“Hello, Marcus,” the woman on the other end of the line purred. I could hear the vulpine smile. “It’s good to hear your voice again.”
I whirled in the opposite direction I’d been walking and stalked down the hall, not even knowing why. Everything felt reactionary. “What the fuck are you doing calling from Natalie’s phone?”
“I’m in New York for a visit and ran into your lovely girlfriend,” Astrid said, affecting a hurt tone. “She was kind enough to let me use her phone to call you.”
“If you’ve hurt a single hair on her head…”
“What!? I would never!”
I stopped mid-stride again and spun back around. Chloe was already on the phone, eyeing me as she spoke quietly into the mouthpiece. “Put her on.”
“Marcus—”
“Put her on right now, Astrid.”
I heard her sigh, and then the ambient noise around her shifted; it grew more intense.
“You’re on speakerphone, Marcus,” Astrid said, sounding further away from the phone and more tinny.
“Hi, Marcus!” It was Natalie.
“Nat!” I said, relief beginning to blossom in my chest. “You okay?”
“Yeah!” she said. I just sat down to eat some lunch and bumped into Astrid. She’s really sweet!”
“Nat,” I said. “Please leave.”
There was a pause… then, “What?”
“Just get up and leave.”
“Marcus!” Astrid interjected, “Please! I just want to talk!”
“You can’t possibly have anything to say that I want to hear,” I snarled.
My hands were already full with Tanaka. The last thing I needed was Astrid showing up, threatening my loved ones, and making my life worse. The bitch was literally too insane to be of any actual use. If anything, she would likely just fuck things up.
“Marcus!?” Natalie said, sounding alarmed.
“Just give me ten minutes,” Astrid said, and I could hear a pleading note in her voice. “Ten minutes, and then I’ll go away.”
I looked at Chloe, who had walked up to me with phone in hand. “They’re at Hilda’s on Sixty-Seventh Street,” she said.
If I told Natalie to leave one more time, she probably would, but apparently, the man Chloe had assigned to Natalie was still with her. With Astrid waiting there for me, I didn’t see any other reason to continue this conversation over the phone.
Much better to make the twenty-minute journey there and get in her face.
“Fine. You get ten minutes,” I growled into the phone. “I’m coming to you.”
“Perfect!” The blonde princess sounded delighted. “What shall we order you?”
“Nothing. Ten minutes isn’t enough time.”
Without waiting for a reply, I hung up the phone. “I want my car out in front immediately.”
“Already on it,” Chloe said, phone to her ear. She followed me as I continued back down the hall toward Chandler’s office.
In a few short moments, I was at his office door. Opening it, I strode in. Helen, Erin, and Charity were gathered with the seasoned businessman. They all looked up at me as I entered, and I could see the strain on Chandler’s face and the weariness in Erin’s eyes. I owed all of them some serious vacation time once this was all over.
“Bad news,” I said. “Astrid’s in town, and she just called me from Natalie’s phone.”
Erin straightened and blinked. “Astrid? As in…”
“Yeah. That Astrid. I gotta go deal with her, so you’ve got about a minute to tell me whatever you need to tell me.”
“It’s gonna take more than a minute, boss, but long story short, they seem to have bought it. Emmanuel wants to order Chinese food and go over some of the initial discrepancies he found. Helen, Chandler, and I were gonna tackle that while Vikram goes back to their office to start reviewing some of the proposal drafts they’re working on.”
“No red flags?” I asked, hardly believing what I was hearing.
“I told you this would go well,” Helen said. “The next stage will be the real test.”
“I’m still counting this as a win,” I said.
“Oh, it’s still a win,” Chandler said. “Don’t let Mrs. VanCamp’s dismissive tone fool you, my boy. We’ve accomplished in a week what other teams would take months to achieve.”
“That’s the spirit,” I said. “Don’t sell ourselves short.”
“You want me to come with you, instead?” Erin asked.
“No,” I said quickly, my protectiveness kicking in. “I don’t want you anywhere near that witch.”
Erin and Helen glanced at each other.
“I’ve got to go,” I said before I could get any pushback. “Keep me informed if anything changes.”
