“D-Did I do something w-wrong, Sir?” she stuttered, hastily smoothing down the expensive lingerie I’d ordered her to wear. “Did I upset you?”
“No,” I ground out through gritted teeth. “Get dressed.”
I got up from my chair, ignoring her as I crossed the room to the minibar and poured myself a drink. A gin and tonic was my poison of choice for the night.
I felt her eyes on mine as I looked outside the window. The city was illuminated before me, bright lights and fast cars racing on the streets. The view made me feel like a God. Not that night, though. That night, it just emphasized I didn’t have what I so badly wanted.
“Sir, I apologize if I’ve upset you,” the pretty girl murmured, approaching me on trembling legs. “It really wasn’t my intention, I was hoping we could-”
“Not tonight,” I interrupted her, swirling the liquid in my glass. “You can go home now, Victoria.”
She flinched when I used her real name, as if I’d hit her.
Who would have thought she’d prefer being called a whore to her actual given name?
She was such a little slut, and any other night, I would’ve had a blast abusing her, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the time, and I couldn’t give her what she so desperately needed.
“Sir, I… I’m so sorry,” she whispered, and I turned around to find her eyes teary and filled with urgency. “I want to make it up to you, whatever I did, I just…”
“You did nothing wrong,” I replied with a sigh. “Now please, go. My secretary will arrange your ride home. Goodbye, Victoria.”
Her bottom lip quivered as she pulled a Burberry trench coat over her stockings and thong. She didn’t look up at me as she left the room. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to see her again.
Not that it made a difference to me. There were plenty of girls just like Victoria waiting in line for me.
The problem was, the one I wanted wasn’t part of the queue.
Violet Cabot.
Her name was a whisper on my lips, untouchable and so delicious my mouth watered as my lips formed the letters of her name. She was my obsession. Soon enough, she would be my possession.
My plan had been put into motion. Now the ball was in her court. And if my assumptions were correct, she would be the most eager-to-please little toy I’d had the pleasure of playing with.
Since that moment two years ago, I knew she belonged with me.
I’d bided my time. Waited for her to become legal with bated fucking breath.
Now it was time for the Devil to claim another soul. Now, it was time for Violet Cabot to submit to me, body, mind and fucking soul.TenDevlin18 months ago"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Devlin."
I shook Hawthorne's hand with my signature cool smile, not revealing a single emotion regarding how I really felt about the deal. Hawthorne was grinning from ear to ear and given that he'd just come into a fuckton of money, he had every right to be.
"And you," I replied. "Say your regards to your family for me. How is your son doing?"
"Ah, you know Steven," Hawthorne chuckled. "Getting into trouble just like always. But he does have a date tonight, one I've helped to arranged and that I'm praying goes well. It would be a good connection for the business."
"I see," I replied. "Well, I'm sure they'll have a great time. Who's the lucky lady?"
"I do believe you know her," Hawthorne replied. "Although I've heard your families aren't on the best of terms lately."
"Who is it?" I ground out, though I feared I already knew the answer. And I didn't fucking like it one bit.
"Violet Cabot." He leaned in closer, a sly smile on his lips as he delivered the punchline. "I hear she's grown into quite the beauty. I'm hoping everything goes well tonight. We could use a girl like her on our side, especially with her family's fortune. My son needs some straightening out."
"I bet," I growled, barely able to hold back my emotions.
"I just hope she can turn a blind eye to his ways," Hawthorne went on, pissing me off even more. "You know, boys will be boys."
He winked at me, as if I was part of his stupid fucking 'boys will be boys' club. I resisted the urge to smash my fist into his nose and instead just smiled coolly.
"I'm sure she's pliable enough," I replied instead. "What are they doing on their first date?"
"A private screening of Beauty and the Beast tonight, at eight," Hawthorne beamed. "I organized it. I heard it's the girl's favorite movie."
"How nice," I replied. "At your cinema downtown?"
Hawthorne owned a couple of properties in the city, and one of them was an old-fashioned cinema called Le Théatre. I had a feeling he'd want Violet on his own turf, so he could influence whatever happened that night.