“How the fuck can I give a statement?” I looked up at her. “I don’t even know what the hell is going on myself.”
“I know.” She walked closer. “Do you need anything—something that your secretary can’t provide normally?”
“What?” I looked up at her.
“You know—that one time—when you were dealing with stuff.” She exhaled sharply and swallowed hard. “I could—do that again.”
“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “Thank you, but no.”
“Okay.” She nodded and walked towards the door. “I’ll be at my desk if you change your mind.”
It was a tempting offer. Abigail’s mouth had been warm and wet one night when I first took over the company—when the stress was weighing heavily on my mind. I regretted it, mostly because she was a damn good assistant and it was a line I shouldn’t have crossed. She wasn’t the kind of girl I needed, nor would she ever be. It was better that I didn’t lead her on, even if a blowjob could have given me a little relief from the array of stress I was under. There was only one woman on my mind, even in the midst of chaos—the one Reynard released—the girl that never belonged in the cage, to begin with.
She might not have been a submissive when she went into that cage, but she’s been changed—morphed into something new. The only thing that would possibly tempt me right now into letting the beast run free—but I don’t know if I trust what it would turn me into right now.
The next day
It was disaster after disaster—client after client. They were abandoning Jackson Investments in droves. The SEC had set up shop in Chicago—and they would be in New York when we opened our doors the next day. All I could do was sit alone in my office and stare at the empire that was crumbling to dust around me. I never sought my father’s approval—not really—but I would have been ashamed to have him see what I had let happen to his beloved company. Reynard didn’t bother coming to work. Hell, I had no business there either. It wasn’t like we were going to do anything with our assets practically frozen while the SEC investigated Wyatt’s misconduct—and it was more than misconduct. It was outright fraud.
“Abigail, I’m going home.” I walked out of my office and closed the door. “You can let everyone else go home too. There’s no reason for everyone to sit here and twiddle their fucking thumbs.”
“Yes, sir.” She looked up at me and nodded.
I might as well just go home and drink. What else can I do at this point?
I kept a condo in the city that was registered to the company. It was the kind of expense I could write off and handy when I didn’t want to drive home. It was a good place to watch my empire crumble—I could even see the top of Jackson Investments from the window. Fitting, since the condo itself, would probably be seized when the SEC got done pillaging what was left—I might as well enjoy it for a few more days.
I watched our stock prices continue to tumble once I was sitting on my couch with a drink in my hand. Fisk sent me updates every hour—and none of them were good. I had just gotten a good buzz, or a bad buzz—depending on how much more I intended to drink when my phone lit up and I saw Reynard’s number.
“Hey,” I answered the phone and took a drink. “If you haven’t made it to the office yet, don’t bother. I sent everyone home.”
“I’ve been busy looking through Wyatt’s laptop.” He exhaled sharply into the phone. “Where are you? I need to show you something.”
“I’m at the condo.” I leaned back against the couch. “Is it going to save the company? If not—don’t even bother. I’m not ready for another one of your obsessions about our brother’s suicide.”
“You’re going to want to see this—trust me.” He growled under his breath. “Just trust me—I’m on my way.”
“Okay, fine.” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see my head shaking, and hung up the phone.
There was a part of me that wanted to be angry at Reynard for taking us down the path that set everything in motion, but it was as much my fault as it was his. I should have realized that it was as easy as it seemed. I should have paid closer attention to Josef Weber’s threat when it was directly in front of me. I shouldn’t have let Reynard’s obsession with Lizzy get in the way of what we were doing. She became a distraction for him—and a distraction for me. We looked at her as the reason for Wyatt’s death when we might have uncovered the truth earlier if we were looking in the right place. It was too late for second chances. Things were already spiraled past the point where they could be undone.
I sipped my drink and my mind started wandering to Lizzy—the moment we shared—when she begged for the beast inside me to be unleashed. I had never met a woman like that—one that I didn’t feel was lying when their eyes screamed for the beast to come out and play. Lizzy was more than just a random submissive woman who could satisfy a craving. She was truly unique—the kind of woman I had been looking for my whole life, but I didn’t even know a woman like that could exist. She was molded by the darkness—sculpted by Reynard’s cruelty—and when the darkness faded—she became a diamond.
It’s too fucking bad things had to turn out like they did, but we can’t have her around if everything is about to go to shit. She has her freedom now, and that changes things. I doubt she’ll ever walk into the abyss again willingly—no matter how much it turned her on when she embraced the pain she was owed.
My thoughts were still on Lizzy when there was a knock at the door. It had to be Reynard. I walked over, confirmed it was him with a quick look through the peephole, and then pulled the door open. He looked like a man possessed with a fire in his eye—one that burned as bright as it did the day he told me about Lizzy the first time. He walked over to the table next to the couch and opened Wyatt’s laptop. I sat down in front of it and stared at the screen, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
“I don’t understand…” I looked at him and back to the screen.
“That’s a will—Dad’s will.” He sat down beside me. “Look at the date.”
“It was signed a year before he passed.” I narrowed my eyes and started scanning. “But this isn’t the one that was read—it mentions…”
“Four children.” Reynard nodded quickly. “Dad knew—he knew about her.”
“Fuck.” I exhaled sharply.
“There’s a letter too.” Reynard hit a button and loaded it. “Right here, it’s supposed to go with the will.”