“What the fuck are you doing?” I said in an urgent whisper.

“Taking a promising young screenwriter to dinner. What are you doing here?”

“You knew I’d come when I got your photo. Stop the games, Alicia. What are you after?”

“Just a little reminder. Remember who made you, who you belong to, and what can happen if you betray me.”

“Don’t you pull that shit with me. We had a deal. I could sleep with whoever I wanted.”

“Yes, we do have that deal. But you are also mine, and I don’t want you to forget that.”

“What makes you think I forgot that?” God knew I hadn’t. And God knew I wished I could, now that I had actually fallen in love.

“Your little redheaded slut.”

“She means nothing to me.” The lie tasted terrible, like stomach acid and bad wine. I felt like I needed to wash my mouth out with soap like my mother had when I was a kid.

“You really think I’m stupid, don’t you? You risked your life last night. You jumped off the stage when I know damned well you were told to leave the back way.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you? You jumped off the stage to rescue the little redhead.”

“I was acting on instinct.” That wasn’t even a lie. My instinct was to get Heather out of there safely.

“I don’t buy it. But don’t worry. I took care of it.”

“What did you do?” I said through clenched teeth.

“Oh, nothing much. I simply told her that you orchestrated the bomb threat so you could save her and get her into your bed. It worked, didn’t it?”

“You fucking bitch!”

“Lower your voice,” Alicia scolded. “Heather is coming back.”

I looked toward the restrooms. Heather stood, her mouth dropped open. I didn’t know how much she had heard, but she had at least heard me call Alicia a bitch. I didn’t want to upset Heather, but I couldn’t bring myself to be sorry the words had left my mouth.

Alicia smiled and looked at Heather. She motioned for her to come forward.

Heather walked slowly, biting her lower lip. God, she was so beautiful. She didn’t deserve any of this. She didn’t deserve to be a part of my fucked-up world.

She sat down as if nothing were amiss and then took a drink of the martini in front of her. Her cheeks were pink, her lips were red, her long auburn hair was in a bit of disarray around her shoulders. She was wearing a peach-colored camisole, and her nipples protruded through, as if asking me to bite them through the silk.

I was still so fucking angry, yet my groin tightened.

I took a seat next to Heather, and Alicia looked at me with poison in her gaze.

The waiter came to take our order. Heather robotically ordered some sort of pasta, and I ordered the filet mignon and a bottle of their best Bordeaux. Alicia might never pay for what she was putting Heather through, but she would at least pay for a rock star dinner.

“So…” Alicia began. “Any news on the bomb threat?”

Heather arched her eyebrows at Alicia. I opened my mouth to tell Heather that Alicia had fed her a pack of lies, but then Alicia arched her eyebrows at me.

Somehow, I had to figure out how to let Heather know that Alicia had lied to her. But how could I? The bomb squad and the cops hadn’t uncovered anything about the bomb, so there was nothing I could say.

“Not yet,” I said. “The bomb squad thinks it was a hoax, same as the one in Philadelphia.” There, that should help. I hadn’t rushed off the stage to rescue anyone in Philadelphia. Plus, I was telling the damned truth.

Heather took another drink of her martini. If only I could get her alone. Make her understand what kind of person Alicia was. Tell her I’d had nothing to do with the phony bomb threat.

And then it hit me. Alicia herself had orchestrated the threat. Who else? Somehow, she had figured out I was interested in Heather.

If only I could turn the tables on Alicia and prove that she had been behind the bomb threat. If I were the only one at risk, I wouldn’t hesitate. But I wasn’t the only one at risk. Two people I loved dearly would go down if I did.

Alicia Hopkins was the worst kind of evil. She had grown up with a platinum spoon in her mouth and was used to buying everything she wanted as an adult.

Like an idiot, I had let her buy me.

Heather was moving in a stiff way, as if a cape of frost blanketed her. I could easily sense her discomfort because I shared it. I remained stiff as a board when all I wanted to do was turn, grab Heather, and kiss her.

