LOGINThe next morning, my body still remembers every second of last night.
I wake up aching in the best and worst ways. My thighs are sore, my nipples still sensitive from how he pinched and teased them. Every time I move, I feel the ghost of Damien’s fingers inside me, the low growl of his voice saying my full name right as I came.
I should be furious. I should be terrified. Instead, I’ve spent half the night touching myself thinking about the masked stranger who turned out to be my stepfather’s enemy. The man who watched me for months. The man who made me beg.
I hate how much I want him.
By the time I drag myself downstairs for breakfast, the mansion feels colder than usual. Richard is at the head of the table, newspaper in one hand, coffee in the other. My mother sits beside him like a pretty ornament, barely looking at me.
Richard doesn’t even glance up when I sit down. “You disappeared from the gala last night. Care to explain?”
My stomach tightens. “Needed some air.”
He finally looks at me, eyes narrow. “Air doesn’t wrinkle your dress and smudge your makeup. You embarrassed me in front of important people, Elena. Again.”
The words sting more than they should. I’ve heard variations of this my whole life since he married my mom. Never good enough. Always a liability.
Mom clears her throat softly. “Richard, maybe she just—”
“Stay out of it,” he cuts her off without looking at her. Then he turns back to me. “You’re twenty-four. You live in my house, you work in my company because I allow it. The least you can do is not act like a cheap slut at public events.”
The word hits like a slap. Cheap slut.
Something inside me cracks.
I stare at him, heart pounding. This man has controlled every part of my life for nine years. He never loved me, never even liked me. He just tolerates me because of my mother. And she lets him.
I think about Damien’s hands on me. The way he didn’t ask — he took. The way he made me feel alive instead of small.
Richard keeps talking, voice rising. “If you want to keep living here and collecting a paycheck, you’ll start behaving like a Harrington. No more disappearing. No more dressing like a whore. And stay the hell away from anyone connected to Blackwood. I heard he was at the gala last night. If I find out you even spoke to anyone near him—”
That’s it.
The final push.
I stand up so fast my chair scrapes loudly against the marble floor. Both of them stare at me.
“Fuck this,” I say clearly. My voice doesn’t shake. “Fuck your rules. Fuck your name. And fuck you, Richard.”
My mother gasps. “Elena!”
I look at her, really look at her. The woman who chose comfort and silence over protecting me for years. “You’ve never once stood up for me. I’m done.”
Richard’s face turns red with anger. “You ungrateful little—”
“I quit,” I cut him off. “The job. The house. All of it. I’ll pack my things today.”
I walk out before he can respond, adrenaline rushing through my veins. My hands are shaking as I head upstairs, but for the first time in years, I feel free.
By afternoon, I’ve thrown the essentials into two suitcases. I’m standing in my now-half-empty room when my phone buzzes with a text from an unknown number.
My breath catches. Damien.
Unknown: I’m outside. Black car at the gate. Get in.
I stare at the screen for a long moment. My family is probably downstairs plotting how to punish me. Richard will cut me off completely. I have almost nothing saved.
And yet… all I can think about is how Damien’s fingers felt. How his voice sounded when he told me I would beg again.
I want that. I want to stop pretending I’m fine being controlled by people who don’t even see me.
Fuck this family.
I grab my coat, leave the suitcases by the door, and walk out of the house without looking back.
The black car is waiting exactly where he said. The driver doesn’t speak as I slide into the backseat. Twenty minutes later, we pull up to a sleek penthouse building downtown.
Damien is standing in the open elevator, waiting for me. His dark eyes burn with hunger the second they land on me.
I don’t speak. I grab fistfuls of his shirt and yank him down hard to my level. Our mouths crash together. The kiss is messy, angry, and starving. I pour every bit of rage, shame, and years of frustration into it, biting his lip, sucking his tongue, kissing him like I’ll die if I stop.
Damien groans deep in his chest, caught off guard for half a breath, then surges forward to match me. His hands slide down and grip my ass possessively, fingers digging into the soft flesh as he lifts me clean off the ground. I wrap my legs around his waist instantly, grinding my aching center against the thick bulge straining in his pants.
He carries me like I weigh nothing, mouth devouring mine while his fingers knead and spread my cheeks through my jeans. Every step makes his hardness rub right against my clit, sending sparks shooting up my spine. I bite his lower lip hard enough to make him hiss, then soothe it with my tongue, hungry for more.
The bedroom door bangs open. He kicks it shut behind us and drops me onto the massive bed. I don’t let him pull away. I drag him down with me, still kissing like I’ll die if I stop.
