hallway ended at an elevator door. The hostess grinned coyly from under fake lashes, her dark eyes smiling as she pushed the single button.
“He waits for you in the penthouse suite,” she said, her voice breathy.
I nodded, my nerves jangling like tin cans on a string.
“T-thank you.”
Was I supposed to tip her, or…?
Before I could figure it out, she was walking away, her hips swaying above seamed stockings, and a hint of black panty peeking out from beneath her skirt. A loud ding behind me made me jump, and the elevator slid open like a mouth, waiting for me to enter.
Everything’s fine, Lucy. If you don’t like what he has to say, you leave! It’s as simple as that… Simple as that.
I breathed deeply and stepped into the dim elevator car. I shivered as the silver doors slid shut, sealing me in.
The beast has got me , I thought, and giggled at what nonsense that was. The beast has got me now, and it’s going to devour me, bit by bit.
The clutch I held vibrated in my hand, and for a moment, I just stared at it, dumbfounded, before reaching in and pulling out my phone. The phone Max gave me the first day I set foot in his mansion.
His name flashed across the screen, the buzzing like a shock through my arm. I swiped “dismiss.”
So, I guess he found my little parting gift.
My stomach did a little flip inside of me, but I stood tall, willing myself to calm the fuck down. The last thing I needed now was to have Maxwell Pierce on the brain. I needed to face whatever was waiting for me head on, with nerves of steel. I couldn’t let the thought of him, or the pain of my shattered heart, get in the way of doing what I needed to do. Of making sure Alex and I were taken care of, no matter what. Of proving to a certain Mr. Pierce that I didn’t need his goddamn money, and I could stand on my own two feet, despite what he thought.
The phone buzzed again. I turned it off just as the elevator shuddered to a halt and the doors slid open.
The penthouse was a huge space, pillars reaching up to a lofty ceiling; lush carpets and draped crimson curtains gave the place a luxurious feel, despite the shadows creeping over every surface. The only light came from a massive fireplace along one wall, and a couple of gas lamps turned low. A wall of windows stood before me, arched and beautiful, showing the twinkling lights of the city, far away, down into the valley.
“Lucy.”
A low voice met my ears, coming from my left, by the fire.
“Please come in.”
I moved closer and saw the outline of a man’s arms silhouetted above the arm of a wing-back chair, and something below it, moving up and down. I knitted my brow, squinting, waiting for my eyes to adjust. A gurgling, gasping sound echoed through the space, then quieted, before resuming.
When my eyes focused on the sight before me, I gasped and froze where I stood. There he was, his face half in shadow, half in firelight, watching me with grey-blue eyes, so like Max’s, and yet colder, somehow. More dangerous. He held my gaze as his hand held a woman’s ponytail, pushing her face down onto his hard cock again and again. He wore an immaculate suit, and hadn’t removed anything—just opened his fly, his erection jutting out proudly as the woman bobbed up and down on him.
“Wha…”
A sound escaped my mouth more like a whoosh of air than a word.
I should have looked away. I should have stopped staring at his dick, being serviced right there in front of me. I should have turned around and started pounding on the elevator’s “down” button as hard as humanly possible and gotten the fuck out of there.
But for some reason, I didn’t do any of those things. I stood there, watching it all, my eyes as wide as saucers, frozen like a kid just caught peeking in the boys’ locker room, knowing I was in desperate trouble, but unable to tear my eyes away.
When I met his eyes again, I saw the smile there, the hungry grin crinkling the corners of his eyes as he