Taboo: A Dark Romance Boxset (Stud Ranch 1)

Oh God. Oh Jesus. What had he done to her. What had he done?

“Chloe,” I said, my voice and my heart breaking as I went to her. She flinched back as I got close and I froze.

Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked at the wall as she said, “Dylan, get me out of this place. No police. No custody bullshit.” Her eyes finally came to mine and they were just… empty. “Get me out of here and don’t tell dad or anyone else where you take me. Anyone. Do you understand me. Not Darren. Not Dad.” She shuddered.

“Jesus, Chloe, I’d never tell Dad.”

I took another step toward her and again she flinched. “Just get me out of here,” she said, eyes jumping back toward the wall.

She couldn’t even look at me.

She knew.

She knew I was like him. That even earlier this afternoon, I’d been thinking maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Jesus, I needed to throw up. I needed to kill my father.

But I needed to get her out of this house more.

I swallowed down the bile creeping up my throat. “Do you want to change or pack a bag?”

Her eyes darted over to me and then away again. She shook her head. “Just get me out of here.”

I nodded stiffly, trying for her sake to keep my shit together.

She got up from the bed, still with the blanket around her. She held it like it was a shield even though both of us knew it had done nothing to protect her that day.

Just like I hadn’t.

“Dylan, what the hell, man?”

I jerk my head up to see Darren standing in the door of my office.

“You’re the one who called this meeting and you’re standing me up?”

“Shit.” I look down at the time on my computer and realize it’s ten minutes after two. I push my chair back and hurry to my feet, looking around and trying to grab the appropriate papers. And my laptop. Shit, don’t forget the laptop—

“Christ, slow down,” Darren laughs, coming in and helping me with the papers. “We’re the CEO and CFO. Believe me. The meeting won’t start without us.”

I cringe. I hate to be that guy. The boss that demands a standard from everybody else he doesn’t adhere to himself. And I’m pretty big on punctuality.

I swing my laptop bag over my shoulder.

“Okay, I’ve got everything. Let’s go.”

Dare just keeps shaking his head. “Slow down, take a breath. I know all the sudden you’ve decided to start taking a more active role in the company again, but the world won’t stop spinning if Dylan Lennox pauses to take a breath every so often.”

He claps me on the back and I do what he says, take a big breath in.

Yes, I do want to be more active again. Of course Darren noticed that I wasn’t living up to my end of the bargain when it’s come to being an equal partner in the company. I’ve walked around Lennex Brothers Corp like a zombie for years. But that’s all changing.

Ever since meeting Miranda, it’s like I was asleep for a hundred years and I’m just now waking up.

And it feels fucking terrifying. I’m not used to…feeling this much. To seeing this much.

For example, Lennox Bros. is about to launch a new robotics board in six months. And we were all set to go.

But we were going about it all wrong—playing it safe when we needed to be pushing the limits of innovation.

Hence, the meeting I’d called and am now late for.

I take the lead out of my office and head down the hallway to the conference room. All the usual suspects are there. Rob, Darren’s right hand man on the business end. Malik from engineering. Kayla from acquisitions. Natalie and several other reps handling the hardware bids. A handful of other people fill out the room. Water bottles are set out at each chair and a coffee tray steams on the back counter.

I sit at one head of the oval table and Darren takes the other.

“So,” Darren waves at me as soon as we’re settled. “We’re on pins and needles. What’s the reason for this meeting?”

Darren kept asking for a heads up to what the meeting was about but I wanted to wait and do it here. I’m not like Darren. I can’t just talk off the cuff. I’m best when I have all my facts together and I’ve thought through the presentation I want to make.

I take another deep breath like Darren suggested earlier and then begin.

“Right now the robotics board we’re about to push in six months is using the same kind of processor the last ten boards have used. But Intel-based processors are the past when it comes to robotics. They’re slow and inefficient when it comes to the massive amount of real time data you’re dealing with in robotics.”