Bound by Rapture (14 page)

“Then why are you hurting me? Why are you doing this?” I hated the way I sounded, like a pathetic baby.

He didn’t move but stood completely still. “Because you hurt
me
. And it’s too late to walk away.”

“What is this place?” I asked as we stepped off the elevators into a plush waiting area. A woman sat behind a black desk in front of a brown wood wall. Her eyes lit up when she saw Cole.

“Mr. Maddon!” She jumped out of her desk and came around to stand in front of him. “It is so fantastic to see you back!” She shook his hand enthusiastically.

“It is nice to see you too, Marla.”

Her gaze jumped to me. “Is this
her
?” Her words weren’t accusatory, but curious and excited. 

I glanced at Cole, who gave a sharp nod, indicating I was indeed the person she was referring to. Her green eyes lit up even further, which I wouldn’t have thought possible. She grabbed my hand and shook it, her red curls bobbing around her head as she did so. “It is so wonderful to meet you, Ms. Collette. Mr. Maddon said he would bring you up, and I’ve been looking forward to it all the time. Oh, look at me.” She pressed her free hand to her chest. “I’m being rude. I’m Marla. I’m the secretary here at the Obsidian Spirits Corporate office.” 

I didn’t know what to say to the woman. All I could do was stare while she practically jerked my arm out of socket. Butterflies swooped around in my belly at the thought of Cole taking the time to tell his secretary about me, but then I reminded myself he had probably shared those things with her
before
he’d decided to hate me. 

“Nice to meet you,” I managed to choke out. 

“Are there any new messages, anything that hasn’t already been forwarded to me or the rest of the board?” Cole asked.

Marla hurried back around her desk. “Ummm.” She used a mouse to scroll down a computer screen. “No. Nothing new. I’ve already forwarded the other messages to your email.”

Cole nodded. “Thanks, Marla.” He led me toward a big dark wood door. And when he pushed it open, it all seemed a little surreal, because I knew what this was. It was his office, Cole’s office. The office where he sat in a fabulous leather chair, facing another incredible view overlooking the city that never slept, and conducted his billion-dollar liquor company. 

I knew what he did for a living, but seeing the reality of it made everything very clear. This office, with its white-washed walls, a big desk in the center of the room, and an even bigger fish tank filling one wall, made me hyperaware of who Cole was. He was one of the richest men in the United States. He had more money in his bank account at this very moment than I would ever see in my life. 

He was the man who had stalked me.
Me,
of all people. This billionaire had made me the object of his obsession—some low-life stripper. He’d fucked me more times than I could count. And he’d murdered his brother. He’d cut his heart out. Yet he’d also been the most gentle lover I’d ever had, and at the same time the roughest. Being here was truly, devastatingly surreal. 

He walked over to the window behind his desk, turning his back to me. “So, this is it,” he said quietly.

I came to stand beside him. “This is what?”

“My office.”

I nodded, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. 

“I came here every day for work. Sometimes on most weekends for the last seven years or more, since I got out of prison.”

The reference to jail time made me jerk my gaze away from the busy world below. It was a little strange hearing him say it, considering I hadn’t known he’d even gone to prison until the day before. 

“How long were you in there?”

“About three years. I didn’t open this corporate office until after I got out. Everything before that had been based out of New Orleans.” 

I frowned, letting the information sink in. “Why did you move it here? Why not keep it there?”

“There was no reason for me to be in New Orleans anymore after that. Everyone who mattered was gone.” He leaned his arm against the glass, his gaze never wavering from the view below. 

“You mean your sister.” I expected him to lash out at me, but I was beyond the point of caring. 

“Sandy,” he said, surprising me. “Yes.”

I glanced at his arm where I knew that tattoo was hidden beneath his clothes, but didn’t say anything.

“You’re not going to ask me more questions?” 

I wanted to. I
needed
to know what happened that night ten years ago. 

“I’m just a whore, remember? Good for stripping and fucking. Why would I care to know? How would that improve my simple, pathetic life?” The sarcasm rolled off my tongue like a whip.

Instead of lashing back at me, Cole sighed and made his way to his desk. 

“I sat here every day in this chair. Until I found you.” He slumped down behind his desk.

I sucked in a breath, but didn’t move. What was the point?

“I’ve hardly been here since then. Managing my life, my business, everything out of a suitcase, a makeshift office in strip club.” He tossed his hands up in the air. “And for what?” He glanced back at me.

“You’re such an asshole.” I moved to face him. “I’ve had it with the insults. I’m fucking done with them.”

He smirked up at me. “Do you know how many times I sat at this desk and thought about fucking you?”

I jerked my head back in surprise. “But you—”

“I spent most of my time in Texas. But not all of it. I spent some time here. Coming back and forth for mandatory work stuff.”

“Oh.”

“And I thought about what I would do if I could get you here in your little sparkly outfit, with your tits out and your pussy wet for me.” His words were like a melody, hot and sexual, grinding against my skin until I flushed. “I thought about fucking you right here.” He patted the top of his desk. “And over there.” He gestured to the chair that faced him on the other side of the desk. “And there.” He motioned to the windows where we’d been standing. “I thought about what it would be like to have you pressed against the window, your nipples hard, scraping against the clear glass, smudging them. You exposed for the world to see.” He leaned his elbows on his desk. “While I took you from behind. At the top of a skyscraper, at the top of the city.” 