And then I was out the door, heading toward the elevators.
“I don’t suppose we can take a helicopter?” I asked Chloe.
Chloe shook her head. “No access at the restaurant. We drive.”
“Fuck.”
“Chuck said there were no signs of danger. He didn’t know who she was, but she never touched Natalie, and she’s been nothing but pleasant. Should be fine.”
“Hope so,” I said as we closed in on the elevators. I pressed the button to call it and eyed the number over the door as it changed. “There’s really no telling with her, though.”
***
Wednesday, October 9th, 1:41 pm
My driver probably broke several laws of physics to get me there so quickly… not that I would have noticed. I’d been too preoccupied by thoughts of what Astrid could possibly want to pay attention to the impossible feats used to reach Hilda’s as quickly as I wanted.
Coming to a halt in front of the restaurant, he pulled up to the curb amid several angry honks. Chloe opened the door, climbed out, and held it open for me. John emerged from the front passenger’s side and stepped onto the curb beside Chloe, fastening one of his coat buttons as the SUV sped off into traffic behind us.
I spotted Natalie in the courtyard of a lovely boutique deli, giving me a broad smile and waving. Across from her sat a slender woman wearing a brimmed hat the color of burnt umber, and as she looked over her shoulder in the direction Natalie was waving, she pulled her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to peer at me over the tops.
Then she flashed a blinding white smile. Soft dimples at the corner of her mouth clashed with her sharp, angular features. Astrid was stunning in an ethereal way, and I had a collection of photos to prove it.
In person, though, it was different, and any fool who found him or herself on the receiving end of one of those sweet smiles would have normally counted themselves very lucky.
As long as they didn’t know what she was really like.
Approaching the entrance to the outside seating area, a woman standing beside a podium beamed at me. “Welcome to Hilda’s! How many?”
“I’m with those two,” I said, pointing to the ladies and giving her an ingratiating smile.
John posted outside the waist-high fence, keeping a watchful eye while Chloe followed me toward the others. I spotted two other men dressed fashionably nearby, but carrying themselves in a way that my experienced eye spotted as dangerous—they had to be Chuck and whoever Astrid’s bodyguard was.
Natalie stood up as soon as I got close enough and hugged me, wrapping one arm around my waist while another snaked around my neck. She kissed me just next to my ear and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
Despite the situation, her soft lips next to my ear gave me chills, and I did my best to ignore the feeling. “Just bail as soon as you can. I’ll explain later.”
I slipped free from her grasp and turned to see that Astrid had stood and was reaching to hug me. Not wanting to make a scene, I embraced her.
Where Natalie had curves for days, contrasting her slender waist, Astrid was willow-thin, like a lingerie model. Pulling her close made her small frame more apparent—I felt like I could actually snap her in two.
As I hugged her, her hands slid up my arms, fingertips pressing into the meat of my shoulders as she whispered into my ear. “You look good, Marcus. I can tell you’ve filled out a little more.”
“What are you doing here, Astrid?” I growled next to her ear.
“You kept ignoring my calls and texts, dear.”
She pulled away before I had a chance to tell her that wasn’t an answer to my question and sat back down in her chair, returning to her salad as I joined them.
“Well, this was an unexpected treat!” Natalie said, reaching out to grasp my hand. She squeezed it, but I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her fingers. “I haven’t seen this guy since Saturday.”
“Aw… just like a man.” Astrid leveled her gaze at me. “You mustn’t neglect a woman this stunning, Marcus. You don’t want her to start wondering if she can do better.”
Natalie looked stricken. “Oh, he’s not neglecting me! We’ve both just been really busy.”
“That’s right! You were just telling me about finding a new job! That must be so exciting, starting a new chapter of your life!” She looked back at me. “And what about you? What’s your excuse?”
I shrugged. “A few different business ventures. Trying to differentiate myself from my grandfather and the rest of the Gerrards.”
Astrid nodded. “Start your own legacy… how noble!”
“Thanks,” I said. I sat back in my chair, entwining Natalie’s fingers with mine. “So, how did you two bump into each other?”
