Ready to meet Damian and Rayanne? Here’s the first 2 chapters of The Darkest Deal. Make sure to preorder, so it’s on your kindle when you wake up on 4/18/25.

Chapter 1

“What, Nolan?” I answer in a groggy voice, pulling the phone away for a second to look at the time. “And why are you calling me at two in the morning?”

“Good morning to you, too, Rayanne.” He chuckles, but I can hear the nerves in it.

I become much more alert at the sound. I know it well. Something’s wrong. More than the usual wrong that would have my younger brother calling me this late. More than him needing me to pick him up because yet another of his barely-hanging-on-cars have broken down. More than him needing to come stay with me again for a few weeks. No, this sounds like something that has him in real trouble.

I sit up straighter while asking, “What’s going on?”

“I uh… I need to borrow some money.”

I sigh. “Not again, Nolan.”

“Listen, I’ll give it back to you by the end of the month. I’ve got this job coming thr—”

“How much, Nolan?” I snap. I immediately feel guilty for how harsh it comes out, but I hold myself back from apologizing. Instead just repeating my question. “How much do you need?”

“Sixty…”

I begin to let out a relieved breath, but then he continues speaking.

“Thousand dollars.”

“Are you out of your damn mind?” I shout. “What the hell do you need that kind of money for?”

“It’s better if you don’t know.”

“You really have gone crazy if you think I’m even going to consider giving you that kind of money without knowing what it’s for.”

“There’s just this guy I owe some money to.”

“For what?” I ask through clenched teeth.

My anger is bordering on rage now, for so many reasons. That this isn’t the first time he’s put me in this position, although it’s definitely been for much less money before. That I’m so sick and tired of having to get Nolan out of situations he should never have put himself into in the first place. That I’m already thinking about the money I’ve been saving for a house, knowing that no matter the excuse he’s about to give me, I will end up helping him again. How can I not?

“It doesn’t really matter,” he answers.

I get out of my bed as I yell, “Nolan, if I have to ask you one more time!”

“God, you sound just like mom,” he murmurs.

I’m pacing now. The fact that he’s trying so hard not to tell me only worries me more. I mean, I’ve picked him up from the worst parts of town, made sure he didn’t choke on his own vomit and then cleaned that vomit up more times than I can count. That’s on top of how much I’ve given him because he owed money to this and that person enough times to probably have already saved up for the house I’m saving for now. So why won’t he just tell me? I go still at his continued silence.

“Nolan?”

“I’ve been gambling again.” I let my head drop forward at his admission. “I know what you’re gonna say, but it’s not what you think. I went into this club looking for a job, but then when I got there, they told me I could have a thousand-dollar credit.”

“Nolan,” I groan out. I try to keep the disappointment out of my voice, but his sigh tells me I failed.

“I just… I was doing so good, Ray. I was. I was up a hundred thousand. You know how I am when I’m on fire.”

“Yeah, and I always know the fire goes out, and I’m the one left to clean up the ashes.”

There’s silence on the other end of the call for a moment before he says, “Yeah, I know. But after this time, I’m done. Done.”

“That’s what you said last time, too.”

“I know I did. I know, but I’m serious this time. It wasn’t even really my fault. I didn’t go into the club looking for that. I swear.”

I’m the one sighing now.

“Owing someone sixty grand sounds like the furthest you can be from done I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, but once I pay him back, I can just walk away. So, what do you think? Can you help me out?”

“You called me because you know I can help you out. Never mind that I’ll have to use every single dollar that I was saving for a house. You know, a house for us so we could move away and not have to deal with this kind of bullshit anymore.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. You know I am. I just… When I gamble, when I’m just thinking about cards and chips and, even more so when I’m winning, I don’t think about anything else. It’s the only time I can be free.”

Guilt floods me and I close my eyes from the memories coming right along with it. I shake my head, refusing to let any of those thoughts into my mind. I can’t deal with one more thing tonight.

“When do you need it by?” I tiredly ask.

“Um, tonight.”

“Or what, someone’s gonna break your legs?” I chuckle.

“Or worse.”

I go silent at once. “What have you gotten yourself into, Nolan?”

“I just need that money now, Ray. I feel like the absolute worst brother in the world calling you, yet again, to ask for money, and especially knowing the money I’m asking you to basically ruin on me.”

