Fool Me Once

Chapter One

Leah Masters was not surprised by what she had seen. Her boss, Cain Knox, was not an easy man to please. When he discovered money missing, drugs, women, whatever he owned, the guy had been pissed. He didn’t like being lied to. He valued honesty above everything.

From the moment they first met, she’d been honest with him. Now, as she looked at the man who was currently whimpering in pain, she couldn’t help but wonder why he wouldn’t just tell the truth. Yes, his death was certain, but the man had stolen nearly half a million in drugs, and then tried to make a deal for twice as much.

She waited.

And the inevitable death finally came.

Cain stepped away and then turned toward his men, ordering the disposal of the body. She didn’t know if he’d given her a job and then taken her to all these bad negotiations on purpose.

She was never going to squeal, and she certainly wasn’t going to snitch. You learned a thing or two about survival when living on the streets, and also how to avoid predators that lurked in the shadows.

Leah tried not to look at Cain’s naked chest. He’d taken off his shirt the moment the man had started lying to him, and then stayed shirtless throughout. He hadn’t needed to, because he’d not gotten a speck of blood on him. She should be terrified, and yet she didn’t feel anything. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but she refused to acknowledge what she did feel.

Cain looked at her as he tugged his shirt back on. They had been doing this now for the past six months. She didn’t know if he was waiting for her to fail, or something else, but she hoped she had won whatever test he was giving.

The first moment they met, Leah thought he was going to kill her. She didn’t realize at the time that she worked in one of his bars. His only son, Danny, had been known to be a little too grabby. Leah hadn’t experienced this at first. Then, one day, she was cleaning up the bar, and Danny paid the owner to be alone with her.

It started innocent at first. He flirted, and she hadn’t been interested so she shot him down. When Danny realized she wasn’t going to allow him to get close and that she wanted nothing to do with him, it got dark fast.

To make a long story short, he attacked her, intending to take what he wanted. Clearly his father had gotten him cleared of rape before, only Danny wasn’t expecting her to fight back. She kicked the crap out of him. Left him with a broken arm and nose, and several bruises. There might have even been a few cracked ribs as well. She wasn’t counting. Either way, she got away, and Danny went to the hospital.

Cain kidnapped her and told her she had two options. He either killed her, or she came to work for him and would have to do everything he told her to do.

She didn’t want to die. Although her life had been pretty shitty, she still wanted to live her life, her own way.

Working for him came with benefits, the first one being she didn’t have to worry about dealing with her landlord, and the guy had turned into a creep. A big creep, and he was a little scary. Not that it bothered her, but putting him in the hospital would also make her homeless. She now lived with him.

Second, she didn’t have to pay for her wardrobe. Cain—or Mr. Knox—insisted on not only supplying her wardrobe, but also telling her exactly what she should be wearing.

Third, the money was damn good. Better than she had ever made in her entire lifetime.

Fourth, she didn’t do anything. She stood by his side and was quiet the whole time. Sure, he dressed her up to go to business dinners, and she sat, waiting, eating, doing what was needed.

There was only one time she had done anything, and that was when one of his exes had been a little pissed, and she tried to attack him. Leah intervened, stopping him from getting slapped.

So far, Cain Knox was a good bad guy, which was so damn strange.

She should hate him, but he stayed true to his word, and she hadn’t once seen Danny again. In fact, Cain had also offered her an apology on behalf of his son. She couldn’t help but wonder how many other women had gotten an apology from him.

Cain stepped up to her, placed his hand at the base of her back, and they left the warehouse, going toward the elevator that would take them to the luxurious casino that offered the people a chance at winning millions. She also knew it was all a fix. There was enough offered to keep the people coming for more, but never actually winning the big leagues.

She expected them to go straight out to his car, but instead he veered her off to the right, where the VIP section was located. There was a guard standing there, and he gave them a nod before allowing them to enter. This was a new guard. She tried to remember all the people that worked for Cain, just to be polite. She knew what it was like to work, be invisible, and not feel appreciated, so she attempted to bridge that gap.

She had a feeling most of the people that worked for Cain assumed he was sleeping with her. Nope. They hadn’t had sex. She imagined he would die of laughter to learn she was a virgin. Surviving on the streets, and still a virgin at twenty-five years old.