“I had just sat down for a late lunch when Astrid showed up and asked if she could join my table.”
Glancing around, I had to admit that the place did look almost full.
“We started talking, and she mentioned being a major stockholder for VistaVision. I said that you were, too!”
Astrid interjected, “And when she told me her boyfriend was you, I couldn’t believe it!” She leaned in and slid her fingers over my free hand, her thumb caressing my knuckles. “New York is so big! What are the odds that I would run into your girlfriend!?”
I glanced at Natalie and saw her staring at Astrid’s hand on mine. Her smile suddenly became brittle, and I could see the heat in her eyes as that little streak of jealousy surfaced.
“What are the chances?” I agreed, slipping my hand free from Astrid’s grasp. “What are you doing in New York? Something to do with VistaVision?”
“Yes,” Astrid said, seemingly unfazed when I pulled away from her. “I hear there might be a significant change of stock ownership, and as a stakeholder, I wanted the particulars.”
“Well,” Natalie said as she gathered her purse, “as much as I enjoy discussing company ownership buyouts, I’m afraid I need to get back to the office.
“What?” Astrid asked. “No! I didn’t mean to chase you away!”
“It’s okay! I really need to get going.” Natalie stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll let you two talk. It was nice meeting you, though, Astrid.”
Astrid stood as well. “But your boyfriend just got here!”
“It’s okay. We’ll see each other tonight.”
We hadn’t had any plans for tonight, but after this, you could bet your ass that Natalie would be staying at my place for the next several nights. Since the start of negotiations, the danger of having someone assassinate me or my people had reduced significantly, and security had allowed Natalie to return to her own house as long as she had a bodyguard with her. Though I suspected that she missed staying at my house.
Her staying at her apartment by herself while Astrid was in town sounded like a bad idea.
I stood up, hugged Natalie, and said, “See you tonight, sweetie.”
Saying her final goodbyes, Natalie left Astrid and me alone. The willowy blonde sat back down and sighed, “She seems sweet.”
“She is,” I said, joining her back at the table. “What the fuck were you doing with her?”
Astrid pouted as she played with her salad. “That’s uncalled for, Mr. Upton. I just happened to be in the neighborhood and—”
“I’m two seconds from your ten minutes being over, Astrid.”
She huffed and dropped her fork. “Fine. I had Natalie followed and ambushed her just so I could get your attention.”
“How did you know I was dating Natalie?”
“I hired a private investigator.”
That set off alarm bells, and I glanced up at Chloe, who had found a small table nearby and was browsing a menu.
“Oh, don’t blame her,” Astrid said. “Your security team did a remarkable job at keeping my man at bay. They nearly caught him once, but I think they assumed it was one of Hiro’s mercenaries.”
“And what do you want?” I asked. “I told you we were through.”
She lifted her coffee and took a sip, peering at me from over the rim. “Did you like my pictures?”
Truth be told, I did. In fact, I’d missed them over the last few days since she’d gone silent and had started to wonder if she’d gotten bored with me. Losing that daily hit of erotica had been a bit of a downer.
Of course, I’d never admit that to her.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I deleted them as soon as I got them.”
She put her coffee cup back down daintily, the corners of her lips curling in amusement. “Liar.”
“Now, who’s being rude?”
“Each one was marked ‘received’ within the hour. If you truly wished not to see them, you would have blocked my number… not kept looking.”
Unable to mount a good defense against that, I broke eye contact, preferring to watch the people inside the deli than see the triumph in her eyes.
“It’s alright, Marcus,” she said, her head cocked as she smiled at me. “No one can blame you. We are animals, after all.”
I felt toes brush my shin, drawing my attention back to her.
“I’m flattered… and I promise not to tell your girlfriend.”
I withdrew my leg until I felt her touch disappear. “Did you seriously fly all the way to New York to call me out for looking at your selfies?”
“Yes.”
I snorted in derision.
“...and also to talk to you about your sale of VistaVision. I wasn’t lying.”
“What about it? Nothing in the bylaws says I have to get approval before I sell everything. Hiro wants a change of leadership after the sale, but you’ll get to vote on that.”
