Obsessive Cravings (Wicked Cravings Book 1)

Chapter 1

There were few things I didn’t get when I wanted them. And Riley Brinks was one thing I wanted. One thing I was planning to make mine. A pretty little thing who was moving to my city, willingly walking into my game so I could play with her.

Riley was exactly why I never acted swiftly to take down my enemies. Patience offered the chance for them to become complacent, to think I’d forgotten their mistakes. And it offered me the opportunity to enact the most ruthless payback possible. Mason Brinks was Riley’s older brother and since Mason was on my list of enemies, Riley’s sudden move to my city meant my patience had paid off.

When I’d seen her application on the desk of an associate, I hadn’t given it much thought, but her name had stuck in my mind. That name had hounded me until I discovered the reason. Brinks was a name I knew well. Mason Brinks was a ruthless bastard who owned the western part of the province. He had his hands in every business from the city to the farms of Treemont, where he lived. He and I had been rivals for years since the moment he tried stepping into my city. No one threatened my rule on Bridgeville. This city was mine.

I’d run his attempts out and we’d been enemies since. I’d spent years sitting silently, waiting for just the right moment to strike back, to enact a revenge he wouldn’t see coming. A revenge that would leave him so wounded he’d never recover, and his territory would become mine. My patience with Mason’s arrogance had now presented me with Riley, who was the crown jewel of rewards.

Her choice of cities intrigued me. It made no sense for someone inside Mason’s inner circle to move to enemy territory. I wasn’t sure if he was sending her here to infiltrate my business or if she was a rogue player. Either way, I’d initially intended to shut her down and give her no ability to move to Bridgeville. But when I’d seen a picture of the beauty, I knew she had to be mine. My plan had formulated instantly and whether she was coming to hunt me or not, she had now become my prey. I wanted a taste of Riley Brinks before I ruined her completely and used her to bring her brother down.

I looked out over the view from my office, knowing she was down there, moving her things in and preparing for a new life in my world. She wouldn’t see me coming, but I’d make sure she would never look away once she did.

Tempting her had been easy enough. Running a city had its advantages, and I ensured my people made her an offer she couldn’t resist. I owned most of the businesses in town, including the brokerage firm that outbid my associate’s tiny advisor office. He couldn’t complain—I only let him run that office because he’d done me a favor once.

Once she accepted, I ensured an apartment was available in a building I owned, one close enough for me to observe her and take the first steps in my plan to manipulate her.

Running my hands through my hair, I grabbed the picture from my folder on her, staring at her, memorizing every detail, my craving for her already festering. She’d stepped into my web, and I was going to tangle her in so deep, her brother would never get her out. My only worry was that I would get tangled in it as well. I’d never been this obsessed with a woman. She was eighteen years younger than me, a mere twenty-seven years old, but I didn’t care. I would have Riley Brinks. She was mine, even if she didn’t know it yet. And when I had my fill of her, I would leave her ruined and finally destroy her brother.