Red Handed (24 page)

They'd both carried their burdens alone. It was time for forgiveness.

“It wasn't your fault,” she said. “I've wasted years blaming you and, at the same time, hating myself for wanting you.” She shifted to wrap her thighs around his hips.

She was done with the guilt. Done with the tears.

Right now, she didn't want to worry about tomorrow. She wanted to escape for a few more hours and live in the fantasy world where everything would work out. She wanted to believe her stepmother was alive, Rinaldi would go to prison, and she and Cole would live happily ever after.

“Make love to me,” she whispered, her impatient fingers working to unbutton his leather pants.

“I want you, Danielle.” His hands slid to her butt. “I want your ass. Will you let me?”

The earlier plug had only given her a brief taste of what it would be like. He'd promised to prepare her, but their time was running short. What if they didn't have another chance? He wasn't the first man she'd made love to, and he might not be her last. But she wanted to give him something she'd given no other man. “There's nothing I'd refuse you. Take it. It's yours.”

“Hold on to me,” he ordered, lifting them both off the couch and carrying her through the living room and down the hall into a bedroom. He deposited her onto her feet and pulled her dress over her head, leaving her completely naked. Then he pushed her back onto his mattress, but rather than join her, he crouched down and pulled something from under the bed.

As she waited, she took in the room. It was similar to the rest of his personal space. White walls. No décor. For the most part, his residence was just a place for sleeping. The exception was his bed. Hearing Cole fiddling with something metallic, she studied it. Made of steel, it looked similar to a four-poster bed, but there were cross bars and built-in hoops along the headboard and on all four posts.

Cole stood, holding what she recognized from the dungeon as a black leather sex sling. Her nipples hardened and her pussy fluttered as he connected the metal chains supporting the sling to the four top corners of the bed frame.

“Time for a ride,” he said, once the sling was attached. “Lay on your stomach. There's a cut-out at the head for you to breathe through. Line up your mouth over that hole.”

The commanding tone of his voice made her shiver with arousal and her juices drip from her pussy. As she climbed into the sling, she realized she was so wet, her thighs were slippery. She rested on her stomach, careful to place her mouth over the hole in the head rest. Once she was situated, he spread her arms and legs wide, then restrained her ankles and wrists to the sling. She heard a tearing noise right before he positioned himself between her legs.

Cool liquid dribbled down the crack of her ass. Cole pushed a finger into her back hole, plunging it in and out until he had her gasping for more. Adding another one or two well-lubricated fingers, he stretched her muscles, slicking the inside of her ass with lubrication to ease the path for his cock. She moaned at the burn, and her nerves lit on fire, fueling her need for him to fill her.

His fingers disappeared, and a whirring noise began. He slid something into her pussy, and it didn't take her a second to recognize it was a vibrator. The head of the vibrator swirled near her G-spot, and another part of it vibrated and flicked her clitoris. Moaning from the overload of sensations and the direct contact on her clit, she tried to move away, but the restraints held her in place.

Cole slapped her ass. “Surrender to the pleasure, Danielle. You can't escape it or me.” She hissed as his thick length nudged the entrance. “You're mine, and now I'm going to prove it to you.” Inch by inch, he worked his thick cock into her ass until she was filled in both her holes.

Once he was fully seated, he used the sling to move her back and forth, relentlessly forcing her up and down his cock. She'd never felt so helpless or submissive. He fucked her as if she was a plaything for him to use solely for the purpose of getting himself off.

Yet at the same time, he'd ensured she would enjoy herself too. As the head of the vibrator rubbed the sensitive tissues inside her pussy, the nub of the toy worked its magic on her clitoris.

Pleasurable sparks danced down her spine, and lightning flashed in her eyes as the first orgasm broke over her in a wave of heat, smashing her into a million little pieces. But rather than give her a moment to rest, Cole continued to yank her onto his cock, keeping her arousal at a fever pitch and sending her directly into another earth-shattering climax. Tears from the pleasure drenched her cheeks, and her heart beat as if she was running a marathon. She rolled from one orgasm to another, the pleasure becoming almost unbearable as her pussy continuously contracted around the vibrator and the muscles in her ass clamped down on Cole's cock.