“I don’t have a problem with you selling the company, Marcus. I want in.”
My mind went numb. “Come again?”
“I want to buy your shares.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Hiro has dibs. We’re right in the middle of negotiations.”
“Have you signed a contract?”
“No.”
“Then you’re not locked into anything.” She said, giving me a dazzling smile. “I’ll outbid him. Sell to me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You don’t know how much he’s purchasing them for!”
“How much is he purchasing them for?” she purred.
“I’m… not going to tell you that.”
Astrid looked genuinely perplexed. “Whyever not?”
“Because,” I glanced around the courtyard as if I’d be able to find the perfect answer just lying around. “I’m not selling to you.”
She studied me—all pretense of playful flirtation gone, and I did my best to meet her gaze.
If Astrid went too far down this line of questioning without me giving her solid answers, she could become suspicious and dig deeper. The last thing I needed was someone as smart, resourceful, and motivated as Astrid realizing that I was selling unholy water.
So I told the truth… as much of it as I could. “I’m selling them to Hiro for fifty-four dollars per share.”
Understandably, Astrid’s eyes popped.
I was selling my shares for roughly half their current value. They’d been even more valuable a few weeks ago, but Hiro’s interference had caused the price to drop. Good for him, I guess.
“This is a bid for peace,” she finally said. God, she was insightful.
I shook my head. “It’s not just that. I want to be done with this company. It’s got my grandfather’s name written all over it, and it feels like I can’t escape his shadow.”
“But you’re throwing billions of dollars away and enriching your greatest enemy!” she said.
“I’ll still have billions, Astrid, and if I sell to him, he won’t be my enemy.”
She fixed me with a cool stare. “Will that be in writing?”
“Yes.”
Astrid straightened in her chair, disapproval written all over her face. No… not disapproval—disgust.
“I thought you were better than this.”
“What?” I said. “You just want me to let this war continue? Do you know how many people’s lives have been ruined by this?”
Astrid’s head tilted. “Dickens said it best—'Decrease the surplus population.’”
“Fuck.” I stood up.
She blinked up at me. “What?”
“That’s just heartless.”
“I still want in on VistaVision,” she said, not missing a beat.
I slid my chair back under the table. “We all want things.”
“Marcus,” Astrid said, reaching for my wrist. Movement flickered in the corner of my eye as Chloe stood from her spot, and I raised my other hand to stall her. Astrid’s bodyguard, who had been standing inside the fence of the courtyard, stopped looking like a statue and resembled more of a coiled tiger… all without moving a muscle.
“I’ve seen who you are,” she went on. “In those moments in the wreckage when there was no one around but me to see it…”
She bit her lip. “In my room, just before you left.”
I’d threatened her—more than once.
“Let me help you,” she urged.
I glanced down at her hand and slowly removed my wrist from her grasp. “No thanks.”
She shook her head and huffed. “I knew this was futile. You’re really going to walk away and not accept help?”
“Sorry. Nearly getting me killed is kind of difficult to get over.”
Sighing, she nodded. “That’s why I didn’t come empty-handed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I brought a gift. An apology for my… rash actions. It should have been delivered to your building by now.”
I balked. “I’m sorry… what?”
“Marcus, just promise me one thing,” she said. “Open your gift. If you like it and want to keep it, just give me a chance. If you don’t, you may return it, and you won’t hear from me again.”
My phone was already out of my pocket and in my hand. “I’m not going to make you any promises—”
“It’s not a difficult request, Marcus.”
I found Psalter’s name and ***********ed it. “What is it?”
Astrid gave me a mysterious smile. “Now, what’s the fun in giving away the surprise?”
I whirled away from her, the phone against my ear. Chloe fell in step next to me.
“I hope to hear from you soon!” Astrid called out as I brushed past the hostess and headed away from the deli.
“Mr. Upton!?” came the voice across the line. In the background, I could hear machines… like grinding wheels cutting through metal.
“Where are you?” I asked him, and then said to Chloe, “Tell the car to meet us on the corner of the block.”
Chloe nodded as Psalter said, “I’m in South Jersey!”