“Hey, I’m not ruining anything on you,” I hurry to correct.

I am pissed at him like never before, but I would still go to the end of the world and back for him.

“You are, but I will pay you back. Not…not like those other times. I’ll pay you back.”

“Okay,” I say low, not believing a word. “I’ll go to the bank today.”

“It, um, has to be cash.”

“Well, I don’t exactly think criminals take checks.”

“I don’t, either.” He gives another awkward chuckle. “But thank you, Ray. Thank you.” His relief is clear in his voice. “I really appre—”

“But!” I interrupt him. “I’m coming with you to whatever club where you’re going to pay it back.”

“No. No way. Not a chance. I just told you this guy will probably send someone to do much worse than break my legs if I didn’t pay him back tonight, and you think I’m gonna bring my sister there?”

“That’s exactly why I’m coming with you. To make sure you pay it back, let him know he will never see your face again, so we’re not in this situation again. And to make sure you make it out of there alive.”

“No. I won’t let you come.”

“Then, I’m not giving you the money.”

“Ray.”

“Nolan,” I shoot right back at him. “I’m not backing down. Either I come or you’re on your own.”

I don’t actually know if I would make good on my threat, but I let it hang between us either way.

“Fine,” he says through what sounds like clenched teeth.

“What’s the name of the club?”

“Euphoria.”

My eyes widen. Everyone knows about Euphoria. Anyone who lives around here knows it from the line that’s always, always, wrapped around the block to get in there on any given night. And because it’s a hotspot for so many celebrities to have parties and events there.

“I didn’t know they had gambling there.”

“They don’t. Not to anyone that doesn’t know it’s there, anyway. It’s beneath the club. Has another entrance and everything. I’ll come pick you up around ten.”

I laugh. “Is your car even going to make it here, or to the club?”

“Hey, hey. This one hasn’t broken down on me yet, so don’t jinx it. But… thank you, for laughing. I really needed it to tell me you don’t think I’m a total fuck-up.”

“I don’t wanna hear you talking like that, Nolan. You’re not a fuck-up. You just fucked up.”

“Yeah, yeah. But you don’t fuck up, so that would indeed make me the fuck-up in our pair.”

“But we are just that. A pair, so neither of us can fuck up anything beyond repair, right?”

“Right.”

“So, I’ll see you at ten. I love you, Nolan.”

“Love you, Ray.”

I begin to pull the phone away to end the call, but hear his hesitant, “Oh, and uh…”

“What else, Nolan?”

“You have to dress up.”

I arch a brow even though he can’t see me. “I have to dress up to pay some damn criminal?”

“If you aren’t dressed up like you’re going to the regular part of the club, they won’t even let you in. I guess it would go a long way toward pretending it’s not what it is if the cops come.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. What the hell are we getting into? But I guess the place must have some type of class if you need to get dressed up to get in. That makes me feel like I’m not going to walk into somewhere with spots of blood on a dirt floor from the last guy who didn’t pay his debt.

“I’ll dress up. Goodbye, Nolan.”

“Bye.”

I hang up and sit on the end of the bed. I’m so exhausted, but know there’ll be no going back to sleep now. Not when I’m worried if whoever might be looking for Nolan to pay them back could find him before we get to the club. Not when I’m worried about Nolan period, about where his life is going, and if this time will truly be the last time. Not when my dream of even being within reach of having enough for a house is now gone. It took me three years to save up that much money. Paying the bills and always having to use some of whatever I was saving to, once again, save Nolan like I’m preparing to do now, made it hard to even get to this point. And now, it’s going to disappear just like that.

I’m still awake when the sun begins rising, Googling the club.

Euphoria, opened five years ago by Damian Richmond. There’s a picture of him right beside the front entrance of the club. I’ve seen him before, in social media posts and on TV, but looking at him now still makes my eyebrows raise. It’s hard not to be impressed as my gaze traces over his picture. And if I’m being honest with myself, impressed isn’t the only thing his photo makes me feel. Again, it’s hard not to be turned on looking at his man who looks like he’s straight off of a runway…if models were muscular as well as tall and sexy.

