CALM DOWN BUDDY

The boardroom was silent, except for the low hum of the air conditioner. And I hated silence in boardrooms. It simply means the people are useless.

Twelve men sat around the long glass table, but none of them looked at me directly. Some kept their eyes on the documents in front of them, others on the screen. They needed anything except my face.

Fear had a smell, and right now the room reeked of it.

I tapped one finger against the table.

“I paid every single one of you millions,” I said, voice calm and cold. “And yet the numbers in front of me look like a fucking joke. Why am I having delivery delays and missing shipments?”

One of the older directors swallowed hard, while another’s hand was shaking slightly as he reached for his water glass… like I was talking to a bunch of kids.

I leaned back in my chair, expression unreadable.

“I don’t pay you that much for excuses, I pay for results. And if I don’t see improvement by the end of the week, I will start replacing people with interns.” I saw fear in all their faces, but no one dared to speak. They knew better than to make more excuses. My phone vibrated once on the table, they hurriedly searched themselves to see who was going to be that scapegoat. I allowed them as I checked for the message.

[Package delivered.]

“Good,” I said to myself. Let her see exactly what kind of man she was engaged to. I put the phone away and stood.

“This meeting is adjourned.”

Chairs scraped as the men hurried to leave the boardroom like mice looking for holes for shelter. None of them looked relieved until they were out the door.

I returned to my office and tried to focus on the files spread across my desk. Normally, these files held my full attention, but today they meant nothing. I pushed the files aside and pressed the intercom.

“Rook. Come in.”

He entered a moment later.

“Go to Lucas Black’s building,” I said, rolling my sleeve to the elbow. “Stay out of sight. I want to know if she leaves, and exactly where she goes.”

“Yes, sir.” He left. 

I didn't bother to return to the files. I walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the busy city. The report came in the early afternoon,  Rook stepped inside without knocking. That alone told me it mattered.

“She left him,” he said.

I looked up slowly from the files spread across my desk, my expression stayed the same.

“When?”

“About an hour ago. She walked out with nothing. No bags, just her phone and the clothes on her body.”

A slow, dark satisfaction settled in my chest. 

“Where did she go?”

Rook’s face didn’t change. “Her family’s house. The taxi took her straight there, and her stepsister opened the door.”

That was not a good move. Doesn't she have friends, or perhaps enough money to rent an apartment? I didn’t know the full details of what happened inside that house, but I had watched her long enough to know she was not loved at home.

I ran my hand through my hair. I doubt Lucas even spoiled her with money. I didn't just like the idea of her going home. I leaned back in my chair, my fingers drumming lazily on the armrest…. Then I locked my eyes on Rook. 

“Double the watch,” I said quietly without raising my voice. “I want to know if she leaves that house for any reason. I wanted information on anyone who goes into that house.” I paused. “Treat as urgent if she looks worse.”

“Understood.” He nodded, then he left.

I stayed seated, staring blankly at the city through the glass. Nothing else mattered anymore except Mia. I wasn't satisfied with the result I got. I wanted her to leave Lucas, but I didn't plan for her to run back to the place that had already broken her once. 

Every hour she stayed there made me very uncomfortable. My mind went back, uninvited, to the morning after the ball.

She had left my bed while I was still half-hard from fucking her. Until now, the sheets were still twisted. I had given clear orders to Emily not to change them. I wanted the scent of her skin, her sweat, the sweet-musky smell of her cunt to stay soaked into the fabric. Every time I breathed in, my cock twitched like she was still under me. I had jerked off countless times just with that scent.

That day, I should have locked the door and kept her to myself. Even if she protested, eventually she would come around because I would treat her better than anyone she had ever met.

But instead, I watched her dress up with shaky hands, while she avoided my eyes and walked back to Lucas… that sly bastard. 

Her skin was like milk, soft against my darker hands. She was so soft that she looked breakable. Apart from the fact that I liked seeing my fingerprints on her hips and the faint bruises from my mouth on her throat,  I didn’t like how fragile it made her look. She looked too easy for someone else to damage, and the thought alone irritated me. 

The thought of her even here and now in my office made my cock twitch.

“Tsk…” I kissed my teeth. “Calm down, buddy, I want her just as much as you do,” I said to myself. 

I needed her again, and right now. I needed her on my desk. I needed her on my bed. I needed her under me, on her knees, on top of me, riding my cock until she couldn’t speak. I didn’t have softer words for my feelings, but I knew the need to fuck her was constant and dirty.

That was why that package had been sent to her this morning. She didn't know I was Lucas's cousin while she moaned my name the other night,  so I made sure the package was anonymous. I wanted Lucas’s false safety stripped away, and most importantly, I wanted her free of him so there would be nothing left standing between us.

Not until she ran back into the house that had treated her like she was nothing.

I remained seated in my chair, expression controlled, but inside me, the possessiveness was no longer quiet. I had waited four years, and now that I had tasted her, I couldn't hold back any longer.

I was going to get her, and when I did that, I was going to fill her to the point that she wouldn't be able to think of anything or anyone else, and I would keep her.