“Can you get away?”
“I can!” he said, having to raise his voice to make sure he was heard, yet still sounding bored as he did it.
“Astrid Håkansson dropped a package off at my building. There’s no way they’d let it into the apartment, so it’s probably being held in the lobby or behind the front desk or something. I need you to check it out. Move it if you can… evacuate if you need. Whatever you need to do.”
“I’m already sending men there to get it!” he said. “Do we know what’s in this package!?”
“No, but your guys should probably be careful.”
The workshop sounds were beginning to fade as Psalter said, “A wise move, considering the sender. I’ll have my men move it to a safe location and inspect it. I take it that I have your permission to open it?”
“If you need to, sure. Just let me know when it’s safe and tell me what it is.”
“Consider it done.”
***
Wednesday, October 9th, 2:30 pm
After hanging up with Psalter, I decided to catch up with Natalie and told my driver to take me to the Dunbar building, where my old job was located. Marduke might have gone out of business, but I still owned the location. Other businesses still rented space in the building, making it far from dead weight. It also still served as Natalie’s office.
After losing her job due to the bankruptcy, I found a temporary job for Natalie, working for Chandler as an off-the-books secretary to help him with his real job—undermining VistaVision. It was Erin’s idea, actually. Having someone who no one could identify making calls and sending memos made a lot of sense and created some distance between the people within VistaVision who actually pulled the strings.
I didn’t know the details of what she was doing, nor did I want to know. Chandler and Erin handled her using burner phones and encrypted emails. We paid an ungodly amount of money to ensure Natalie’s IP address and online activity couldn’t be traced back to her or the Dunbar. If someone were to trace the source of her communications, they would find servers across the world. Considering VistaVision was a massive company with offices all over the world, it didn’t seem all that out of the ordinary.
It was fortunate that Dunbar had a top-level, secure office with access to a helipad on the roof.
My old office.
As the elevator door opened onto a floor I hadn’t seen in a hot minute, I was greeted with the sight of a couch—one that had held three women waiting to be interviewed for a job as my assistant. Memories from months ago came flooding back as I stepped onto the plush carpet.
I’d been so sure of the first girl I interviewed with the big tits and raven hair. What had her name been? Bella?
This had been my refuge in my early days as a billionaire, where I’d spent so many evenings processing my new life… where Bobbi had first started down the path of becoming a submissive. I’d taken my first steps into a much bigger world inside these walls.
“Mr. Upton?”
Wendy. She’d been a girl I’d briefly met at my grandfather’s vacation spot in the Catskills. She’d been blazed out of her mind at the time, and who knows what would have happened to her if I hadn’t shown up and cleared out my brother and his guests. I’d dropped Natalie and Wendy off in New York the next day, then taken off for Europe. Apparently, their shared experience had become a bond, and the young woman had become Natalie’s assistant.
When we first met, her brown hair had been cut boyishly short; since then, it had grown out into a longer, shaggier pixie cut, still showing off her swanlike neck.
As she approached me, I noticed she was wearing heels, which gave her a full inch on me, uncommon for a woman. Wendy was tall, with the kind of legs that went on for miles.
“Hey, Wendy,” I said. “Is Natalie here?”
She offered me a shy smile. “Yeah. She’s in her office. Want me to take you to her?”
I followed her as if I didn’t know my way around, still a little lost in my own nostalgia as we made our way down the hall. Once we reached my old office, Wendy rapped on the door, and Natalie called out for us to come in. She had likely seen us getting off the elevator thanks to a built-in monitor on my old desk.
Wendy opened the door, and Chloe stepped inside, her watchful brown eyes scanning the room. I followed her in, and Wendy gave me a final little smile as she shut the door, leaving the three of us alone.
“Marcus,” Natalie said, standing up from her desk. The smile on her lips faded, replaced by a wary expression once she saw my face.
“Chloe, you mind giving us the room?”
My bodyguard took a beat to give the office one more scan and then said, “I’ll be right outside.”
Once she was gone, I turned my attention back to Natalie. “Tell me what happened, Nat.”
Natalie eyed me. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I think. What happened? How did she end up sitting at that table with you?”
