From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(4)

“I want my script back.”

He started to reach out for her. This was what he always did. At one point in time she’d craved his touch because he’d been the first man to show her how good sex could be, what she truly needed. He’d been the first to spank her, to push her boundaries.

She’d found one. She wouldn’t let him walk on her like this. Kori stepped back.

For a moment there was a hurt look on his face, as though he hadn’t expected her to reject him. Then he sighed and moved to his desk. “No. This is the script I’ve been looking for. It’s going to take me out of horror and science fiction and put me on the map as a true artist. You can take the story credit and be happy I involve you at all.”

“Or I can sue you.” How had she gotten here? She’d let him lead her to this point because she’d believed in him in the beginning. She’d believed his whole line about building something together.

He didn’t bother to look up. “You can try, but if you make so much as a move to discredit me, I’ll release the video I have of your sister. I know you don’t adore the bitch, but you do love your mother.”

“What are you talking about?”

Now he looked up and the smile he gave her seemed vaguely reptilian. “I’m afraid Shawna fell in with the wrong crowd a few years back. I recently purchased three films she…starred in. They cost me over a million, but I’m fairly certain I have every copy. I could release them. She’s got that movie role coming up. I don’t think the production company would be very happy to know their ingénue starred in porn. Do you?”

Her stomach dropped. Her sister was horrible, but it would kill her mom if something like that got out. And she didn’t doubt he had the film. Morgan never lied or bluffed. If he said he would cut her, she would expect to bleed.

“It doesn’t have to be like this, pet,” Morgan said, his voice turning silky. “Why do you think I bought those films in the first place? I did it for you. I did it because we’re a team. I know you’re jealous of the other women, but that’s how D/s works. I’m the Master. I make the decisions. This is what’s right for us. You’ll see.”

She was caught, but she didn’t have to stay in the cage.

A sudden vision of her life slammed into her. If she stayed here in LA, she would always be tempted to give in. She would go to the club because she needed it, and one night he would be there and she would wonder if she could handle it, handle him.

“Kori, you know I love you. You were my first submissive,” he said, standing and starting toward her. “You will always be special, always my pet. You don’t handle change well.”

“I don’t handle douchebags who steal my shit well.” Damn but that felt good.

His hand found her hair and he pulled it back with a vicious twist. It was something she would never mind during a scene. “Watch your language around me, sub.”

She minded now. With a twist she managed to rear back and punch the f*cker right in the nose. He didn’t get to touch her. Not ever again. He cursed, falling back and cradling his face. She was fairly certain he was walking a red carpet tonight. Let him explain a broken nose to the paparazzi.

“I will walk out of here and pack my bags,” she explained to him. “You will give me every single copy of those films you have and I won’t sue you or make a fuss about the fact that you stole my screenplay, but I swear to god if one of them slips through the cracks, I’ll go on every morning show and talk about our relationship. I’ve got photos and I won’t hesitate to use them. You remember that. Mutually assured destruction, Morgan. Don’t ever call me again.”

She heard him shouting something about how she’d be back or some shit, but he’d never known her at all if he believed that.

As the elevator took her down she knew one thing. It was time to leave. There was no happily ever after for her. Not in LA.

Maybe nowhere.





CHAPTER ONE





Present day

Dallas, TX



Kai stared at his patient and wondered if she was planning on spending the entire hour trying to win the quiet game. He had to give it to her. Erin Argent was damn good. She was good at deflecting, great at ignoring, positively magnificent at pretending.

But she couldn’t deflect, ignore, or pretend any longer.

“Erin, you came to me. I have to assume you didn’t come here to sit in silence.”

The woman sitting across from him looked gaunt, far too thin for what was happening to her body, but then she wasn’t concerned about herself physically. That was the problem. Erin had lost the man she loved in a mission a few months ago. Though she claimed she was “fine,” there was no way to mistake her for anything but a woman in pain.

“I came here because Case is an * who sticks his nose in everyone else’s business,” Erin said with a shake of her head. “I didn’t feel like eating. Since when was that a crime?”

“Case cares about you.” Kai felt the need to remind her. Again and again. Erin was the type of woman who needed to hear it until she believed it. It was how Theo Taggart had gotten through to her. When they’d left on assignment all those months before, Theo had been chasing her. They’d come back from Africa as a couple trying to find their way through, and Kai thought they could have made it work if Theo had lived. It was hard to believe that had only been a short time before. Sometimes it felt like forever. Case Taggart had lost his twin, Ian and Sean the brother they’d only recently known existed. Kai wasn’t even sure where his own brother was at the moment. How was Jared doing? He hadn’t talked to his brother in years, but that would change very soon. “We all care about you, Erin. And we’re all still hurting. The grieving process takes a long time.”