One of the guys she met had not been into kids, but they had hit it off, and before he died in a drive-by shooting, he’d taught her how to defend herself. It was why she knew how to fight.

It had been a long time since she thought of Ben. The guy had been one hell of a fighter. A savage. No one could beat him, until a bullet ran through his heart and took his life way too soon. She’d witnessed it. He’d died in her arms, and she ended up in foster care the next day. He might have been the only person in her life she ever cared about.

Cain took them to his usual seat, and Leah sat down beside him. She crossed one leg over the other and waited.

A waiter came, and he ordered a scotch for himself, and she got a glass of water. She didn’t drink or do drugs. Cain had made sure she took multiple blood tests as he didn’t believe her. It was rude, but she understood why. In their world, or in the real world, everyone lied. She was used to that.

It was why she couldn’t help but tense up from time to time. She kept expecting Cain to kill her. She hurt his son, and she hadn’t gone easy on him. Danny was an egotistical asshole. He assumed he was above the law because of who his father was, which was complete and total bullshit.

“Relax,” Cain said.

The waiter brought their drinks and stood for a second before Cain shooed him away.

“I’m fine.”

“You have got to get over this fear of assuming I’m going to kill you.” Cain took a sip of his drink.

Once again, Cain surprised her.

“And what makes you think that?”

“You’re a lot easier to read than you think, Leah.”

She ignored her glass of water and instead turned to look at him. “Sorry for having suspicions about you. It’s not every day that the most feared man in the city offers you a job after humiliating his son.”

“I’m not like most dads, and besides, Danny was becoming a bit of a problem.”

“A bit of a problem? I wonder how many other women he’d succeeded in attacking before I came along.” She looked at Cain, trying to find any obvious signs of discomfort. There were none. “Does it make you feel good? Knowing he uses your name to instill fear into others, and there might be dozens of women out there afraid of him?”

****

“Ten,” Cain said.

“What?”

“There are ten women who are afraid of my son, and they know if he ever darkens their lives again, they are to come to me.” He looked at Leah, and there was that spark of surprise again. In all his forty-five years, he’d never met a woman like her.

The moment he saw her, she didn’t quiver or back down. She was the first woman to look at him, and there had been a challenge in her eyes. There might have also been contempt.

He’d wanted to meet the woman that put his son in the hospital.

Cain had seen the security footage. The manager of his bar hadn’t shut it down. Cain possessed the footage now, and he had told Danny that under no circumstances was he to step out of line again. Leah would be the last woman he attempted to rape, and if he so much as forced even a kiss on another woman, Cain himself would castrate the little shit. He was done cleaning up his son’s messes.

He didn’t owe the little shit anything. Danny lived a life of luxury, one that Cain was growing tired of providing. It served Danny right getting the crap beaten out of him. The truth was, he rather admired the woman for putting Danny in his place.

“Wow, ten women he’s ruined, and you think he should still be walking the streets. He should be in prison.”

Cain laughed. “And you think prison would fix him?”

“It might teach him a lesson.”

“With my name, all it would do is make him king, and yes, my son is a rapist, but he is also cruel as well. I am dealing with him.”

“And you justify it?” Leah asked.

“I don’t justify anything. You are breathing, are you not?”

She shook her head and he watched her struggle. Leah was a fighter. He doubted anything ever came easy to her. The file he had drawn up on her told him absolutely nothing about the woman herself. There was a whole life she lived, and nothing in her file to suggest how she learned to fight the way she did. There were gaps where she clearly fled the system.

Since she was eighteen years old, she bounced from job to job until she got the one at his bar. From there, she had an exemplary record. The customers adored her, as did the management. She never made waves and was always there for others. She never asked for anything.

Then his son came along causing trouble.

He was growing tired of his boy.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“I want to go home.”

Cain smiled. Her home was his home. Part of his agreement not to kill her was to keep her close.

He had hoped his fascination with her would die. Yet, Leah continued to make him curious. She never argued with him about the outfits he chose for her. Some of them were quite revealing, but he loved her body and had no problem looking at her. She was stunning.

Full curves. Large tits, a small waist, but hips big enough for a man to hold onto. In the few jeans he let her wear, he saw how juicy her thighs were, and they were designed to be wrapped around a man’s waist.

