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Chapter 30 : Danger Lurking
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Empire of Dominance Chapter 31 : A Date with the Devil
Without discussing it, they went to sleep in Kade’s bed while he stayed on the phone, managing the story.Raven half awoke in the middle of the night to the solid weight of him close behind her, as if he’d fallen asleep considering whether or not to spoon her. She smiled, sliding back into sleep: that was the first time she’d seen Kade be any kind of indecisive.It felt surreal to rise in the morning and step into the fresh steam of the shower, to scrub down with luxury soaps, and begin the process of doing her makeup—all the while knowing that not twenty-four hours ago, she’d narrowly avoided a knife swinging at her throat.To her surprise, Kade wasn’t at the office already, as he usually was by the time she got out of bed. To top it off, he had a delicate cup of espresso in each hand.“What are you doing here?”“Good morning. And I live here, by the way.” He put down one of the espressos on the bathroom counter in front of her. “I think that’s your robe now, though.”She
Empire of Dominance Chapter 32 : Family Resemblance
Kade’s POV In the livery car parked on the corner of the Reyka Hotel, Kade was gnashing his teeth. He allowed himself the luxury of showing his anger in private, as he listened to Hector Lyonell’s bombastic, idiotic monologue. Raven’s chilly responses made him bitterly happy, though—she was unshakable.Then he heard:“And if you do not let go of my wrist in the next ten seconds, I guarantee you will find yourself in an extraordinary amount of pain. If you haven’t noticed, you’re quite surrounded.”He almost burst out of the car at that moment. He was going to break this insolent little puppet of Oriri, make him eat his teeth while he apologized for his actions.But as Raven continued, he knew he wouldn’t have to. Lyonell dug his own grave with every word. There was no way Christina Lu would let this slide. Kade wasn’t entirely sure how Christina would find out—but he was sure that she would. And this useful puppet, the man who’d hired the assassin to clean up Christina’s
Empire of Dominance Chapter 33 : Obeying Kade
Raven’s POVIt hadn’t been easy getting out of the penthouse. Raven hadn’t even been sure it was going to work. She knew she needed two things: Kade’s isolated index fingerprint and a full capture of his palm print.The first she lifted with scotch tape off the metallic buttons of the intensely elaborate espresso machine. The second she peeled with a sheet of saran wrap off the marble panel that read the palm print itself. A circular maneuver, but it worked. The elevator door opened. And escaped into the humid summer night.She wasn’t fleeing. Not exactly. But she wasn’t going to be kept caged up, not now that she knew how to get out. And when she had such a good lead to follow up on.She hadn’t told Kade, but she’d found out the name of Hector Lyonell’s brother-in-law—the other cop who’d been with him the night of the Sinclairs’ murder.And now it was time to investigate.Hours later, long past the end of the working day, she dragged herself back to the penthouse via the s
Empire of Dominance Chapter 34 : Changes
Raven leaned in over her second cup of coffee in the morning, scrolling through her phone. Kade had already left the apartment—when, she didn’t know. It was Saturday; the day before her was a long void.She watched social media posts flicker by under her thumb.There was smiling photo after smiling photo, over and over again: people with their ordinary lives. Most of her close friend network was leftover from high school and college. Faces she recognized by instinct, names she loosely remembered.Then, all at once, she saw a familiar face, a familiar name, and with a familiar background buildings.Tatum, her roommate for the first two years of college, posed in a selfie, waving a peace sign.Raven hit the message options in seconds: Raven: Hey girl!!! Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were in town?? She didn’t have to wait even five seconds for the response: Tatum: Holy shit I completely forgot you’re still here!! For some reason, I thought you moved to LA
Empire of Dominance Chapter 35 : Night on the Town
Raven couldn’t deny though, as she wandered the shops and galleries of the artsy neighborhood walking off her mimosa buzz and damning the consequences, that Tatum had pissed her the fuck off.Like, seriously. How dare she? Tatum lived in her world, trying to help everybody but herself. Do-gooding, etc. Being the good she wanted to see in the world. Whatever. Raven didn’t need to be looked down on like that. She certainly didn’t need to hear about it from someone who would never be able to walk through the doors that Kade was opening for her. Galas, restaurants… How bad would she feel when she was richer than god and congress put together?She pulled out her phone, her buzz fading and her anger only mounting. She saw a long text from Tatum and caught a few spare words in the mix—among them selfish, evil, and destructive. Raven deleted the message without reading it.The alcohol in her system. She vaguely thought about this as she played with her phone in her hand. The alcoho
Empire of Dominance Chapter 36 : Garth
Raven felt her mind swimming back to the surface like a film coming back into focus. It was an effort: she felt so cold and loose and achy, as if she’d just walked a long way in intense heat. That must have been some kind of drug, she guessed. It had knocked her out completely, and it took a long few moments to come back to herself.The first thing she was aware of was the pressure against her wrists and the awkward angle they were pinioned at behind her. She felt hard plastic edges digging into her skin. Zip ties. She’d been propped upright on a leather bench—a car seat. And she felt the thrum of a motor through the seat, against her back and thighs.God damn it.She’d fucked up. Badly.This wasn’t the hitman—not the one with the double-forehead-hit signature. But she’d allowed herself to be literally cornered. And now she was tied up in a stranger’s car.Voices swam to her awareness, deep and masculine:“She’s up.”“Dose her again?”“Not yet. Let’s assess.”Fingers
Empire of Dominance Chapter 37 : You're Mine
Gunfire blazed, booming through the mist of debris and dust and sharp light that was suddenly turning the air into a maelstrom. Raven let herself go limp, crumpling completely to the floor, trying not to hear the dense punch of bullet impacting wood and concrete and flesh. Who was firing? Garth’s men hadn’t even had time to draw their weapons.Garth himself scrambled on hands and knees around behind her. She heard the sharp sounds of a gun mechanism working, readying.“Clear!” shouted a voice—a woman’s voice. The woman who’d escorted her out of the Rekya Hotel bar. “There’s only him left, sir. As requested.”“Thank you, Veronica. Sterling work, as usual.”That voice.Kade, Raven thought dully through the vortex of terror and rage and pain whirling through her head. Kade had come for her.But she’d never heard his voice so utterly, icily venomous. So full of brutality.She felt Garth Lu’s breath get very shaky behind her.“Don’t come any closer!” he roared, but his voice
Empire of Dominance Chapter 38 : One Possible Answer
Raven woke up to a flood of sunshine: true morning. And to Kade resting on top of her… and inside her. She felt a small, sweet thrill in her thighs as she realized. This had never happened before, not with Kade. Not this lazy vulnerability. This togetherness that wasn’t a clash of bodies and wills and sweat, that ended in the frenzy of pain and passion.This was new. And she didn’t mind it at all.Still, she slid herself out from under him. He didn’t stir: the man needed his sleep, she realized. Staying up all night long, watching over her, then reclaiming her. He’d worn himself down to nothing. For her.In the bathroom mirror, she evaluated the damage. The bruise on her hip was beginning to turn an angry dark blue, where the point of Garth Lu’s dress shoe had connected. But that was nothing. Her face was tender where he’d slapped her, but nothing worse than than. For all his grandstanding, he’d barely left a mark.She showered the last of the mildewy warehouse scent off of her
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