Full lips curve up into a welcoming smile, a short beard with clean lines surrounding it. His dark brown hair is perfectly combed back, not a strand out of place, going with his perfect three-piece suit. And it fits every single inch of him just right. He has to be at least six and a half feet tall, and his suit does nothing to disguise his wide chest and broad shoulders. But it’s his eyes that captivate me the very most. Dark, deep, and seeming to look right into me. A shiver races through me before I can stop it. His hands are in his pants pockets, a watch glinting on his wrist that probably costs more than every dollar I’m about to bring to his club tonight. That thought jolts me enough to remember the fact that he’s obviously a criminal. He’s running a club with an illegal gambling ring underneath it, and may even be one of the people threatening my brother to come with the money tonight, or else. I have no business feeling anything looking at his picture.

I force my eyes away from the photo to look lower. All I find is article after article about some party that took place there, or this or that birthday, even album release launches, and once, a football team celebrated winning the Superbowl there. Then, there are a handful of articles about the owner, and his net worth, his family’s legacy in owning some of the most famous clubs over the decades, along with starting many other successful businesses. There are a few articles below that about women the owner has been linked to. My thumb hovers over them before I even realize it, unsure of why I would even care. I scroll down instead, clicking on the arrow to go to the next page. It’s there that I even start to see anything bad about the club, or its owner. It’s almost like these articles are buried. And, I guess with how much money it just said the owner and his family have, they could certainly afford to bury them.

But there are a few. Some stories of illegal activity in the clubs, which I don’t doubt for a moment given the reason I’m accompanying Nolan there tonight. Some are about scandals, married men and women being caught in there with people who definitely were not their spouses, and another about someone overdosing in the bathroom. Are there drugs in there, too? I guess gambling and drugs might go hand and hand. There are stories of the owner being suspected of physically assaulting a few men with his own hands and with weapons, but that he’s never been arrested for any of them. That even a few people have gone missing after altercations with him. What the fuck goes on there? One thing for sure, is that the owner, as sexy as he is, is dangerous. It doesn’t matter, though. I’m pretty sure a rich club owner isn’t exactly who I’ll be meeting to pay off my brother’s debt. More like some balding man with a pot belly and a sweaty forehead.

But still, as I continue reading article after article, showing too very different sides to Euphoria, I’m suddenly not so sure about going there with Nolan, and yet, I know I still have to. He’s going to be mortified, but that’s kind of the whole point in me planning to let whoever we speak to know that if he ever sees my brother in there again, to throw him out on his face. I’ve had to do this before. Not at fancy clubs, but at some dirty, dark rooms I’ve picked up my drunk brother up from with a man demanding I pay his debt before they would let him leave. But he also never went to the same places again because he was too embarrassed to return. And I definitely don’t need him going back to some place that lets him run up a sixty-thousand-dollar debt. I certainly won’t have the money to bail him out again should he find himself back there.

Sighing, I get off the bed and head to my closet, figuring since I’m up, I might as well just go to the bank before work instead of on my lunch break like I planned. I stop once I’m inside my closet, though, looking away from my work outfits to the other side, and not finding anything I would wear to a club hanging up. There’s no way in hell I am buying a new outfit just to wear there to hand someone my entire life’s savings, so I move some clothes aside, hoping there’s something in here.

“This one,” I murmur to myself, taking the hanger off the rod.

I look over the black dress I bought only for the gala my job had last year. I haven’t worn it since I picked it up from the dry cleaner a few days after wearing it. Thin straps, a V neckline, and a slit that goes up the left side until the middle of my thigh. I remember the way it tightened on my stomach and made my breasts and legs, not to mention, my ass, look amazing that night. It’ll have to do. I grab the black heels with black ankle straps and a silver buckle from the floor of the closet before getting my blouse and pants for work. Walking out of the closet, I lay the dress on the end of my bed and the shoes on the floor, shaking my head at the reason for even needing them as I head to the bathroom.

Once I’m dressed, I go to the bank, pretending my hands aren’t shaking on the steering wheel as I drive. I hate this. That I need to empty out my account, and the reason that I have to. It’s not fair, but it is necessary. I also hold zero hope that Nolan will be able to pay any of it back. I’m starting from zero yet again. I sit in the parking lot when I get to the bank for a little while, to let myself truly absorb that realization. I have to accept that before I walk in, or I’ll end up crying in front of the teller.

