All Chapters of THE CEO'S PAWN: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The music in the random bar Ryder had driven himself was extremely loud. No, it wasn't the same one he'd met Bree in, if you were wondering. For someone who came to poach the territory and pick himself a lay for the night, he was doing a bad job of socialising. He'd chosen a table in the corner of room, far back and very dimly lit and for the past half an hour he's just been watching and drinking. And while he toyed with his glass of chosen poison, he sat scowling at every body that even dared to look back in his direction. There've been girls in and out of the room, all kinds of girls, from the innocent looking ones that looked like they'd lost their way and somehow ended up in here, to the ones that makes your blood boil because they dressed to be poached. But none of them seed to be what he needed, he seemed to be immune to all their charm and sexiness and

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

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

"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

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