Rule Master, page 17
“You know exactly what I mean. I don’t understand why the tabloids are giving you a free pass.”
“I wondered the same thing. Maybe I’m boring now that I’m married and not dancing on tables.”
“We can hope, but I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Carmen said. “It’s only been a few weeks since your marital status became public. Give them a few more days. They’re vultures, circling fresh meat.”
“Thanks for blowing my hopes,” I grumbled as I turned onto one of the streets leading to Boston’s North End, also known as Little Italy.
“That’s why I’m here. Don’t get too comfy, Mil. They’re going to wait until you’re least expecting it and then strike.” There was a hint of amusement in Carmen’s voice.
“Or capture Lex giving you a strike.” Arya laughed.
An image of me this morning, lying across a spanking bench and a flogger in Lex’s hand flashed before my eyes. My core spasmed in response and I shifted in my seat. The bite of the movement sent a flood of wetness between my legs.
I tried to shake the thought from my head, but all I kept thinking about was my desire to push Lex into taking me into the dungeon. I knew that by going back in the room, I’d gain back a piece of me that Jacob took away.
Maybe the girls would have an opinion on it. What was I thinking? Of course they’d have an opinion. They were overflowing with them.
“On that note, I have a question.”
“Sure, shoot,” both Arya and Carmen said at the same time.
“Not you, Arya. Every time I take your advice, I end up in deeper shit than I was in before. Carmen, this is for you.”
“Fine. I see how it is. See if I bring you any fresh zeppole when you’re stressed.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the car to a stop at a red light. “So here is my question. How do I get Lex to push me?”
“Um, Mil. Are you sure you’re ready? Do you remember the breakdown you had at my place?” Arya reminded me.
“I am. If I don’t go back in, I’m letting Jacob take something I love away from me, and he wins. The room isn’t my demon, Jacob is. My problem is that I need Lex to see I’m ready.” I bit my lip.
“I feel like you’re leaving something out.”
“I kind of freaked out two weeks ago. I saw the door to your former lab open.”
“You guys turned my sacred computer lab into a sex dungeon?” Arya asked with a hint of panic.
“You’re one to talk. The room you and Max use was once my homeschooling room,” Carmen retorted.
“Anyway,” I interjected. “I’m asking for advice. I saw the door open and assumed he was going to make me go in there. I started remembering everything Jacob did to me, and I lost it. Since then, Lex has kept the door locked.”
“You want my opinion?” asked Carmen.
“Sure. Since you are the only Dominant on the line, maybe you’ll have some insight I don’t.”
“I think you should talk to him, and if that doesn’t work, do something super stupid. Something that will force him to take you in there.”
“I’m not sure it’ll work, but it’s worth a try. All I do lately is give in whenever he says no.” I hadn’t played a true brat in so long, the thought of it almost felt foreign.
“Be careful how far you push him or you’ll get more than you expect,” Arya warned.
“He treats me like fragile glass. I won’t break. I need my old Lex back, the man who doesn’t put up with any of my antics. Although, I haven’t given him any to punish.”
“Then piss him off and suffer the consequences.” Carmen chuckled.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve never been in my position, Mistress Dane. I’m at a loss for what to do.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something. Okay, ladies. Time to switch gears. Milla’s GPS says she’s a few blocks from the bakery. No more personal talk.”
Carmen’s change in subject snapped me out of my semi-relaxed mode to full alert. My heart pounded out of control, and my hands shook as I pulled into a parking space across from the bakery. I scanned the area, checking for my security detail. I spotted the familiar cars at various spots near the street of shops and restaurants.
“I don’t know if I can do this. God, I wish Lex was here, or at least monitoring my meeting.”
“He’d never have let you do this,” Arya said as she typed. “Hell, if Lex knew, he’d lose his shit, and he’s in enough trouble for his part in our rescue.”
The inquiry into Lex’s involvement now extended into his law practice, specifically old cases. He’d tried to hide the stress, but the more he worried, the more protective he became. Maintaining my driving privileges was the result of an argument where we’d not talked for two days. If he’d had one inkling of this plan, he’d have locked me in our penthouse.
“Thanks for the reminder.” I pushed back the bad feeling and switched the conversation to my mobile phone. “I can do this,” I said aloud to myself.
“Don’t get doubts now. You know what to do. Act casual, order a cup of coffee, and wait for the package from Christof. Once you have it, wait five minutes, leave, and then come to my office immediately.”
“Okay, Ari.” I released a shaky breath.
“Get ready. In five, I’ll bring the team online. They won’t hear our end of the phone conversation, but will hear everything you say from the mic hidden in your necklace. I’m also going to hang up so I can concentrate on jamming any tracking around you.”
“Got it.” Or at least I hoped I did.
“Nothing is going to happen. Stay calm. If Tony suspects you’re scared, he’ll make you abort the plan. I had to fight tooth and nail just to get him to agree,” Carmen said. “He takes his loyalty to you and Lex seriously.”
My stomach jumped again. “He’s not with the group following me. Where is he?” I opened the car door, locked it, and scanned the street.
