Reveal (Wicked Ways #2)(37)

“She’s going to go down all right, and it’s going to be on me.” He tilts his glass up and empties its contents with a satisfied sigh. “You see? I don’t care if she’s with you or not with you or if you’ve gone soft and now are a pussy. I want her, and I will have her for no other reason than to even a score. Yes. I’m a sick bastard like that. No woman gets the upper hand on me and gets away with it. And I’ll fucking get off on every goddamn moment of it.”

I try to remain calm and not engage. I’m realizing that the more I react, the more I fight, the more adamant he becomes to have her.

“No man uses fear to corral a woman.”

“She’s not a woman, Lockhart. She’s a whore. And you’ll thank me in the future for reminding you of that little fact.”

“Half of Washington has dirt on you, Senator. You going to hate-fuck all of them as well?”

“If I need to.” His smile is cold and calculating and begs me to say more, but I refrain. My body is so taut with anger my muscles ache. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Nope. Just trying to figure out how an asshole like you hasn’t been killed by a guy like me yet.”

He chuckles and taps his glass against mine. “You go from all but serving up Vaughn’s pussy on a platter to me to defending her as if she’s your holy grail. What happened to using sex to garner fear and then gain power? Where did that eager little beaver who gobbled up my advice go?” His chuckle rumbles through the bar as I let him ramble to see what else he’s going to say to me. And fuck if it isn’t one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. “You think there wasn’t a reason I didn’t tell you what I had on her? You think I haven’t been around the block enough times to feel out the fucker who screws me over by taking my wife on as a client and then promises to let me sample his whore? More importantly, I have you admitting on tape that you pay a woman to have sex with you. I have you offering to pay her to have sex with me. Bribing a politician is a serious offense, Ryker. You’re a lawyer. You should know that.”

“You son of a bitch.” It’s all I can think to say as my mind tumbles out of control. Over how I walked right into his trap without blinking a fucking eye. I said her name, and it was recorded. Fucking hell. Now one misstep by me won’t only screw me but will have enough fallout to devastate Vaughn in more ways than I could ever imagine.

“Don’t worry, though. I won’t use it against you unless you fuck with me. Unless you intervene between Vaughn and me.” He leans in closer so I can smell the alcohol on his breath and the scent of snake oil from his slimy soul. “I play games for a living, Lockhart. You let your guard down and forgot that part. But don’t you worry—I’ll get what I need from you and what I want from her, one way or another.”

I bite back the rage that consumes me. At him for being a prick and playing the game better than anyone I’d like to admit. At me for walking into a setup I should have seen a fucking mile away. For sitting here like a shell-shocked bastard as he walks away instead of punching his goddamn lights out.

Now what, Ryk?

She came to your office. She finally confessed what happened. And then she begged you not to confront him. Not to push his limits, because who knows how an irrational fuck like him would take it.

And of course she was right.

Nothing’s changed now other than that you did exactly what she feared: you stoked the fire, so now it’s burning even brighter for the pyromaniac to sit back and play with until everything burns down around us.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ryker

“Stuart.” It’s how I greet my private investigator when he answers my call.

“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a simple request to see how my day is going?” Stuart asks with a chuckle.

“I want to know every goddamn thing there is to know about Vaughn Sanders.” My feet move from one side of my office to the other. They haven’t stopped moving, seeing as I keep replaying my meeting with Carter over and over in my mind.

“I thought you told me to hold off on stripping her bare.”

“Yes. No. Fuck!” My voice is sharp off the walls as the image his words evoke pisses me off even more. “I didn’t. I don’t.” My own reason wars against my rage. “Just fucking do it.”

“You sure?”

I think of the hundreds of reasons why I should back down. The fact that I want Vaughn to tell me her secrets herself. The need for her to. To know she values us enough to let me in further. The fact that Stuart digging into her past is a violation of her privacy when I’ve already done enough to hurt her.

And then I think of the one reason to find it all out: so I can help protect her.

“Yes.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t argue with me,” I snap.

“No, sir.”

“I want to know everything there is about her. Anything that can be used to blackmail her, coerce her, all the way down to the size of her goddamn panties.”

Stuart is silent for a beat. “Okay . . .”

“Financials. Past, present.” My hand hurts from clenching so hard, but hell if it’s not Carter Preston’s neck I’m imagining it wrapped around.

“Even the no-go areas you held me back from before?” he asks.