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Chapter 17 : Not On Your Life
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Empire of Dominance Chapter 18 : What If?
Raven had been in the office a full two hours before Andre and Sharon arrived the next day.She waved at her coworkers as they stepped out of the elevator.“Morning!”“Morning,” Sharon said, a bit more slowly. “…How long have you been here?”“Not long,” Raven lied, smiling.“Weren’t you here early yesterday too…?”“Not that early.”Andre put her coffee on her desk in front of her, and Raven leaned forward as if to take it—but also to cover the content of the folder in front of her with her arm.“Hey, don’t take this the wrong way, honey,” said Andre gently. “But you look like a candle burning at both ends. The bags under your eyes would put a raccoon to shame.”Raven forced a laugh. “Yikes. Is there a right way to take that?”“We’re worried.” Sharon was blunt and warm at once, and Raven wondered what she’d done to deserve such a generous and open woman as her friend. “You’re working yourself too hard, Raven.”Privately, Raven agreed. Getting into the office so ear
Empire of Dominance Chapter 19 : Power Struggle
Raven was exactly where she was supposed to be at 10 pm: standing at Kade’s door. She hadn’t delivered her findings at the end of the work day, but not for the same reason she hadn’t been delivering them for the past few days. She wanted to do this in Kade’s space—in his home. She’d denied him Monday. She knew she couldn’t do so again. That was outside her power. But she could demonstrate her knowledge, her capability—as if that were somehow a counterbalance to her powerlessness in… other regards.Kade buzzed her in as usual, wordlessly. When she walked into the penthouse, there was a single, absurdly red long-stemmed rose lying alone on the countertop.Something settled in her stomach. She’d been entertaining the possibility—the terrible possibility—that she’d been wrong, and the roses hadn’t been sent by Kade at all but rather by the subject of her investigation as some kind of emotional sabotage. Nothing felt impossible just now. But the sight of the single rose settled an
Empire of Dominance Chapter 20 : Don't Disappoint Me
She went as ordered at 6pm, the diamonds burning a hole in her briefcase the way that the folder had. The bill on rideshares was getting absurd, but there was no way she was walking down the sidewalk, however short a distance, with this small fortune in her bag. Besides anything else, she’d probably just combust from anxiety. Or disbelief. Or anger.What was Kade doing? So much for “nothing romantic.” Where the hell did she stand with him now?She punched the call button on his private apartment entrance, feeling as if someone were shining an absurd, cartoonish spotlight on her: behold, a very confused quasi-fuck-buddy! Maybe!The door buzzed open, and she took yet another one of the longest elevator rides of her life.“Good. You’re on time.”Kade’s voice was obsidian-sharp as ever, but he sounded—different. In an instant, she saw why.He stood in front of her, adjusting the sleeves of an extremely stylish and extremely expensive tuxedo shirt.Raven stared at him in pure,
Empire of Dominance Chapter 21 : Burt Johnson
To Raven, it felt incredibly funny—and incredibly appropriate—that her first date with Kade was a farce.The limo pulled up in front of the massive colonnades of the city’s major fine arts museum. Raven focused in, trying not to think about Brandon and their promised date from whole days and lifetimes ago. This was too important to be distracted. Or bitter.Kade was stiffly upright on the bench beside her, elbow resting against the headrest beside him. His eyes were overbright and miles away in thought.“We’re here,” she said, gently trying to nudge him back to the present. “Any tips?”Kade leveled that cold gaze at her. Back in the moment. “Don’t flinch. These people can smell fear.”“So can I,” smiled Raven. “How’s my lipstick?”“Bloody.”“Perfect.”His hand slid along her leg, almost absently, as his fingers flexed against her thigh. Better than any pep talk.The limo door was opened from the outside, and Kade slid out ahead of her. He buttoned his tuxedo jacket wi
Empire of Dominance Chapter 22 : Signature Style
