Chapter 4

FOUR

DOMHNALL

I don’t know what fucking game this is.

I don’t know how she got here or what the fuck is going on. Everything inside me goes cold as all around me, my colleagues start exuberantly shouting bids.

I feel out of control, and I’m never out of control. Not since I was seventeen. Which is where I’m suddenly transported back to.

Seventeen, with my soul broken, in sharp, jagged pieces being sucked out through my arsehole.

Yes, unthinkable as it is, I had a soul once.

But then she left. Without me. She took off with her father and all the money I’d stolen for them. She left me holding the proverbial bag, my digital fingerprints all over data that led right back to the internet cafe where she’d picked me up like the dumb mark I was. Even back to the flat I shared with my little sister .

I only had tickets out of town because I’d bought them to run away with her and Moira. We barely got through US customs safe before alerts went out for our names. We had to go with fake ones until I got rich enough to clear up the little problem from my past. Otherwise I would have had to keep running forever.

The sick twist of my guts knows that’s only the beginning of the story. Or rather the twisted fucking ending. I never cared about the money.

I care that she served me up on a platter to be fucking destroyed. Just like she did to others before and no doubt after me.

Now, somehow she’s here, nine years later. Madison. Mads . Though I doubt that was her real name either.

Here with her tits out. She glances shyly around the room of men with those light hazel-brown eyes, fluttering her lashes just like she used to at me when we were teenagers. Rage balloons inside my chest even as, in some part of me, I feel it working.

She’s still just as fucking beautiful and alluring.

I want her even as I want to destroy her.

How the fuck is she here? And what the fuck sorta con is she trying to run now? Moira’s told me all about her. A friend from the women’s shelter. A sad case.

Sad case my ass . Fury blazes even hotter when I realize she’s targeted my sister first, to get to me.

Fuck with me all you want, but my sister? Moira’s so na?ve. It’s always been my worst fear that someone will take advantage of her. I only let her volunteer at the women’s shelter because I have it guarded twenty-four/seven. I didn’t consider that one of the bitches inside might?—

My vision goes red and I’m two seconds from yanking Mads off stage by her hair.

Which is when I hear, “Six million going once, going twice?—”

“Ten million!” I shout.

I feel the stares of those around me, along with some disgruntled grumbles. I’m not supposed to be bidding tonight. I can see how it might feel to the so-called friends I invited here. As if I’m just artificially driving up the bid, but they’ll soon see that no one is walking away today with this so-called prize except me.

“Ten million, five hundred thousand,” tries one man, a finance bro.

“Fifty million,” I say, in no mood.

Everyone turns away, really grumbling now. “If you want to get your dick wet, grab a rubber and go find my sister,” I say coldly, “It’ll make her night.”

Then I’m striding towards the stage .

I jump up on the small platform, ignoring a frowning Caleb.

“Was this your plan all along?” he asks, in some sort of mood. “I told you, I don’t want your charity.”

I ignore him and snatch Madison’s wrist. My fingertips sizzle where they make contact with her skin, and I hate the electricity of our connection that’s still here. She looks up at me, her mouth dropping in an O of surprise.

“Hi,” she says tentatively.

Always playing her fucking games. I’m torn momentarily from the present right back to the moment I last saw her.

Those big eyes of hers were full of heartbreak and pity. “I know. I saw last night. Oh God, Domhnall. I saw . I’m so sorry. He’s a ? —”

“Don’t—” I cut her off. She was never supposed to know. I wanted to vomit. If I thought about it anymore, I would die where I stood. “Let’s leave like we always said. Right now. We’ll go get Moira and leave right this second.”

She shook her head. “We won’t make it across the border without money or my passport. You know he holds the passwords. But I know where he keeps them.”

It was too dangerous. “No, Mads, you can’t, we’ll figure a way out ? —”

But she just grabbed my face, cupping my cheeks with certainty in her eyes. She could always handle intense shit better than I could. “Go get Moira and take her to the airport. I’ll go get the money and my passport. We haven’t gone through all this for nothing. I’ll meet you there.”

She pressed her lips against mine. “I’ll meet you there,” she repeated, “I swear. We’ll start over. Together.”

Even after what happened, I convinced myself it had just been a missed connection. Even when I was totally broke and on the run, I tried to find her, convinced we were a tragic pair like Romeo and Juliet or some shit. Until I found out I wasn’t the first sucker she’d hooked on the line. Or the last.

My jaw sets tight, and I don’t say a word.

Not here. I can’t lose it here. I don’t know what kind of scene she’s hoping to make, but she’s not getting it out of me in front of everyone.

I pull her none too gently behind me as I stride off stage. She trips along in her ridiculous heels but finally hurries to catch up.

“Don’t ride her too hard,” one of the men in suits calls. “Baby, I’ll still pay you a thousand for sloppy seconds.”

They’re crass idiots and now that I no longer need them, they can fuck off.

I pass by the hallway to the wing where we’d arranged for the devirginizing to take place, and instead, pull her deeper into my mansion. We’d planned a party atmosphere and for Isaak to be nearby as a bouncer. There’s also a secret camera set up in the room in case the woman experienced any distress.

But I don’t want anyone around us to hear or interrupt my upcoming interrogation. I pull Madison past the room where the devirginization was supposed to happen and down the hall towards the parking lot by her elbow.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“I paid for the night. You’re going home with me.”

I shove out the door and she only squeaks a little as it shuts behind us.

Madison Harper has things to answer for.