Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Iona
I take a deep breath before entering the room where my biological father is being held captive. I tell myself whatever happens next I need to follow my heart. After all, that’s what I did with Leith, and we’ve ended up in a good place.
Leith has a way of downplaying important facts and events by announcing them while we have sex.
I have the feeling that just as he was always afraid of calling something his own for fear it’d be taken from him, he’s afraid of making a big deal about important occasions in case he curses them.
Last night he told me he never murdered Annand but his neighbor did.
Then he made me feel sensations I didn’t know were possible, pushing my limits and filling me in a dark, delicious way.
Little does he know, he could’ve announced he’d murdered an important statesman, and I’d still stand by him.
I long for him to test my loyalty, so I can prove Galiene’s mission to bring Leith down was just that.
Back then I didn’t yet trust that Leith would believe me. I thought he believed the worst of me.
Little did I know, he’s trusted in me since Galiene and Pirie convinced Stennis to write that article. Now I see we were dancing around each other, waiting for the other to prove their faith and trustworthiness. We could’ve gone on forever like that, trapped in a vicious circle of lies and doubt.
But my heart told me to take him into my confidence, and since then I’ve not regretted it.
The heart knows best.
Now I step over the threshold into the room Phyfe MacGilson has called home for several days and prepare to be stronger than I ever have. After all, Leith has taught me to surpass myself in strength when I least thought I could hold up.
Meeting my biological father for the first time when he’s bound with cuffs and ropes doesn’t diminish the monumental nature of this encounter. He looks like an older version of the man I saw in the shadows That Night.
“Iona,” he calls out at my approach. “I assume you understand the circumstances that have brought me here. I do hope you’ll be the enlightened one and convince them to let me go.”
I give him points for his ability to victimize himself.
I cock my head. “The enlightened one?”
Is he suggesting everyone who’s detained him is benighted?
“Aye.” He releases a scornful laugh. “They don’t know what it is to be a researcher, an expert, an academic. These people are Neanderthals. To them, what I did enabled your assault. Set them straight. Tell them I had a higher mission, which is the pursuit of truth.”
“Remind me how you went about pursuing that truth,” I bait in an arch tone he doesn’t detect.
He scoffs. “It took quite a bit of finesse. I found accomplices on the dark web, experimental subjects wherever I could, and settings we carefully staged. That night you engaged in CNC I had mics and body cams on the men. I was right outside, waiting in case the assault went too far.”
Rage swells in my belly at his self-righteous tone. “You never stopped to consider we needed safe words? Or that I might not want to have sex at all?”
His jaded look tells me everything I need to know.
He’s spent too long at the other end of the microscope to sympathize with the subject.
“Come, come, daughter.” I wince at his use of the word.
“You know you wanted to be forced. The men were only fulfilling the prophecy you yourself had set out to have happen that night.”
“Grizel and I wanted no such thing. She was drunk and past the point of giving consent. And I went into the room to keep watch over her. The two men didn’t give us a chance to decide for ourselves.
” My pitch has risen, though I’d vowed to keep calm.
“You can’t go around experimenting on women like lab rats. ”
“Why not?” he shocks me by countering. “They want to be forced, which suggests they also like being subjected to experiments. I’m only tapping into their innate desires.”
“Their,” I jab. “They’re all the same, are they?”
Including myself, your daughter.
He jerks a shoulder. “More or less.”
I lift my chin, holding up my phone. “I recorded you so I could turn you over to the authorities. But now I don’t trust them to do justice by you.
You’ll probably slip through the cracks of the system, which is too lenient on people like you.
” I ignore his stricken look and nod to Leith, who emerges from the shadows.
“You’ve caused countless women to go through life-altering traumas and feel powerless to stop them.
Now you’re gaun to feel powerless for the rest of your life. ”
Leith steps forward and reads off something on his phone.
“A cell in Barlinnie is waiting for Phyfe MacGilson as of the eighteenth of July, twenty twenty-four.” He looks up, a smug smile gracing his lips.
“The head warden owes me a favor and was willing to overlook incidentals like a trial.” He looks down at his phone again.
“You’ll be sharing your cell with a known pedophile and a gay rapist.” He crooks a devious smile at MacGilson.
“Watch your back, Phyfe. For the next twenty years.”
My biological father explodes. “You can’t do that! It’s illegal.”
