“What are you doing with him, Cressida?!”

I gulped in fear as my father violently waved the tabloid in my face. My mother had already warned me about this over the phone earlier today. She demanded that I see my father at once to explain myself. I had to call Joshua and ask him him to have me picked up by his chopper from Camelot so I could visit my father at the Manhattan City Jail. He agreed without asking any questions.

The front page of the tabloid bore a picture of me and Josh, laughing together. It was taken at his club where we dined out a few nights ago. Thank God, they only published the “safe” photos. We did some naughty stuff in public that night.

I fidgeted with my fingers. “Dad…”

“Answer me?!”

My father was practically turning blue in the face in his anger. I was afraid he’d have a heart attack.

I nodded and bowed my head.

My father’s fist landed on the table. I jumped in fright. I’d never seen him this mad at me. I couldn’t blame him, though.

“Madden, no shouting,” the warden called out from his chair a few meters away. My father glared at the warden before returning his livid face at me.

“Why, Cressida?” he asked me in a lower voice this time, grave disappointment in his eyes.

“I only wanted to help you, Dad.”

“By going to him? What are you even doing with him?”

I couldn’t answer.

“Tell me the truth, Cressida.”

I was never a good liar. “Dad, I only wanted to help you. I won’t let you go to jail.”

“Are you…? Has this bastard taken advantage of you?” he whispered gruffly.

“No, Dad—“

“Has he?!”

“Madden, lower your voice or I’ll cut this visit short!”

My father sighed harshly and my heart broke all over again for him. Only six months ago my father was the CEO of one of the most successful investment firms in New York. Now he was nothing but a regular prisoner whom the warden reprimanded with a superior air. I knew how much it was destroying him. All the more reason not to give up on my mission, even if he would get mad at me for sleeping with his mortal enemy.

“Tell me, Cressida,” my father demanded in a hushed voice.

I met his gaze bravely. “Yes, I’m sleeping with him,” I whispered back.

“Dammit, what have you done?! Why on earth would you do this?!”

“I can’t let you go to prison! You have twenty years to life waiting for you if I didn’t do something, Dad! It will kill Mom. I know it will kill you, too! You have to understand, I had to do something!”

“By prostituting yourself to this bastard?!”

“Please, let’s not be too dramatic.”

“I did not raise you to be a—“

I raised my hand. “Please, don’t say it.”

“And how are you supposed to get me out of jail by sleeping with him? You expect him to fall in love with you and grant your every wish like an indulgent lover, is that it? You don’t know Landis at all! That bastard will just use you and toss you out like garbage and I’ll be damned if I’d let this continue! I forbid you from seeing him again, Cressida! Promise me you won’t see him again!”

I couldn’t tell him I was already living with Josh for the past month. “Dad, I’m a big girl now. I know what I’m doing.”

“I’d rather rot in jail than have my only child suffer like this!”

“I’m not suffering.”

“Is that so?”

“He treats me well.”

He shook his head. “Of course. You’re his plaything. Men take care of their toys, until they’re tired of it.”

“Dad, please…”

He sighed deeply, clenching his knuckles. He looked so dejected I wanted to hug him. He bowed his head, pressed his forehead on the edge of the table.

His shoulders shook. My father was crying.

My chest felt like it was being ripped apart. “Dad…”

“Please, don’t see him again. It’s killing me, Cressida.”

I squeezed his hand. “I love you, Dad. Please, don’t lose hope. We’ll get through this, I promise.”

I left him before I gave in to my emotions.

I arrived home at past ten in the evening. Cressida called me earlier in the night to ask what I wanted for dinner. I told her not to prepare anything special for me like she always had, or wait up for me so we could eat together. I stayed at the office longer today.

I needed to put some distance between us. My meeting with her father had left me with disturbing thoughts.

To be honest, I was unhinged by Madden’s tears. It was one thing to fight a battle with the enemy fighting back. It was a different story when they started begging for mercy.

I shouldn’t have agreed to meet up with Madden. Now I was having second thoughts about the case. I couldn’t forget Madden’s face as he begged me. In those moments, I knew the man wasn’t a businessman, but simply a father.

