“And how is that?”
Instead of answering right away he said, “It must be a challenge caring for your sister on your meager freelance salary. I would imagine that it’s very important to protect your connections just to make rent every month.” His gaze narrowed to a point and she suffered a very bad feeling in her belly. He was going to blackmail her into helping him. He’d found the perfect way to force her to bow her head and walk ten paces behind him by using Lana against her. Emma began to shake and angry tears threatened to fall but she held them back, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her break. “You’re a smart girl,” he said approvingly. “Good. You can see where this is going, which means I don’t need to spell it out. Fall in line or you’ll find yourself without work for the foreseeable future. No one will cross a Buchanan, not even for a pretty face like yours. So unless you want to find yourself swinging that tight little ass on a stripper pole, you’d better adjust your attitude — quickly — because my patience is shot. Got it?”
She wanted to tell him to go to hell but he had her. Since the incident, Lana hadn’t been able to work. Her sister wasn’t exactly agoraphobic but Lana became extremely agitated around strangers, almost to the point of pure panic if she felt overwhelmed, which had made it impossible to hold down a job. “I need to talk to her,” she said, trying for a brave front. “Lana is…”
“Laird told me,” Vince cut in, his tone gentling with the slightest note of understanding. “No harm will come to her. You have my word.”
“And what is your word worth?” she couldn’t help but ask without masking her bitterness.
“My word is worth everything I have and more,” he answered and she heard no mocking couched in the reply, which for some reason settled her nerves a bit. She shouldn’t trust him but what choice did she have? Until she figured out how to best him, she had to pretend to cede defeat. Satisfied with her nod, he said, “One more thing, you will be required to sign nondisclosure paperwork, which you may do over dinner tonight. Appropriate clothing will be brought to you.”
She ground her teeth. “I’d prefer to eat alone.”
“I didn’t ask for your preference. Strike one, little dove. Three strikes and you’re out. Am I clear?”
“Perfectly.” She gave him a sweet, completely fake smile. “And am I going to be required to suck your cock after dinner, too?”
At that he laughed and she grumbled at his amusement. “Little dove, if you feel so moved to go down on your knees and suck my cock, I wouldn’t deny you, as long as you don’t bite.”
“Well, I do bite,” she replied, then snapped her teeth for emphasis.
His gaze narrowed sharply. “In that case, we’ll skip the foreplay and go straight to bending you over the dinner table. Sound good?”
“You’re a pig.”
“You have no idea.” He dipped his head ever so slightly and then said, “Until this evening, then…” before leaving her alone again.
She exhaled sharply and dropped her head in her hands. Her entire body ached and groaned from her ordeal but the pains of her body couldn’t rival the agony in her mind as she worried about Lana with that licentious Laird Tiechert, who was no better than the Buchanans in his pursuit of pleasure, no matter the obstacle. Lana had always been a bit naïve and sweet, always seeing the good in someone no matter how broken and damaged they were, and it was that innate goodness that had managed to put Lana in that wicked place to begin with. Of course, Lana refused to talk about that night, saying she didn’t remember much but Emma wasn’t so sure that Lana’s memory was fogged but rather purposefully blocked. Lana had no interest in remembering what had happened to her.
And now Lana was in the care of Laird…Emma suddenly felt queasy and made a wobbly rush to the restroom but Just as she reached the toilet only bile came up because she hadn’t actually eaten anything. Emma sat on the cold marble tile of the polished executive bathroom and her shoulders shook with silent tears. This was her own fault. If only she’d been prepared for trouble, she could’ve handled herself. Now, she and Lana were forced to dance to Buchanan’s tune, whether they wanted to or not.
-7-
Now that Vince had Emma's sister he didn't worry about her leaving the minute he turned his back, which freed him up to take care of some details before dinner. Satisfied with the way things had panned out in his favor, he was humming a tune as he awaited his twin at Envy, his favorite designer dress shop. Most times he would’ve handed off the task to his executive secretary but since Penny had gone off and married his older brother Dillon, he and Nolan had not yet filled her former position so the task was left in his hands. Not that he minded, actually. He rather liked the idea of hand selecting the very clothes that would go on Emma’s body. The power gave him a very satisfying pleasure and he was not above savoring it.