“That’s rich, coming from you, Phyfe.” Leith wraps an arm around me, snatching me close. “Why else did you go on the dark web for the last two decades if not to commit illegal acts?”
“I was serving a higher purpose!” His face is purple with vehement rage.
“So am I in committing you to Barlinnie,” I assert, disgusted with his unself-aware posturing. “Take him away.”
Draven and Keith step forward and unstring MacGilson, who struggles in their hold before they take him out of the room.
On our way out, Leith leans in, brushing his lips to my ear. “Sometimes it’s only fair to go above the justice system. Every inmate at Barlinnie will know why MacGilson is doing time there, and they’ll dog him. Pimps like him are unwelcome everywhere.”
“I’ll contact Grizel immediately to let her know what’s happened—to Pirie, Leavy, and MacGilson.” Suddenly I feel bone tired, like I could sleep a whole day.
Leith takes my chin in the crook of his fingers, reading my mind. “Time for a nap.”
“How do you do that?” I stifle a yawn.
“I read you, wee Scheherazade. Because you’re mine, and I make it a point to know everything about what I own.”
My pussy leaks arousal at his words. “Will you come nap with me?”
He palms my lower back, leading me toward the stairs. “I already planned on it.”
It may be awhile before we get around to sleeping.
* * *
A week later I call Diran’s wife Nandag.
“Iona, how are you?” she answers in a chipper voice.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“Och, muddling along. We’re preparing for our trip to Singapore and Taiwan on Monday.”
“That’s wonderful. Let me know if I can do anything to help.” I take a deep breath, readying myself to take the plunge. “Nandag, I’m concerned that Darian and Leith have had a serious falling-out over the boss position, which Leith isn’t interested in but Darian thinks he wants.”
“Aye, I heard about that.” She tsks. “Men and their rivalries.”
“Well, I’d like to stage an intervention.”
“Oh, aye?” Her tone turns intrigued. “Tell me more.”
By the time I’ve spelled out the plan, she’s all in. I ring off, hopeful that tonight will see an end to the enmity between Darian and Leith.
A few hours later, Leith and I are finishing our workout in the home gym when he receives a call.
He swipes up. “Aye.” He listens for a few seconds. “Sure, we’ll be there.”
When he’s hung up, I venture a glance at him. “Who was that?”
“Diran. We’re to go to his house tonight for drinks. Declan and Màiri will be there as well.” He tosses a towel in the washing basket on our way out, snaking an arm about my midriff. “Diran’s housekeeper makes excellent virgin mojitos.”
I laugh. “Not part of the usual job description for a Scottish housekeeper.”
“Aye, well, she spent a few years in Miami, so that might explain.” He takes my hand, leading me upstairs. “I have just the dress for you to wear.”
“You always have just the dress.” I sober. “What happens when I’m too big to fit into your dresses?”
“Dinnae fash, wee wife. I’ll have dresses for every size and shape along the way as you grow our baby.”
In the shower, he pins me against the wall and fondles a breast, planing his palm down to my heat. As he flicks my clit, I cry out from the sweet, exquisite pain.
“So tidy, so receptive, and so ready at all times.” He stabs me with his hard length, and I dissolve into the wall. He feels better than ever, and I can’t get enough of him. “Is my pregnant wife hornier than usual?”
“Aye.”
“Is she going to bring the house down with her screams?” He rocks his hips out and back, driving me toward delirium.
“Aye.” I dig my fingers into his brawny biceps.
“Is she even more gorgeous than before she carried our baby?”
An exhilarated laugh tumbles from me. “Aye.” I’ll agree to anything.
The water cascades over us as he pounds me into a frenzy. He bows his head and bites my nipple hard, then laves it with his tongue. I whimper as he does the same to the other nip, still pumping me with his thickness.
His husky voice at my ear nearly brings me to orgasm. “Come for me, Flame.”
I come long and intensely, squeezing him repeatedly in a vise grip. As he throbs and releases inside me, I feel his power in the muscular neck extended to reveal his Adam’s apple, the broad shoulders encasing me, and the roar he lets loose at the height of his own climax.
My scream bounces off the tile walls and echoes through the bathroom. Leith alone can transport me to paradise on the regular. Boneless and limp, I want to sink onto the shower floor. But he turns off the water and carries me out, placing me on the settee and toweling me off.
When I’ve recovered, a sparkly sequined cowl-neck coral mini-dress awaits me on the bed, giving me a new burst of energy.