Kingdom Fall

“Did Lizzy get in touch with you?” I asked quietly.

“No,” he whispered without moving his lips much. “But I know my sister. She was always going to tell you. I got the mob boss to send me here. I’m on this case now.”

“She means a lot to me.” I wanted him to know the whole truth, but I wouldn’t say the words until I said them to her first.

“I know. Otherwise you’d be eating gravel.”

“I can help in this case.”

“I know that too. I’ve done some digging. Someone’s been feeding information to the FBI, but our guy can’t get in touch with his connect.”

“He’s gone dark. That’s all I know,” I admitted.

“Well, now I’m your connect. You feed the information to me. We’ll talk later.” Louder, he said, “You’re free to go. If I find out you’re involved as more than a driver, I’m coming for you.” He pointed at me.

“Yes, sir,” I said, tipping my head and playing the role.

I got in the car, wondering if I would have to try to hot wire it, but the keys were there. I would bet my life my driver was a cop too. They’d given me plausible deniability to the six who ran the ring. I could say I’d gotten away because I’d pretended to be the driver. It would be on record that they’d arrested a Mr. Black but had to let him go when they realized they’d gotten the wrong guy.

The drive back home to my Manhattan apartment was long only because I wasn’t sure what to do with the car. Eventually, I left it in a lot not far from my club.

The cops hadn’t raided my club the night before, and I knew that was because Matt had fixed things. By the time I left for home, I was tired and wished Lizzy was there. If I hadn’t forced her to sign the annulment papers, she could be there with me always.

Instead, I was going home to an empty house. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t happy at the prospect. I opened the door of the penthouse, and when I walked down the short hallway to the living room, there she was. Sitting with her back to me. She wore a white bra and panties, from what I could tell from my view behind. Her hair wasn’t pulled back, but it was pulled over one shoulder. I got a view of her lovely neck and what she wore there.

Fuck my life. What had I done to deserve this honor?

I moved forward slowly, drinking in the view. When I stepped around to face her, she didn’t look up at me. My princess was a good student. I stroked a hand down her face and under her chin to lift her face so our eyes would meet.

“First tell me how you got in.” She opened her mouth, but I said, “Don’t tell me. My brother.” She nodded and I laughed. “The son of bitch is paying me back.”

She remained quiet.

“When I found you in my bed the first time, I reminded him I legally owned the place and that I saw you as a gift. Did he give you a message for me?” After a few seconds, I said, “You can answer direct questions.”

“He said to tell you legally, what’s yours is mine. Therefore, I was entitled to the key.”

My brows shot up. “You didn’t sign the papers like I asked.”

Her head bobbed a few times.

“Then why would he say that?”

“You only said to sign the papers. You didn’t say I had to return them to the lawyer.”

I threw back my head and laughed. “I should have known better than to play a war of words with you.”

Her shoulders lifted, but that mischievous smile was there.

“I ought to punish you.”

“Spank me then.”

I chuckled. “No, you want that. A better punishment would be to have you swallow my cock and deny you orgasm after orgasm until you were begging to come.”

That got the reaction I wanted. Her eyes rounded.

“Don’t worry, princess. You’ll get off on a technicality, like I did tonight. Your brother saved my ass for you. But you know that. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

She nodded. At least we didn’t have to waste time on the details of what happened. Matt had likely called her after I drove off and explained everything. Now I could move on to more interesting things.

“And what about this?” I said, tugging on the black collar around her neck.

“You mentioned never living with a sub before. I thought having the collar would make it easier. If I’m wearing it, you’ll know I want to play. If you give it to me, I’ll know you want to. Neither of us will have to say the words and spoil the fun.”

“You continue to surprise me. But this”—I tugged on the silver hoop in the front— “isn’t your style. We’ll need to get you a different one. One you can wear in public and only you and I would recognize. But there’s something else…” I held out a hand and helped her to her feet. “Only one of us should be on their knees tonight.” I got down on one. “I think I’ve been in love with you since the first time we met in that bar.”