“I don’t know… I just went to get some lunch, and she came up to me and asked if she could sit at my table. I thought she looked familiar, but she had those glasses and that hat on. She seemed cool, so we just talked for a bit.”
“What did she want?”
Natalie’s eyes glazed over for a moment as she thought back to her conversation with Astrid. “Um… nothing, really. She just said she was in town on business. She acted like she didn’t even know who I was until I mentioned that you were my boyfriend. She seemed genuinely surprised by that.”
“Security didn’t try to stop her?”
She looked confused. “Exactly what were they supposed to stop her from doing? Ordering food? She seemed harmless at first, so I told them it was fine.”
“Nat… I showed you a picture of her!”
“I told you. I didn’t realize who she was until she mentioned knowing you. She seemed so surprised that we were dating. I was halfway through my sandwich before I realized who she was.”
“And the moment you did, you should have gotten up and walked the fuck away.”
Natalie looked genuinely upset and confused. “Wait… she staged that meet-cute! How is this on me?”
“Because I told you she was dangerous!” I said, taking a few steps toward her. “Remember? I told you she nearly got me killed?”
“Marcus… how am I supposed to know what that means? My sister has nearly gotten me killed while driving. That doesn’t mean I’m going to run away from her when she tries to sit at a table with me!”
It was true. Most of the conversation I’d had with Astrid happened while showing Natalie one of the countless photos she had sent me. Her beauty had enamored Natalie, and I’d only mentioned how dangerous she was in passing. I hadn’t exactly spelled out the details of how she’d stolen my gun and opened fire on a small army of mercenaries while essentially using me for cover.
“Nat,” I stepped toward her. “If you are going to be part of my life, then you need to listen to me when I tell you to leave.”
“I did!”
“I’m talking about over the phone.” I stepped the rest of the way toward her and placed my hands on her arms, barely registering the caution in her eyes. “I told you to leave. This isn’t a game. I’m committing God knows how many felonies, the NYPD is investigating me for something I didn’t do, I’m holding a crime lord’s son hostage, and now I have a billionaire sociopath in town stalking me! When I tell you to do something, I need you to do it.”
That was when I registered the look of growing fear in her eyes. Fuck… was she thinking of Tyler?
I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.
“I’m sorry, Nat,” I said, feeling terrible for coming at her with as much heat as I had. I cupped her face in my hands and pressed my forehead to hers. “It just scared me. For a second, I thought she was kidnapping you.”
She simply stood there with her eyes closed, keeping her head pressed against mine. I felt her nod.
“I really am sorry. I’m not mad at you. I promise.” I kissed her forehead and kept my lips pressed to her warm skin. “I just got you, Nat.”
She met my gaze, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “You really think she’s capable of doing something like that?”
I nodded as I ran a thumb just under her eye and across a distinct cheekbone—one of the more prominent features that belied her Native American heritage. “Remind me to tell you a little more about her later…”
“Later?” Natalie asked, staring up at me with those dark, liquid eyes. “You can’t stay?”
“I have a little time,” I said, my voice dropping low. “I’m just not interested in doing any more talking.”
An amused puff of warm breath brushed across my face, and she started to say, “You—”
I cut her off with a kiss and walked us both back until she bumped into the wall.
A contented purr vibrated in her throat as she kissed me back, tongue lapping at my lips before pulling back, coaxing mine out to join hers just past her plump lips.
Natalie was a good kisser—varying angles and pressure, swiping past my lips when my tongue retreated to tease me back into her mouth. Her hands often wandered as we made out. Her palms would press into my shoulders, fingers curling so her fingernails would drag lightly across me. Kissing her in moments like this didn’t just feel sexy. It felt vulnerable and intimate. Safe.
I broke our kiss and trailed down her jawline as she grasped, her hands snaking around to the back of my head to pull me in closer. She panted, slackjawed as she rolled her head back against the wall, exposing more of her caramel-colored neck to my hungry lips.
Her hips slowly rolled into mine as she ground her crotch into my hard-on. “Oh god… please tell me you have enough time to put that in me.”
