Authors: Michelle Love
She was still feeling the warmth from that hug when Jakob took her back to his apartment. She walked into what could only be described as a page out of a catalogue. Muted colors, black, white, grey blended perfectly. She nodded approvingly of the stuffed bookshelves and of course, his art. She looked at one piece then turned to gape at him. ‘That’s a Hopper. A.
Hopper
. Please tell me it’s a print…no, don’t, I don’t want to know.’
Jakob grinned. ‘Come here, wench.’ He opened his arms and she went into them, tilting her head up for a kiss.
‘My family is crazy about you,’ he murmured, trailing his lips down her neck.
‘It’s mutual,’ she wound her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his, ‘I adored them. Asia is great too, Kit must be a fool.’
Jakob laughed softly. ‘Don’t be too hard on him; the divorce is hitting him hard. Yep, he’s an idiot but he still loves her.’
He took her hand and led her into his bedroom, Quilla nodding approvingly at the massive bed. ‘Well, lookit, our playground.’
Jakob laughed as he slid his hands under the straps of her top and pulled them down her shoulders, stopping to kiss each one. ‘Quilla?’
She moaned as he freed her breast from her bra and took the nipple into his mouth, sucking and teasing it until it became so sensitized she could barely stand it. ‘Yes, babe?’
‘I’m in love with you.’
A delighted smile spread across her face. ‘And I am in love with you, Jakob Mallory.’
Jakob chuckled. ‘Thank god.’
Quilla shrieked with laughter as he pushed her back onto the bed and started to tug her jeans and underwear from her, burying his face in her sex for a second before covering her body with his. She freed his quivering rigid cock from his pants and stroked it while he kissed her.
‘I’m going to fuck you all night long, Quilla Chen…’ And as he thrust into her, Quilla sighed happily, knowing that there would be endless nights like this, with this wonderful, sexy man.
She didn’t know just how soon the fairytale would end…
Jakob dropped her off at home before going into work. ‘Shall I pick you up from college later?’
‘I’d love it, thank you.’ She kissed him before regretfully breaking away and opening the passenger side door.
‘Hey,’ he said as she got out, ‘Call the movers.’ He grinned and she laughed.
‘Don’t worry, I will.’
She went back up to her apartment, still smiling. Yesterday had been a momentous day - meeting his family, finally declaring their love and then, later, after marathon sex, Jakob had asked her to move in with him. This time she hadn’t hesitated.
Back in her apartment, she dropped her purse and looked around. They’d joked about movers but really, they wouldn’t have that much to move. Books, records, art supplies, her clothes. All the furniture had come with the apartment. Quilla realized how compact her life had been before. What would it be like now? She still felt that vague uneasiness over the chasm between their lives but she loved him. She didn’t want his money, she wanted
him
. Screw what anybody else thought.
A knock at the door. She grinned – Jakob back for another kiss? She was still smiling as she yanked the door open but it faded swiftly.
Gregor Fisk stood in her doorway, his face hard. ‘Hi Quilla. I think we need to talk.’ And before she could react, he pushed his way inside.
Jakob got to the office and greeted Miles with a beaming smile. His assistant looked amused. ‘I take it the family meeting went well?’
‘Very well…plus, she’s agreed to move in with me.’
Miles, never one to avoid a spotlight, stood and did a celebratory dance. Jakob shook his head, laughing.
‘Miles, never change.’
In his office, he sat and reflected. His life was so totally different from six months ago. And he hadn’t finished yet. When Quilla had agreed to move in with him, he’d lain awake, with her sleeping in his arms, and thought about the one thing he still had to change – his work. He was so tired of property. Even though it had made him billions, it no longer satisfied his soul. And then there was Gregor. Jakob shook his head. The best thing he could do was cut him loose; buy him out or vice versa. He didn't need Greg’s sneakiness, his duplicity in his life. Quilla clearly hadn’t liked him from the start even though she refused to tell him what Greg had said to upset her. She was protecting him,
Jakob
, he knew that but still. Gregor had to go.