Raven must have blacked out for a second in a moment of flat, absolute shock.When she came back to herself, everyone was screaming. The world was a blast of noise and motion all at once. She was pinned and laid limp under the massive, dead weight of Burt Johnson’s corpse.He’d been about to tell her the truth. She’d been so close, and someone had killed him. Just like that. Brutal. Efficient.Someone was listening to every word.Which meant they’d heard her questioning him.So… why wasn’t she dead too?She couldn’t move. Someone was shouting orders over all the screaming. Shadows whirled overhead past the vacant pits of Burt Johnson’s empty eyes.Suddenly, his weight was yanked off of her in one gargantuan tug of force. Raven gasped in a breath—had she stopped breathing? Johnson’s blood was going rapidly cold on her skin. For a long second, that was the most real, tangible thing in the whole world.Then she was looking into Kade Sinclair’s dark, dark eyes. For a strang
Empire of Dominance Chapter 23 : Burn Them To the Ground
When Raven climbed back into Kade’s limo at the end of the night, she was in drab, mostly shapeless sweats the police forensics team had given her in exchange for the red dress, which was now evidence.She made one brief protest, entirely hopeless even as she said it, that her going back to Kade’s apartment now would look incredibly suspicious given that they weren’t supposed to have any kind of personal connection. But Kade didn’t even deign to answer. She understood why.Ever since he’d revealed how he knew the hitman’s signature, he hadn’t said a word. Maybe he didn’t trust his own voice. She didn’t know. But there was a dangerous destructible quality to him now in this vicious silence, that she didn’t know how to approach it or dare to break it.A hitman, she thought for the thousandth time. Like something out of a movie. Were there really hitmen in real life? Wandering around the city with sniper rifles?Obviously, yes. This simply wasn’t a world she knew.But Kade did.
Empire of Dominance Chapter 24 : Long Live the King
Kade’s POVKade was a quiet child: it came from being the only son of such a powerful man, or so he told himself later in life. After that powerful man was gone. After he was left alone in the aftermath, at the helm of the mammoth company that his father had left in his hands.But a side effect of being a quiet child was that Kade learned to listen very well. Voices and expressions became transparent to him, as if they were a language that he’d learned by heart. He, in turn, learned not to give anything away in that language, at least most of the time. He became a vault, all emotions locked below a layer of bedrock.He was the one son and heir of the Sinclair family, and that was the least that was expected of him.His father was a precise and pristine man, a man whose suits were always impeccable and whose voice carried gravity in whatever room he was in. He used that voice sparingly; Kade learned from him well.His mother was pure elegance, a woman who never laughed at the
Empire of Dominance Chapter 25 : Power
Raven’s POVRaven closed her laptop with an exhausted sigh. It was the third day of her confinement in the penthouse. The day was winding down, and she was crawling out of her skin.She had been working from “home”—home being coded for the guest room of Kade’s luxurious penthouse. There was a weighty desk in one of the suite’s side rooms, and she’d set up a private command center there, where Kade delivered her daily files from the office. Which he, of course, could still go to.This wasn’t the way she’d expected to be invited to spend longer than a single night in the luxury of Kade’s penthouse. But to be honest, she couldn’t complain about the amenities. It was the captivity she couldn’t stand.After Burt Johnson’s death, Kade had been managing fallout with steely calm. The news had been all over it: she’d been watching the news cycle return to it again and again over the last seventy-two hours. The murder had been showy, public, unabashed. They must have known the media w
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Empire of Dominance Chapter 50 : What's Mine Is Mine
