CHAPTER FIVE

Eton Domino strode away from the captive’s room, his mood darker than ever.

The maid he met on the way to his office took one look at him, paled, and ducked her head, as if hoping he wouldn’t notice her. Smart little thing. Too bad he was to worked up right now.

He grabbed her arm. She froze, barely breathing.

“Lena, is it?” he said quietly, eyeing her blond hair and slim figure. She wasn’t particularly pretty, but she had plush, soft-looking lips. His eyes lingered on them. His jaw tightened.

“Yes,” she said meekly, glancing up at him for a moment before dropping her gaze. He could see her pulse beating madly at the delicate base of her neck. She was scared of him. Or perhaps she was excited. Probably both.

Silently, he opened the door to his office and went in. He knew she would follow him inside.

He wasn’t wrong. He rarely was.

“Close the door,” he said.

The door clicked shut behind him.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside and a tree branch banging on glass. The room was very warm despite the freezing weather.

There was no heating in the gray room where he kept his captives, Eton thought, recalling the girl’s shivering body. The lack of heat was a strategic decision: usually the “guests” staying in the gray room were to be weakened by hunger and cold. Certainly not to be pampered and fed properly.

Eton's jaw clenched, thinking about the tempting picture of that little girl licking her lips with her soft, slippery tongue.

“You may leave now,” he said. “Or you may undress.”

After a brief pause, there was the sound of clothes rustling.

He took a deep breath, trying to relax his shoulders. It wouldn’t do to hurt the woman. He rather liked her—when he didn’t feel like breaking something. Or someone.

“Over my desk,” he murmured. He wasn’t in the mood for elaborate foreplay. Not today.

She was wet when he pushed into her.

She let out soft moans as he fucked her, fully clothed but for his open fly, his fingers gripping her hips in a punishing grip, his teeth gritted and his eyes staring into the snowstorm raging outside.

He barely felt himself coming. It was just a release, an outlet for his dark mood. It did nothing toward easing it.

“You may go,” he said afterward, pulling a few bills out of his pocket and placing them on the desk by the woman’s panting form.

She smiled dazedly, grabbed the money and her clothes, and hurried out of the room.

Eton tied the condom and threw it into the rubbish bin.

Dropping himself in his chair, he lit a cigarette and closed his eyes.

Goddammit.

Even despite the fuck, Kennedy's little girl with her golden curls and plush, cherry lips still stood before his eyes. That mouth. It was a cross between an angel’s mouth and a whore’s.

He wanted to fucking wreck it.

He’d wanted it from the moment he first saw her in the restaurant, all dressed up and trying to play grown-up games without knowing any of the rules.

Eton wasn’t used to denying himself what he wanted. He always got what he wanted. Except he couldn’t fuck the girl’s mouth, couldn’t split those lips on his cock and choke her on it as his body wanted.

For fuck’s sake. He wasn’t a fucking pedo. No matter how pretty that mouth was, his physical attraction to a girl didn’t sit well with him. He didn’t like what he couldn’t understand or control. It was also inconvenient as hell. He ought to be thinking about the best use he could get out of Kennedy’s beloved daughter. Instead, he had spent minutes petting the girl’s soft curls and staring at her mouth.

Unacceptable.

And it was completely uncalled for that he had relented and ordered the guards to feed the captive better, only because the girl batted her eyelashes and asked him prettily.

Eton sneered, disgusted and irritated with himself. He should have starved the kid. He should have starved her until those pretty lips became pale and chapped, until those rosy cheeks hollowed out from malnutrition, until the girl turned ugly and pathetic.

Eton threw his cigarette into the ashtray and pressed a button on the intercom. “Bring me a bottle of vodka, Vlad.”

He could sense Vlad’s surprise even without seeing him. “But you don’t drink,” Vlad said slowly. “You never drink.”

Eton murmured, “Save your bullshits, Vlad.” His voice hardened. “Get me that bottle now.”

“Give me a minute,” Vlad said, probably realizing he was in no mood to tolerate his insolence this time.

Vlad had been his head of security for almost ten years. He was very loyal—he was one of the few people Eton trusted implicitly—but Vlad tended to forget himself, expressing his disagreement with Eton’s actions in situations most people would never dare to.

The door opened and closed.

Vlad walked in and placed a bottle of vodka on the desk, his pale brows drawn together. He opened his mouth but shut it upon meeting Eton’s gaze.

Eton stared at the bottle in front of him. His mouth was dry and the urge to drink was definitely still there, but he squashed it easily enough. He hadn’t touched alcohol in fifteen years and he had no intention to do so ever again. He was still in control of himself and his life.

A little girl with cocksucking lips wasn’t going to change that.

“Take it away,” he said, satisfied.

Vlad didn’t comment, just took the bottle back. His gray eyes observing him in silence.

“What?” Eton said without any inflection.

“What are you going to do with Kennedy's brat?”

Eton lit another cigarette and took a long drag. “Haven’t decided yet. I didn’t exactly plan this.” The girl had practically fallen into his lap.