Jakob picked up the phone and asked the company’s Head of HR to meet him as soon as he could.
Gregor sat without being asked, looking around her apartment with a sneer on his face. Quilla felt her face flush with anger.
‘What do you want?’
Gregor smiled. ‘I’ll make this simple. I will give you a quarter of a billion dollars to leave this city and never come back.’
Quilla gaped at him. ‘What the fuck?’
‘Come on, don’t act innocent, Quilla, I really don’t have time. You’ve played the game perfectly, Jakob is crazy about you. But I need his head in the game, so to speak, and that means you,’ he pointed at her as if she didn’t know whom he meant, ‘have to go. So…’
Quilla stood and up and went to open her front door. ‘Get out.
Now
.’
He didn’t move. ‘Come on now. Two-hundred and fifty million dollars. Just looking around here I can see that kind of money would be life changing.’
‘That kind of money would be life-changing for anyone,’ she retorted, ‘Get out.’
Gregor stood, shaking his head, smiling. ‘Don’t be naïve, Quilla. This was your one chance for this not to turn nasty. Last chance. Take the money. It’ll be quite the step up for the daughter of a heroin addict and dead beat dad. ’
Quilla’s eyes filled with tears of anger, disgust, and humiliation. ‘Go fuck yourself, Gregor, you don’t know me or anything about me, and anyway, coming from a coke junkie, you have no room to talk. I don’t give a fuck about money, I just care about Jakob. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t have me followed or whatever it is you’re doing. Leave.’
Gregor stood up as if to leave then, in a flash, he was pressing her body up against the wall, his hand slipping between her legs. ‘And yet you spread your legs for the nearest billionaire.’
Pushing his hand away from her, she slapped him across the face, hard, and with a roar of rage, he grabbed her and threw her to the floor. ‘Fucking bitch!’
He kicked her, hard, in the stomach and she curled up into a ball. Gregor stood back, trying to calm himself. ‘Take the deal, Quilla, and I wouldn’t bother to tell Jakob about this – or it’s going to get a lot worse than that, little girl.’
He left her still curled up and not believing what had just happened. She eventually staggered over to her door and slammed it, shooting the dead bolt across before sinking to the floor. She had never been more terrified in her life – terror mixed with anger and disbelief.
Fuck you, Gregor, I won’t be threatened.
She got unsteadily to her feet and stumbled over to grab her phone.
When she heard Jakob’s voice, she couldn’t hold back the tears.
Gregor drove back to the office.
Damn it, that shouldn’t have gone that far…not yet
. He sighed. Maybe he’d scared her enough that she’d leave anyway, now. He had to admit – Jakob knew how to pick them – Quilla Chen was beautiful but he knew a gold-digger when he saw one.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice everyone staring at him as he made his way back to his office. When he got there, he stopped. Jakob, Randall and the Head of H.R., Paul, were waiting.
‘What’s going on?’
Ran put a hand on Jakob’s arm as Jakob, his face full of rage, stepped forward. Ran spoke, his eyes hard, and he held out a sheet of paper. ‘Gregor, this is a notice of your termination. You will leave here, after we have spoken and you will not return. Your name will be removed from the company, and you will receive no financial reparation. In return, we will not contact the police and report your assault and attempted blackmail of Quilla Chen. Do I make myself clear?’
Gregor smirked. ‘You cannot do that. I have a contract – and half this company is mine.’
Ran’s smile was icy. ‘Actually we can.’ He looked over to Paul, who nodded.
‘Because you were loaned the money to pay for your side of the business – and you have yet to fully repay the Mallory’s for that loan, we can default you. Also – there’s an ‘appropriate behaviour’ clause in your contract. We have deemed you in breach of that.’
‘Put simply, leave now or we will ruin you.’ Jakob’s voice was scratchy with rage and Gregor looked at his partner.
‘Over some Asian pussy?’
