∞∞∞
Panic washed through Sierra in waves. What if he tried taking more than she was capable of giving? What did she have to give, anyway? She had nothing – nothing that would appeal to a man like Damien. He may be amused by her for a short time, but then what? What happened when she was half in love with him, and he was done playing? She wasn’t afraid of him physically abusing her like her father did, but she had a feeling that Damien could do far more damage to her heart in a short amount of time, with nothing more than his words, than anything her father had ever done to her body, with his fists.
She couldn’t think when he was so close to her, his hot breath softly caressing her face, his scent filling her nostrils, his body so temptingly near. She fought the desire to reach out and touch him, run her fingers along his solid chest, trail her hand down his stomach, feel the bulge she knew was present in his pants.
“Is this only a game?” she finally asked.
He tensed as he shot up straight and began removing his jacket. The muscles in his shoulders rippled beneath the thin linen shirt he was wearing. The man exuded agitation, causing a pang to tear through her chest. It seemed he was playing a game. Until that moment, she didn’t realize how badly she’d wanted him to tell her she meant something – anything other than a cheap lay. She quickly stood from the chair, needing to pace to help sort out the annoying stir within her.
“What game are you playing, Damien? Is it a power struggle with my father? Did he wrong you in some way? Is the whole point to humiliate me? If that’s the case and you’re seeking revenge on my dad by hurting me, it won’t work. He could care less if you hurt me. You would’ve been much better off going for my sister,” she said with bitterness.
Damien stilled and turned to look at her, as if assessing if her words were true or not. She held her head high while she looked back. Let him think what he wanted. She was too tired of men using her to care much at that point.
“I want revenge!”
Sierra was stunned by the passion in his tone as the words barreled out of him. She couldn’t imagine what her father had done to cause him so much anguish and hatred, though she wasn’t surprised. Douglas Monroe took what he wanted, when he wanted it, and anyone who happened to be in his way got run over.
“I want what was robbed from me, from my mother. I want revenge and I won’t stop until I have it.”
Sierra looked at the myriad of emotions flashing in Damien’s eyes, the rest of his face like stone. She didn’t understand what he was saying. What was taken from him? What did she have to do with it? What had her father done now?
The silence was suffocating in its intensity. She had to make him see that he’d get nothing by going through her.
“My father hates me, Damien. You won’t get anything out of him by using me. I don’t know how to make you understand that,” Sierra said, the admission puncturing a hole straight through her. To utter the words aloud was humiliating. It wasn’t a secret that Douglas despised her. Sure, he put on airs when they were out, but he didn’t try very hard to mask his disdain for his eldest child.
“This has nothing to do with your father, Sierra,” he said as he took a determined step in her direction.
Confusion ran rampant through her mind. She’d never met Damien Whitfield before that moment in her father’s study, so she couldn’t see what she could’ve possibly done to wrong him – or worse – hurt him.
“I never even knew you in the past, Damien. I couldn’t have possibly done anything to cause you to seek revenge against me.”
Sierra took several retreating steps as he continued his deliberate approach. It didn’t matter how long it took him, because in the end he would pounce and come out victorious.
“It’s not you, either,” he said, his lips turning up in a sardonic smile.
“Then, who? I don’t want to play your games, Damien. I demand you stop this!”
At her words, he actually complied. Sierra was surprised enough she stopped her retreat and stared at him as he threw his head back and laughed. What the heck? Had he lost his mind? Was she going to end up on the front page of all the tabloids? She could see it now, Unwanted Heiress killed by crazy Tycoon. She was sure they’d find her body mutilated, and then manage to get a shot of her father presenting a tear.
The thought of her father crying for the camera angered her more than the thought of Damien going crazy and killing her.
Damien began his accent, pinning her to the back of the couch, her legs trapped against the high backed piece of furniture, his arms caging her in.
Desire flooded through her, causing her breath to deepen and her tongue to drift out and moisten her lips. His eyes narrowed in on the movement before slowly lifting upward and connecting with her gaze.
“I will get vengeance, Sierra, revenge against your best friend and all her relatives. You see, you were my ticket in because of who you knew. When your father called, I wanted nothing to do with him. I know the kind of man he is, but when I found out who you associated with, I figured it was my lucky day. I want them comfortable around me, thinking they’re safe and sound. They may have no trouble sleeping at night, but I know the truth about the Anderson’s. I know who they really are,” he said, his mouth only an inch from her own.
What?? Sierra’s mind raced trying to make quick sense of Damien’s words. She couldn’t understand why he’d want to hurt Bree or any of her family? They were some of the best people she knew.
“I…I don’t understand.”
“It’s really quite simple, Sierra. Joseph and George Anderson swooped in and stole everything from my father – the corporation he helped his father build, the money he was left, everything! He was with my mother at the time, and she was pregnant with me. A few months after she had me, he died. She believes he took his own life, though that wasn’t proven. Every last dime was ripped away from her. To make matters worse, she found out she was pregnant again. She knew she couldn’t feed two children, so she left the hospital without my sister. To this day I haven’t been able to find her.
“My mother died in a filthy apartment after leading an impossibly hard life. I swore to her I’d seek revenge, and I will. You were just a convenient step at getting Joseph and George’s children to trust me. Once they do, I can get to their fathers, and they’ll pay – they’ll pay for what they put my mother through, for the loss of my sister, for the hell I endured as a child.”