Another five minutes and I’m leaving my car and walking into the bank lobby. Someone is there as soon as I enter, smiling as they speak.

“Hello, and welcome to HDC Bank. Is there anything I can help you with today?”

I look at his name tag. The branch manager. I guess he can help me more than anyone else here.

“Hi. I would like to close my account.”

His smile dims. Yeah, I know the feeling.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Come right this way and we’ll get everything handled.”

Twenty minutes later, and many attempts by the manager to persuade me to keep my account with them open, and the manager is finally taking the steps to close my account.

“Will you be transferring the money to another account, or would you like a check?”

“Actually, I would like cash.”

His eyes get comically wide as his fingers still on the keyboard. “Excuse me? You would like—” he looks at the screen again “—sixty-four thousand dollars in cash?”

“I would.”

“I have to warn you that it’s quite dangerous to be carrying that amount of money around.”

I almost laugh. If only he knew where I was actually taking the money. I’m pretty sure he’d agree that’s much more dangerous than walking around with it.

“Thank you for your concern, but I would still like it in cash.”

He gives a look that shows he clearly thinks I’m making a huge mistake and begins typing again. I keep my fake smile in place as he works, but my knee bounces under the table and my hands wring together in my lap.

“I’ll be right back,” he says.

I nod and watch him use a card to get into a back room. Letting my smile drop, I close my eyes for a moment, pushing down the rising anger at Nolan yet again. There’s no use in being mad at him when I know I’m going to help him, anyway. But still, I want to wring his neck right now. He hasn’t gambled in months, and I’d honestly thought we were past this. Only now I wonder if he’d just gotten better at hiding it or if he had actually been winning for a while. A part of me, however small, tells me to just let him deal with this by himself and to let him figure out a way to get this kind of money. That, maybe if someone actually did break his legs, it would keep his ass out of another backroom or club for good, but as quickly as the thought comes, I dismiss it.

I promised my mother I would take care of him, and I won’t break that promise. Even without that promise, I owe him more than I can ever repay. Thankfully, the manager comes back out of the room then, preventing me from traveling too far down that road. He has the money, it’s done. He places a black bag on the desk, and opens it to show me the envelopes inside. I stand, hoping he understands I’m ready to go now.

“There’s ten thousand in six of the envelopes, and four thousand in the thinnest one,” he tells me. “We’re sorry to lose your business but thank you for banking with HDC Bank.”

“Thank you for helping me today.”

I take the bag and head to my car, feeling like the manager is shaking his head behind my back all the while. When I get into my car, I open the bag and count the envelopes, only taking the thinnest one out. Four thousand. All I have now.

“God damn it, Nolan!” I scream.

Then, I’m punching my steering wheel while yelling, anger at him and myself bleeding through every shout. I can’t fucking believe this. It’s only a woman stopping in front of my car and watching me with furrowed brows that stops me. I hurry to pull out of the parking lot and head to work.

The black bag feels like it’s burning a hole in my large purse all day at work, taunting and enraging me. My coworkers ask if I’m okay numerous times, and I brush off their concern with a false smile and empty words. How can I be okay when my life savings sits in my purse, waiting to be spent on a problem that isn’t of my own making? Oh, and I have a dress waiting for me at home to wear to an illegal gambling establishment later. Yeah, I’m great.

And then before I know it, I’m home and looking at that very dress, hating that I have to put it on. I scrub myself too hard in the shower, anger in my every movement. I get dressed angry, put on my shoes angry, and do my hair angry. I’m even scowling at my reflection in the mirror when I look at myself. But I can admit I look damn good. Hair up with a few wisps hanging down around my face, and my dress fitting me like a second skin with heels that make my legs look long and sexy. If only I was wearing this to anywhere other than where I am.

I’m searching for a purse that looks nice but can hold all the envelopes when the doorbell rings. I glare towards the living room for a few moments, knowing Nolan is on the other side of it. Closing my eyes, I try to reign in my anger. He deserves it, every bit of it, but at the same time, he doesn’t. It’s hard to truly hate someone for their struggles when you understand all too well just why they’re struggling. I grab a black bag from my closet and begin to put the envelopes, my wallet, and the keys inside as the doorbell rings again. Let him wait. I look around my bedroom, feeling like I should be bringing a weapon or something, but not exactly being prepared to go with my brother to the back entrance of some club tonight, I don’t find anything.