Vlad cocked his head to the side, his expression curious. “It’s very unlike you to act impulsively.”

Eton shrugged with one shoulder. “I know a good opportunity when I see one.”

Vlad nodded slowly. “So does that mean you’ll use the girl?”

Use the girl. That sounded so wrong, but it stir something within Eton.

“Of course I will use the girl,” Eton said, looking at the bottle still grasped in Vlad’s hand. He dragged his eyes away.

“Kennedy needs to be taught a lesson.”

“And pay what he owes you,” Vlad said.

“It’s not even about the money,” Eton said, eyeing the cigarette in his hand. “The fucking bastard had played me.” He thought of his sister's lifeless eyes and crushed the cigarette in his hand. “No one gets away with that.”

“Don’t you think it’s cruel to drag the kid into it?”

“She’s old enough. Not a teenager anymore.” Eton said flatly. He had checked. Twice.

Vlad snorted. “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t give her a day over sixteen. She looks so…innocent, I guess.”

Eton shot him a sharp look. “Why the sudden interest?”

Vlad shrugged. Was he avoiding Eton’s gaze? “She’s interesting. In the past week she never cried once, didn’t go into hysterics even when she was brought in. She’s practically a perfect captive.”

Eton continued studying him, watching Vlad grow uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

“Is that so?” Eton said.

“Yes.”

“She has bruises on her face,” Eton said, watching his head of security. “And from the way she was breathing, her ribs are at least bruised. I gave no such order.”

Vlad swallowed.

Eton didn’t soften his expression, watching Vlad squirm. It wasn’t that he gave a fuck when his men roughed up his “guests” a little. But he didn’t tolerate it when his orders weren’t carried out precisely. He hadn’t given his men permission to touch his newest prisoner.

“You know how the boys get when they’re bored,” Vlad said, still not quite meeting his eyes.

“I know,” Eton said. “But it’s your job to rein them in.”

Vlad nodded, his wide shoulders slumping. “It won’t happen again,” he said, turning to leave.

“Did you participate, too?” Eton said.

Vlad froze.

“I thought so,” Eton said, very softly.

“Look—” Vlad started, his ears red. “It happened only once. I know I shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have let it happen, but it was fucking freezing outside and I had a few sips of vodka to warm me up and—I know it’s no excuse—”

“It really isn’t.”

“I know!” Vlad said, frustration and regret lacing his voice. “It’s just—there’s something about that kid that makes all my men agitated, and I’m not an exception.”

Eton's eyes narrowed. He had an inkling what had his men so agitated. It wasn’t even the girl’s pretty face or blowjob lips. It was the air of innocence about her. The urge to dirty her up would be nearly irresistible to men who didn’t have a shred of innocence left.

On one hand, it was a relief to know he wasn’t the only one affected by the girl, but on the other…it was clear that leaving Kaia Kennedy in the care of his men may not be a good idea if they were so easily influenced by the captive to the point of forgetting their orders. It was dangerous.

Eton surrounded himself with only the best men, but he was aware that few of them had his self-control. Some inebriated idiot might be too susceptible to the girl’s pretty lips and doe eyes.

“Are you saying you can’t control your men?” Eton said in a low-pitched voice.

Vlad gulped. “I’m saying I can’t control them around the kid,” he replied with a grimace. “No matter what I threaten them with, when they get bored or drunk, they want to have fun. And the girl looks…” Vlad licked his lip. “No fucking clue why, but she looks fucking beautiful all beaten up and bruised.”

Eton's fingers twitched. “Is that so?” He stared at the fire cracking in the fireplace.

That girl was dangerous... Vlad was the most dependable head of security for him, but she could even get the unflappable Vlad so agitated easily...

“Eton?” Vlad said tentatively.

He looked up. “I’m disappointed in you, Vlad.”

His jaw tightening, Vlad nodded briskly, his beefy body tense and wary.

Eton went silent for a while. He always enjoyed this part. Let him stew for a bit.

“I hope that kind of violence will not happen to the girl again.” he said at last.

Vlad relaxed, breathing out. “It won’t. I promise.”

“Not good enough,” Eton said. “Kennedy's daughter will be moved to the room next to mine.”

Vlad’s eyes widened. “What—but it’s a security risk—”

“You know what’s a security risk, Vlad?” Eton said cuttingly. “When my head of security gets too fucking distracted at work.”

Vlad flinched. “I promise it won’t—”

“Your promises are not enough. I’m not punishing you only because you have proved in the past that I can trust you with my life. But now you proved I can’t trust you or your men with a single girl.” Eton pursed his lips. “Get the room secure and have the girl moved into it. From now on, until you prove to me I can trust you with this, I will be the only one who has contact with the girl. Dismissed.”

Vlad nodded and left with a chastised look on his face.

As soon as the door shut after him, Eton leaned back in his chair and breathed out, unclenching his fist.

Now, the game specially designed for his enemy's daughter has began...

...................