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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
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2024-10-29 19:42:56It was the noise downstairs that woke Bree from the micro nap she'd indulged in that had somehow managed to turn into full blown sleep.
Being a light sleeper has always been a bitch even though it did have it's pris, especially right now when she really needed the damn sleep.
She groaned as she got off the bed, knowing her unruly hair would be all over the place already.
She had the strands trying to get into her face for confirmation.
There was that sound again, jerking her to a stop, it was like someone was trying to force something open, maybe a door.
Her heart missed a beat as she stood rooted to her spot, listening and hoping she'd heard wrong.
That definitely didn't sound like Ryder coming in, he does have a key to the front door and won't need breaking the front door to come in.
Didn't sound good to her.
She went out of
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THE CEO'S PAWN CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
The fucking closet.That was the best she could come up with?Fuck!!Ryder wanted to pull the woman lying in his bed into his arms and shake her senses back.She wouldn't be out like a night light if she'd called the cops first before texting him or after, at that, and if she'd stayed out of the damned closet.He should have no business worrying about her, because this was the point right, to hurt her father by hurting her?But his heart had missed a beat when he'd found her in her closet, eyes shut and struggling to breath instead and there was that fisting somewhere in his thorax as he watched her sleep it off.He wasn't sure which it had been, a panic attack, claustrophobia or a panic attack initiated by claustrophobia.She hasn't said anything to him since he found her, except murmuring his name at intervals like
THE CEO'S PAWN CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
"They didn't."The voice droning in his ears was the last thing he wanted to hear but Ryder sat still listening to the recording."What the fuck do you mean by that?"It's been years since he's heard that answering voice but he recognized it in a split second, knew exactly who it belonged to.He'd know it anywhere, cause he'd had all their voices tattooed to memory.Fucking Nathan Stone.Of course he'd remember the pig, he'd been the tallest of the group and the most abusive.Billonaire owner of Stone enterprises, ruthless and a fucking swine at heart."Fucking Paul and his doors, you know, a fact we should have considered before sending the two fools we did. They couldn't get in before he returned, with the whole damn police department.""Cops?" Nathan asked, in that monotone voice he uses when puppetting others or commanding answers.There was a brief pause filled by nerve wrecking silence, but he sat still inst
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There was some kind of subtle shift in their relationship in the moment, and Bree was enjoying every second of it.It was obviously taking Ryder effort to keep up with his new found tenderness for her that probably won't last, but the effort mattered.She was still caught wondering what had happened while she'd been asleep that had caused the shift, but it didn't really matter, did it?Maybe it had everything to do with what had happened earlier, maybe not."So claustrophobia?" He asked as if he could see into her head at the moment.He had his eyes on her, eyes that were dark, beautiful and questioning."Uhmm...."The question he'd asked was an open one, she could either wave it off with a lie or trust him enough to share that piece of herself with him."Not really, it was......more of the darkness than the space that freaked me out. I'm nyctophobic."He raised a brow at her answer, drawing her eyes to his face, a
THE CEO'S PAWN CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
"Come over here and try kissing the answers out of me."Fuck, those sinfully tempting words had been the start of a beautiful weekend for Bree.No, she hadn't taken the cue Ryder had thrown, she'd been too scared of trying and breaking the spell binding them in that moment.But he had instead and oh God.He'd jerked her to him and had covered her mouth with his in the most sinfully erotic mouth fuckery she's ever experienced.She could still feel the ache he'd left unattended burn in her core.He'd called it quits before they could get to the best part, his eyes promising her more.But for the rest of the weekend Ryder had dedicated himself to teasing her to the point of madness and leaving her needing.And needing, she had been.It'd been so bad that in the dead of the night, she'd be up, bringing herself to climax with dark fantasies of him in her head and his name on her lips.But when he wasn't punishing
THE CEO'S PAWN CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
"What did he want?" Nemy asked immediately Bree came out of Bernett's office, startling her a bit.True to her words, she'd waited right there, same spot, for her."Office Nems." Bree whispered.She didn't trust anything anymore, the news Bernett had given her, albeit being a good one, made her uneasy.It made her believe something was going on and she had to find out what before she find herself in a noose she can't wiggle free of.The stone account isn't something Bernett would want to juggle around like he was doing under normal circumstances and the part where he'd mentioned Nathan Stone calling and asking specifically for her?That was a total trap if she's ever seen one.She didn't believe even for a second that this was just the golden opportunity that comes by once in a very long while."So what was it, huh? Why did snapping Bernett want to see my girl? Spill already Bree." Nemy asked immediately they stepped into her o
THE CEO'S PAWN CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Coming home wasn't what Bree had imagined it'd be and the Ryder she came home to wasn't the same one that had kissed her good bye earlier, this morning, with a glint in his eyes.After the day she had, she wasn't prepared to deal with a totally withdrawn and cold Ryder, again!Nemy had kept her words and had dragged Bree off to Glitz after work and they'd sat there over glasses of drinks, celebrating the job she still felt uneasy about.She didn't feel really drunk, but she felt different with the alcohol in her system, somewhere between to daring and naughty.Imagine what a damper it was to come home to this Ryder she was facing now, the grumpy taciturn version.There wasn't even any semblance of a smile on his face.She knew to take the cue when he responded to her awfully bright and inviting greeting with just a nod, ignoring her presence in the room afterwards.Fuck him.She wasn't letting him drag her mood down with his.