Slowly I made my way across to the bakery.
“Never mind.” I spotted Tony in a corner drinking a cup of coffee. “Maybe getting him involved was a bad idea. He’s as overprotective as James is with Arya.”
“Stop worrying about it. I sent him so you wouldn’t be alone inside,” Carmen reassured me.
“Easy for you to say. You’re sitting pretty in Arya’s office while I’m out here.”
“Mil, focus. You’re on. Remember, you aren’t alone.”
I ignored Carmen’s reprimand and walked to the counter, ordered my favorite coffee and pastry. “So did you ever look at the report I sent you on the new clubs we’ve started planning?”
“I’m reading through it right now,” Carmen responded, realizing I was trying to keep a conversation going.
I looked to the back of the café and moved toward an empty table.
“So what do you think?”
“It looks good except for one thing.”
“What?” I smiled at the server who approached me and placed my espresso and zeppole on the table.
“When did Thomas Regala become partners with us?”
I cringed. “For at least ten years. We own nine nightclubs together.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. I’m talking about the fetish club deal.”
“Carm, your personal relationship had nothing to do it. He wanted to move out of the nightclub circuit, and joining our private clubs was a perfect transition. Besides, I’d made the agreement before I found out you were bonking him.”
Carmen snapped. “You could have told me.”
“No, I couldn’t, Carm. The deal was set two years ago.”
“I don’t like it.” The underlying pain from the end of her affair lingered in her voice. No matter how tough she tried to act, anyone who knew her was aware she wore her heart on her sleeve. She just hid it under a cool-as-a-cucumber façade.
“Talk to your brother about it. He and Lex are the leads on the project, not me. I just got their financing together. All Max is going to say is, what happens in your personal life has nothing to do with the deal or the bottom line.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up at the memory of the last time I’d heard that Russian-accented voice.
“Carm, I have to go. Let me eat my pastry, and I’ll call you back.”
“Got it. Stay calm. You’re not alone.”
“Ciao, bella.”
I hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
“Christof,” I whispered.
Why hadn’t I seen him before?
Because he is a terrorist who’s only seen when he wants to be seen.
I glanced toward Tony, who was reading a paper, but the slight twitch in his cheek told me he recognized who was behind me.
“Call me Vladimir.” He scooted his chair out, sliding it until his back touched my chair.
“I thought I was coming to get a package with instructions.”
“You are. But it’s a message more effective if delivered in person.”
The last time I’d encountered him, he’d looked me up and down, then told Jacob he’d captured the wrong woman and that he wasn’t interested in his whores. It was as if I wasn’t important enough to look at. By the time he’d realized who I was, Jacob had beaten me and assaulted me to a point where I thought I’d die.
I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat. He’s seen the whip Jacob used on me and just shook his head but did nothing to help me.
“How is Mrs. Dane doing? I heard she had complications with her pregnancy.”
Of course, he’d ask about Arya. The fucker’s obsession with her and the software was the reason my whole life turned upside down.
“She’s…she’s fine.” I picked up my cup and gulped down the scalding brew.
“Pity she wasn’t interested in my proposal last year. It would have been a very mutually beneficial arrangement. I’m hoping you’re more accommodating. Especially since now there are two debts owed to me. First, for the losses I incurred because of your work with MI6, and the second, for the damage done to my network as the result of the bugged Arcane software duplicate.”
My heartbeat accelerated. “I don’t know how I can help you. My skills are no match to Arya’s.”
“I’ve actually lost interest in software development. At least for now. I’ve thought of a different way for you to pay your debt to me.”
“I owe you nothing. You owe me for what happened to me under your watch.”
Good. I’d said that without my voice quivering.
“That isn’t the way I see it. Your treatment by Jacob Brady was a sad situation. His tastes in sadism are more extreme than mine.”
A dizziness entered my mind, and I gripped the table as I took a few deep breaths to keep down the anger flaring to life inside me.
“You knew who I was?”
“Not at first. Mr. Brady’s interest was in keeping Mrs. Dane away from his friend, but later I’d heard his ramblings about this Italian submissive he planned to tame. So I told him if he brought me Mrs. Dane unharmed, he could take the submissive for himself. I never imagined he’d lust after you.” Christof hummed. “By the time I was informed that Duncan was using his family’s underground contacts to find you, it was too late, the damage was done. All we could do was redirect Mr. Brady’s attention back to Mrs. Dane.”
God, I’d blamed myself for this mess, and it wasn’t my fault. I let guilt eat away at me for no reason. Arya and Lex were right. My hold on the table increased. Jacob planned to get me no matter what. Even if I’d listened and stayed, he would have found a way to capture me. I was his reward for helping abduct Arya.
Tears prickled behind my eyes, but I held them back. I would not give this man the satisfaction of seeing my pain.
Milla, keep it together. You have a job to do.
“I see the memories are still fresh.” He tossed a white handkerchief over my left shoulder.
I refused to touch it, and let it drop to the floor.
