Shifted

“Misunderstanding?” Strickland was outraged. “That son of a bitch was trying to murder me.”

Durbo tutted. “It’s unfortunate for you that I came just in time to prevent that from happening. You’d be a luckier man if I was late, Mr Strickland.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are? You—”

“I’m surprised you’ve never heard of me.” Durbo grabbed a vid comm console to call the police. “I’ve never lost a single case. Never. You should be very, very afraid.” Durbo grimaced, showing too many teeth. Kelly shivered. “Now, get out of here,” Durbo ordered her. “In a few minutes, this place will be crawling with police. It would make my job a lot easier if the three of you are somewhere else in the meantime.”

She didn’t need any more encouragement. Kelly snatched both Tyler and Gunnar’s hands and dragged them out of Strickland’s office.

Chapter Ten

Three days later

Nicolla observed Kelly. “You look…different.” It still felt weird watching somebody else wearing her body, but Nicolla noticed the difference, nevertheless. When they’d first met, Kelly had looked tensed and harried. Now she was relaxed and radiant. Ms Prissy was glowing. “How’s all that sex working out for you? Ty and Gunnar are good, aren’t they?”

Kelly let out a sheepish grin. “For your information, I haven’t slept with them again after Café Columbia.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t feel right. They’re your men and I have a husband.”

“Ethically, yes. Technically, no. You forgot the fact that you’re now Nicolla Evers, the porn star, and I’m Kelly White, the prissy lawyer.”

Kelly’s grin widened. “Prissy? Am I that bad?”

“Nah. You just have to learn to have a good time, that’s all.” Nicolla stirred her cocktail and took a sip. They were on the rooftop of the Havana Grill, having a girls’ night out. Romana’s sun had just faded across the horizon and the city was bathed with brilliant lights. From where they were sitting, the cityscape looked spectacular. “Now, Ms Prissy, are you ready for the good news?”

“Goody.” Kelly rubbed her palms together. “Do tell.”

“Andi wants to take me on our, your, second honeymoon to Verve Island. He wants to renew your marriage vows.”

Kelly’s mouth fell open. “For real?”

“Do I look like I’m shitting you?” Nicolla told her the details about the session with Diego Luca in Club Arcana, and how they had talked for hours after hot sweaty sex, where Andrew had spilt his heart out to her until morning.

“Outrageous,” Kelly commented after Nicolla finished her story. “That explains why you’re wearing a slave collar. I had no idea he’s that kinky.”

“It’s not about being kinky. Your husband is a lonely man, and when he’s lonely, he tends to withdraw into his inner self. He thought you were too independent, to the point you don’t need him anymore. Let’s face it, as a hotshot lawyer, you make more money than he does, and with you micro-managing every project down to the little details, it’s just plain annoying. You make every decision, even ones that should have been decided by the two of you. What you do makes him insecure as a man.

“I took him to Club Arcana and had that D/s session so I could restore his confidence, giving him back his control. Sometimes, what a man needs is to have his dominant side acknowledged. Don’t ask me why, it’s just the way men were genetically wired. And this thing”—Nicolla fingered the sleek, black leather collar on her neck—“it’s a little reminder that I respect and need him as the most important man in my life. Plain and simple.”

“Wow.” Kelly’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “All these years, I’ve been so blind.”

“You should pay more attention to your surroundings. There’s more to life than your job and career.”

“I realise that now. Well.” She clasped her hands together. “Do you want to hear about your good news?”

“You’ve had enough of Harry and couldn’t resist finally killing him?”

“Even better. I blackmailed him.”

Nicolla sat straight in her seat. “Blackmailed? Harry? I never thought those two words could be in the same sentence.”

“It was a shakedown.” Kelly told her how she’d found out about Strickland’s money laundering scheme and his other illegal activities by hacking into his server.

“Strickland was connected with a kingpin named Laureen ‘Lula’ McNoir who set up dozens of non-existent companies in Andes Island in order to pump the mafia’s money in and out of the Romana system, under the government’s radar. Through his connection in the SEA, Hank Durbo was able to get proof of Strickland’s illegal ventures and used it to blackmail the big man himself. Durbo demanded that Strickland annul Nicolla and the Roches’ contract, and forced him to pay damages to Nicolla for years of suffering his abuse. Strickland had no choice but to agree.”

Kelly’s brilliance for masterminding such a plan amazed Nicolla. “I’m now free? I’m no longer under that contract?”