I chewed the inside of my cheek and sat down in the chair across from him. “You really thought about all that?” I hated how breathless I sounded, how wet I was. I was still sore from the night before, but part of me was dripping, ready, desperate for him to do just as he imagined. 

A phone started ringing, shattering the moment. Cole pulled it out of his pocket and answered it, reminding me I still didn’t have my phone. I hadn’t been able to check on Gran or anyone else.

I let my gaze wander around the room while Cole talked. There were several framed certificates on one side. On the other, with the fish tank, there was a massive painting of a mermaid. She was stretched out on rock at the bottom of the ocean, her arm over her head, blue hair floating around her still form. She stared out from the painting, her dark eyes alluring, pulling the viewer in. She clutched a strand of pearls in one hand, while the other lay against her tanned belly.

“Are you certain?” Cole’s strained voice drew my attention back to him. “Here in the city?” He paused. “Oh.” He nodded. “And there’ve been no other signs of him?” Another pause, this one longer. “I see. Fine, text it to me. Thank you. Oh wait, is there any new information about the number that texted—” He stopped as the person on the other line interrupted. After several moments he said, “Okay, let me know.” He hung up. 

I looked at him expectantly when he didn’t explain right away. “What was that about?” He eyed me as if deciding whether or not he wanted to tell me. “You better tell me, Cole.”

“There’s still been no sign of Kevin since the day before Mandi was murdered. He hasn’t gone to work. Hasn’t called in. Nothing. His mother, who still lives in your hometown, filed a missing persons report on him yesterday claiming she hadn’t heard from him since the same day he was last seen at work.”

I considered his words. Finding the name of Kevin’s company on Jay’s shirt had been jarring, terrifying. But it just didn’t make sense.
Why would Kevin do all this? It’s not like him.

“But my guy also found something else. Kevin’s father. He lives in New York. North in Newburgh about an hour from here.”

Cole’s words made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I was reminded of when Kevin stalked me. It was different from what Cole did. It was terrifying because I knew Kevin would hurt me. He wasn’t above beating me within an inch of my life. He had proved that easily when I had refused to accept his apology and take him back after he’d left me bloody and broken on his living room floor. He had become obsessed. Terrifyingly obsessed.

I’d managed to get a little apartment, in a town not far from where we grew up, on my minimum wage grocery store salary. It was my first step into my own life, a new life. But he’d found out where I lived. I would come home at night to discover him waiting by my front door. At first he just begged me to give him another chance. It stayed like that for a little while until he didn’t want to wait anymore.
That’s
when I got scared, started looking over my shoulder constantly. I didn’t do anything alone. Luckily for me, it only lasted a few weeks before I landed the job at Rapture that would take me away from that terrible apartment where he waited by my car and tapped on my bedroom window. 

“Did you know he lived here?” 

“No. Him and his dad didn’t talk much. Just on Christmas and birthdays. I knew he didn’t live close by, but he never told me where.” 

“Well, he’s in Newburgh. Apparently he’s lived there for a good ten years. Maybe Kevin came up here to seek haven with his dad until he figured things out.”

I could see Cole weighing all the options in his mind.

“Then what are we waiting on? We need to go there now and talk to his dad.” I stood up.

“You aren’t going.”

“What? And you think you’re going without me? I’m over all this bullshit. We need to figure out who the fuck is doing all this. And if it’s Kevin and he’s here, then we need to act fast.”

Cole rose from his seat, clenching his fists. “I
am
acting fast. But you’re not coming. It would put you in danger.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are the biggest contradiction on the planet. One minute I’m just some whore and now I need to be protected?”

“This isn’t up for negotiation.”

“It is. I’m going. You need me to go. If I’m there and Kevin is, then he will come out for me. I
know
he will.”

“Why do you say that?” Cole raised a brow.

“I just know him. Okay? He’s one of those guys who likes to be in control.” I smirked at him. “Like someone else I know. But anyway, if he knew I was there in his dad’s house and he was there…he would come out. He wouldn’t be able to stand it. He would want to gloat and rub it in my face. That’s just the kind of person he is.” Cole didn’t say anything, so I placed my hand on his arm. “If you or some of your guys go poking around, he’ll stay hidden.” 

Cole stared down at me, emotions warring in his eyes. “Fuck.” He ran a hand through his hair. “If I agree to this,” he bit out. “If I let you come…then you have a lot of explaining to do.”

I huffed. “I already explained about last night, I—”

“Not about last night. About Kevin. I need to know everything about you and him.” His eyes flashed with something dangerous. “Every damn detail. You understand, Julia?”

I eyed him. Did I want to tell Cole about what Kevin had put me through? Did I want to share with him the gory embarrassing details of how I coveted Kevin’s love, his forgiveness after he hit me? “Okay.” The word popped out before I could think about it. It was the right thing to do. Someone living needed to know. A sharp pain shot through my chest as the image of Mandi popped into my mind. “I just want this to be over, Cole. I’ll tell you everything.” My voice sounded small.

He didn’t look entirely happy about my answer. Like it made him sick to hear it. “Good.” He looked away from me. “Then I guess we’re going.”

THIRTEEN