“When I return, your punishment will be over.” He looked down at me. “If you miss one of the timers, and do not get back in the cage before it locks, your punishment will be even more severe when I get back.”
“Yes, Master.” I looked up at him and clenched my jaw as I nodded.
Devlin left me without another word. When he got to the stairs, he looked back at me for a moment—then he turned out the lights. My world was nearly plunged into darkness and his footsteps echoed on the stairs. I saw his shoes against a sliver of light coming from the door at the top of the stairs, but then they disappeared. The door at the top of the stairs slammed and the last glimmer of light was extinguished. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. The darkness gave me one thing though—privacy. I could finally cry. I could finally sob. That’s exactly what I did too, feeling the tears run down my face and drip onto the floor underneath me.
I’m strong enough to endure this. I’m strong enough to endure anything if it means my father sees daylight again.
I pray that I will…SixteenDevlinThoughts of Violet consumed me even when she wasn’t around.
I was supposed to be working, but every waking moment I had was spent thinking about her, obsessing about how I was going to make her mine. Violet Cabot was a dangerous addiction, and the worst part was, I had no intention of quitting her.
“Mr. Windsor?”
I looked up to find my secretary, Sally-Anne, standing between the glass doors of my office.
My eyes slid over her body, appreciating the pencil skirt that hugged her curves and the bow-adorned blouse that was just sheer enough to make her pink bra peek through the fabric.
“Yes?” I asked, looking away from her.
She didn’t hold my interest. Save for a certain spoiled little princess, no woman did.
“You have a visitor, Sir,” Sally-Anne managed, blushing fiercely as a tall, broad-shouldered figure pushed past her and into my office.
“That will be all, Sally-May,” he told her with a wicked grin, not even glancing at me but instead staring openly at my secretary. “My, you’re doing that outfit a favor. But it wouldn’t kill you to do something about that hair.”
Sally-Anne let out a shocked gasp while I groaned, getting up from my chair and approaching the two of them, knowing this wasn’t a good sign.
“Leave her alone,” I told the man. “This is my office, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Of course it is,” he told me with a syrupy sweet smile. “Your office that Daddy pays for, right, Devlin?”
Even though the words hadn’t been true for years, they still fucking stung. I hated that he’d started me off in the business. I’d made a name for myself, but it was true I wouldn’t have gotten my foot in the door without my elusive last name.
“You can go, Sally-Anne,” I told my secretary, already tired from the exchange.
Relieved, she took her leave, leaving me alone with the imposing man who’d stormed into the office as if he owned the place.
Now, my father fiddled with the drinks area in my office, pouring himself a drink from the bar and drinking it from the glass engraved with my initials. DW for Devlin Windsor – and unfortunately, for Dominic Windsor as well.
He eyed me as he downed the drink in one go, a smirk playing on his lips.
“Are you getting tired of your toys?” I asked him, running a hand through my hair. “Since you’re assaulting my staff, I’m just going to assume nobody wants to play with you anymore. Nobody in their right mind, that is.”
“Not quite true,” he replied, setting the glass down and buttoning his jacket. “But I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it, Devlin?”
“What the fuck do you mean?” I ground out, moving to the front of my desk and leaning against it to make it clear my father was outstaying his welcome in my building.
“I heard you have a toy of your own now,” he told me with that twisted smile. “Someone I know, even. Isn’t that right, sonny boy? You finally came over to the dark side, didn’t you?”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I hissed in response. “And I don’t have to listen to your accusations. I could call security in here and have you thrown out in a second.”
"Oh yeah?"
My father smiled sweetly, approaching me with measured footsteps.
"I'd like to see one security guard in this building brave enough to throw me out. I own this city, Devlin. You can play boss boy all you want, but the outcome's always going to be the same. This city and its people listen to me, not some young-ass kid who thinks he's got them all by the balls."