I worked my way down to her collarbone, raking my teeth across it before suckling on her chest just hard enough to leave faint love bites that began to fade before the next one was finished.
Before I could answer her, she curled her fingers around my belt buckle and began to undo it. The soft clink of metal punctuated her loud breaths and my lips on her body as it came undone. The zipper was next.
The fingers of my right hand slid down her knee-length black skirt and pulled it up past her hip before questing around her ass. The silk of her hose felt good as my fingertips searched for the heat between her legs.
I buried my face between her cleavage, nuzzling and kissing as my fingers hooked part of her hose. They made a faint ripping sound as I yanked, pulling a gasp from my girlfriend.
She curled her fingers through my hair and grabbed a handful and tugged, pulling my face out of her cleavage.
“You just ruined them!” she whispered. Her outrage was short-lived, as I sank a single digit past her panties and into her damp cunt.
“I own stock in them,” I growled back, placing my hand on her ass and hauling her off the ground, getting another gasp from her in the process. “I’ll get you some more.”
The head of my rigid member slid across the length of her pussy lips, and I ended up hotdogging for a moment as we kissed again. I hauled her up and maneuvered my cock so that the head could catch on her heated opening, and then I slowly began to sink into her. Getting an inch at a time into her with each repeated stroke as we devoured each other.
A few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to maintain this sort of position for long, but I’d seen a notable increase in my strength, and over the next few minutes, I held my beautiful girlfriend in my arms as we fucked. She wrapped her legs around my waist and arms around my neck and humped back into me with feverish need.
“Fuck,” she breathed against my mouth.
And then she crushed her lips back onto mine.
What we did next wasn’t sweet or gentle. Over the next fifteen minutes, we fucked as if our lives depended on it. I fucked her against the wall, holding her hands. I bent her over her desk and took her from behind after tearing the crotch out of her panties. She climbed on top of me as I lay on the floor. I pressed her against the window overlooking New York and fucked her from behind as she licked and sucked on my fingers.
Finally, I came, sitting on the couch while she was on her knees, with my cock between her large tits. My seed released all over her chest, sending strands that coated her throat and chin.
Trying to be more adventurous, she dabbed a little off her chest and licked it off her fingers. I leaned forward, scooped a bit more off, and fed it to her, enjoying the sight of her licking and sucking it off my fingers. She licked her lips and gave me a brilliant smile, but I could see through it. I knew she wasn’t crazy about the taste of cum and that it was more for me than anything.
That simply made her performance all the sweeter.
I leaned in and kissed her again, and she kissed back, hungrily.
After getting three orgasms in fifteen minutes, I doubt she wanted to complain too much.
She crawled up on the couch and lay on top of me, kissing my chest before resting her cheek there. I could feel the warm mess on my stomach where her tits were pillowed. I knew I needed to leave soon, but a few minutes of post-coital bliss couldn’t hurt. After all, I’d wanted this for so long… it’d be a shame not to enjoy it.
So, stretched out on the couch, I brushed my fingers up and down Natalie’s back, enjoying the subtle curves of the flawless coffee canvas. She hummed and nuzzled into my chest.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue,” she said softly.
I wrapped the arm around her naked back and squeezed her against me as I kissed the top of her head, inhaling deeply. The thought of something happening to her… it horrified me.
Security would have done everything in their power to look after her, but I hadn’t thought of giving them a picture of Astrid and telling them to be on the lookout. None of us was omniscient.
Maybe I should just lock her up in a tower—lock them all up to keep them safe.
My pants began to buzz.
More accurately, the phone in my pants.
I stretched out to reach them, the fabric brushing my fingertips.
Natalie whimpered in protest, her fingers pressing against my ribs as she held tight to me. “Just let it go.”
“Can’t,” I said, snagging my pants and pulling them toward me. “Waiting to hear from too many people.
I fished it out on the fourth ring and saw it was Psalter.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Mr. Upton,” Psalter said, “I think you should come and see this.”
“What is it?” Despite being incredibly comfortable with a hot brunette lying on top of me, I slowly sat up. Natalie whimpered in protest again, but rolled onto her back, her head resting in my lap. She reached for my free hand and brought it to her chest, and I absentmindedly palmed one of her pillowy tits.