Somehow, I felt an affinity with the man.

It was Cressida. She connected us. And now, I was sympathetic toward the Madden family when I should be thinking of all ways to bring them down.

Shit!

I should have not touched that pussy.

It’s time to drop her. You’ve enjoyed her for a month. It lasted longer than the others. Drop her now and put away his father for good.

I exhaled harshly and left the office.

Yeah, she had to go.

I would send her packing tonight.

I found her in the den, watching her father in the late evening news, her back to me. I didn’t go to her. I just stood at the door silently watching her.

I pulled some strings today after my meeting with Madden. I asked some people to make things move faster. They released a statement to the press this afternoon.

It was the biggest news tonight.

Madden’s trial was finally set next week. The bastard’s clock started ticking for real.

Now, all I needed to do was to tell Cressida it was over between us. Our little “deal” was off. She’d lost. She wasn’t able to change my mind. Thanks for her cherry but like I’d warned her of, it was put to waste.

I should write her a check or something. For the great orgasms. To be honest, the little witch, with her amateurish ways of seducing me had excited me like no other. It wasn’t the way she did it. It was the knowledge that she was trying really hard to find ways to please me despite her inexperience. That got me off real good.

A million dollars, maybe? Or two? To help her and her mother back on their feet. That would last a year or two if they started living like regular people from now on. They both could find decent jobs to support themselves. If Armand would be wise enough to sign on the dotted line, I would take care of them as a family, make sure they were provided a comfortable day to day existence.

Yeah, go tell her now. Get rid of her NOW.

I heard a muffled sound. She’d turned the TV off.

Her shoulders shook as she bowed her head. The muffled sound turned to small gasps. She was crying. Sobbing.

Fuck. What am I going to do?

I couldn’t stand watching her like this.

I left the den and went to my bedroom. I paced the expanse of it. I felt short of breath so I went out to the balcony to get some fresh air.

After a few minutes, I went back in, took a quick shower, then hit the sack. It was a long day and I had an early meeting tomorrow. I needed some shut-eye.

I tossed and turned on the bed as an hour passed by and Cressida didn’t come up. We’d always slept on the same bed since she came to live with me. Unfortunately, I’d gotten used to her presence pretty quickly, her soft warmth cuddled next to me night after night, her scent surrounding me in comfort.

I left the bed and went to check on her.

She had fallen asleep on the sofa.

I sighed and stared down at her, fighting the chaos happening inside me. Her tears hadn’t completely dried on her cheeks yet.

I was a grandmaster in the game of power because I was impenetrable. I had no weakness my enemies could use against me. I’d fought many corporate battles and I’d always been victorious because I didn’t allow my emotions to rule my reason. Now, there was chink in my armor. A big chink. A chink I allowed to become bigger the moment I wanted this young woman in my bed.

Now, for the first time in my life, I was vulnerable. I had a weakness I couldn’t master. It wasn’t even her. She was all softness and warmth and innocence. It was the way she made me feel. Her smile alone could silence the howling torment inside me. She could make me forget I had a million reasons to hate with just a single kiss.

She was killing all my demons, and with it, my killer instincts, the very things that made me who I was today.

This was all on me. My fault. And because of my weakness, a lot of people were about to be compromised.

I carefully lifted her in my arms.

She sighed and rubbed her cheek against my chest. “Josh…”

“I’m taking you to bed.”

She didn’t open her eyes.

I brought her to my bedroom and carefully lay her on the bed. She immediately pulled herself into a fetal position.

My chest knotted painfully. Madden’s words echoed in my head.

“I’m not there to defend her. My little girl doesn’t have anyone out there.”

I lay down next to her. She was facing away from me. I turned on my side, away from her, too and tried to catch some sleep, but it was elusive despite that my body badly needed it.

I gave in to my need. I turned toward her and pulled her into my arms, spooning her. She sighed and molded her back against my front. We fit perfectly, in every angle.

I inhaled the fragrance of her hair. I needed her, but it wasn’t sexual. Not tonight. I just needed to hold her. Feel her. Breathe her in.

Sleep finally claimed me.