Chapter 21
CAIN
Sutton froze, but her gaze narrowed as she studied me. “The Westlake acquisition? That was years ago.”
“The Westlake acquisition was just the beginning,” I said, watching her face carefully. “You were an unknown variable that cost me nearly sixty million dollars because of all of the time and effort that went into making that deal happen. That kind of disruption… got my attention.”
Sutton grabbed her blouse and her fingers worked frantically at the buttons as her hands trembled slightly. “So you’ve been watching me since then? Following me? Photographing me?”
“Among other things.” I leaned against my desk with my arms crossed. “Your routines. Your habits. Your preferences. Your relationships—or lack thereof.”
“And what? You decided to acquire my father’s company just to get to me?”
I tilted my head just before I responded. “Prescott Vantage was a solid acquisition target regardless. But yes, you were the primary asset I was interested in.”
She finished buttoning her blouse and reached for her pants. “That’s sick.”
“It’s thorough,” I corrected. “I don’t leave anything to chance, Sutton. Not with investments, not with acquisitions, and certainly not with people who intrigue me.”
“Intrigue?” She let out a laugh that didn’t have a trace of humor in it. “Is that what you call this?”
I moved closer to her and I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that neither one of us was backing down. “Call it whatever you like. But consider this: I could have destroyed you three years ago with a single phone call. Instead, I chose to study you. To learn everything there is to know about you.”
“To control me,” she shot back.
“To possess you,” I clarified. “There’s a difference.”
She turned toward the screen again, and I could see the calculations happening behind those brown eyes including her trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this situation. “How many others are there?” she asked quietly.
“Others?”
“How many other women have you stalked? Manipulated? Acquired?”
The smirk appeared on my face again. “You think this is a pattern for me? That I make a habit of this?”
“Don’t you?”
I moved into her space once more. “There are no others, Sutton. Just you.”
She looked up at me and I could see the mixture of disbelief and suspicion in her eyes. “Why me?”
“Because you’re extraordinary,” I said simply. “From the moment you derailed my acquisition, something no one had managed to do in over a decade, I knew you were different.”
“So you decided to own me?”
“I decided I needed to know everything about you. I decided you were mine later.”
Sutton stepped back, putting distance between us as she grabbed her jacket from the floor. “I’m not yours.”
“Your body has said otherwise,” I replied. “Multiple times including in the alleyway and just a few moments ago.”
Her eyes flashed with anger once more. “Don’t you dare use that against me.”
“The truth is rarely what people want to hear even when they say they do,” I said. “Your body responds to me because it recognizes what your mind refuses to acknowledge.”
Sutton’s jaw clenched and I could tell she was barely holding it together. “What you’ve done is illegal. This is harassment, invasion of privacy—”
“And yet here you are, in my office, having just let me fuck you on my desk.” I moved to block her path to the door. “You came here today for a reason, Sutton. And I don’t think it was for a tour.”
Her eyes widened slightly. Bingo.
“Tell me why you’re really here,” I demanded.
“I told you—”
“Don’t lie to me.” My voice dropped lower. “You’re not very good at it.”
She hesitated, and I could see her weighing her options. Finally, she spoke after several seconds. “Dana Liu called me,” she admitted. “She mentioned acquisition documents from two years ago. Documents that specifically named me so I wanted to know if it was true.”
So that’s what this was about. Liu had gotten closer than I’d anticipated. I’d have to deal with the ramifications of that later.
“And you thought you’d come here and what? Hack into my computer? Search my office?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re more reckless than I gave you credit for.”
“I needed to know if it was true and now I do.”
“Does the confirmation satisfy you?”
“It disgusts me.”
“And yet I swear I can hear your heart pounding from here,” I tossed back. “Your pupils are dilated. You’re not running for the door.”
“Because you’re blocking said door,” she snapped.
“We both know that if you truly wanted to leave, you’d have tried by now. Called for help. Screamed. But you haven’t.” I took a step closer. “Because part of you is fascinated by this. By me.”
Sutton stopped breathing for several seconds. “You’re delusional.”
“Am I?” I reached out and traced a finger along her jawline. She flinched but didn’t pull away. “You want to know how deep this goes. How much I know about you. What I plan to do with that knowledge.”
“Stop,” she whispered, but it was giving defeat more than fight.
“I know that you drink your coffee black because your father always claimed cream and sugar were for people who couldn’t handle bitterness,” I said, continuing to stroke her skin.
“I know how you love your peace and quiet and love to drink a glass of wine to unwind. I know you always sleep on the left side of the bed even though you live alone.”
Her eyes widened once more as I continued rattling off some of the things I knew about her.
“I know you visit your mother’s grave twice a year—on her birthday and the anniversary of her death.
I know you keep a copy of her favorite book on your nightstand even though you’ve never actually read it.
I suspect that’s probably because connecting with her on that level would send you into a place mentally you don’t want to explore yet. ”
“How could you possibly—”
“Because I’ve made you my business, Sutton. In every conceivable way.”