“I shouldn’t say over the phone. I’ve sent you the address where I currently am. You’ll want to see this for yourself.”
“Immediately?” I asked.
Natalie cracked one eye open to look up at me, curious. I continued to fondle her.
“That would be preferable. It shouldn’t take long, and we aren’t too far from your apartment building.”
I sighed and looked down at Natalie, giving her an apologetic smile. “Be there as soon as I can.”
“What’s going on?” Natalie asked, getting up with me.
“Astrid dropped something off for me at my apartment. I had it moved and inspected, and they’re telling me I need to check it out.”
“You thought it was dangerous?” Natalie said, grabbing a towel from a cabinet to begin cleaning herself up.
I slid my pants back on, watching as she made herself presentable again.
“Like I said… she’s dangerous.”
***
Wednesday, October 9th, 3:50 pm
I emerged from an elevator onto an empty office floor.
Not just empty—barren.
“This is bleak,” I said, scanning the floor.
There were no interior walls… no partitions… cubicles. All I could see were bare wires and load-bearing columns across the entire space. A handful of desks scattered across the expansive space, along with a few other odds and ends, made the whole space feel like something you might find in a dystopian or post-apocalyptic movie.
“You know what this used to be?”
Psalter’s voice echoed a little as he walked past the stripped cubicle tracks and flickering exit signs.
I ventured a guess. “Laser tag?”
“Boutique hedge fund,” he corrected. “Small-cap cannibals. They called themselves ‘aggressive allocators’—which, if you know how to read these things, is code for ‘we short failing hospitals and bet on natural disasters.’”
He gestured broadly. “They were profitable… until they weren’t. One of their senior analysts was front-running disaster insurance—using predictive flood models to quietly move capital before FEMA even touched down.”
He stopped beside a broken whiteboard, its surface ghosted with numbers. “Very marketable if one knows the players… the systems.”
Turning, he continued on his way, and I finally noticed that there was a large crate sitting in the middle of the office. A few of what I assumed were Psalter’s goons stood around it. Chloe and I followed.
“Then one morning, none of them showed up. The lights were off, but the computers were still on. There was dry cleaning hanging from the doors. They’d all been arrested. SEC, FBI, Treasury—it all looked like a coordinated sting, but it wasn’t. It was just bad luck.”
Reaching the crate, he turned and leaned against it. “Or God… or someone with a lot of powerful friends in the right places. The point is, they pissed off the wrong people.”
I whistled. “Three organizations just ambushed them at the same time without knowing that each one was after them? That’s some kind of bad luck.”
“Yeah…” he said, looking around at the ceiling where wires hung like vines. “The place sat empty for years. No one wanted it. Even the building tried to scrub the listing—bad energy. People say it slows down the elevators. I picked it up as part of a bundled foreclosure package. Didn’t even know I had it till my lawyer flagged a weird line item labeled ‘ghost floor.’”
As he stared around the floor, it emphasized the chilling calm of the space.
“I like it. No one asks questions. No one lingers. It’s the kind of space you can make into or do almost anything.”
Then he patted the crate, drawing my attention to it.
“What’s in it?” I asked.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dare deprive you of the experience of finding out for yourself,” Psalter said.
I glanced at Chloe, but she just shrugged.
The container was roughly the size of a massive footlocker, and as I approached it, two of Palter’s men lifted the ‘lid’ of the crate and dropped it to the floor, giving me a clear view of what was inside.
I stared, not quite believing what I was seeing.
“You’re not imagining it,” Psalter said, leaning over to get a better look. “It would seem Miss Håkansson doesn’t do anything by half measures.”
Inside the crate were a discarded oxygen tank and an accompanying mask. Next to it was a hood made from PVC that looked an awful lot like it was part of some serious kink play.
Underneath those items was a PVC-clad individual lying in a partial fetal position, arms bound behind his back by the shiny material he was wearing. With the hood removed, I could clearly make out the haggard profile of an unconscious Roger VanCamp.