Kill Switch (Devil's Night, #3)

by Penelope Douglas

She would never be able to forget.

“Someday you’ll be in a cage,” he said. “And hopefully sooner rather than later, so you can’t do any more damage. Mr. Kincaid will fill you in on the do’s and don’ts while my youngest is in attendance at this school.”

“Mark my words, if you fail to behave, I will end you, and it’ll be for good.”

Six years ago, his little girl and I changed each other, and while I couldn’t change her back, I could certainly give her some new memories of me.

CHAPTER 4

Yeah, I see it. But what fun would that be?

People assumed I behaved strictly on impulse, when actually, it required quite a bit of strategy to be this fucked up.

I would do business with him. I would trust anything he had to say.

Did she like another man touching her? Was her boyfriend jealous? Turned on? Angry? Was his best friend living out a long-held fantasy for her? Was he enjoying this? Was he hard?

Erika Fane entered, and I stood up, fixing my jacket as the driver closed the door behind her.

WHAT ERIKA

Next to the cash I’d already paid them for what they were doing.

Wait u are paying them to do this

She threw a look to her boyfriend, whose face was etched with discomfort, but he sure as hell wasn’t standing up and taking her out of here either.

I closed my eyes for a second, finally fucking feeling something. Just a twinge, but it was better than nothing.

“I like chess.” I approached her, noticing her hands were still tucked into her pockets. “Knowing and seeing what I want in front of me. Knowing that it won’t come easily. Knowing that it takes patience and a series of carefully constructed maneuvers all plotted into a specific sequence.” I paused, looking down at her. “Knowing that the longer I have to wait and possibly alter my course makes getting what I want so much more enjoyable.”

Mind-fucks were sometimes more fun than actual fucking.

At Winter.

Yeah, Winter and Rika were both so similar, and not just in their looks. They were both defiant. Both liked a little danger. And both fought back.

Women weren’t supposed to want it as much as men, right? And they certainly weren’t supposed to like it casual. That was what I taught my sister to keep her safe.

“Now, him.” I eyed the best friend under her as he kneaded her tit under her dress. “He’d do this for free. I told him to kiss her, but he’s eating her alive right now. He’s wanted her for a long time.” I saw his eyes open; he’d probably heard what I’d said. “Probably fantasized about her and looked at her when his friend wasn’t watching. I’ll bet he really wants both hands on her tits now.”

And as much as I thought I’d be turned on by the reality of what Rika had enjoyed in that room, it actually pissed me off. I wasn’t quite sure why, either. Maybe because I didn’t get my turn and I felt left out of the fun.

Or maybe, even though I knew her enough to know she didn’t let anything happen to her that she didn’t want, a small part of me still felt like she’d been . . . I don’t know . . . Used. I didn’t know why I gave a shit, though. Michael and Kai had shared a woman before. I just didn’t want to think about it with Erika.

“You see, Rika,” I told her. “There are people in the world who are destined to be played. Victims who wouldn’t be able to change their fate even if they went back and lived life over a thousand different ways.” I made a show of letting my eyes fall down her form. “And then there are players. Like you and me.” I gestured to the threesome. “Which piece would you move next?”

I couldn’t read Rika’s expression, but I definitely knew part of her enjoyed this. She might hate herself, but that rush of power felt good, didn’t it? There was nothing like playing people.

I liked Rika. Michael had barely tapped into everything she was capable of.

She was home. Right now. Probably trying to devise some way to escape, and let her try, for all I cared. I’d enjoy hunting her ass down. That stupid, dumb shit I married might make some good-looking kids, but she wouldn’t be half as enjoyable as owning that little girl would be.

Winter would put up a fight. She’d give me hell, and not only was I getting my revenge on her for what she did to me years ago, but I was going to have it all now. The head of the table, domain over my own house, and my favorite fucking toy.

“Healthy relationships require a little reciprocation,” she replied. “What I brought you last time was the motherload, Damon. Now it’s your turn.”

Winter wasn’t the only woman in my head. This one and I still had a score to settle, too.

I liked that our meetings were secret. This was a part of her Michael didn’t have.

“Michael doesn’t know you’re still staying there, and I can change that at any time.”

“And thanks to me, Michael doesn’t know that you’re letting me hide out right under your noses.” I pinned her with a look. “Your ass would be grass just as much as mine, so stow it.”

She cocked an eyebrow but didn’t press further. She knew she had more reason to be afraid of me than I did of her.

Still, though . . . as much as I kind of enjoyed our little exchanges, it pissed me off that she wasn’t wary of me anymore. After everything I’d trie...

She was talking about Winter’s father.

“Don’t hurt her,” Rika said.

“Coming from the woman who offered up all the info I needed to take her father, her home, and her fortune.”

And in exchange, I’d help her get something she needed, as well. Something I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to give her just yet. I liked her coming around, and I didn’t want it to stop.

“Do you know how much Will bled in prison?” I asked her. “Do you know how hard Kai had to fight to hold down any food because his gut raged with nerves and fear from constantly having to look over his shoulder?”

“Yeah, well, neither do I,” I told her. “Because I wasn’t there.”

“Three levels below cell block six, in the basement, down a dank corridor, below five feet of concrete, is where I was.” I fisted my hands, the anger returning almost immediately. “For three years. You didn’t know that, did you?”

“Banks thought she was doing me a favor,” I said. “And Gabriel agreed with her. He had too many enemies and those enemies had soldiers on the inside. I was more at risk than Kai and Will, so I was put in solitary confinement.”

“Twenty-three hours a day, seven days a week, all day, every day, for one hundred sixty weeks. That’s one thousand one hundred twenty days. Twenty-six thousand eight hundred eighty hours, Rika.”

Will’s fine. Kai’s fine. They’ll be fine.”

“And when you finally get a visit—four guards your dad pays to beat the shit out of you on the first of every month so you don’t get soft in solitary—you start to look forward to those visits.”

“Because pain in the body quiets the pain in the head. It feels good, like a kill switch for your brain. And then you remember that fucking little cunt sitting in that courtroom, even though she didn’t have to be there, to take pleasure in hearing you accused and sentenced, while people lied about you and said you forced her into it.”

“Acting like that time with her wasn’t the only fucking time I didn’t hate fucking.”

“So, yeah,” I said, mocking her. “You bet your ass I’m gonna hurt her.”

She wasn’t a stupid woman, and I knew that. She had to have suspected the can of worms she was opening by giving me those documents, but ultimately, she’d decided what I could give her was worth the damage I would cause. There was a bit of “not so honorable” inside her, too.

I felt a pang of pride at my new, unlikely little friend here.

Michael, Kai, Banks . . . Will.