Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
NATASHA
O f all the things Lachlan could have said to make me consider tossing around the idea of not killing him…
What the fuck was I supposed to do with that ?
I’d spent so much time hating him, maybe I was blinded. I never questioned the weekly roses, not to mention the millions in donations he paid without argument just because I asked him to. I didn’t even question his quiet acceptance of the shelter pets I made him adopt.
Laying a hand on my suddenly queasy belly, I remembered how many of those animals he’d already lost—just because I was in a snit and wanted him to hurt.
Which made me no better than him or my father. Fuck.
Hello, empathy.
It was a damned bitter pill to swallow. I choked it down, but didn’t delude myself into thinking we’d end up with some bullshit storybook happy ending. I would forever remind him of the man who killed his brother, and I’d never forget him forcing me to piss on his lawn.
“Fine,” I finally said as I set my unwanted food aside. “I guess the first thing I need protecting from is that contract. Read it and give me the too long, didn’t read version.”
I’d read it myself before I signed it, just in case he was bullshitting me.
He stole the last of my spanakopita before opening the folder. His warmth caressed my skin as he settled his large body next to me. “First paragraph, Natasha Ashland, TLL Foundation, et cetera, employment at will, meaning you can quit or be fired with two weeks’ notice.”
“That sounds fair. What else?”
He read further, until I held up a hand. “What does that mean?”
Patiently, he flipped the page back. “It says you will accept assignments at the discretion of TLL Foundation, to be completed under their oversight, and?—”
“Cross that out. I choose my own assignments, and there will be no oversight.”
“Good girl,” he murmured as he drew lines through the passage. “Ella might fight over it, but I agree with you.”
I squeezed my thighs together and resisted the urge to punch him. Stupid praise kink. Even coming from Lachlan—maybe especially coming from Lachlan—hearing someone say I was a good girl made my pussy drip.
“Let her. She’s in no position to negotiate if she wants me that bad.”
“May I suggest rephrasing?” He turned the page over to the blank side and looked at me expectantly. “I have an idea that might suit both of you.”
“Go ahead.”
He scribbled furiously for several seconds, then read, “Natasha Ashland will be offered right of first refusal on all assignments, without obligation to accept. She may also request supporting services, provided by TLL Foundation, if she so desires, but at no point will such services be a requirement. She retains the right to suggest additional assignments based on her own research, which TLL Foundation is under no obligation to accept. She also retains the right to complete those assignments with her own resources, without approval from TLL Foundation.”
“I like it.” I forced my next words through tight lips. “Thank you.”
He glanced at me and flipped to the next page. “We’re going to try to keep that last line, but I’m not sure Ella will accept it.”
Why did we sound so good? Gah.
“It’s worth a shot, and I can work around it if she refuses. What’s next?”
“The sixty percent payout for completed assignments Ella already mentioned, plus a fixed stipend of three hundred thousand Euros per year. Definitely keep this part.”
“Why?”
“Because it states your payout is based on gross assets recovered, not net, and your stipend is independent of the number of projects you complete. Ella’s expenses come out of her share.”
“Well, that’s…generous?”
“With someone like Ronan, I expect her expenses will be a tiny percentage. I don’t see her going after low-value targets unless it’s necessary.”
Lachlan didn’t call me out in so many words, but he was right to do so. Instead of targeting true monsters like Ronan, I’d been limiting myself to people I could snare easily. It wasn’t because I was scared, but more because I didn’t recognize I could do more.
“Shit.” I got up and refilled my coffee. “I hate myself a little.”
“Why?” He set the contract aside and gazed at me steadily, making me want to squirm.
“I could have been going after predators like Ronan all along, which would have meant saving more people.”
He shook his head. After taking my coffee from my hands, he pulled me down to sit next to him. “Consider your last targets as training missions. You weren’t born a killer, honey, and going after someone like Ronan has become wouldn’t end well for you if you were inexperienced.”
“Yeah, but?—”
“You were an innocent, Natasha.” He brushed a thumb over my cheekbone. “You had to learn by yourself and gain the experience to be what you are now. Don’t be ashamed for following your learning curve.”
Double damn him for being right. “How do you know all that?”
“How else?” He cocked his head and winked. “You’re not dead or in prison.”
“There is that,” I said once I thought I could keep the butterflies in my stomach calmed down. “We’ll go with Ella’s desire for profit.”
“I don’t know if her decisions are solely for financial gain.
” He shrugged. “It’s possible she wanted to get your father out of the way, so she could take out Ronan, but she said she spent almost a million dollars on a mission you stole from her when you killed him.
After I bought up Steve’s debts, he had barely half that. ”
“Neither of you looked in his safe. He had offshore bank accounts, plus cash and jewelry.” Amongst other things I didn’t want to talk about.
“Maybe don’t tell Ella that, but I’m proud of you, sweetheart.” He bumped my shoulder and grinned, making his laugh lines crinkle and another surge of wetness dampen my panties, damn him. “I’ve been wondering how you were supporting yourself.”
The question fell out before I could stop it. “Why are you just now being the husband I needed all those months ago?”
* * *
LACHLAN
“Because for the first time, I finally get you,” I murmured. “I get your motivations, your wishes, desires, and what makes you tick. I get why you’re the way you are, and I know it’s my fault, but fuck.”