She swallowed hard, and I watched the movement of her throat with fascination. “Why? What do you want from me?”
“Everything,” I answered simply. “From the moment I saw what you were capable of, I knew I wanted to make you mine.”
“No,” she said as she pushed me away. “I’m done dealing with your bullshit. Consider this my resignation from Prescott Vantage and whatever the hell this is between us ends right now.”
“I deny your resignation.”
“What?” She stared at me as though I’d lost my mind.
“I said, I deny your resignation,” I repeated calmly. “That’s not how this works.”
“You can’t just—”
“I can. I own Prescott Vantage, which means I decide who stays and who goes. You’re staying.” I turned to face the screen, scrolling through more images of her. “Look at this, Sutton. Look at what I’ve built. The time I’ve invested. The resources I’ve deployed just to understand you.”
She didn’t move closer, but her eyes tracked the images as I scrolled through them. I could see the exact moment when it dawned on her. The moment she realized just how extensive my surveillance had been.
“My condo,” she said. “You have photos inside my place.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“How?”
“Does it matter?” I turned back to face her. “What matters is that you understand the situation you’re in. And there’s more. So much more.”
“More what?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Documents. Recordings. Data on everyone you’ve ever been close to.” I pressed a few keys, bringing up another folder. “Would you like to see the psychological profile I commissioned? The behavioral analysis? The prediction models for how you’d react in various scenarios?”
She shook her head, but her eyes remained fixed on the screen. “This is—”
“This is dedication,” I said, finishing her comment for her. “No one has ever understood you the way I do, Sutton. Not your father, not your friend Cassie, not anyone who has tried to get close to you. Speaking of which…”
I returned to my computer and opened another folder and began scrolling through images of men who’d shown interest in Sutton over the past three years. Five faces appeared on the screen, each with their own extensive dossier.
“These men,” I said, watching her face carefully, “each posed a different kind of threat to what I was building.”
She stepped closer despite herself, her eyes widening as she recognized the faces. “Bradley,” she whispered, seeing his photo among the others.
“Yes. Bradley was the most recent and his was more about disrespecting you even after I warned him.” I clicked on another file.
A man named James, who’d asked her to dinner twice last year.
“James here found himself suddenly transferred to his firm’s Singapore office after showing particular interest in you at a conference. ”
Her hand flew to her mouth as she took in what I said. “You can’t be serious.”
“Completely.” I moved to the next file. “David managed to secure three dates with you before his security clearance was mysteriously revoked because of criminal activity. Hard to maintain a new relationship when one is suddenly under federal investigation. I like to think of it as clearing the path because I don’t appreciate competitors in any area of my life. ”
She closed her eyes for a moment, and I didn’t say a word because I respected her. I wanted her intact, not hysterically losing her shit given the information I’d just laid on her.
“So what now?” she said quietly.
“You stay. With me. And if you choose not to, I have another provision in place that I think you’ll find interesting,” I said as I opened another folder and used one of my hands to gesture to the screen. When Sutton gasped, I knew I’d hit the mark perfectly.
I watched Sutton lean in to read the screen.
She scrolled with one trembling hand. The folder she’d opened was for a single person: Cassandra “Cassie” Perry.
I highlighted the emails, phone transcripts, and the high-resolution images of her best friend lifting a wine glass in Sutton’s own living room.
“You kept tabs on Cassie?” She looked like she might actually hit me now. “She’s my friend, for God’s sake.”
“Your friend. I assume you told her what happened in the alleyway given the uptick in searches about reporting crimes and looking up 583 Park Avenue. I would hate for something to happen to her because you decided to walk away from me.”
“You’re threatening Cassie to keep me in line?”
“I’m ensuring you understand the full scope of the situation,” I corrected. “Threats are for people with limited options. I simply have contingencies for every scenario.”
Sutton’s hands curled into fists at her sides. I could see her thinking through everything, analyzing her options, trying to find the exit that I’d ensured didn’t exist.
“She has nothing to do with this,” Sutton said. “With us.”
“She became involved the moment you confided in her.” I closed the folder on my screen and turned to face her. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know what you discussed that night? That I wouldn’t have anticipated your response?”
“You’ve been ten steps ahead this entire time,” she said.
“Always,” I confirmed, watching her carefully. “It’s what I do.”
However, what happened next, I didn’t anticipate.
Sutton lunged forward with unexpected speed, her fist connecting with my jaw before I could react.
The impact sent me stumbling backward, more from surprise than pain.
Before I could regain my balance, she grabbed a heavy crystal paperweight from my desk and swung it at my head.
I dodged, but not quickly enough because the edge caught my temple.
Pain soared through my skull as I tried to recover.
I staggered back, genuinely shocked by what had occurred. My vision went fuzzy briefly and I wondered if I’d lost consciousness for a moment. When I was finally able to stand up under my own power, I wasn’t surprised by the scene that greeted me.
Sutton Prescott was gone.