Page 64 of Veil

“She’s at Veil,” she replies in a tone that implies I’m asking a stupid question.

“Why is she at Veil?” My heart stops.

“Um…. Meeting you?”

“She’s not meeting me. What did she say?” I yell.

Heather’s voice is shaky and I can tell she’s on the verge of tears. “She caught up with me in the elevator. She had a black box tucked under arm. She said she was meeting X for a playdate.”

My chest tightens, my throat constricts, and my world stops spinning. “Fuck!” I shout, hanging up on Heather.

“What’s wrong?” Gio asks as I pull up Desiree’s contact.

Before I press send, a text comes through from an unknown number. I tap on the notification and bring up the text. There’s no message. Just a picture of a single blue rose stuck inside a slim vase and I recognize the table it’s sitting on.Sonofabitch.

“Tell the driver to head to Veil and to hurry the fuck up.” I don’t even recognize my own voice.

I can’t fucking breathe.

I go back to Desiree’s contact and press the Call icon. Bringing the phone to my ear, I loosen my tie as her phone rings. “Pick up the fucking phone, Desiree,” I growl through clenched teeth.

My gaze bounces between Enzo and Gio, who are watching me with matching expressions of anger and concern. The call connects, and I freeze. The fraction of a second it takes for her to answer feels like years.

“Cannon!” Desiree’s scream pierces through the phone and my heart shatters.

THIRTY-FIVE

MAKAYLA

I’m lying in the middle of the bed, arms down at my sides, wearing the red satin panties Cannon sent me this afternoon with the red silk scarf secured tightly around my eyes.

There’s a shift in the air the moment he enters the room, but the energy I normally feel from him is missing.Maybe he had a bad day.The tapping of his dress shoes against the wood floor gets closer until it stops and I can feel him standing close by. Goose bumps prick my skin, but not in anticipation. It’s something entirely different this time.

Awareness.

Something soft brushes across my shoulder, and I recognize the familiar rich, spicy smell of the blue rose as it trails down the center of my chest, brushing over the nipple of my right breast, down my stomach, the edge of my panties, then back up to my left breast.

The bed dips under his weight as he climbs over me, his knees sinking into the mattress on either side of my hips. He grabs my hands and pins them above my head. Panic fills my chest when I hear the rustling of fabric before something soft and silky tightens around my wrists and another tug tells me I’m being restrained. Fear suddenly takes over when I realize I missed three important details: He didn’t call me angel. He didn’t ask me if I was a good girl today. And his familiar woodsy scent is missing.

“Cannon?” I whisper.

“You always did look good in red, kitten.”

My breath catches in my throat at the sound of Victor’s voice. My eyes pop open behind the scarf, and my heart stops.

“Victor.” I struggle to pull my hands free, which only makes the knot around my wrists tighter. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to relax. “What are you doing?” I ask in a steady voice.

The bed shifts again as he covers my body with his. The buttons of his dress shirt press into my skin as he grinds his erection against my center.

“I’m taking back what’s mine,” he growls, his breath infused with alcohol, before sealing his mouth over mine.

Pressing my lips together, I turn my head. “Victor, stop. Why are you doing this?”

“Because you belong with me.” He pulls my earlobe between his teeth before pressing his lips to my neck. “I watched you.” He pauses. “With him.”

My body stiffens, and he moves up to straddle my waist, his weight pressing down on my abdomen. His strong hand clamps around my throat, cutting off my air, and a gurgling sound expels from my lips. Instinctively, I buck my hips, fighting for oxygen as my mind drifts back to that day in his penthouse and the horrific scene he’d etched into my brain.

“You were mine first,” he yells.

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