COLLATERAL DESIRE

"Take your hands off me, Ethan!" I slammed my shoulder back against his chest, but his weight pinned me flat to the cold mahogany desk.

"You don't get to give orders while tied to my desk, Ava," he growled against my ear. His hands clamped around my wrists, pulling the silk tie tighter until the fabric bit deep into my skin.

I kicked back against his shins, trying to force any space between us. He didn't flinch. Instead, he drove his body forward, pinning my hips against the sharp edge of the desk and trapping my arms above my head. The sheer physical weight of him cut off my breath.

"Look at the screen," he ordered, his fingers jamming under my jaw to twist my face toward the wall. "Look at him!"

On the monitor directly in front of us, the video feed flickered to life. The image was clear, harsh, and cruel.

My brother Leo hung from a steel chair in a dark warehouse, his mouth bloody and his eyes swollen shut. A man in a black mask stood behind him, resting a heavy iron pipe on Leo’s shoulder.

"Leo!" The scream ripped from my throat before I could stop it. I thrashed against the silk binding, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Let him go, Ethan! He has nothing to do with this!"

"He has everything to do with this," Ethan whispered, his chest heavy against my back as his grip on my jaw tightened. "He holds the missing piece. Where is the ledger, Ava?"

"I don't know!" I jerked my chin against his fingers, my pulse wildly out of control. My mind fought to analyze the room, to find an escape route, to think through the trap, but Ethan's physical presence overwhelmed every thought. "I swear to you, I don't have it!"

"Wrong answer," Ethan said cold against my ear. He shifted his grip, using his massive body to lock me completely in place against the wood. He reached out with his free hand and pressed a button on the desk console.

On the screen, the masked man raised the iron pipe high above Leo’s knee.

"Stop! Wait!" Panic clawed through my chest. "Ethan, stop him!"

"Give me the ledger," Ethan demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous, dark whisper. "Confess now, or I order him to break both his legs."

"I’ll tell you!" I gasped, my throat burning as the iron pipe hovered over Leo’s leg on the screen.

"I'm listening," Ethan murmured, his lips brushing the shell of my ear as he maintained his crushing hold over my back.

I feigned total collapse, letting my body go limp against the mahogany desk. Ethan’s grip relaxed by a fraction of an inch just enough. I whipped my head around and bit his lower lip as hard as I could, sinking my teeth in until the sharp copper taste of his blood filled my mouth.

Ethan jerked back with a low hiss, releasing my chin. I spat the blood back into his face, glaring up at him through my messy hair. "Touch my brother again and I'll kill you with my bare hands."

Ethan raised a hand to his lip, dragging his thumb across the cut. He looked at the red smear on his skin, then slowly licked it clean, a dark smile spreading across his face. His eyes turned pitch black with a sudden, dangerous intensity.

Before I could draw another breath, he grabbed my hips and slammed me backward against the hard edge of the desk. He didn't pull back. Instead, he shifted his body, pinning my legs with his own and grinding his weight against me. The sudden, overwhelming surge of heat and pressure flooded my nervous system. My breath hitched, a traitorous shiver running straight down my spine despite the burning hatred in my chest.

"You're running out of moves, Ava," he growled, crowding me so closely I couldn't breathe.

"I'll give you the encrypted master keys to Croft International," I forced out, my voice trembling as I fought to keep my focus. "Everything. The entire shipping empire. Just untie me and turn off that feed."

Ethan stared down at me for a long, silent moment. Then, he threw his head back and laughed—a cold, ruthless sound that made my stomach drop.

"You really don't know, do you?" Ethan leaned down, his bloody lip brushing my cheek as he delivered the blow. "While you were riding the elevator up to my penthouse thirty minutes ago, my team signed the paperwork. Croft International no longer exists. I liquidated your family's entire fleet before you even stepped into this room."

The floor seemed to pull away from under my feet. Liquidated. Every ship, every dock, every contract my family had built over three generations was gone in a single signature.

The breath rushed out of my lungs, leaving me entirely empty. All the fight drained out of my limbs at once. My shoulders slumped against the cool wood as the sheer reality of his trap crashed over me. Ethan felt the exact moment my body surrendered. His harsh grip on my waist loosened just a fraction, softening into a firm, possessing hold as he pulled me back tight against his chest, drinking in his complete victory over my pride.

Then, a sudden high-pitched scream cut through the silence.

An emergency siren blasted from every speaker in the ceiling, its sharp wail drowning out the sound of our breathing. Blinding red strobe lights exploded across the dark office, painting the glass walls, the mahogany desk, and our tangled bodies in harsh blood-colored light.

Across the room, the wall monitor flickered wildly. The warehouse video feed dissolved into jagged white static, replaced instantly by a flashing red thermal map. Bold text flashed across the top of the glass: SECURITY BREACH: MAYFAIR SAFEHOUSE.

On the thermal feed, heavy tactical troops dressed in thick black armor charged across the screen. Bright flashes of light detonated inside the hallway as stun grenades went off. In a single violent second, a massive charge blew the reinforced steel doors of my private safehouse clean off their hinges.

The video feed exploded into static as heavy boots kicked down my safehouse door on live video.

Ethan didn't pull out of my body; his grip on my waist tightened, driving me into the desk as automatic gunfire shattered his room speakers.

"Your ninety days just began, Ava," he growled against my mouth, trapping my scream inside his lips. "And your brother isn't in that room he's the one who gave the order to breach it."