Sinful Secrets (Mine 4.5)

The knocking turned into a pounding at his door.

“Your father took the business away from him.”

“No, he—”

“My father wouldn’t sell, so Nathaniel Donnelly stopped the shipments of all my dad’s supplies. He applied pressure at the bank so that debts were called in. My family lost everything, all because your bastard of a parent wanted to add another feather in his cap.”

Her throat had gone desert dry.

“My father broke after that. He had nothing. It was just weeks later—weeks—that he killed himself.”

Cat’s heart broke for him. “I’m so sorry.” She wanted to wrap her arms around Jason and hold him tight. “Jason, I-I didn’t know.” What hell that must have been for him. No wonder there were secrets in his eyes.

“I didn’t just lose him that day. I seemed to lose everything.”

Tears were stinging her eyes as she imagined Jason back then. Hurting. Lost. “Jason…”

And the pounding at the door was louder.

Jason’s shoulders stiffened. “Your brother is just like him. He doesn’t stop to see if he’s wrecking anyone. He takes exactly what he wants, but a reckoning has finally come. It’s time for them to pay for all they’ve done.”

You scared me, Cat. Her brother’s voice floated through her mind. A voice from long ago. A ten-year-old who’d been terrified on a long stretch of sandy beach. You can’t leave me.

“Cat!” That roar came through the door. From the person pounding so fiercely outside. “I know you’re in there!”

She recognized that roar—because it belonged to her brother. “Cameron? That—that’s Cameron!”

“Speak of the fuckin’ devil,” Jason muttered.

Chapter Four

Jason jerked open the door before Cat could. Cameron Donnelly stood on the threshold, chest heaving, and his face was blood red. His eyes—a shade lighter than Cat’s—glared at Jason.

“My sister,” Cameron gritted out. “I want to see her!”

Jason lifted a brow. He stepped back.

“Cameron.” Cat’s voice was uncertain. Jason hated that uncertainty. Cat didn’t need to be afraid of anyone or anything.

Cameron stormed inside the penthouse.

“I guess they just let anyone past security these days…”

“Screw you!” Cameron threw at Jason. “Cat, what is going on? I rushed to this asshole’s place as soon as I got your message.” His breath huffed out. “Is that your bra?”

Jason looked down. Sure enough, that sexy red bra that Cat had worn the night before rested about a foot inside the doorway. Cat had dressed, damn fast, but she must have forgotten that lovely accessory.

Cat didn’t answer.

Jason did. “Since she’s the only woman here…why, yes, I do believe it’s—”

Cameron swung at him. Jason dodged easily. Like he was about to let that bugger get a hit on him. Then he came up swinging. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.

His fist slammed into Cameron’s abdomen. The breath left the guy in a grunt and Jason drove his left hand—always his stronger hand—at Cameron’s jaw.

“No!” Cat yelled.

Too late.

But, apparently, Cameron could take a punch. He staggered back but then swung again at Jason. When Jason dodged again, Cameron came in for a vicious head-butt.

Sonofa—

“Stop!” Cat shoved between the two men. “Stop it right now.”

Cameron swiped away the blood that dripped from his lips.

“It is my bra,” Cat said.

Cameron tried to lunge around her and get at Jason once more.

She pushed him back and, surprisingly, Cameron let her.

Jason frowned. Cameron was being very…careful…with his sister. Touching her softly, lightly as he turned Cat to fully face him.

“Did he hurt you?” Cameron demanded.

“No.” Cat glanced back at Jason.

He saw pain in her eyes. Fuck me, I did hurt her. Not with his body, but—

“Why the hell did you screw him, Cat?”

Jason wanted to hear the answer to that one, too.

“Because I wanted Jason.”

Hell, yes.

“But he didn’t want you!” Cameron fired and a vein bulged near his temple. “He’s using you, he’s—”

“Excuse me, love,” Jason murmured to Cat. He pulled her away from her brother. Narrowed his eyes on the jerk. “You don’t know what the hell I want. And don’t raise your voice to her like that.”

Cameron blinked at him. “Are you shitting me?”

