Orion and the Scorpion
Alistair
Gazing through one of The Church’s bedroom windows, I caught the full moon shimmering over the Atlantic.
Angelique or Mistress B, as Vera liked to call her, kept the place running flawlessly.
My haven ran on two currents: the ground floor’s luxury strip club and the licensed brothel above.
The clientele? Politicians, entrepreneurs, and wealthy tourists who wanted discretion.
The clientele included politicians, CEOs, and travelers with platinum cards and appetites they couldn’t feed at home. They came here for discretion and indulgence. The rooms breathed wealth: sprawling suites perfumed with lavender, private spas, and glass panes framing the city’s glowing coastline.
“Scotty, she’s here,” Angelique said, appearing at the door with a petite blonde at her side.
“Come in.” I motioned the blue-eyed beauty closer, then nodded at Angelique.
“I’ll shut the door on the way out,” she said, nudging the blonde forward.
The woman’s eyes lowered as she bowed her head. She was no more than five feet and four inches, with shapely legs and a pretty face. Her tiny blue negligee was an enticing weave of lace and silk.
“What’s your name, angel?” I asked, eyeing her perky buttocks.
“Do I need a name?” The woman moved like a panther, swinging her seductive hips.
I caught her soft hands when she reached to straighten my collar. “You’ll need a name, and don’t fucking negotiate with me.”
She kissed my face, her fingers sliding through my neatly combed hair. “You’re a handsome man, Mister Scott.”
“Name,” I growled against her ear.
“Alexis,” she whispered, her full lips brushing my neck.
“Just Alexis?” I curled my fingers in her hair, tugging until her head tilted back.
“Just Alexis,” she echoed, shoulders loosening when I released her.
“Have you worked in a place like this before?” I asked, watching her every twitch.
“I was an escort in college.”
“Who bought your time?”
A flicker of defiance crossed her eyes. “I can’t say. It’s not relevant.”
My grip fisted in her curls again, sharp enough to make her gasp. “Everything’s relevant when I ask. Now,” I dragged her face closer, my mouth grazing her ear. “Seduce me.”
“Do you have a girlfriend? A wife?” she asked, sliding one strap off her shoulder until a bare breast spilled free.
“Does it matter?” Heat pooled low in my gut as my cock stirred.
She smirked. “You don’t look like the monogamous type, Mister Scott.”
“Listen carefully,” I growled, leaning in. “My personal life isn’t up for discussion. Stay the fuck out of it.”
Alexis swallowed hard, nodding as I tightened my grip on her jaw.
“Your business,” I said, enunciating each word, “is to please me. Now show me why I should spend a thousand bucks on you.”
“What would you like me to do?” she asked, glancing at handcuffs and a paddle on the bedside table.
With one swift move, I yanked down the flimsy negligee, breaking the strap. “I want to see all of you.”
Her gasp broke into the room. She scrambled to cover herself, but I caught her throat in one hand and pinned her with a stare as my other hand circled a nipple. “You like men who dominate, don’t you, sweetheart?”
Her nod was shaky.
“You want my cock,” I pressed, dragging my fingers between her thighs and finding her already slick. “Say it. Beg for it.”
“Mister Scott, I want your cock,” she pleaded, her hips straining against my touch.
“Not good enough.” I shoved her back. “On the bed. Spread yourself for me.”
She obeyed, lying across the four-poster and parting herself wide.
I stripped off my shoes, unbuckled my belt, and unzipped, letting her watch as I crawled onto the mattress.
“Tell me what you are,” I rasped, my mouth closing on one tight nipple, tongue circling until she gasped and arched.
“I’m a whore,” she whispered, trembling.
I drove two fingers inside her, fast and unrelenting. “Louder.”
Her cry split the air. “I’m a whore, Mister Scott.”
“Good girl.”
I caught the glint of a syringe in her hand. My voice dropped, deadly calm. “Now, tell me one last thing.”
I seized both wrists, slammed them above her head, and tightened my grip until she screamed. The syringe slipped free, clattering to the floor. She writhed beneath me, body bucking in panic, but I held her down with ease. She was never built to fight a man like me.
I snatched the handcuffs off the bedside table, snapping one around her wrist and locking the other to the heavy bedpost. She thrashed, naked and furious, but she was pinned.
I picked up the syringe as I stood, twirling it between my fingers. “A needle? How original. What’s in it—poison?”
Her lips curled. “Enough to kill you.”
“Nice try, Alexis.” I zipped my pants, buckled my belt, and slid into my shoes with deliberate calm. “Or should I say… Miss Holly James?”
Her eyes widened.
I dug a few pennies from my pocket and tossed them at her bare body, watching them scatter across the sheets. “I wouldn’t waste a dollar on you.”
“You bastard,” she wailed, tears streaking her face.