And she also never ordered the freaking salad, which to him was bloody wonderful. The women who ordered the salad with minus the dressing, meat, and what made a salad a salad, drove him nuts.

“Are you having a tantrum?” he asked.

She got to her feet and glared at him. “I’m not a child and I don’t appreciate being spoken to like I am one. I’m going home.”

Cain sat back with a smirk. “If you leave this zone, I will kill you. You are to do exactly as I say, remember?”

There was no fear in her eyes, but a challenge. He wouldn’t kill her. There would be absolutely no fun in that. Besides, he also happened to like her, so killing her was off the cards. She didn’t need to know that.

Leah looked toward the door, and he saw she was tempted. He had come to learn that she didn’t have a death wish. She wanted to live. It was a shock because her life had been incredibly shitty and boring before he came into her world. He imagined once he left, it would be exactly the same.

“You don’t scare me.”

“Good,” Cain said. “Having a simpering doormat in my company would do me no favors. Sit.”

He saw her hands clench at her sides, and he waited. Part of him expected her to rebel, but she did shock him by taking a seat, although unwillingly.

“You and I are always going to disagree on Danny.”

“The man should be locked up.”

“And I agree with you, but if you want to feed into that ego of his, sending him to prison is the right way to go. He’s my son. He bears my name, which means he is protected. Danny in prison would be a bigger problem than him outside. Out here, I can lock him up. I can isolate him. I can make his life a fucking misery. On the inside, there would be nothing he couldn’t have. His life would be easy with no repercussions for what he had done. Trust me, I know.”

“You’ve been to prison?” she asked.

Cain stared at her. There was no reason to answer. He’d done time, many years ago, and while inside, he learned from the best. He discovered what it took to become the top man, and from the moment he left, this was what he’d been determined to achieve, and now he has. There was no way he would let it go, not even for his son.

“So, how about some food? You better eat. When we get home, I’m not cooking anything.”

“In case you have forgotten, I can fend for myself.”

“Yeah, but it’s late, and I also know when you witness me taking care of business, it tends to destroy your appetite. So, let’s feed you before you end up starving to death.”

Leah smirked. “Trust me, there is no chance of that happening.”

He looked up and she stared right back at him. “Is this a joke about your weight?” he asked. If it was, it would be the first moment of insecurity he’d seen her possess.

“No. I’m happy with the shape I am. I don’t care what others think of me.” She leaned forward. “Trust me, I know what starving looks like, and when you’ve been forced to go without food, and your stomach is cramping and hurts so damn bad, but the best you can give it is whatever little saliva you create, you don’t forget that experience. I know I didn’t, and any moment you can have food, you do. I’ll have the chicken burger with the spicy fries, and make that extra cheese as well.”

He smiled and then nodded toward the waiter, ordering for both of them. He went with the beef burger and a double helping of cheesy fries. They were his favorite, and tomorrow morning he’d be hitting the gym to make sure he worked them off. He also liked forcing Leah to sit and watch him. She rarely did, but there were times he caught glimpses of her staring at him. She could try and pretend her attraction wasn’t there, but he knew it was bullshit.

Leah didn’t want to admit it, but she wanted him. He also very much wanted her. There would be a time and place for it, and it certainly wasn’t tonight.

“Would you like to go and play?” he asked.

“Nah, I don’t get my rocks off losing money. I know you have these games rigged.”

He laughed. “Only some of them, otherwise, that wouldn’t be fair.”

She sighed and turned toward him. “You have enough to make sure the people that come here get addicted?”

“No, I haven’t changed the game, Leah, I never did.”

“What would you say you’ve done then?” she asked.

“Absolutely nothing. It’s a game of chance. You win some, you lose some. I can’t change any of that. Sometimes you’ve got to be willing to take a risk.”

Leah looked at him, and he had a feeling she was doing more than just staring. She was assessing him, trying to measure him, to see if he added up to her desired level of a man.

“I guess there are some people in this world who are happier to take risks than others. Some people learn at a young age that to take risks gets you killed.”

And again, she was showing there was so much more to her than he originally thought. She was so beautiful, but he also knew she hadn’t had an easy time. Her life had been tough right from the start.

There was so much more to her than met the eye, but he was going to find out every detail about her if it was the last thing he did.