat scares me because he continues.
“You’re going to take five giant fucking steps back. You’re going to cancel every PR stunt that we can’t fake. You’re going to let me do whatever the hell I want, and after a month, you’re going to lie. You’ll tell Hammond and my father that I’m fine. That they never had anything to worry about at all. And then you’ll disappear. Got it?”
The fucking audacity of this man. The absolute arrogance. I’musually against violence, but I’ve never wanted to punch someone so much in my life. I clear my throat.
“Are you done?”
He fucking grins. “For now.”
