She shook her head, lifted it, and stared across the table at her grandmother. Abigail was deathly pale, her face streaked with tears, her expression tormented.
Her hand reached out to Risa. Shaking, fighting the terror rising inside her, she took her grandmother’s fragile hand in her own.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Abigail sobbed, her tears running freely now, her voice hoarse with anger and pain. “I’m so sorry I gave birth to that monst c toteaer. God forgive me, Risa, I’m so sorry.”
Risa’s grandmother laid her head on the table and sobbed as their attorney rose from the table and moved to her. Risa could only watch her helplessly. Poor Grandmother. How much pain was she supposed to endure? She had faced her son’s atrocities, and now she was facing her granddaughter’s imminent death.
Risa turned to the attorney, feeling a strange, dark calm settle over her.
“I will require another agent,” she stated. “I can’t work with the one you’ve chosen.”
She couldn’t face him, couldn’t pretend with him. Not after the night before. Humiliation crawled inside her, blistering, threatening the ice she needed to remain calm, to remain sane.
“Unacceptable.”
Her head jerked around to Micah as he bit out the word with harsh emphasis. His black eyes were furious now. He stared down at her, a muscle ticcing at his jaw as she fought to hold on to her own control.
“Why?” she whispered. “Don’t do this to me, Micah. You’ll kill me. How much more do I have to endure? Do I have to face you every day, pretend to be your lover when we both know the truth?”
“You don’t want to get into this here.” His head lowered, his lips pulling back in a snarl. “You don’t even want to get this started, Risa. There will be no other agent taking my place. No other man will take my place. If you want to live, then damn you, you’ll accept the man that can keep your ass alive.”
“Why?” Agony was a burden she didn’t know if she could bear much longer. Humiliation ran as hot and as deep as the arousal she couldn’t get rid of. She had failed with him, and now he wanted to do what? Rub her nose in it? Make her accept it?
“Accept the deal,” he commanded furiously. “You will accept it, and you will accept me. If I have to force your hand, I will. Am I understood?”
A frown snapped between her brows as fury flooded in her eyes.
“Don’t order me,” she snapped back. “I’m not your lapdog, Mr. Sloane. And you will not make me do anything.”
“Don’t bet on it.” Fury snapped between them, nose to nose, glaring, as she felt her cl*t swell further, her ni**les tighten harder.
“I hate you!” She wanted to hit him. She wanted to wipe the command and dominance off his face with her fist.
“Hate me all you like.” His smile was tight, confident. “But you will live, Risa. You will live, or I’ll paddle your ass until you can’t sit for a week.”
Her eyes widened as outrage flooded her. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, my little sweet, trust me. I’d dare that and much more.”
CHAPTER 6
fpanTHE DOOR DIDN’T slam behind them when Risa closed it later that afternoon. It closed quietly, the dead bolt clicked into position, and when she turned, she froze. Two men stood in her living room, dressed in light overalls with the name of a cleaning company emblazoned on them.
Micah didn’t seem overly concerned by the fact that two strange men were in her apartment.
One was tall, six and a half feet at least, white blond hair hanging to his shoulders, ice blue eyes regarding her with a hint of somber interest rather than pity. The other was shorter, with dark blond hair and gray eyes. The second man watched her with more than somber interest. There was hint of mischief to his expression, a decided curl of amusement about his lips. She decided to dislike him on the spot, simply because he was the only one who appeared as if he might protest it.
“Hey, Micah, are you introducing us?” The darker blond, amused male lifted his brows in query as he lifted a vacuum. “Here we’ve been sweeping up your bugs and being good little boys. There were some bad boys in here, too.”
“I have bugs in my apartment?” She frowned. “You’re not pest control. Call them.”
“They’re both pests and pest control,” Micah grunted as he glanced at the vacuum. “Did you deactivate them?”
Risa paused and stared at the vacuum as the meaning began to sink in. Not real bugs, listening devices. Someone had placed listening devices in her home?
“All of them. We, umm, found something interesting, too.” The darker-haired one glanced at her again. “We cleaned the overhead light fixtures, changed the bulbs and all that good stuff. She had an interesting little camera above her bed. Wireless. Snazzy as hell.”
Risa drew in a hard breath as Micah cursed under his breath.
Surprise, surprise, she thought with a rather distant feeling of extreme humiliation. Not only was someone listening to her, but they also were watching her. Had she done anything embarrassing lately? Had she masturbated or attempted to since that camera had been installed?
“You’re a bastard, John,” Micah growled. “Take your toys back to base and let the others go over them, see if they can track the wireless link.”
Risa turned from them all and moved to her bedroom. She couldn’t deal with them. She couldn’t deal with herself at the moment.
As the bedroom door closed behind her, Micah grimaced and turned to Nik and John. The Russian and Australian rarely worked well together, but today it seemed as though they had come to blows.
“Thanks for letting her know about the damned bug in the bedroom,” Micah snapped at the shorter agent.
John’s brows rose. “Mate, you’re getting a little intense, aren’t you?” he drawled, a frown working on his tanned brow as his accent grated across Micah’s nerves. John only let that accent slip free when he wanted to piss someone off.
“I’ll worry about my intensity,” Micah told him. “You worry about getting those bugs to Jordan. See if he can get anything off them.”
“On our way then.” John nodded, though he continued to watch Micah carefully.
John moved for the door as Nik held back. When the door closed behind John, Micah turned to the Russian and lifted a brow questioningly.