The Seduction 2(21)

My mom thought he was crazy. She reassured him, Ashcroft would never betray him like that. They’d been working together for years, they were friends. The man was my godfather, for Christ’s sake.

She was wrong.

It was some legal bullshit maneuver, my dad never saw it coming. One day, he was co-president of a booming company. The next, he was out on his ass with nothing.

It destroyed him -- not just losing everything, but that Ashcroft was the one who did it.

Yeah, that bastard was ruthless. Reading the reports, I can see it all in black and white. The other partner disappeared a couple of years later -- sent to prison on some bullshit tax evasion charge. Ashcroft’s plotting too, I’ll bet. Ashcroft took sole control of the company, got married, adopted some kids. Acted like my father had never existed.

But dad couldn’t go on. Three months after Ashcroft pushed him out, he put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

I grab the whiskey and take another gulp. I was only eight years old, too young to follow the details, but I understood what had happened. My father had been betrayed. I swore I’d find some way to make Ashcroft pay.

But the bastard is dead now, and all the obituaries are fawning over what a great guy he was. A humanitarian, all that charity work. Even Keely thinks her client was a sweet old man.

I know the truth. That guy was a fucking monster. And now I’ll never have my revenge.

My cellphone rings again. I snatch it up, expecting Keely’s voice.

“Hello, Mr. Vaughn? It’s Carter Abrams.”

“Who the fuck?” I grow, pissed.

“From Hudgens, Cartwright and Abrams,” he explains.

I remember him, the creepy fuck from Keely’s office -- the one who treated her like shit.

“What do you want?” I stride to the windows, looking out at the city lights.

“I was calling because we’re investigating one of our former staff members.” His voice is smarmy as fuck. “Unfortunately, we’ve learned she was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a client. I wanted to make sure she hadn’t made similar advances to you. I believe you met with her last week. Keely Fawes?”

I tense. So this is what Keely was so panicked about the other day. Her fuckwad of a boss is on some witch-hunt. Well, damn if I’m going to help.

“No,” I say. I was the one who chased her down. “She never did a thing wrong. Put me down as saying, she’s been nothing but professional.”

“Oh.” Carter sounds surprised. “That’s... interesting. I thought you two had become very close.”

“Yeah, well you thought wrong.” I wish he was right here in front of me, then my fists would show him how fucking wrong he is. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re playing at with this, but it’s bullshit, we both know. Keely wouldn’t do anything wrong.”

Except come her brains out all over my tongue in the middle of the company law library.

“If you’re sure there’s nothing we need to know...” Carter presses me again.

“I’m sure.”

“Thanks for your time.” Carter sounds pissed. “I hope we see you--”

“Fuck off.” I hang up on him.

Damn. I pace, restless. I’m worried for Keely now, this fucker has it out for her. And that’s a whole new ballgame.

I don’t get worried about women. I don’t stick around long enough to care. I forget their names the minute I pull my spent cock out of their clenching pussy, and that’s the way I like it.

Except I can’t shake the thought of Keely, looking at me with those big brown eyes. Begging me to fuck her, gasping my name as she comes.

I scroll through my phone until I reach her number. I pause, then I force myself to hit ‘delete.’

I can’t get in any deeper. It doesn’t matter how much I need to claim that sweet cunt of hers, give her a pounding like she wouldn’t believe.

I already want to protect her too much. I can’t risk the price.





16

KEELY

I wait for Vaughn’s call, but it doesn’t come. Three whole days, and I turn into the kind of needy girl I’ve always hated: grabbing for my phone with every ring, my heart leaping as I hope to God it’s finally him.

But it never is.

I don’t understand. He’s been relentless, hunting me down, forcing my boundaries until finally I can’t make it through a single minute without imagining his hands on me. His mouth.

His massive, incredible cock.

I wonder if this is all part of a game, but that doesn’t make sense. Vaughn has always been brutally direct about what he wants. Me, on my knees, begging for him.

And I’m ready.

Just the memory makes my skin hot and my nipples ache. If this really is a way to make me surrender, it’s working. I’m craving him like never before. I still don’t know what secrets he’s hiding, but I’m too far gone to care. Fantasizing about all the wicked, dirty things he’s done to me is the only thing that gets me through the day. And now I don’t have work to distract me, that’s far too much time on my hands thinking only of him.