I’d made one stupid decision after another, thinking I was doing right by Lex. And in the end, I was wrong. It wasn’t my fault any of this happened. There was only one thing I could do right now. I’d listen to what this man wanted and figure out a way to make him pay for his part in my agony.
“Just tell me what you want from me so I can get on with my life.”
Christof chuckled. “You are as feisty as your friend. Now, to answer your question, I need the use of your port.”
“What port?” Please don’t say it.
“The one you signed the agreement on yesterday. The one that gives Castra Enterprises exclusive right to two docks in the Port of Boston.”
“H-how do you know about that?” Merda, I thought we’d gotten rid of our leak.
“Because I have someone on the inside in the Port Authority that keeps their eyes and ears on anything that would be of interest to me. You have to remember, if one man is eliminated, another is always willing to take his place.”
“What do you need the ports for?”
“I need you to arrange for one of your ships to pick up a shipment in Venezuela and deliver it here. Once the freight clears customs, your debt to me is paid.”
Was he crazy? I knew without a doubt I couldn’t do it. He was a known arms dealer, and this would be only the first of many demands he’d place on me. Not only that, it would ruin the company generations of my family had created.
“Do we have an agreement?”
Of course we don’t, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“If I do this, I want any and all information on Lex, including all access codes to files and the names of people involved in the accusations. I know you’re the one behind his investigation.”
“I’m impressed. How did you figure it out?”
It dawned on me a few days after my e-mail from Christof, while I’d read through an investigator’s report on Lex’s case. Everything seemed too convenient. How could witnesses come out of nowhere? The man would go to any lengths to get what he wanted, and my ships were one of them.
“You’re not going to deny it?”
“Why would I do that, myshka? There is no point. I’m a straightforward man, and I will use any means necessary to achieve my goal, including using my connections to incite an investigation for impropriety.”
“But he didn’t do anything wrong.” I wanted to turn around and smack him on the head, but I kept my body still.
“Well, that isn’t for you to decide. The agents will deliver their findings soon enough. Do we have an agreement or not?”
This man had no fear. It was as if he lived in a world where he set the rules. The sad part was that, in a sense, it was true. He controlled a segment of the crime world.
I was in so much shit. God. I hoped Arya was getting all of this.
“I…I…” I swallowed to quench my dry throat. “Yes.”
“Excellent.” Christof stood as soon as I answered, and so did five other men and women with him.
He took my hand and kissed it, and for the first time I was able to get a good look at him.
Wearing a button-down linen shirt and dark khaki pants, his clothes were tailored to perfection. His face held the beauty of a fallen angel, white-blond hair with piercing pale gray eyes. If I weren’t aware of his evil, I would have thought him as handsome as Lex.
“Do svidaniya, Mrs. Duncan.”
I nodded, not moving from my spot. I waited five minutes like I’d discussed with Arya and for my heart to calm down. I wasn’t sure I’d have had the ability to move anyway. There was no way to keep this from Lex. Just as I got up, Tony approached me.
“We have a situation, Signora Duncan.” He handed me his phone.
I read the message. “That’s an understatement.”
You and my wife had better get back here now or you’re fired.
* * *
Thirty minutes after leaving North Boston, Tony and I arrived at ArMil headquarters. Me in my Bugatti and him in his dark sedan. I’d spent half of the drive trying to figure out how Lex found out about the meeting, and the other half trying to come up with an explanation to tell Lex. Even when I parked the car at the front entrance, I hadn’t a clue what I would say to him. At least my anxiety over Lex kept my mind off the deal I’d agreed to with Christof.
“I’ll park your car for you, Signora Duncan.”
“Thanks, Tony. Wish me luck.” I handed him my keys and walked toward the doors leading to the executive elevators.
As soon as I reached my floor, I rushed across to the hallway leading to the legal offices.
As I approached, Lex’s sixty-year-old Irish executive assistant stood. “Hello, Mrs. Duncan. He’s waiting for you inside.”
“Ciao, Fredrick. How is he?”
He cringed. “I can’t give you any information. We weren’t expecting him until after his lunch meeting. And as you know, when he has things on his mind, he ignores everyone and locks himself in his office.”
“I’m in deep shit,” I muttered under my breath. “Do me a favor. Call Rachel and tell her I’m in a meeting with Lex and she can go home whenever she’s finished for the day.”
He nodded as he lifted the phone. “No problem.”
The door jerked open. “Is she here yet?”
Lex stared at me, and the vein on his head throbbed. This was bad. He was pissed. I should have stopped by Arya’s office first.
“If I say come to my office as soon as you get here, that doesn’t mean you chitchat with Fred. Get in here.”
“Oookay.” I strolled into his office.
He shut the door behind me and paced. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“Lex, I didn’t have a choice.”
“Do you know how I felt when I walked into Arya’s office and found a group of government agents mixed in with our security team monitoring your conversation with Christof?”
I cringed and closed my eyes. “That’s not how I wanted you to learn about this.”
“When were you planning on telling me? How could you leave me out of this?”
“I’m sorry, Lex. I didn’t know he’d be there. I was only supposed to wait for a delivery and then leave.”