The doorbell rings again and I finally head out of my bedroom. When I open the door, Nolan shoots me an awkward, crooked smile. Of course, it softens my heart and I find myself shaking my head at him even as a smile begins to form.

“Where did you get that suit from?” I ask. “I know damn well you don’t own one.”

He brushes nonexistent lint off the jacket collar. “Hey, I clean up well when I want to.”

“I haven’t seen you in a suit since…” My words drift off as the image becomes clearer.

“Since Mom’s funeral. Yeah,” he finishes.

I clear my throat. “Anyway, you look nice.”

“Not as nice as you. Maybe we can go to the regular part of the club after—”

“Yeah, that won’t be happening. We’re paying this guy and getting the hell out of there.”

He quickly nods. “I am sor—”

“I know, Nolan,” I cut him off. “I know. Let’s just get this over with.”

I close the door behind me, and we walk to Nolan’s beat-up car. The door even squeaks as he opens it for me. I barely hold back from pointing out that he could have brought a brand-new car with the money he had when he was winning. Putting my purse in my lap, I watch Nolan walk around the front of the car to the driver’s side. Then, he starts the car up and we’re on our way to the last place I expected to be tonight.

Chapter 2

“Well, what are you gonna do, Damian?” my cousin, Shane, asks. “You’ve got less than a year now.”

I slam my phone down, like it will help any of the anger rushing through me from the call I just ended with my father to fade. Anger is a common emotion when I speak with my father lately.

“It’s all bullshit!” I shout. “Family tradition is one thing, but this is fucking archaic! Telling me, fucking demanding of me, to have a baby before I turn thirty-two. Is he fucking insane?”

My cousin just laughs. Asshole.

“It’s easy to laugh about it when it isn’t you. But it will be in two years.”

“No, the fuck it won’t. Your father already knows I am never getting anyone pregnant. That is firmly on your shoulders.”

I scowl at him. “It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve proven myself and then some, but he won’t pass the reigns to me until I have a baby? What the fuck will that prove? What the hell does becoming a father have to do with knowing how to run a business and make money?”

“Being a parent teaches you the greatest sense of responsibility there is,” he repeats my father’s exact words, in a voice that sounds eerily similar to my father’s, and far too funny coming out of Shane’s mouth.

I can’t help but laugh, even as the implication of what he says makes me exhausted just thinking about it. Slouching deeper in my seat, I let my head fall back.

“I knew this was coming. I mean, it’s not like I didn’t know what tradition and rules our family has always gone by. You don’t get to take possession of the family businesses held in your name until you have a child. And you have until your thirty-second birthday to have that baby. But I was hoping my father would be the one to see that for the absolute bullshit it is and go against it. Especially given what it did to the last people who were forced to abide by it.”

I instantly regret my words. Hurrying to tilt my head down, I look at Shane in time to see the hardness that enters his eyes.

“Fuck, man. I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean…”

He shakes his head before I’m even done speaking. “It’s fine. And you’re right. He should look at my parents and think twice. But he’s not, so again, what the fuck are you going to do? You just turned thirty-one and now your father is breathing down your neck to have a baby before your next birthday. And well, you’re missing a key component needed to make one.” I arch a brow at him, and he chuckles. “Well, you’re not exactly missing a woman, but you know what I mean. You don’t want to have a baby with just anyone.”

“I can’t fucking believe this is happening,” I say through clenched teeth. “I have done every single thing my father has asked of me. Built all of the businesses I own from the ground up to show him I can handle whatever comes my way when I take over. And he still throws this shit at me. Talking about how becoming a father will truly show me what being a man means. Could’ve sworn he wasn’t calling me a little boy when I handed over my first million to him.”

“Well, Damian, as Uncle Logan says…” He grins and I narrow my eyes at him.

“I will skin you alive.”

He continues, anyway, knowing my threats are hollow with him. Only him. “Fatherhood teaches you lessons that nothing else in life ever can.”

“I can’t believe you’re really in here quoting my father. Hell must have frozen over if…” I pause as I turn to the monitors at the sound of the door being buzzed open.

I see a man and woman walk in, but then do a double take.