Raven reclined in the back room office of one of the most exclusive fashion designers in the city, watching her sketch out another vision of a gown for next week’s gala dinner.“This is your debut among the elite as a serious player,” said the designer, lazer-focused. “I want you to look fucking dangerous.”“I like how you think,” grinned Raven, admiring the sketches upside down. “I look forward to seeing what you come up with. And then terrifying some pampered nepo babies into selling shares in their daddies’ companies.”“I like the way YOU think,” laughed the designer. “I’ll have five options ready for you by Friday.”“Excellent. Then I’ll run—I have a lot of appointments this afternoon.”The black-tie doormen showed her out to her waiting limo. HER limo. She slid into the cool interior, catching the curious glances of ordinary passersby—people who hadn’t even been aware of the massive transformation in the financial world last week, or if they had been, hadn’t been overly
Empire of Dominance Chapter 49 : Contract Signing
They were back at the restaurant on the ground floor of Kade’s apartment building only a few hours later for lunch—or for whatever indeterminate meal marked this strange, endless, wonderful day.Raven gratefully accepted a large pour of Kade’s favorite vintage of wine, allowing herself to breathe out at last. Kade had booked them a table by the window: a very visible table, almost like a stage onto the sidewalk. Kade kept his phone on the table, watching push notifications roll in minute by minute as he sipped at his own wine.“So. The Jackal.” She spoke tentatively, reluctant to broach a topic that would bring the whole mood of this victorious moment down. “How did that happen?”“Easily. I reached out to him and told him I had a job.”“Just like that?” She couldn’t help staring. It seemed too easy.“I have my underworld contacts. As you well know.” He didn’t seem at all phased to be discussing this openly and in public. Well, at least in his own restaurant. But then again
Empire of Dominance Chapter 48 : New Arrangements
They didn’t sleep. Raven felt too full of excitement—the lingering, brutal thrill of mindblowing sex and the impending victory made her feel like she’d had five coffees in a row. She showered instead of vainly trying to catch a few minutes of sleep, emerging in a wave of scented steam and contentment. She dug out the gala-night cosmetics from where she’d stowed them in the bathroom drawers and set about making herself immaculately made up.In the mirror, as she made a perfect, subtle cat eye with a careful flick of the eyeliner, she saw a polished, pristine businesswoman. Elegant and keen, like a big cat in a predatory mode. Christina Lu had this dangerous elegance, Raven thought. And now she did too. She was a part of this world. For the first time, she felt secure in that knowledge. She felt equal to it.Nobody was going to be able to take this away from her, she knew. She was what she was–and she very much liked the feeling of being dangerous, she’d come to realize.Kade ap
Empire of Dominance Chapter 47 : Repairing Relationships
The lawyers shuffled out after about half an hour of celebratory drinking and self-congratulations. Raven was left alone in the dining room, the last of the drug’s aftereffects fading into the light champagne buzz.Raven hoisted herself onto the table, where all the monitors and laptops had been set up only a little while before.But Kade didn’t come back in. She linked her ankles and swung them back and forth. If he didn’t show up soon, she decided, she was going to get at least a few hours of sleep before they met up with Christina Lu. But what was keeping Kade?Then she caught the flow of low, low voices. Hushed, coming from the kitchen. Kade and Seymore.She hopped off the table and moved tentatively toward the conversation. She told herself that she wanted to defend Seymore, if it came down to it. To tell Kade she understood what it would be to be dominated. To be taken. But she also knew she was just intensely curious.Kade and Seymore were poised, facing off from oppos
Empire of Dominance Chapter 46 : The Reckoning
Raven’s POVRaven felt the shivering motion of a car motor running. Her head was in someone’s lap, resting against a man’s strong thigh. She recognized the pressure of the palm cupping her head. The motion of a thumb stroking her hair. For a moment, she was floating in the heavy, sweet tenderness of that touch—of Kade’s hands, treasuring her with each touch.And then she remembered.She shouldn’t be awake. She shouldn’t be alive.She tried experimentally to wiggle her fingers. They responded—distantly, clumsily. But she could move. She could think. Granted, through an enormous headache and what felt like a boulder lodged in her stomach.Raven didn’t dare to believe it for a few long seconds.“Seymore, hurry.” Kade’s voice was close, cold, and tight. Urgent. “I think her hands are seizing—”She opened her eyes.There was a clear, split second when she saw Kade’s face looking down at her with open concern… and open affection.She felt herself smile. The soft, senseless