This time, Dante didn’t growl when I laid my hand on her knee. “You’ll probably cut me for saying it, but seeing you become the antithesis of what your father and I tried to make you is sexy, and I will forever regret not working with you to take him down.”
I never thought I’d see it again, but she blushed.
“I get you, Natasha.” I cupped her cheek, but she jerked out of reach.
“You don’t know shit about me.”
“I know every one of your targets harmed someone,” I replied, keeping my voice soft.
“I know everyone you executed deserved it. I also know you did it to protect their victims and prevent them from hurting anyone else. That’s what drives you, baby, and I’m so fucking honored to have seen your first kills. ”
“I—”
“Does it worry me sick thinking about the danger you court every time you go hunting? Fuck, yes, it does. It was bad enough with George, Enrique, and Matt.” I resisted the urge to pull her close.
“But I know it’s what you need to do. All I ask is that you let me be the support you’ll refuse from Ella. ”
Her expression hardened as she tapped her thigh to call Dante to her side. “I’ll think about it. Let’s finish the contract and meet with Ella.”
Knowing better than to push her, I moved to the next section. Despite her lack of formal education, Natasha was astute and careful. She didn’t give a damned inch on Ella’s contract, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Ella would be pissed or impressed.
Probably both. If they could manage to get along without trying to kill each other, Ella and Natasha would be unstoppable.
“All right.” I returned the edited contract to the folder, rose to my feet, and held out my hand. “Shall we adjourn to the pool deck?”
To my surprise, she let me help her up and lead her from the sitting room. As we followed Ella’s guard down the corridor, she said, “Tell me about Ronan. What do you remember?”
I considered her question for a moment. “We were roommates at Trinity. He always threw the best parties, and I liked him, but he struck me as somewhat nihilistic. I lost touch with him after graduation.”
“That’s a lukewarm description,” she murmured. “Besides, I thought college students were supposed to be nihilistic.”
“Have you met him?”
“Yeah, formally when I was a teenager, but I knew who he was.”
“And?” I asked when she didn’t clarify.
“Past me was stupid and had a crush on him because he gave me a stupid doll for my tenth birthday. Then I heard him ask my sperm donor to sell me to him as a slave, but he wasn’t willing to pay what the old man wanted.
” She shuddered, making me wish she would accept comfort from me.
“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get to him for months, but didn’t think I had a chance until Ella. ”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen, but he’d been friends with my father for as long as I can remember.”
Meaning Ronan might have been involved with Darragh’s murder.
I’d probably never know how I’d missed what had been going on under the surface when we were in college.
For all I knew, he didn’t start his criminal enterprises until after we graduated, but it didn’t matter.
Ronan was a dead man, if only for the crime of thinking to take my wife.
“He’s not going to touch you, because you’re not going after him.”
She planted her feet, making me turn to face her. “Don’t promise that, and don’t even think you’re going to stop me because that is exactly what I have to do.”
“No.”
“Yes, Lachlan.” She hauled in a deep breath. “I don’t give a fuck what you think, but I have to present myself as a slave. Whether it’s you, Daniel, or someone else holding the leash, it’s the only way I’ll get close enough to kill him without ending up dead.”
Without thinking, I pushed her against the wall and circled my fingers around her throat. “Not with someone else, little girl. I will put you back into a kennel if you even think of doing this without me.”
She gave me an impish smile, and I heard a soft click a split second before the tip of a dagger pressed against my throat. “Don’t, Lachlan. Just…don’t.”
I leaned against her knife and felt a trickle of blood seep under the collar of my shirt. “Then don’t fucking test me, baby. I will lock your ass up and risk you killing me if it means you’re safe.”
Natasha blinked and her eyes dilated. She licked her upper lip as her warm breath feathered over my face. “Wow. I?—”
Snaking my hand into her hair, I tilted her head up and kissed her hard—brutally hard.
I wanted to swallow her air, her whimpers, her very heartbeat.
I needed to make her remember how she came for me, even when she didn’t want to, but mostly I wanted her to remember the promise of our wedding night when she gave me her innocence and her trust without reservation.
Her dagger clattered to the marble beneath our feet, and she dug her nails into my shoulders, sending pinpricks of pain mixed with pleasure into my groin. After yanking her skirt up, I shoved my thigh between her legs.
“Smell the blood you drew, Spider,” I hissed the name that fit her better than anything else as the heat of her core scorched me. “Does it make you hot? Do you want me to bleed for you while you ride my thigh until you come for me?”
Her head fell back against the wall, and shuddering, she rocked against me. “Fuck off, O’Donnell.”
“I’d rather fuck you, little slave. Ride me and give me your pleasure.”
I heard a throat clearing behind me. Paying it no heed, I tried to kiss Natasha again, but she twisted her body and jerked an arm free. A split second later, I heard a thud, followed by a male grunt of pain.
Cursing my inability to keep my hands off my wife until we had privacy, I spun around, then blinked.
Ella’s guard scowled and fingered his bleeding ear as a dagger quivered in the wall a scant inch from his head. “Was that truly necessary?” he asked.
“Now that you mention it…” Natasha’s sweetly charming smile didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. “Yes.”