Jason lifted a brow. He was just looking for a reason to take another swing. Give me the reason. Give it the hell to me. Cameron Donnelly hadn’t been involved in the buy-out of his father’s business—he’d been too young then—but the guy was as rotten as Nathaniel Donnelly. He was just like—

Cameron lifted his hand. “We can do damage control. The right media spin can fix anything.” He motioned toward Cat. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Not happening.” Jason’s voice was clipped.

“Oh, yeah?” Cameron demanded. “Because you think—”

“Uh…excuse me, but I get to decide what I’m doing and where I’m going.” And Cat was heading for the door. “Even before Cameron arrived, I was out of here. I’m sorry, so terribly sorry for what happened to you father, but like I told you before,” she released a ragged breath, “we’re done.”

No. He grabbed for her.

“You dick, don’t you touch my sister!” Cameron snarled.

He’d do more than touch her. Jason shoved Cameron back even as he pulled Cat into his arms. “We have a big problem.”

“Stop touching her,” Cameron told him. “Get those hands off—”

“I’ll touch my wife all I want.”

Cat’s eyes fell closed.

“Wife?” Cameron sounded as if he were choking. Then he was craning his neck and looking down at the hand Jason had deliberately grabbed. Cat’s left hand. The hand that bore his ring. “Cat…” Now his voice was hoarse. “What is he talking about?”

Cat didn’t look at her brother. She kept her eyes on Jason, and he…he didn’t like the way she was staring at him. As if he were some kind of villain. A monster. “Why do you like hurting me?” Cat asked him. “I thought…I keep hoping there’s more to you.” Then she pulled away.

His chest ached. He rubbed the spot, wondering if Cameron had gotten in a hit when he hadn’t been paying close enough attention.

Cat opened the front door. “Why don’t you both just stay away from me?” She marched into the hallway.

Jason lunged after her.

“Oh, the hell you are…” Cameron caught his shoulder and swung him around. “You’re not going any place until you tell me why you just called Cat your wife.”

Cat had escaped down the hallway. In seconds she’d be inside the elevator. Especially since the woman was full-out fleeing from him. “I called her that because she’s married to me.” Cat didn’t think the marriage was real, but it was to him.

“You married my sister last night?”

“No, I married her a year ago.”

When the guy’s grip went slack with shock, Jason jerked away from the man and sprinted into the hallway. “Cat!” He could see her inside the elevator. She was frantically pushing buttons to close the doors. “Cat, no!” He pushed himself to run even faster, but the doors were closing.

She backed away in the elevator, shaking her head at him. The doors closed when he was less than a foot away from her. Sonofabitch. His hands slammed into those gleaming, closed doors. She’d gotten away. Left him. Again.

“You can’t be married to my sister! I’d know!”

The idiot had followed him. “You know now.” Jason rolled his eyes and jabbed for the elevator control button. There were two elevators that rose to this level. He’d be just moments behind her. Hurry up, hurry—

>   The doors opened. He shot inside.

Cameron jumped in right after him. “You’re using her.”

Jason growled. The doors closed.

“You’re trying to screw my sister to get at me!”

Too much. Jason shoved the guy back against the wall of the elevator, and he jabbed his forearm over Cameron’s throat. “What I do with Cat has nothing to do with you.” So he’d originally sought her out because of her last name. That had changed five minutes after he’d met her. After he’d looked into her eyes and felt something other than the cold numbness that had been his companion for so many years.

He’d looked at her, and he’d wanted her. Simple. He’d looked at her and…she changed everything.

Cameron tried to shove him aside. The guy failed. Jason wasn’t going anywhere. “Listen up,” Jason barked at him. “Cause this isn’t about you. Last night, some fool on a motorcycle tried to run over Cat.”

Cameron’s eyes bulged—whether that was from the pressure of Jason’s arm or from shock, well, Jason wasn’t sure. He also didn’t ease his grip. “And someone’s blackmailing her. So right now, I don’t want Cat alone. She’s not safe, not until I figure out who is after her.”

The elevator had shot straight down to the lobby. A soft chime sounded right before the doors slid open. A soft gasp came from the doorway. Jason’s head turned. A man in a rumpled business suit stared at him and Cameron with bleary eyes. “S-security!” The man whispered.

Whispered? Right. Like that was going to attract attention. And the security guards in that place knew better than to tangle with Jason.

Jason freed his prey. I need to find Cat.