Empire of Dominance Chapter 45 : Conquering Oriri
Kade’s POVKade Sinclair did not get frantic. But he was very, very worried.He sat around the corner from Oriri, parked in the borrowed getaway car with the lights off on the cross street. Raven knew where to find him. She’d gone in nearly fifteen minutes ago, and she wasn’t back out. Seymore hadn’t reemerged either, but that was less concerning. Seymore would be pretending to negotiate, he thought, driving up the price for his loyalty before accepting it, to all appearances. Raven should have taken no more than ten minutes.He couldn’t wait any longer.If Oriri got Raven too… That would be too much. That would be it.He wouldn’t—couldn’t—admit that to himself. But that would break him. How they would send her body to him? All those years ago, the Oriri operative had described how a thirteen-year-old Kade would be left on his father’s desk. An ending to a legacy. To a dynasty. The tactics had never changed. Only now, it was the horror show of the Oriri heirs who were pull
Empire of Dominance Chapter 44 : A Glass of Whiskey
Raven’s POVThe automatic lights flashed on in the server room as Raven moved inside, flash drive in hand. She felt as if she were walking into a gunfight carrying a knife—or not even a knife. Maybe a walking stick. But there was no time to get fidgety or hesitant. She was in this now. Five minutes, she thought. Just let me make it five minutes, and I can do this.She plugged in, setting up at one of the maintenance consoles perched at intervals along the huge servers, with their rows and rows of blinking lights and whirring computer fans. Goosebumps prickled Raven’s bare legs and arms as she watched Oriri’s proprietary software kick into gear. Its format was unfamiliar but intuitive. Just get to the data, she thought firmly. Get to the data, and the rest is cake.And… it was.File after file opened at a tap. UI windows opened in a flash and vanished again as automatic approvals were granted by the certificate permissions Jane and Peter had loaded the flash drive with.The da
Empire of Dominance Chapter 43 : Bring Her In
Seymore’s POV A few minutes earlier, Seymore strode into the vast Oriri lobby, all slick marble and tasteful gilding along angular edges. They might be evil, murderous assholes, he thought, but they could decorate. Or at least hire good decorators.Seymore’s cheer was his armor, and he kept it up around himself. Nobody could crack good cheer. It was something he’d learned after long struggles. Even Kade didn’t know what Seymore had gone through in the years since school…What he’d struggled with. How he’d nearly broke.But now, he had his armor.He smiled at Charles Lu, as the second-youngest Lu sibling came toward him in the lobby. Seymore grinned cheerfully as he shook the hand of the man who had helped arrange the murder of his best friend’s parents.“Good evening, Mr. Lewis. Thank you for coming.”“Please, call me Seymore.” Seymore knew Charles Lu by reputation, and he was pleased to see his instincts were correct: the surviving Lu brother appeared to be about as
Empire of Dominance Chapter 42 : The Server Room
“It’s almost time.” Kade checked his high-end watch for the the fifth time in five minutes.“I know,” Raven smiled, trying to cool down his nerves and vicariously her own as well. “You said that a minute ago.”“I’ll follow a minute after you. In the car that you’ll be looking for when it’s time to get out. A blue hatchback.”“Yes, you showed me the picture.” Raven rubbed his arm. They were still in the penthouse elevator, standing ready for the taxi that should be appearing in precisely two minutes. Inside would be Seymore, diverting the taxi driver by—untraceable, unhackable—verbal direction to the penthouse. Nothing about tonight could begin with or leave a trail. No rideshare with a saved history and user associated program. It would all be done in cash and borrowed cars. Top secret, she thought. She was beyond finding it funny, though. Nothing about tonight felt funny.When she let her mind wander, she found herself floating back to Garth Lu. His face close to hers
