But I never had such a beautiful woman on my hip before.
They knew I wasn’t going to give her up. They had to know it.
“You have a single option.” He leaned against my desk, his fingers pursed. Fuck. He was dead serious.
“What is it?” I asked as I crossed my arms. I was every bit the leader he raised me to be.
“Marry the girl.”
“What?” I asked. “I don’t think so.”
There is no way she would consent to something like that. Not Joanna. She had too much independence. Too much fight. We barely knew each other. Still the thought of her in my bed, with my last name, completely and totally my woman. It was intoxicating.
“It’s not 1950, father.”
“It is to Dennis. And I get it. I’d do the same fucking thing if it were one of your sisters.”
I wasn’t done with her yet, but marriage? Fuck. It would be perfect. But she might hate me for it. I was sorely tempted to say yes, to give my father what he wanted and to take what I wanted. It was the opportunity I needed. But I hesitated.
“It’s that or war.” My father glared at me; I didn’t have a choice. “Dennis has been wanting one for over a year, and you know he has the fucking numbers to back it up. It would devastate us, even if we did win.”
“When do we inform the bride of the good news?” I asked.
“I suspect her uncle has already informed her.” My father crossed his arms and looked me over. “Had to marry you off some time. Might as well be in order to keep the peace.”
I glared at him. I was his heir and the key to his legacy.
“Good, now that that’s settled, we have some real business to get to.” He stood and walked by me. “You are needed down at headquarters.”
Headquarters. My father was a property mogul. He bought up businesses, used them up as fast as he could, and kept many of them for cover. His longest lasting was chromium steel. But his most successful was the casino. It was his headquarters. The place where he conducted his business on a large scale. Drug trafficking, gun smuggling. You name it; that asshole dabbled in it. The mob had to, at least that was what he said. If we didn’t, we would get behind with the times. It was already going on around us; he just modernized us. Diversified our portfolio. Whatever. It was my empire to inherit, and I had to learn to run it. I had to take it over.
If I could’ve burnt it to the ground, I would’ve.
“Are you coming?” he asked from the door.
“Yes, father.” I gritted my teeth as I said it and followed him. “Bring an extra change of clothes, the ones you have on are going to get messy.”
Blood. He meant blood.
This was my life.
Joanna
I rolled over to the find the bed empty, but that didn’t take away the luxury of it. No, I revelled in the blankets and the sunlight streaming in through the beautiful glass wall of the condo. I didn’t realize his bedroom had one too, last night we were far too busy for any of that. I just sighed and looked at it then around the room. It was empty. The whole apartment felt empty. No noise of someone moving about the place. No television or rustling of papers.
I felt empty.
I got up from the bed and looked down at the scene played out before me. My dress, that mask, his suit. It was all strewn about the place. The only evidence of what happened last night.
Of all the things, he made me feel.
I walked towards the bathroom and saw, in his chair, a set of neatly folded clothing and a note.
I picked it up and smiled when I saw his handwriting.
Have work this morning. Wanted to stay and hold you, but it couldn’t be helped. Fresh clothing for you. Stay as long as you like. I’d love to see you when I got home.
I remembered what he said “I want you to live for my pleasure.” The rush of feeling that hit me in my center knew I wanted it too. I shouldn’t, I should not have wanted it. I should not have wanted the touch of his lips against mine. Against me. I should’ve avoided him. I had half a mind to walk out of there right now and never look back.
But I knew in the end that I could fight and fight these feelings, but I wasn’t going to win. I was never going to win. I wanted to feel him. I wanted to see him.
I wanted to know exactly who he was.
I looked at the clothing he left for me. A long men’s t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants. I could get home in that, but I didn’t know if I wanted to. I touched the place the mask bit into my flesh last night and remembered the way he kissed my cheek.
I wanted to be right back there in that instant. Instead, I took his shirt to my face and breathed it in. I could still smell him, his detergent, his scent. Comfort complete.
Then I set it down and walked into the master bath, my jaw dropping as I looked around. It was better than most spas I’d ever been in. Bigger than my entire apartment. My eyes set sight on the giant tub, big enough to fit two or three people and I had to stop from salivating. Dear lord, it was gorgeous. I knew what I was going to do until he got home. Forget my papers, forget reading, hell, forget anything else but this tub for an hour or two.
Instead of the peace and quiet I was hoping for I heard a knock on the door, the angry pounding making me jump right out of my skin. I had half a mind to go out there and start yelling at them.
Then it occurred to me that I wasn't at my own place, and I probably had no idea who was out there. I probably also didn’t want to know who was out there.
I threw on the clothing Greyson left and padded to the door looking out of the peephole.
Motherfucker.
"Open the damn door, Joanna. I know you are in there." I saw the frown on my uncle's face and glared at the door. I didn't want him in here. I didn't want him anywhere near me.
"Go away," I said finally leaning against the door. "You can't be here."
It was the fucking home of his rival's son. Why would he even attempt to come here.
"You know I can go wherever the fuck I want. Now, you can either let me in, or I can have this conversation out in the middle of the foyer, and let the whole complex know what a whore you are." The bite of his anger stung. I didn't want to be in the path of it.
I opened the door, and crossed my arms, "that was totally unnecessary."
"But it got your attention." He said as he walked into the condo and looked around. "Well, I have to say, the motherfucker sure has good taste."
He sat down in a very expensive looking leather chair and crossed his legs, looking at me.
"What do you want?" I asked.
“I'm impressed. I told you to get to know them, to learn about them, and you made a beeline right for the next in line.” His vision narrowed. “It wasn’t what I expected, but we can certainly work with it.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The best way to get a permanent link to the damn Fitzgeralds. You. You will marry Greyson Fitzgerald.”
I crossed my arms and bit my lip. Marrying any man, especially not a future mob boss, was not on my agenda. I had a Ph.D. to finish, and I should’ve been at school even now writing papers and finishing my reading. I was already starting to get behind.
No, my plans had very little room for a man.
“I have no intention of marrying anyone.” I said, taking control of myself for the first time in days. “I’m not your lapdog, and I won’t do it.”
“You seem to forget what family you belong to,” Dennis stood, looming over me. He didn’t touch me, but he got so close I thought he would. “You belong to us. You work for us. You do what I want when I want, do you understand?”
I swallowed, hard. “I could take away your entire life in an instant and don’t think I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. You will do as you are told. You will.”
“You wouldn’t,” I sucked in a breath and looked at him with new eyes. He’d never threatened me before. I knew he was capable of it, but I just had never experienced it. I didn’t expect to.
“You have no idea what I am fucking capable of Joanna. Your father, you, it could all go up in smoke. Literally or figuratively, you decide.”
He’d kill me, kill my father if I didn’t do what he wanted. I might as well have handed him my throat on a platter if I said no.
“Well then, what choice do I have?” I asked.
“I thought you’d come around.”
I stared at him and watched as he turned around and walked out the door. “Expect your lover-boy to approach you about it soon. Got a deal in the works.”
I sat there, smoldering with anger until I could come up with a better plan. Then I grabbed my purse and ran out the door.
The only thing I could think to do was get the fuck out of here and back to my regular life. Maybe if I did this would all just go away.
Chapter Eight
Joanna
Words on a computer screen. That was what I needed. It was so much easier to concentrate on the economic influence of women in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century than it was to think about my own issues.
“Where is she?” The sound of that voice put me on edge. I could hear it all the way across the rows and rows of cubicles.
Greyson.
I didn’t want to stand up. I knew that if I did, if I went to him, he would look at me and think I’d jump at his every beck and call. I had work to do. I had a shit ton of it, honestly. And I didn’t want his interference.