Damien finally breaks the kiss, breathing rough. His eyes have gone almost black. He yanks my shirt off and rips my bra away. Cool air hits my breasts before his hot mouth closes over one nipple, sucking hard while his hand palms the other, rolling the stiff peak between rough fingers.
A broken sound tears from my throat.
“Ahh…” I moan, back arching.
He switches to the other nipple, teeth grazing just enough to make my back bow off the bed. While his mouth works me, his free hand pops the button on my jeans and shoves them down my legs along with my panties in one impatient move.
I’m completely naked under him. He sits back on his knees and just stares, chest rising and falling fast. His gaze feels like a physical touch, dragging over my flushed skin, my hard nipples, the slick shine already coating my inner thighs.
“Fuck,” he mutters, almost to himself. “You’re a goddamn goddess.”
Before I can respond, he spreads my thighs wide and dives in.
His tongue drags slowly and heavy through my folds, then flicks fast over my clit. Two thick fingers push inside me, curling deep.
“Mmm… shit, right there,” I moan, hips rolling against his face.
He sucks my clit between his lips and pumps his fingers faster. The wet sounds are filthy. My thighs start shaking. Pleasure coils tight in my belly.
“Oh God—” I cry out.
Damien pulls back instantly, eyes blazing. He climbs up my body and grabs my jaw, forcing me to look at him.
“He’s not the one making this pussy throb and drip all over my hand,” he growls. “I am. Say my fucking name when you moan like that.”
He shoves three fingers back inside me, stretching me wide, and attacks my clit with his tongue again. Harder. Faster. Relentless.
“Damien!” I moan loudly, gripping his hair tight.
He groans against my pussy, the vibration shooting straight through me. “Good girl. Listen to how wet you are, baby. Sucking my fingers like you can’t get enough.”
I’m panting, hips bucking. “Don’t stop… please, I’m so close.”
He curls his fingers harder, hitting that spot that makes my toes curl. “You don’t come until I say. Hold it.”
The pressure builds until it hurts. My whole body trembles. I’m right there, dripping down his hand.
“Damien… I can’t—”
He suddenly slows down, keeping me teetering on the edge. I whimper in frustration.
He flips me onto my stomach, yanks my hips up, and licks me from behind. His tongue pushes into my pussy while his thumb rubs firm circles on my clit. He drags his tongue higher, licking over my tight little asshole, making me jerk.
“Fuck… what are you doing?” I moan, shocked and turned on.
“Every part of you belongs to me,” he says, voice rough. He pushes two fingers back into my pussy and keeps licking. “I’m going to ruin this body until you can’t walk straight.”
I push back against his face, moaning helplessly. “Mmm… yes, like that.”
He fucks me faster with his fingers, tongue working my clit without mercy. The orgasm rushes back fast and violently.
“I’m gonna come,” I gasp.
“Come on my tongue. Let me taste how bad you need my cock.”
I come intensely, crying out as my pussy clenches around his fingers again and again. My legs shake so bad I almost collapse. He keeps licking and pumping through every wave, drawing it out until I’m trembling.
When he finally pulls back, I’m a mess — face down, ass up, pussy dripping and still pulsing.
Damien flips me onto my back and crawls over me. His cock is rock hard, straining against his pants as he grinds slowly between my soaked folds, teasing me.
“Feel that?” he murmurs against my ear. “That’s what’s going to stretch this pretty pussy open soon. You’re going to take it like a good girl.”
I reach down and palm him through the fabric, feeling exactly how big and thick he is. My mouth waters.
“Then give it to me,” I breathe, squeezing him. “Every inch.”