I smirked. “Already knew that. And I know you’re Saira’s little slut.” I spat, wiping her taste off my mouth like filth.
The door clicked open behind me.
I turned.
My pulse steadied the instant I met those familiar mocha-brown eyes and that Mona Lisa smile. Relief washed through me as I smiled at my woman.
Vera
I rushed to Alistair and wiped the smear of Holly’s lipstick from his cheek. “Are you okay, darlin’?” My palm found his, his hand warm and steady against mine.
“Never better.” His grin cut wide as he clutched me hard to him.
“You scare the hell out of me sometimes.”
“Ditto.”
I turned my glare on Holly, then at the syringe gleaming on the coffee table. “What do we have here?”
Alistair tugged me back. “Don’t touch it. Poison. Lieutenant Berry can bag it when he gets here.” He snatched a towel from the bed’s edge and hurled it at her. “You make me sick.”
“Feeling humiliated?” I asked, eyes locked on the traitor. “Betrayed? Stripped bare of your dignity? That’s what you left me with when you broke my body.”
Holly’s mouth twisted. “Your boyfriend enjoyed the show.”
“You’re nothing but lies and cheap tricks,” I shot back. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Alistair’s voice hardened. “Tell me, Holly. Why poison me? What story did my ex-wife feed you?”
I sat beside my traitorous ex-lover and tilted my head, studying her like a cornered animal. She shot daggers at me, then at Alistair. The burn in my blood pushed me over. I slapped her, the sound cracking through the room.
“Answer the fucking question.”
“Libby is dead because of you.” Holly’s finger shook as she pointed at Alistair. “She was beaten to death in jail. Saira said you were ruthless, that you wanted revenge for what I did to Vera. She said you sent people to kill my sister.”
Alistair’s stare hardened. “Your sister is dead because Saira willed it.”
“What?”
“Who did Libby smuggle drugs for?” His voice was ice.
“The Vittorio brothers.”
“They work for Saira Quinn.”
“Hell, no.” Holly’s jaw dropped.
“Hell, yes.” Alistair slid his hands into his pockets. “Saira paid prison officers to end your sister. I’m sorry you had to find her like that.”
“B-b-but Saira said—”
“That I ordered men to track Libby down and kill her?”
Holly gave a stiff nod.
“You see,” Alistair said, his voice cold as stone, “that’s where you’re wrong. This blood is on Saira.”
“You’re lying.”
“He’s telling the truth,” I said. “Saira is vengeful. She used you the way she used everyone else. She needed you to be desperate. You never told me you were an escort in college.”
Holly’s chin lifted, defiant. “I did some work for Saira. I needed money to put my sister in rehab. She was an addict. She needed help.”
“And after you butchered me on that operating table? When did you crawl back to Lester Harbor?” I asked.
She stared at Alistair, ignoring me.
“She hid herself away after Libby died,” he said. “Until Saira pulled her strings. Convinced her I had a hand in the murder. Offered her revenge as bait.”
Holly’s eyes narrowed. “H-how do you know? Have you been spying on me?”
Alistair laughed, sharp and cruel, flashing perfect white teeth. “What you did to Vera is inexcusable. You belong behind bars for that assault. Don’t you agree?”
“Alistair has protection,” I cut in. “They’ve been watching you. They warned him. I saw Saira this morning. She bragged you’d be unleashed. Alistair and I connected the dots over lunch at The Villa. Classy place. Not your kind of crowd.”
Holly’s mouth twisted. “I hate you both.”
Alistair smirked. “Your feelings are irrelevant. Let’s stick to facts. Like the fact that Angelique hired a new employee who matched your description. That was the last piece of the puzzle. So I booked you for the night.”
“Y-you set me up.” Holly’s bewildered gaze snapped to me.
“You set yourself up, honey,” I corrected, my tone cutting. “For failure.”
“Without my sources, I wouldn’t have known you planned to kill me,” Alistair said.
In my head, I thanked Lou and his crew, as well as Lieutenant Frank Berry and Bianca Cavalli. Each of them had handed us a piece of the jigsaw, and now Saira’s web was laid bare.
“Holly,” Alistair said, his voice like a blade sliding free of its sheath, “when you mess with Vera, you fuck with me.”
Her face crumpled, tears sliding down her cheeks. I stroked her hair, almost gently. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry for your loss. But you should’ve talked to me instead of pulling a syringe.”
Her eyes flared with resentment. “What will you do to me?”
“Jail seems like—”
A knock on the door cut me off.
“It must be Frank,” Alistair said, opening the door.
The moment it swung open, Erin stormed in, wild-eyed and screaming, a handgun clutched in her grip. “You fucking bitch!”
Holly shrieked as I held her tightly.
“You!” Erin screamed as she leveled the weapon at us. “This will shut you up.”
The sharp pop of gunfire tore through the room, splitting the air apart. And just like that, hell erupted all over again.