Cole's fingers dug into her hips. “One more for me, baby. This time I'm going to come with you.” She tried to relax her body, but everything inside of her grew tighter and tighter until on a scream, the tension snapped and she soared into the strongest orgasm in her life. Only seconds later, groaning, Cole flew over the edge as well, his motions slowing as his cock jerked inside her ass.

She didn't know how much time passed before Cole removed the restraints from her ankles and wrists and lowered her to the bed. He unhooked the sling from the frame and dropped it on the floor. He disappeared into an adjoining room, and she heard water running. After returning with a washcloth, he gently cleaned her up, then gathered her into his arms.

The night flew by in a tangle of warm lips and sweaty limbs, dirty words and tender touches. Her mouth worked his cock until he jetted his release on her breasts, and he rubbed it into her skin, marking her. She'd fall asleep only to be woken with his tongue between her thighs or his cock entering her from behind. They couldn't get enough of each other, hungry and frantic to possess and claim, their bodies speaking words neither could say.

But in her head, as he brought her to the peak of another climax, three little words repeated over and over again. And when he snored in the crook of her arm, she finally allowed herself to whisper, “I love you.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I
T WAS ALMOST
over.

By now, the money filled the coffers of some of the scariest sons of bitches in Eastern Europe, which meant his debt would be erased. Soon he'd have his reward.

He wasn't going to let them stop him. They could kill him, but his wife and children were untouchable. At least the Italian mafia lived by a code, but those Russian fuckers would murder their own mother in her sleep to prove a point.

They had no honor.

By tomorrow, Danielle would join him for a brief stay in his cabin. He'd finally have a woman who could withstand his torture and quench his thirst for blood and pain. Then she'd vanish like all the other whores.

Tonight he'd have to make do with the slut he'd tied up in the extra bedroom. It meant having to dig another grave, but what was one more when there had been so many he could barely remember what each of them had smelled like as their lives drained from their eyes?

This one was a screamer. He'd kept her doped and drunk for days, but tonight, he'd sobered her up in time for the party to start.

He opened his kit, laying the needles beside the defibrillator's paddles. When everything was set, he grabbed his knife, and with a shallow cut to her cheek, woke his prey from her drug-induced slumber.

Her hazy eyes instantly cleared as they focused on the blade in his hand. She screamed, her emaciated body fighting against the restraints keeping her locked in place on the mattress.

She was nothing but an appetizer.

By later tonight, no matter what it took, he'd have his main dish.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

H
OLDING UP HER
cable-knit sweater that Cole had given her to wear, Danielle stood still as Agent Miller wired her. He'd already inserted a tiny GPS tracker into her locket.

“You're certain the GPS will work?” Cole asked Agent Miller, who'd dressed up as a doctor again.

This morning, they'd spread the rumor to the trainees that Cole had nearly died from an allergic reaction to an unknown substance and was recovering in his residence. No one would blink at a physician coming to check on him. Also Gracie had announced that she was taking Danielle for a night out with the girls to cheer her up. They hoped the information would spread to the dungeon monitors and then to Rinaldi, letting him know that Danielle would be unguarded tonight.

Agent Miller finished taping the wire to her skin and pulled her sweater back down. “I doubt Rinaldi will suspect a thing, but we'll only be a couple blocks away from Danielle at all times, just in case. Don't worry, we've done this plenty of times. Danielle will be perfectly safe.”

“Were you able to figure out where he hid the money?” she asked.

The agent shook his head. “We're working on it.”

Logan got up from the couch. “Rinaldi transferred the funds using CHAPS to another UK bank and converted the money into Bitcoins. Then he wagered the entire lot of them on a hand of poker on a Darknet gambling website and lost. It will take some time to trace from there. Not impossible, but I'll need some special software for it. I've got my contacts out west on it, but it will be at least twenty-four hours before they can hack into the gambling site and access the block chain, then follow the network map.”