Two weeks after my divorce was finalized, I'm still getting used to the silence. The movers have taken everything that once made this house feel like home, leaving behind a collection of unopened boxes and rooms that seem far too large for one person. My coffee sits forgotten on the kitchen counter as I stare through the bare windows. I keep catching myself listening for a voice that will never call from the other room again. Apparently, getting divorced is one thing. Learning to live with the absence is another. A car door shuts beyond the shared fence. I glance through the window and spot him. Griffin. The neighbour with an unpredictable schedule and curly hair that perpetually looks as though he has run his fingers through it and forgotten to fix it. Broad shoulders stretch the fabric of his plain black T-shirt as he carries a toolbox towards his back steps. He doesn't look my way. My attention follows him anyway. The muscles in his forearms shift beneath his skin as he
The door swings inward on silent hinges. A dark figure enters. Vesper intercepts the intruder before they can take another step, driving the barrel of her gun beneath their jaw and forcing them backward into the hallway. A sharp grunt follows, then the heavy impact of a body hitting the wall. I stay exactly where she told me to, my back pressed to the headboard, my heart pounding so violently that the mattress seems to move with it.Two seconds of frantic movement. Then silence. Vesper's voice cuts through the darkness.“Clear. It's over.”I hear the zip ties again, the same efficient sound I heard the night of the kitchen incident. She drags the limp figure farther down the hall. On her return, she closes the suite door, resets the lock with a device I never knew she carried, and turns to face me. She keeps the gun in her hand for another moment before placing it on the table.“Hired muscle,” she says. “Same network as the first one. They won't send anyone else.”I'm still naked unde
As I stare at the silver earring pinched between Vesper’s fingers, its twin still hangs from my left earlobe. My pulse pounds so fiercely I feel it in my teeth. The air in the living room seems to thin. Someone entered this house while we were locked together against the wall. Someone came close enough to steal something from my body and leave it behind like a signature on the floor.Vesper’s face is carved from the same winter stone I remember from the day we met. Only her eyes have changed. They burn with fury.“Get dressed. Now.”I pull the silk dress over my body with trembling hands. The zipper catches halfway up. Vesper steps behind me and draws it the rest of the way without a word. Her knuckles brush the bare skin between my shoulder blades, and the contact sears itself into my awareness.She secures her gun before conducting another thorough sweep of the house. I stand in the middle of the living room, trying not to imagine footsteps where none should have been possible.She
I sit in the glass-walled conference room of Vanguard Protective Services, studying the woman who will either keep me alive or destroy what remains of my carefully managed life.Her name is Vesper Knight. The file on the tablet before me lists seven years of private military contracts, two black-ops extractions, and a reputation for never losing a principal.She remains standing, arms folded across her chest, her posture so rigid she could have been carved from the same black stone as the building. Tall, broad-shouldered, and dressed in a charcoal suit that fits her like a second skin, she exudes an intimidating authority. Her blonde hair is pulled back so tightly that the skin around her temples stretches. Her eyes are the precise gray of a winter sea moments before a storm.“Miss Ashcroft,” she begins, her voice clipped and authoritative. “You've received three letters in the past month. Each described the exact layout of your bedroom, the brand of sheets you prefer, and the time yo
I wake with her weight still draped across me and the phone warm in my palm. Eve’s last message sits there like a live coal. Liora breathes against my throat, one hand resting over my heart. I ease out from under her without waking her and dress in silence. The tracking app glows when I open the settings. I leave it running. Let her know exactly where I go. Eve waits across the street in the black car, the record shop still closed behind her. The moment she sees me, she opens the passenger door. Without a greeting, she pulls away from the curb. Wet pavement glistens beneath the pale morning light. The street is still half asleep, and I never noticed the overnight rain. Eve parks behind a low brick building, a place absent from every recovered scrap of memory. Inside, a single room holds a table, two chairs, and an open laptop. She gets straight to the point. “Watch.” The screen shows security footage from a gas station. The timestamp matches the night of the crash. Liora st
With the phone face down on the nightstand, I force my breathing to match hers. Liora shifts against my chest, one thigh sliding higher until the soft heat of her body rests over me. Even soft, I feel the slick reminder of last night. She wakes the way she does everything, fully present, eyes sharp the second they open. “You are thinking too hard already,” she says, her voice rough with sleep. Her hand trails down my stomach and wraps around me. I thicken beneath her fingers before I can stop it. “Whatever is spinning around in that head of yours can wait.” In one smooth motion, she straddles me, reaches between us, and settles onto me. The sudden heat forces a groan. Both palms press against my chest as she starts to move, slow rolls of her hips that draw a reaction from me every time she sits down. I grip her waist and thrust up hard. “Harder,” she breathes. “You always fucked me like you were trying to crawl inside my skin.” I sit up, wrap an arm around her back, and flip us
I reach for his belt, fingers clumsy with need, but Damien catches my wrists and pins them above my head with one hand. His eyes fix on mine, smoldering and commanding.“Not yet,” he rasps. “You said every inch. Show me how bad you want it, Elena. Ride me.”He releases me, shifts back, and sits aga
My body is still trembling, his two broad fingers buried deep inside me, when those five words hit like ice water.“Who the hell are you?”He doesn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he curls his fingers slowly, pressing against that spot that makes my knees buckle. A fresh wave of pleasure rips throug
The ballroom pulses with low music and the clink of expensive champagne glasses. Crystal chandeliers throw golden light across masks and gowns, but I feel like I’m suffocating in the middle of it all. I tug at the edge of my silver mask, making sure it’s still secure. The backless black dress hug
For the past three months I’ve been living at Vale Manor, sorting through the private library collection for Lucas and his partner. The job came through a university contact, and I jumped at it. Quiet work, beautiful old house, good pay. What I didn’t plan on was them. They’ve been together for ye