It took both Ran and Paul to hold Jakob back. Ran narrowed his eyes at Gregor. ‘Get out and don’t ever come back.’
Gregor, realizing they meant what they said, shook his head. ‘This isn’t over.’
Randall Mallory let go of his son’s arm. ‘Oh, it is, Gregor. It is.’
‘So you fired him? Just like that?’
They were sitting in a crowded bar in the city, at a booth with a table full of empty bottles. Joel and Marley, their drinking companions for the evening were at the bar, getting along famously. Quilla was tucked into the crook of Jakob’s arm, his lips against her forehead.
‘Yup,’ he said, drawing away and looking down at her. ‘Good riddance. I should have done this years ago.’
‘What will he do now?’
‘I really don’t give a fuck, besides, Gregor’s got enough money that he’ll never have to work again.’
Quilla shook her head. ‘I still don’t get why he wanted me out of the way so badly.’
‘Christ, who knows what’s going on in that junky head? Drugs have fucked him up. He was always a tool but never like this. And I might have turned out like that if it wasn’t for you, beautiful, so thank you again.’
She kissed him back, her mouth curving up in a smile. ‘You could never be like that.’
Jakob looked her over appreciatively. She had a white, floating dress on which made her look ethereal, her hair bunched up in a messy bun. The dress fell to her mid-thigh, her golden-skinned legs so tempting to him. He ran a leisurely hand up her inner thigh and she wriggled with pleasure.
‘That dress is driving me crazy,’ he murmured in her ear and she chuckled, sighing with pleasure as his fingers made contact with her panties. ‘I want to fuck you so bad,’ he said, nipping her earlobe with his teeth. She grinned.
‘Later, gator…our friends are coming back.’
The bar was still packed at nearly midnight. Quilla excused herself to go to the ladies room, and Jakob was being grilled by Marley. They were all a little tipsy and Jakob, Marley and Joel grinned as Quilla made her unsteady way to the bathrooms. Jakob listened to Joel and Marley barrack each other. He liked Quilla’s friend very much – so did his brother, by the looks of it but Jakob couldn’t tell if it was the teasing between soon-to-be lovers, or two future best friends the first time they meet. He’d had way too much champagne, he decided, as his vision blurred, he looked out over the crowded bar, waiting for Quilla to return.
Then his heart began to beat faster and he sat up. Gregor. Gregor was in the bar. The other man saw him and saluted sarcastically.
Shit
. As Jakob looked on, he suddenly saw Gregor turn and he followed his gaze…
Quilla.
God
…Jakob stood suddenly, startling the other two who followed his gaze. Joel, knowing Gregor’s face, jumped up to and all three of them dived into the crowd. With a wrench of pure terror, he saw Gregor get to Quilla first. He saw her turn, register Gregor’s presence with a look of alarm then Jakob lost sight of them in the crowed.
Someone screamed. ‘He’s got a knife!’
No, no, oh god, no…
‘Out of my way,’ Jacob shouted in desperation and a path started to clear. He got to Quilla just as Gregor disappeared. For a second, Jakob felt relief but then as Quilla turned to him, her lovely face pale, her eyes confused, he saw the blood. Her hands clutched to her belly, her white dress turning red.
Blood. Her blood…
As Quilla began to collapse, he raced forward to catch her…
End of Part One
Description
With his lover Quilla badly injured by his resentful partner, Gregor, Jakob Mallory waits for news on Quilla’s condition. He leans on his family for support, especially his brother Joel. Joel Mallory has devoted his life to raising the son he had at 20, Skandar Mallory. Now that Skandar is a
twenty-five-year-old
tennis superstar, Joel finds himself sidelined by expert coaches and a huge entourage. Now, he wants to find out what his
own
passion in life is. When he meets teacher Nan, he
finds
inspiration, direction, and maybe even
love,
but before Joel and Nan can decide if they have a future, Joel
is shattered
when a close family member
is accused
of a horrific crime
…