Chapter Ella
Ella
They were all oddly pleasant toward me. Not during intimacy—I’d learned their individual and shared appetites—but in the spaces around it.
I wavered between believing the lie and slipping back into the numbness that had kept me alive for years.
Neither felt right. Belief was easier to live with, though.
Especially after what happened in Dominion.
“Ella.”
Nick’s husky whisper pulled me out of my thoughts.
Our time was carved up by their working hours, but one of them was always with me. My role in the office was a joke—though the performance reviews were anything but.
I turned to face him. He didn’t look dangerous like this, half-asleep. The sharp edge was gone. His pale blue eyes were softer now, almost gentle, made brighter by the dark mess of hair and the shadow of stubble along his jaw. His mouth was unfairly shaped—too full, almost petulant.
“Are you sore from last night?” he asked, his finger tracing slowly down my cheek as one corner of his mouth curved upward.
I shook my head, and his smile widened until his teeth showed. I studied his handsome face and wondered how he’d ended up this way—broken.
Lower down, part of the skeleton peeked out from the ink along his ribs. It used to frighten me. Now I saw something else in it—the skull tilted upward, hollow-eyed, almost pleading.
“Can I ask you something?” I said, my hand moving slowly to rest over his heart.
“Sure,” he replied, magnanimous enough that I nearly rolled my eyes.
“Did you feel anything when…” I swallowed, faltered, then tried again. “When you hurt Sophie?”
The image stayed with me—his fingers pinching her eyelids before slicing them away.
“No,” he said, sliding his fingers beneath my chin and lifting my face until I had no choice but to meet his eyes. “In our line of work, betrayal isn’t tolerated. She nearly destroyed us.”
I wanted to ask how. I didn’t.
“We’ve been together for years,” he murmured. “There’s strength in numbers.”
His thumb brushed slowly across my lips.
“My father taught me not to feel,” he continued. “Just like yours taught you how to survive.”
My eyes widened—but he closed the distance before I could speak.
The kiss was gentle at first. Then firmer. His lips pressed in, his tongue tracing the seam of my mouth until I opened for him, my hand sliding up to his neck.
Hot.
Hungry.
He grabbed my thigh and drew my leg over his, leaving me open. His tongue pressed deeper as his fingers lingered, teasing the opening of my pussy.
Was I conditioned—or did I enjoy fucking them?
I didn’t know.
Either way.
I was wet.
?
?
?
Nick’s hand rested on my lower back as I walked into the office. Rowan sat behind his desk. The large screen behind him was idle.
“You two took your time,” he said with a smirk.
He wasn’t angry, just amused, as they exchanged a knowing glance. I’d surmised there was a camera in the bedroom. Alec’s “slip-up” when he played back a video hadn’t been subtle. I did what I was best at and remained silent.
Were they really as simple as they seemed?
They always wanted to test me in one way or another.
Rowan rose from behind the desk and closed the distance with unhurried confidence. His hair was immaculate—sand-coloured, darker at the roots, lightening toward the tips, cut clean at the sides and styled high at the crown. It gave him a sharpness that didn’t quite match the warmth of his eyes.
Rich brown.
Assessing.
Always measuring.
Another tailored suit—navy this time. Jacket smooth, trousers pressed to perfection. The turquoise tie was knotted with precision, the colour deliberate against the crisp white of his shirt. Everything about him looked controlled.
His lips twisted slightly as he stopped in front of me. Not a smile. Not quite. Just enough to suggest he knew more than he was saying.
Nick’s hand stayed at my back. Solid. Claiming.
Rowan’s presence filled the space in front of me, while Nick loomed behind. Trapped between them—not pressed, not rushed. Just held.
Exactly how they liked it.
“Did you have fun with Nick this morning?” Rowan murmured, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
I nodded.
“Her tight little arse was just what I needed,” Nick said, sliding his hands to my thighs to edge my skirt up. “Left her plugged up for you.”
I closed my eyes. The anal plug was smaller than any of their dicks, but it was still intrusive.
The cold air crept up my thighs as Nick bunched my skirt up.
“Why don’t you turn around and show him?” he murmured, holding the material against my stomach.
Even after living with them for over a month, heat crept up my neck and cheeks as I turned to face Nick.
When I opened my eyes, Nick was facing Rowan, winking at him.
My breath hitched as Rowan spread my cheeks.
“Perfect. I might drop a deposit in myself,” he said, cupping my arse.
“I’ll leave you two alone then,” Nick said, lifting my chin to kiss me while Rowan rubbed against me, proving he was more than ready to make a deposit.
I had no doubt Alec would do the same—he was due to take me home after work.
?
?
?
I shifted in my seat as I observed Rowan. His parents had dropped in, and they hadn’t been happy when he refused their request for me to leave. I kept my head down and continued working.
There was something sick about watching them sit on the desecrated couch. I doubted they knew anything about Rowan’s preferences.
His mother grated on him. He practically flinched when she cupped his cheek, then he removed her hand—an action that clearly irritated her. His father seemed oblivious. Or perhaps he simply didn’t want conflict.
It was my first time meeting anyone upper class who wasn’t gambling in Dominion, and it made me wonder how much of Rowan’s dysfunction came from them.
Rowan sighed and finally looked up from the papers he’d been flicking through.
“Spit it out,” he said, arching a light-brown eyebrow.
“Why don’t you like your mum?”
The question probably came from my own history—needing my mum growing up. Still, I knew some parents were far from perfect. Rowan, on the other hand, had been born privileged.
“She’s a pretentious whore,” he said, so matter-of-factly my jaw dropped.
I thought I had issues until I met these three.
“Oh,” I managed. “Sorry.”
He chuckled and set the papers down on the desk.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t make her fuck countless other men over twenty years.”
Damn.
“We might call you names for fun, Ella,” he continued, “but rest assured—we don’t think of you like that. You’re part of the gang now.”
Until I did something wrong and their perspective warped.
Being part of the gang wasn’t the compliment he thought it was.
?
?
?
Alec waited until I fastened my seatbelt before pulling out of the reserved parking spot at Dominion. I found his concern for safety ironic, considering how often he liked to choke me—or where he placed the clamps on my body.
“I heard you met the parents today,” he said, pausing to check the traffic at the car park exit. “What did you think of them?”
Alec was the one person I had to consider multiple outcomes with before speaking. If I lied and said they were nice, he’d call me on it. If I told the truth, he’d find a way to mock me or twist it into guilt.
“Rowan laid it out for me,” I said as we turned onto the busy street. “No family is perfect.”
“Not quite. My family is perfect—and look how I turned out,” he said, side-eyeing me.
A self-aware sociopath? A sadist? I supposed there were exceptions to every rule.
The silence thickened until he spoke again.
“Cat got your tongue?” he said smugly, a smirk tugging at his mouth.
“There isn’t much to say,” I replied. “Each to their own.”
He tapped the console, music filling the car.
“That’s a cop-out,” he said, fingers drumming on the steering wheel.
No. I just wanted him to go easy on my arse when we got home.