I pick up my purse, dig for my phone inside it. I move away from the seating area and dial my father’s attorney. He answers quickly, it’s his private line. He and my father are friends. They have been since graduating Yale together. He’s had dinner at my house countless times and is more like an uncle to me than an attorney.
I start to explain what’s happened, but he stops me. “I have a copy of the paperwork here. Montgomery sent it earlier today. I’d prefer to be there with you, but honestly, it’s more than we could have expected.”
“And I have no options.” I’m not sure why I’m asking.
“I’m afraid not, Percy.”
“Thank you.” I hang up and when I turn around, I find the men discussing something as they drink coffee. A plate stacked high with cinnamon rolls sits on the table, a butter dish beside it, but I’ve lost my appetite.
When I return, they stop their conversation.
I pick up the pen and initial beside the number. I don’t look at Hayden as Ethan explains a few more things and finally we’re at the last page and I sign. I just sign.
Hayden turns the contract around as I set the pen down, I’m not sure what I feel. Defeat. Loss. I don’t know. But this is final.
He signs his name and a moment later, the men stand.
“It was nice to meet you, Percy,” Ethan says. “If you need anything else,” he adds, handing me a card, “don’t hesitate.”
“Thank you.”
I watch Hayden walk Ethan to the elevator and when he’s gone, Hayden turns to me.
“All right?”
I force a deep breath in before I stand to face him. “Not really, no.”
“I was generous.”
“You still took what rightfully belongs to my family.”
“Just control of it. Not much will change in the day to day.”
“Still.” I busy myself looking for the keys to the Jeep. “I’m leaving. I guess you’ll be back later to take more of what doesn’t belong to you?”
I think if he got angry, it’d be better. If he looked at me like I was an adversary. Not the way he’s looking at me now. Like I’m something to be pitied.
“Don’t,” I tell him, my voice catching in my throat.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t pretend to care. Don’t pretend like you give a single fuck. You’re leveling the scales, taking justice into your own hands. Justice for what, I have no idea, but I know you feel you’re owed and there’s no point in saying more. You have what you want. Abbot Enterprises. The Abbot family home.”
I see his jaw tense.
“And you have me. Well, my body at least. I hope you’ll be very happy.” I step past him meaning to get to the elevator, knowing I won’t. Knowing he won’t let me.
And just like that, his hand clasps around my arm stopping me in my tracks.
“Your father put you here, in my path. Not me. Don’t presume to know my motives.”
“They’re very clear, Hayden. Take. Take everything from my family. From me.”
His eyes narrow dangerously, and I draw a deep breath in.
“I wish you’d tell me what it is he did, then at least I’d know. And maybe I’d understand why you hate him so much. Why you hate us so much.”
“I don’t hate you.”
“No? But you get even. And I’m collateral damage.” I exhale a sharp breath, shake my head and tilt it. “Tell me something, are you there yet? Are the scales balanced yet?”
“Don’t do this.”
“Why not? Why does it matter?”
“I don’t hate you, Persephone.”
“That little detail doesn’t matter either. I’m still here. I’m the one signing away my father’s company. I’m the one who pays. Tell me, is it enough yet? Have I paid enough for our sins?”
“His sins. His.”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter.”
“I’m warning you. Stand down, Persephone.”
“Stand down. Roll over and betray my own father. Yours may have been shitty to you, but mine wasn’t. Mine was—is—good.”
His eye twitches. “He isn’t.” His nostrils flare as he forces a breath in and I can see him reining himself in, trying to check his anger.
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.”
He grips the hair at the back of my head, snapping the clip holding it in place. He’s so close, the tips of our noses touch. And like this, this close, his eyes are on fire. Ablaze with fury.
“You want to know if it’s enough?”
I swallow, nod, because I’m too stubborn to stand down. To heed his warning.
“We’re just getting started,” he whispers, twisting my hair, making me wince.
My hands are flat against his chest and we look at each other like this. Facing off before the battle.
But the thing is, he’s already won. We both know it.
Now it’s a matter of enjoying the spoils of war.
Me.
He shifts his grip so his hands come to my shoulders, settling like two weights there.
“Kneel,” he commands.
“No.”
“I said kneel.”
“I will bite your dick off if you put it near my mouth.”
His glare is that of a predator who’s cornered its prey. “I have no doubt, but it’s not your mouth I’m interested in right now.”
Something in his eyes makes my heart beat faster and sends heat to my core because even like this, even as enemies, I’m turned on. This is what he does to me.
He spins me around and leans in close behind me. I feel him at my back. Feel the heat of his breath on my neck when he repeats that one word. “Kneel.”
He doesn’t wait for me to comply. I guess he knows I won’t. Instead, he forces me down and even though I know it’s pointless, I resist. He kneels behind me and shifts one hand to my throat and the other down to undo my jeans. When he slides his hand into my panties to cup my sex, I want to want to pull away.
But when he touches me, it’s like I’m lost, like I’m not myself. I come apart at his touch and it scares me like nothing else does.
He rubs my clit and releases my throat when he does. No need to hold me in place. I’m panting. I can’t get enough.
“You hate yourself for wanting this. Wanting me.” His breath tickles my ear and it’s as if he’s read my mind because he’s certainly reading my body.
“I hate you,” I say, sucking in an audible breath when he pinches my clit.
He reaches for the butter dish beside the now cold cinnamon rolls.
“You wish you hated me.” He drags my jeans and panties down and pushes me forward so I’m on my hands and knees. He then shoves my knees as far apart as he can with my jeans pushed down and settles himself between them.
He spreads me open and I look back at him. Look at him looking at me and fuck. Seeing him like this. Seeing us like this. What it does to me, it makes me heady and it’s something I can’t reconcile.
He shifts his gaze to meet mine and scoops a thick glob of butter with his fingers while placing his other hand between my shoulder blades and pushing.
“Down on your elbows. Ass up.”