Agent Miller's jaw dropped as if he was shocked, but he quickly recovered, even going so far as to grin. “Hacking? I'll pretend I didn't hear that.”

Logan had mentioned he was into computers, but from the sound of it, he could do things that the FBI couldn't.

“Are we almost ready to go?” Gracie asked. “The girls are expecting us in a half hour.”

She nodded. “Just give me a minute alone with Cole.”

After Logan and Gracie left with Agent Miller, she turned to Cole. All day, he had been on edge, stuck inside his residence as if it was a prison. They hadn't spoken much about tonight, but he'd made it clear that he didn't want her to do this.

“You heard Agent Miller,” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest. “I'll be fine.”

He tipped up her chin. “I've spent eight years watching over you and trying to keep you safe.”

“And now it's out of your control, right?”

He walked backward to the couch and sat, bringing her onto his lap. “Yes, damn it. If I felt protective of you before you even walked into Benediction, do you have any idea of how I feel now that I've claimed every part of you? You said that you belonged to me, but if that was true, you wouldn't be doing this. You'd let the FBI find another way to find your stepmother and get Rinaldi.”

“Cole, I meant what I said.” She pressed a hand over his heart. “I do belong to you. But I'm not your slave. I'm free to make my own decisions. And besides, even slaves have a safe word.” She gave him a little smile. “You can't control everything. Sometimes, you have to have faith that it will all work out in the end.”

“I told you before, I put my faith in science.” He plunged his fingers into her hair at her nape and cradled the back of her head, pushing her toward him. He stared into her eyes. “If something goes wrong tonight, don't worry about ruining this operation. You do whatever it takes to make it home to me.”

“I promise.”

She kissed him lightly on the lips before she forced herself to walk out his door. Gracie showed her to the garage, and for the first time in days, Danielle left Benediction. They made small talk as Gracie drove, and Adrian followed right behind them in his car.

“I hope you don't hate me,” Gracie said as she parked in the darkened lot behind the restaurant. “I never meant to lie to you. Master Cole always had your best interests at heart, and so did I. Can you forgive me?”

Danielle clutched her locket between her fingers. “We all kept secrets. There's nothing to forgive.”

The snow swirled all around, the wind biting and bitter. They strolled into the Spanish-style tapas bar, pretending as if this was really just a girls' night out. Ceramic tiles colored in blue, gold, and white were used in accents on the walls and floors, and curved arches gave it a Western European feel.

Danielle immediately spotted Kate sitting at a round table with two other women. But like a storm cloud on the horizon, a sense of foreboding hovered over Danielle, chilling her even though they'd left the frigid temperatures outside.

Kate got up from the table and welcomed Danielle and Gracie with hug. “Rachel, Lisa,” Kate said, motioning to each of them with a wave of her hand, “I'd like to introduce you to Gracie and Danielle.”

Danielle sat beside the woman Kate had identified as Rachel, a stunning brunette wearing heavy eyeliner and a blouse unbuttoned enough to show her perfect cleavage. Rachel picked up her glass of wine, and a slight grin appeared on her face. “Are you both attorneys?”

“Uh, no,” Danielle said, catching Adrian sitting alone in a nearby booth. She scanned the restaurant looking for someone who looked suspicious, her knee bouncing nervously.

“Then you're members of Benediction.” Rachel leaned over, resting her forearm on the table. “Tell me, what really goes on behind closed doors?”

“Uh-uh, Rachel.” Like a mother admonishing her child, Kate shook her finger at her. “You know all members have to sign a confidentiality agreement. Even if I did know them from Benediction—and I'm not saying I do—they aren't permitted to disclose the details.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Spoken like an attorney. One of these days, I'm going to get in there.”

“Rachel's a reporter,” Lisa said as if it explained everything. She was equally as pretty as Rachel but in a less in-your-face way, with her straight medium brown hair, glasses, and simple makeup.