“Who the fuck is that? And why the fuck is she with him?” I ask, genuinely curious, which doesn’t happen very often.

Shane walks over and leans in to look at the camera feed on the monitor.

“Well, damn, maybe that little shithead managed to land himself a sexy girlfriend.”

I watch them both on the screen, the asshole who owes me sixty grand, and the woman beside him. Well, much more her than him. She’s stunning. Dark brown hair, eyes I can’t quite see the color of but find beautiful nonetheless, and full lips, even if they are set in a grim line. Every time she steps forward, and her leg extends through that slit in her dress, I find another reason to admire what she’s wearing. But she looks completely out of place here. She looks around as if something will attack her at any moment. Her hand is wrapped around the crook of Nolan’s arm, and even in the camera, I can tell how tightly she grips onto him. I scoff. As if he can protect her from anyone here. He can’t even protect himself. But still, her holding him makes me angry for some reason. I can’t really figure out why, though.

“She looks far too beautiful to be with someone like him,” I murmur, not even really meaning for Shane to hear it.

“Go steal her away, then. I’m sure she won’t mind an upgrade.”

They cross the club, going over to where my best enforcer, George, sits. The same one I know paid Nolan a visit yesterday at his job. And I know because I’m the one who sent him. I press a button to begin playing the audio from that camera.

“I have the money,” Nolan says. “All of it.”

George chuckles. “I find that really fucking hard to believe.”

“No one cares if you believe it,” the woman snaps. My eyebrows rise, and so do George’s. But she doesn’t back down, only clenches her jaw and says, “We have the money, so count it and we’ll be done here.”

I’m reaching for my phone before I even fully realize what I’m doing, pressing the button to call George. He stops glaring at the woman to look down at his phone. His face immediately changes as he answers my call.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Nolan and the woman, bring them to my office.”

“Your office?” he asks, puzzled.

“My office,” I bark out. “Now.”

I hang up as I listen to him tell Nolan and the woman that they need to follow him.

“For what?” the woman questions. “Aren’t you the one we give the money to? Where are you taking us?”

“Listen, lady, you were in such a damn rush before, well, this is the only way you’re getting things done now, so let’s go.”

She looks upset, but Nolan, he, rightly so, looks nervous as hell as they begin following behind George.

“What did you do that for?” Shane asks.

“I have no fucking idea.” I shrug. “Maybe I just wanna see her up close. Maybe I will steal her from him.”

He chuckles and shakes his head while heading to the seat in the back corner of my office. I settle more into my chair, asking myself the same question Shane did. What am I doing? I only interfere with things happening on the floor if violence breaks out or if violence is needed. I would have, should have, just watched Nolan pay what he owes and walk the hell back out of my club, but instead, I’m watching the monitor to make sure they come directly here with no interruptions. Nolan whispers something into the woman’s ear and she nods. My lip curls up at their closeness. A few seconds later, and I hear two hard knocks at my door.

“Come in,” I state clearly.

George opens the door and lets Nolan and the woman enter before him. My eyes are solely on the woman, just like hers are on me. I can see they’re light brown now, but they’re also wide, and full of fear and confusion. I find I like the look on her. I even notice the way she swallows before she looks over her shoulder at Shane sitting in the corner. I wave George away and he’s quick to nod and close the door again. I only look at Nolan long enough to realize the woman’s hand is no longer on his arm, and then my eyes are back on the woman.

Silence fills the room for a few moments while the woman and I stare at each other. I don’t know what the fuck everyone else is looking at, nor do I care. Not when I can see the woman becoming more nervous by the second. And especially not when she licks her lips, and I can track her tongue’s movement. As if she realizes what she’s done, her tongue disappears back behind those sexy as hell lips, but it’s too late. Downright filthy thoughts begin rushing through my brain. Where I want that tongue. The sounds I want to hear tumble past those lips. The way her eyes would look as I make her come. They all make me grin, which makes her swallow again.

“I came here on my own, to pay you back.”

My grin disappears as I move my gaze to Nolan.

“You mean, you came after I had George show up at your job and threaten to break every bone in your body if you didn’t come with my money tonight?”

The woman turns her head to narrow her eyes at Nolan. Does she not know what a fuck-up she’s with? I mean, she must if she’s here with him and carrying the money I assume is in the purse she has on her shoulder, since it damn sure wouldn’t fit in his pockets. Especially not with him tucking his shaking hands into them.