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Ryder wasn't intentionally being a dick, he was just drowning in guilt for what he'd done.And that in itself was absurd because that has been the plan from the very beginning, it was why she was in the picture in the first place.Except now, it just felt to him like he was using her and somehow, was betraying her too.It made him feel worse knowing that she'd had nothing to with what had happened to the younger him and nothing with her father too.It was clear he'd assumed wrong, the kind of relationship they shared.Jeffery obviously can't help being a monster to everyone, including his kid.He was swinging in deep confliction between Bree and his revenge, and none was coming out at the top.How the fuck did he get here?It wasn't supposed to go like this.But she wasn't supposed to be a sweet little thing, broken yet ha
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Last night didn't happen.Yeah, the part where Ryder had walked in on Bree pleasuring herself to a fantasy of him in her room and on her own fucking bed, had.And the part where he'd kissed her so fiercely, like he couldn't wait to rip what was remaining of her clothes off her body, had too.But she'd opened her mouth and had asked questions, questions he hadn't been ready to answer.And that had been it.She'd watched him go cold in seconds and the man she'd seen burn hot to have her was gone in an instant.He'd kissed her good night instead and had left her room and it had been worse than not getting a taste of him at all.It hurt more to have had a taste of his hunger and the pleasure he could deliver.It pissed her all night, that again he'd managed to come out on top.She'd tossed and turned all night, brewing in her anger and frustration and now she was enduring the consequences of that.First off, she'd wok
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Her box laid open in the middle of their bed while Bree went around the room, taking anything she thought she'd need and throwing them inside it.She's procrastinated this packing for a while now but it needed to be done and as a matter of fact now that Ryder was still at the office.She didn't want him to come home and find she was the only one delaying the vacation he'd taken the whole month to plan for them.Yeah, a vacation, more like a honeymoon except the kids, Karen and Issy, the new nanny, were coming too.In the couple of years that's passed, a lot has happened, none of which she regretted one bit.Not learning how damaged how husband had been before he waltzed into her life or that his plan had been to use her as pawn in his schemes to get revenge, none of it.That last part had hit harder than the rest, knowing that she could have so easily suffered for the crimes of someone who didn't even give two piece of flying shit about her.She'd taken her time to digest that piece
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"You know you'll never hurt Xander, right?" She asked him quietly, and honestly, she had no idea what that did for him.He didnt know that, he's been afraid of that since he knew he was expecting a soon too and maybe, just maybe, that has affected his relationship with his baby.He wondered if she'd noticed, all the times he'd opt to hold Lexie instead of him, afraid that whatever had made his father get so awfully abusive to him might be nestled somewhere inside him.What if it was a bad trait living inside him too, waiting to grow and make him a monster too?It was the sole reason he hadn't wanted kids, ever, but Bree had come into his life and many things had changed with her presence.She'd made him want things that he had no right wanting, made him be live he deserved some good things in his life and now here they were, with two kids, one of them a boy......just like he'd been."I need you to understand this Ry, you'll never be like your father. You are a good man, one of the best
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Bree knew that Ryder had gone through a lot growing up, hrll she knew he had had it tough growing up and has dealt with his fair share of traumatic experience, but abuse at ten?That was a lot to digest.It must have been so difficult for him, a different kind of hell even to loose the one person that genuinely loved him and have the other person who was supposed to love him now resort to abusing and molesting him instead.She couldn't stop the tears that rolled down the sides of her face as she listened to him tell it in that voice of his that couldn't choose between indifference, anger and pain.She could imagine him, so innocent, so small, so hurt and yet do afraid of the monster he calls father.No wonder his father snd hers had gotten so along together and had even made it as close friends.They were both bad pedophilic men, cut from the same nasty cloth.".......and just when I thought it couldn't get worse, he started bringing his friends over."Her breath caught in her throat s
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Before he got into bed, Ryder had already made up his mind to tell Bree everything that she wanted to know about him and why he turned out the way he did.He didn't want a fight like the last time, that had been an absolute hell, and he didnt want to let his past keep winning.He wanted to get it out there, he needed to.This morning had shown him that, he might never be over those horrid incidents but it would be better to know he tried.And if he had to share it with anyone, then why not her? Why not the woman he was ready to spend the rest of his life with?Even though he hasn't popped the question, he knew that was his truth, he's been ready for that step for a while now and he'd ask her anytime from now."Baby please...."Her voice called his mind back from wandering off.He opened his mouth to, but the words weren't coming, his tongue sat heavy in his mouth, unmoving, while the forbidden images he's fought so hard to keep at bay flooded his head.His hand that held her close sque
