Page 30 of The Billionaire Gamemaker

I can’t help but pull away, feeling repulsed by his touch. “How can you stand idly by while they treat us like this? How can you be awillingparticipant.” I shake my head. “You disgust me.”

Walking away, I try to find a means for space, but I see Carrick still watching me with someone at his side. They’re speaking discreetly to each other, then his companion smiles at me. The exchange makes me uncomfortable. I have two choices, to rely on Laurence, or risk handling this myself. It’s having to rely on Laurence right now that’s tough. I feel betrayed by someone I thought was prioritizing me, and he has yet to properly explain himself.

When I turn, Laurence is already at my side, our fronts nearly touching as he leans in. “Don’t give them a show they can ask questions about. Save this for when we’re alone, and I promise I’ll tell you more. For now, you’d do best to at least try to appear to enjoy my company.”

“It’s hard to trust someone who swore he was helping me only to go back on his word.”

Laurence is taken aback, genuine hurt in his eyes. “Everything I do is to help you. Don’t doubt that.” Before I canprompt him with anotherWhyhe interrupts, “Iwillexplain later. For now…” He takes my champagne from me and sets it down on the nearest table, then takes my hand and guides me to the center of the hall underneath the massive chandelier. He sweeps me into a dance. “Let’s enjoy ourselves.”

“I don’t know how you think I can enjoy myself while I know the things that you do.” I play along with his game, swaying to the music and making the right steps. Laurence is a good lead, though I hate to admit it.

“Because there are plenty of other things to be pleased about right now.” He brushes my hair off my shoulder and places his fingers at the back of my neck. The touch makes me sigh, and I hate my body for betraying me. “Like the pleasure of each other’s touch.” He leans in and kisses me along the throat, trailing a line up to my ear. “Where I intend to kiss you later.”

It’s hard to stop myself from clenching my legs together at the ache that forms. “Stop trying to take my mind off it all,” I breathe, and he guides my face to look up at him.

“There’s nothing that can be done about it right now. Focus on doing what you’re doing, which is winning.”

Searching his eyes, I look for honesty, but find something that makes me trust him more. Devotion. There’s a part of me that knows I can trust in what he’s saying, and a part of me knows he’s right. There’s nothing that can be done about it right now. As much as I want to expose them, I have no means to do that. Any risky move on my part will take me to the processing center where I’ll end up like Lucy and the rest, silencing me further.

For now, I’m still in a position of power. I might as well own it.

I bask in the feeling of Laurence’s touch, his familiar smell, his warmth, as his body leans into mine. Standing tall and firm, his strength, his sureness, everything that makes him aformidable Advocate shines through. I wonder why he took up the role of Gamemaker when he’s so good at being an Advocate. But I wonder if it’s the games that make him an Advocate, or if it’s his certain proclivity for a certain player that makes him so good at it.

I like to think it’s the latter, and even that thought makes my pussy clench with pleasure.

Lost in the music and the dance with Laurence, I’ve nearly forgotten all that has transpired, lulled into pleasure and surrender when a loud clatter of a metal tray hitting the marble floor startles me. Glass shatters in its wake, and I whirl toward the sound on instinct. One of the servants is on her knees, her face in her hands. Her shoulders tremble, and I realize she’s crying.

“Fuck,” Laurence whispers, pulling away from me but stopping himself in his tracks. He seems to be debating his course of action, torn between two decisions as he looks between me and the woman before heading for the woman. I follow.

Her head tips back as she wails at the ceiling, “Please, please, please,please!”

Vaughn Jamison, one of the Gamemakers, comes rushing over and yanks the woman to her feet. He says something in a low, harsh voice to her, too quiet for anyone to hear, but she doesn’t react. Her vacant expression is terrifying, and knowing the reasoning behind her breakdown only makes this moment worse. She’s a past player, and I can’t help but wonder how long she’s been here, away from her family, away from her life.

Rage flickers across her face and she shoves Vaughn away, making him stumble back a step, and he’s abigguy. “Get the fuckoffof me!”

Vaughn’s face contorts in a similar rage, but he quickly composes himself, instead snapping his fingers. Guards rush forward.

“No!” The woman backs away, but is caught by Carrick, who seems all too pleased to be restraining her for the guards to take her. When she looks at who’s grabbed her, a look of familiarity crosses her face, and she appears even more enraged. “You can’t keep doing this to me!” She fights as the guards grab her. “You can’t keep us here like this!”

“Take her away,” Vaughn says. “She just needs a break.”

I watch helplessly as the woman is hauled out of the hall by the four guards, and can see just how easily that could be me.

Laurence senses my distress and places a hand at my back. There’s nothing he can say right now that could reassure me, but I don’t want reassuring words anyway. I want to be enraged.

I want to win.

Not just the games.

I want to destroy the Echelon Society.

Chapter Thirteen: Eve

The Rise of a Reckoning

“Lie down on the bed for me,” Laurence says as the door to our room shuts behind us.

I ignore him, instead moving to the closet to begin the process of undressing myself. Just as I reach for the zipper at the back of the dress, Laurence appears.

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