He swallows. “I mean, I could have run, but I showed up.”

“I would have found you. Just like I found out your real name is Maxwell Moore. I mean, hey, there is a Nolan in the middle there, so I guess you didn’t completely lie, right? I found out your real name, then I found out your address, where you work, hell, where you like to hang out and all the places you’ve been banned from, for leaving unpaid debts there. Did you really think Euphoria was going to be another place you left a debt behind and never had to think of again?”

“No.” He quickly shakes his head. “I was gonna pay it back, I swear. I have the money right now. All of it.”

“You have the money?” I look from him to the woman. “Or does she?”

“Does it matter?” she bites out. “You’re getting your money either way.”

I love the way my cock begins getting hard at the anger in her voice.

“It matters to me.”

Actually … Hell no, it doesn’t matter. I take my money whatever way it comes. If someone has to rob Peter to pay me, then that’s on them. But right now, with them standing in my office, I want a reason to keep hearing her voice. Each word is turning me on more.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

Her mouth tightens and I smirk at her. I have to believe she has no idea who I am, because most people that do would know being called into my office is never for anything good. Like the dumb man beside her knows. That you’d better come in here whimpering and ready to beg for mercy if you end up inside these walls, and yet, here she is, mouth perched, refusing to answer, and jutting her chin up in defiance. But then, as I begin to rise from my chair, finally her expression goes back to what it was before; fear and confusion.

“I didn’t hear you,” I say before looking at my cousin. “Did you hear her, Shane?”

“I did not.”

“Did you hear her?” I ask Nolan.

“Just tell him your name,” he harshly whispers at her. “What are you doing?”

“Maybe if I cut off Nolan’s ear, we’ll be able to get a word out of you.”

I nod at Shane and he’s out of his chair in an instant. Nolan starts to look at him, but it’s too late. Shane has a knife at the top of his ear, and his arm around Nolan’s neck to hold him in place in seconds. A bit of blood begins to trickle down Nolan’s ear just as the woman screams out. Nolan looks physically ill and ready to vomit at any moment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” the woman shouts.

“This is really all your doing,” I say. “I think I’ve been quite… welcoming since you two set foot in my office. Even though he’s been trying to dodge paying me what he owes for two months now. But then you decided you couldn’t even be respectful enough to tell me your name, so this is where we are.”

Her chest heaves as she looks back and forth between me and a very clearly panicking Nolan. His skin has visibly paled, and he looks ready to faint.

“Rayanne. My name is Rayanne,” she tells me slowly.

“Rayanne…” I motion my hand for her to continue.

“Rayanne Moore.”

My eyes widen with realization. And why is it so satisfying to learn she’s not his girlfriend, or wife, but a relative?

“Sister?” I ask.

She nods. “Now, will you let Nolan go?”

“In a minute.” I tilt my head at her. “You’re giving your brother the money for his debt? And I know it must all be yours, because Lord knows this loser has nothing to his name. Trust me, I checked.”

“Yes,” she answers through clenched teeth. “So, take the money and we’ll leave. And you can trust me when I say that you will never see my brother here again.”

I snicker. “Yes, I will. Because someone like him can’t help but come back. Thinking their luck will be better next time, or when they wind up in my debt again, that they can escape me finding them this time. Both stupid thoughts, really. Their luck always runs out, and so does my patience.”

“Then, that will be his problem.” She doesn’t sound the least bit convincing. “Here’s the sixty thousand.”

She steps forward and drops the purse to my desk, beginning to take envelopes out. But I don’t pay them any mind. I’m too busy inhaling her scent. It’s soft, but somehow hypnotic, making me want to lean in. Making me want more. And that’s when it hits me. That I could get much more from her than whatever money she’s just placed on my desk and also solve my current biggest problem in the process. My need for a baby. My need for a woman to have my baby.

Maybe my moment of realization is on my face because she looks at me with furrowed brows as she backs away, taking her scent with her. I quickly erase all emotion from my face. Everything except a smirk.

“Sixty thousand?” I question, looking at a still held Nolan. “That was how much you owed me before. Before you dodged paying me for two months, trying to hide from me in my city. Before I had to send George to track you down at your job. Before I had to look at how much you owed me staring me in the face every day for eight weeks. Now you owe me two-hundred thousand.”