I didn’t usually mind silence, but this silence was icy and awkward. Alicia chatted on and on about some charity benefit or another. The words sounded like a garbled radio signal. I was thankful when we had all finished and the waiter brought the check.

Out of habit, I reached for it, forgetting for a minute that I wanted Alicia to pay.

“It’s my treat.” Alicia swept the check to her side of the table. “I’m the one who invited Heather here, after all.”

“Yes, and I can’t thank you enough.” She rose. “But if you’ll excuse me, I do need to be going.”

I stood. “I’ll walk you out.”

But Alicia had other plans for me. “No, Jett. Please stay. I have something I really need to discuss with you. I was going to call you later, but since you’re here…”

She had told me she wanted me in her bed. Alicia was not one to back down. So I would fuck her tonight—not that I had a choice—and figure out what to do about Heather tomorrow.

An odd emotion enveloped me as I watched Heather walk away from our table for the exit.

She didn’t look back at me. Not once. Not that I expected her to. She certainly didn’t owe me anything. And then it hit me like an asteroid hitting the earth. That emotion I was feeling. It was loss. Profound loss.

Out of the restaurant marched my one shot at happiness in this life.

When I was twenty-five years old, I hadn’t given a thought to tomorrow. Zane and I were a package deal with Alicia. She would take us both to the top in exchange for…basically indentured servitude. We could fuck whomever we liked as long as we made ourselves available to her as an escort—or more often a fuck—whenever she demanded it. Not falling in love wasn’t an actual part of the deal with Alicia, but what woman would agree to let us fuck another woman whenever she called? Falling in love was off the table.

Zane’s situation and mine were not identical, however. He could walk away whenever he felt like it. She didn’t have anything on him to control him besides her promise to keep him at the top, which was enough for him. I required a little more. So Alicia had dived into my past and found a secret my family and I had hoped to keep buried forever.

Alicia scribbled her name on the credit card receipt and then turned to me. “Shall we go?”

I stood. “Yeah.”

Might as well get it over with.

She wanted to be tied up tonight. Tied up and whipped hard across her ass and thighs. She particularly liked it when I left marks. Once she was good and bruised, she liked to be fucked hard, first in the pussy and then the ass.

As much as I had grown to hate Alicia, I didn’t like leaving marks on her body. Though I loved playing the dominant role in the bedroom, hurting someone to the point of marring her body felt abusive to me. But she demanded it, so I complied.

She had a dungeon in her mansion that made mine look like a child’s play area.

I knew what she required, so I sucked in a breath and began.

“Undress, bitch.”

“Yes, Sir.” She smiled and slowly stripped for me.

Although she was well into her fifties, Alicia was a great-looking woman with a smoking-hot body—lots of liposuction and Botox. I had stopped finding her attractive about a year ago, though, when I had begun to regret the deal I had made with her. Still, fucking her had been no hardship, and I had never imagined I would fall in love, so I continued.

Right now, though? I wasn’t sure I could get an erection.

Alicia’s pussy was freshly waxed, her clit ring dangling.

“Go to the wall,” I commanded. “Get me the black snake whip.”

Her body flushed pink. “Yes, Sir.” She turned and walked slowly to the wall.

“Faster, bitch. Bring it to me and then get on your knees.”

She obeyed, handing me the leather whip and then kneeling before me.

“Would you like me to suck your cock, Sir?”

That was the last thing I wanted. My poor dick felt like it was going to shrivel up and die. “No. You said you wanted to be whipped. I intend to whip you.”

“Oh, yes, Sir. Please whip me hard.”

“Don’t talk again unless I instruct you to.” That was one way to keep her quiet.

She nodded.

“Go to the table and lie facedown.”

She complied, and I bound her wrists and ankles to the poles at each corner of the leather-covered table. The hard cowhide of the snake whip was warm in my palm.

Alicia squirmed on the table. “Please, Sir. Spank my ass. I can’t wait any longer.”

“I told you not to talk. For that, you will wait ten minutes until I touch your body with this whip.”

She let out a gasp but did not say another word.

And I got a ten-minute reprieve.