How can my nipples be hard, my pussy be wet, and my hand itch to grab the lamp on his desk to bludgeon him to death all at the same time?

This man drives me absolutely insane. If I don’t get away from him right now, I’ll do something unthinkable.

Like lay yourself out on his desk and beg him to fuck you in exchange for whatever he wants, as long as he lets you come? I shove down my inner voice as I tug my wrists from Mount’s grip.

Surprisingly, he lets me go.

I edge away from the desk, trying to gauge his expression. He’s impossible to read.

“I assume you’d like to go to work today?” he asks.

Work. How the hell did I forget about work?

“Yes. Of course. There’s always more to do there.”

“That I understand.”

It’s strange to think about, but maybe it’s the one thing we have in common—we both run our own business. Or in his case, an empire. But then again, that’s my goal too, for Seven Sinners to dominate the world whiskey market. My dad’s plans were never so grand, nor were his father’s or grandfather’s, but I think bigger. I see what we could be, if only I had the right connections and the cash. That’s part of how Brett sucked me in so easily. He made me believe that he shared my vision. He painted the picture of the future I wanted so badly, and I fell for it and him.

Brett.

The thought of him makes bile rise in my throat as I remember the note on the first appointment reminder that popped up this morning. Your prior appointment has been handled.

I take a few more steps away from Mount before I voice the question I originally rushed to his door to have answered. “How did you— What did you—” I stumble over the words, unable to get them right. “What happened with Brett?”

Mount’s unreadable expression shifts into that granite-like hardness I’ve come to know well. “You won’t ever have to worry about him again.”

“But what does that mean?”

My voice rises because this isn’t something I can just let go. Last night, seeing the man I thought I’d laid to rest standing at my doorway was the ultimate shock. I’ve never before fainted in my life, but I hit the floor like a bag of grain.

When I came to, Brett stood over me, his weight shifting from foot to foot as he crossed and uncrossed his arms. The barrel of the gun in his hand constantly moved as he used the back of his hand to rub his nose, sniffling like he had a cold. I’ve never recognized the signs before, but after what Magnolia told me, I knew that he was on drugs. Cocaine, I assumed. I don’t have the kind of experience to know if it was something else, and thank God for that.

His face, once so familiar, was thinner, his cheeks hollowed and the dark circles under his eyes so prominent, they looked like mine when I wake up without washing the eye makeup from my face after a night out.

It didn’t take long for him to tell me exactly what he wanted. Money. And the penalty for not following through? Killing my entire family.

Did he scare the frigging hell out of me? Yes. Did it piss me off that people kept threatening people I love? Absolutely.

He laid out his plan and I promised to comply because, hell, I’ve already sold my body for them, what was giving up money I didn’t even know I had? At this point, it seemed there was nothing I wouldn’t sacrifice to save them, not that they’d ever know.

When Brett left, it was with a sickening laugh before he shut the door.

“Too bad you were so fucking awful at running a business. I would’ve stuck around longer if that place hadn’t been going down the tubes. Then again, you were a terrible lay. Not sure I could’ve stomached sticking my dick in your frigid pussy again.”

I wanted to scream. Rage. Tell him that the only reason I’ve done the most impulsive thing of my life—eloping with him—was because I thought he was the one to give me everything I ever wanted the night of the masquerade. But I didn’t. He was already unstable, and I wasn’t about to make it worse.

I just wanted him gone, and now I want to know if he’s gone for good.

“Did you kill him?” I put the question to Mount point-blank.

He lowers himself back into his desk chair, laces his fingers together, and rests them on his desk. “Haven’t you realized by now that I will never answer that question, no matter how many times you ask it or who it is you ask about?”

My spine stiffens at his non-answer, and I stalk across the room again until only his desk separates us. “Don’t you think I deserve to know if I’m really a widow this time?”

He looks down at the desk, and I follow his every movement. His thumbs tap together three times before he raises his head and meets my gaze.

“I could take you before any judge or preacher in this city, and you’d be my wife in less than ten minutes.”

I rock back on the skyscraper heels, my mind spinning at his answer, and sputter out a retort. “Because you probably have something on all of them, and they’d do whatever you say. Isn’t that how life works for the infamous Lachlan Mount?”

He unlaces his fingers, presses both palms to the desk, and rises out of his chair just enough to bring us eye level. “You’re exactly fucking right about that.” His voice is deep and rough, as though daring me to challenge him again.

I open my mouth to snap something back, but he keeps speaking.

“Don’t question me when I tell you that if I married you today, you’d be legally mine.”

It’s not the implication that he killed my husband or had him killed sometime between last night and this morning that sends me stumbling back a step. No, it’s the very thought of Mount dragging me before a judge or priest to marry him that scares the living hell out of me.

I find my balance and my backbone, squaring my shoulders. “Good thing we both know that will never happen.”

That familiar smug smile tugs at the edges of his mouth. “Never say never, Keira.”

I tear my gaze away from his and spin around, needing to get out of the room as fast as humanly possible on these skyscraper heels. When I reach the doorway, he speaks again.

“Your clothes for work are in my closet. Keep the plug in for another hour, and don’t stay at the distillery too late. I’ve got plans for you tonight.”