Daddy's Boss

He would kill Sean. It wouldn’t be a problem. He doubted it would be a whole lot harder to win Lori over, but that was the risk he was willing to take. No one stole from him, but taking Lori, everyone would know he allowed it to happen just so he could have something. His men would make sure no one doubted his power, and that he was the one in control the entire time.

“No. No. Stop. Please. Fine. I’ll do it.” She turned toward him. Her voice was loud but not screeching.

Tears filled her eyes but didn’t fall down her cheeks. Her hands were clenched so hard that he saw her knuckles were white.

She looked like a woman on edge, and he didn’t like that.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m yours. Whatever. Just don’t kill him.”

“If he’s caused you so much pain before, why not kill him? It would be easier.”

“I’m not a monster. I can’t have his blood on my hands.”

The way she said it he knew something happened. That she’d had blood on her hands at one time. The only question was whose?

****

“Sign this,” Dawg said.

Lori felt sick to her stomach, but she somehow made it over to him and stared down at the couple sheets of paper. “What is this?”

“An agreement that you won’t run. That you’re mine. Everything that you now own is mine, and that you’re willing in all of this.”

The men behind her started to move, and she watched her father being dragged out. She hated that man more than anything else in the world. He was the reason her mother was killed, and even as she held her in those last moments, her mother had begged for her to take care of him.

This was … this was too far, even for him.

Glancing through the document, she saw it was nothing short of a business contract, and seeing no other alternative, she signed her name and stepped back. She wore a pair of jeans with a top that had some sparkle to it. She’d been going out dancing tonight, to have some fun, when Dawg’s men arrived, telling her she had no choice, that if she wanted her father to live, she had to follow them.

“You look beautiful.”

Staring at Dawg, she couldn’t deny the man was handsome. He was … very handsome. Sexy even.

Deadly and sexy. It was one heady combination, but she didn’t want any involvement with what he was in. Drugs, whores, fighting, gambling; everything that could possibly be a sin or be illegal, he had it.

She also knew he owned the law.

Three months ago, a cop had pulled her over and was about to give her a ticket. When one of Dawg’s guys turned up, the officer let her go with a warning. She hadn’t been able to afford a ticket at the time, and she knew that even as she tried to stay off his radar, he’d already seen her.

“Thank you,” she said.

Her mother had always told her to keep calm, to not cuss. That a lady was more respected than anyone from the gutter.

She took a deep breath. She hated her mother’s teachings at times as it always made her weak, or at least made her feel weak.

“What’s going to happen now? We go to bed? You want to have sex? What?”

Dawg smiled. “We go out dancing.”

She was surprised. “You want to go dancing?”

“Nope. I don’t want to go dancing. It’s never on my list of things to do. But it’s a Friday night. You’ve had a long week, and the last thing I’d ever want to do is not give my woman what she wants.”

“I’m not your woman.”

“You are my woman, Lori. You need to get used to it,” he said.

Biting her lip, she sighed. There was no point in arguing with him.

“Fine. Let’s go dancing.”

He stepped forward, and she refused to take a step back. Even though every instinct inside her was telling her to run, she stood her ground, refusing to back down. “I like that you’re not scared of me.”

“I never said I wasn’t.”

He smiled. “I’ll show you that you have nothing to fear from me.”

“I just watched you order someone to put a gun to my father’s head.” She shook her head.

“It wasn’t at your head, and one day you will believe me when I say to you that I will never hurt you. I won’t, Lori. You’re safe.”

His hand cupped her cheek, his thumb resting on her chin, tilting her head back.

She stared into his eyes, feeling the answering heat within her own, and she hated it. There was an attraction between the two of them and she couldn’t deny it, like a moth to a flame.

But he’d hurt her, or someone close to him would.

Men in his line of work never kept a woman for long.