Vince wouldn't lie, he enjoyed knowing that he was bending the rigid woman to his will and thus going dress shopping put a small smile on his face until Nolan walked in, looking as happy as a drowned cat. "Why are we meeting here?" Nolan asked.
Vince paused in answering, instructing the leggy, pencil-thin proprietor, Dana, that he wanted to see every dress she had in the color red, then returned to Nolan, saying with a subtle frown, "I wanted your opinion on a dress and I also wanted an update on everything you've managed to uncover about Emma Winters. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone."
“Why are you buying a dress?”
“Because as much as I’d enjoy seeing Emma sit across the table naked during dinner, something tells me she’s not going to let that happen. At least not yet.”
Vince expected his twin to chuckle at his joke but Nolan’s serious expression didn’t so much as crack. “You're playing a dangerous game, Vince. Emma Winters is unlike some airheaded starlet looking to sleep her way to the top or even a woman who’s just looking for a good time.”
“Oh? You know her well?” Vince lifted his brow, unimpressed thus far and becoming annoyed at the general killjoy his twin had become as of late. “My brother, you’ve become far too prudish in your married old age. Lighten up and tell me what you know about my little dove.”
“I probably shouldn’t but seeing as we’re both tied to Malvagio, here goes. Emma Winters is twenty-six and the oldest daughter of Mike and Sarah Winters — both deceased after a car accident when she was eighteen and her younger sister, Lana, was fourteen.”
“Tragic,” Vince commented, wondering how he could use that information to his advantage. Given that information, it was readily apparent why Emma felt responsible for her sister Lana; Emma’s been taking care of her sister since she was a young girl.
“Yeah, but she’s pretty tough. She managed to put herself through college, in spite of having to work two jobs and care for her sister. She graduated with a degree in journalism-”
“Which nowadays is pretty much useless,” Vince cut in dryly and Nolan agreed.
“Yeah, and that’s why she’s had a hard time finding a job. There just aren’t many newspapers looking to hire new journalists when a lot of print newspapers are going digital only or going out of business completely.”
“Don’t we own a newspaper?” Vince asked, trying to jog his own memory.
“We did but we sold it. It kept losing money year after year.”
“Pity. I might’ve enjoyed offering her a job just to watch her gnash her teeth at me. She’s a spitfire,” he mused, mostly to himself. To Nolan, he asked, “Anything else?”
Nolan shrugged. “Not really. She’s a poor, struggling freelance writer. She barely makes her rent most months but she’s honest. Everyone I talked with said she’s always professional and always does a good job.”
“No boyfriend?”
Nolan sighed, knowing Vince too well. “No,” he answered.
“Excellent. I hate entanglements.”
“Let’s stay focused on the issue at hand. We need her help to catch who poses a threat to the club, nothing else. Right?”
“There’s nothing wrong with combining business with pleasure. Isn’t that what we’ve spent our twenties doing? I like to think I’m pretty good at multi-tasking.”
“She’s nothing like the women we’re accustomed to,” Nolan warned.
"Good. I bore easily." Vince lifted a strapless red dress that looked as if it’d need to be painted on and held it up for Nolan's opinion. "She has beautiful tits. What you think of this?"
"Forget the dress. We have bigger problems. What are you doing with this woman? Laird told me that he's holding onto Emma’s sister on your orders. Are you blackmailing her into helping you?"
Vince shot a look at his brother, irritated. "And what if I am? It's nothing you and I haven't done before. Sometimes the ends justify the means. I'm not about to go down in flames just because you were afraid to pull the trigger. There was a time when you were just as ruthless as I am. It's not my fault that your new wife is holding your nuts in Aubrey’s diaper bag."