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Bree didnt know which bothered her the most this night between a tantrum throwing Xander who wouldn't calm down to anything and a Ryder she'd watched all day start to recoil into himself.But she'd be damned if he thought that she'd let him do that to both of them again.Not this time around, no.It was surprising still how fast his mood had swung from after she found him in the sittingroom with the last people on earth she expected to see today.He'd been okay at first, talking with them and even playing smug with her when she'd called him out on knowing they had guests snd not mentioning.But as the discussion in the room had settled more between herself and Larry, encompassing how much things had changed back home from when she left up until now and stuff, she'd noticed the start of his withdrawal. By the time Larry had come around filling her in on what had been decided on the case of her father, Nathan and Brandon, he'd been about ready to combust.She'd noticed, and before she c
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The rest of the day passed in a blur for Ryder, centered around the two new men in the house and the babies they came to visit, mostly.It was nice to see Bree around other people that wasn't him and the kids, to see her around her own crowd.She needed this, he knew, because in these past months it's been just himself, the kids and Karen in her life, which wasn'tideal for anyone really.It must have been difficult for her, not having anyone or anywhere to go, especially in the times he'd been an absolute asshole to her and she must have needed someone to vent to, but she'd endured it without complaint.He hated that she had though, she should have said something, done something, but she hadn't and he couldn't even lay the blames at her doorstep now.He'd been all that she'd had here, away from her family, biological and adopted, and he'd fucked up royally.These thoughts and accusations in his head while he watched her bloom like a flower having its first taste of sunshine in a while
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The memory of what happened in the bathroom stayed with Bree while she had her soak in the tub and an accompanying nice bath, making her flush every now and again.She never expected it to feel this good again, but Ryder had broken every of her doubts with how easily he'd made her body sing and how intensely he'd made her come.Her legs still felt shaky even after time had passed and she was out of the one room that now held a different memory for her.She'd worried that he didnt want her anymore since the babies came and mentally, she blamed it on her postpartum body and the scar that lined her flesh, the scar that marked her first step into motherhood.And those thoughts had almost made her hate it and herself too.But this morning, barely an hour ago, he'd shown her that she'd been worrying for nothing really.Her body ached sweetly even as she got dressed up, still humming from his sinful ministrations.The room was empty which means he'd taken the babies with him on his way out, s
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"Then stay."That sentence, made only of two words, in that moment, sounded more powerful than any argument Ryder could think of.He wanted to, fuck, he's dreamed of staying, like she was asking him to and doing the things she was suggesting, but the fears he'd parroted to her were real for him.He didn't want to hurt her, shes been through enough in recent times to add that to her plate and he knew he might with how rough this could easily turn.She had no idea what she did to him, to his control and without it, he could do things that both of them would only regret later....While his head turned and tossed the pros and cons of indulging their flaming desires and fantasies right now, his eyes followed her body's slow descent until she dropped to her knees before him.She looked like an angel to him, in fact to him she was one, just naughtier and more tempting to his already thin control.Her dainty fingers reached up to the waistband of the sweatpants he had on and he just watched as
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"Ryder.......please......"Bree could hardly believe the voice saying these words belonged to her.She sounded so different to her own self and that was probably because it's been a long while since she's had Ryder touch her like this.She was almost beginning to think they'd hit a drought in their sex life before this morning happened.The no sex rule made sense during her recuperation period she could understand, but even before that and then after, he'd still been reluctant to touch her in an suggestive way.It had bothered her enough to make her believe it was because she looked hideous to him now with her scars and all, but the eyes that had taken in every inch of her body just minutes ago had cleared her of worries.He wanted her snd he wasn't hiding that either.She arched her body as his fingers found her other nipple, catching it between his forefinger and his thumb and rubbing it mercilessly till she thought she'd come from the pleasure.Initially, she'd been afraid she might