“What?” Nolan exclaims as he tries to lunge forward, but to do what, I have no idea, and actually, I find it pretty funny.

He must have forgotten that Shane’s knife is at his ear. And it slices as Shane growls while tightening his grip on Nolan’s neck.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Shane taunts.

“Stop,” Rayanne pleads, all sass from before gone. “Stop, please. Let him go. Whatever the amount, I’ll pay it.”

Nolan pleads as well with his hand on the side of his face, covering the blood dripping down. “Please. That’s not right. I can’t possibly owe that much.”

I dismiss him, even as he continues insisting that I have it all wrong, and look back at his sister. But apparently, she’s done pleading because she marches forward to slam her hand down on my desk.

“Let my fucking brother go right now,” she hisses. “Take the fucking money and leave him the fuck alone.”

My cock is fully hard now, only reassuring me that, yes, she’s the one I want. Her anger makes me want to fuck her until I can’t even move anymore. Certainly until she can’t.

“I can think of other ways for the debt to be paid.”

Her back snaps straight and then she goes utterly still at the same time that Nolan’s voice abruptly cuts short. Neither of them says another word, so I do.

“I will excuse every single penny your brother owes me,” I begin, “if you agree to have my baby.”

Her eyes widen with utter shock, and a small gasp leaves her mouth. What I wouldn’t give to hear that sound again. And I will. I’ll make sure of it.

“You’re fucking crazy,” she softly says.

But I can tell she knows I mean it. That my offer is real. It’s in the way she looks so worried, because she knows, just like I do, that she’s trapped. She doesn’t have the money, and saying no means, well, she doesn’t quite know yet what that truly means for her brother, but she knows it’s nothing good.

“Oh, I am. But my offer is what it is. And it’s my only offer.”

“You can’t be serious!” Nolan shouts.

“I am,” is all I say back.

“Absolutely not,” Rayanne finally answers.

I smirk as I nod at Shane. In a second, his arm is gone from Nolan’s neck but only because his knife moves there, biting into the skin, making it very clear that with a simple slice, he could have Nolan bleeding out on my carpet.

“No!” Rayanne screams.

Nolan is still. He doesn’t even swallow. Good thing, too, because it might cause a little nick.

“Please, please. I can pay you the rest of the money. I’ll give you every paycheck,” she pleads.

I shake my head. “Like I said, my offer is the only one on the table.”

I sweep the envelopes off my desk onto the floor just to show her how little it means to me. But her in my bed, her pregnant with my baby… I’m coming to want both more with each breath.

“And if your answer is no, then…” I wave my hand at Shane and she screams out again.

“Wait, wait.”

I hold a finger up to Shane. “Something to say?”

“What—” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, asking, “What exactly are you asking of me?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m asking. I’m telling you the only way your brother is walking out of here alive.”

Her eyes widen with terror and her hand goes to her stomach. I know that means the hopelessness is setting in deep there. Good. Now, I really have her attention.

“But I’ll put the offer in simplest terms. All of your brother’s debt will be forgiven. And I mean all, because trust me, he owes more than just me right now.”

Her mouth gets tight, and I feel like she’s barely holding back from killing Nolan her damn self.

“I’ll pay off those debts, on top of erasing what he owes me, in exchange for you bearing me a child. And just to make it very clear, you will stay with me during the pregnancy. I’d want to ensure you’re healthy, and therefore the baby is as well.”

Her face is incredulous. “I cannot just disappear from my life for nine months. I have a job, my apartment, my friends.”

Interesting that she doesn’t say parents. I try to remember from looking up information on Nolan, if I read anything about their parents. I only know they weren’t somewhere I sent George to look for him, so they’re either dead or far away. Good, there’s no one to truly come looking for her. And her coward of a brother damn sure isn’t going to do anything or be dumb enough to go to the police. And if he does, I’ll handle that. He’ll probably just be at some other club before the week is through, gambling away his sorrows.

“Well, once you’ve given me a baby, you can go right back to that life.”

Her head snaps back in surprise. “You expect me to have a child and just… leave it? So, what, it can be raised by someone who very clearly—” she motions towards Nolan and Shane “—is a God damn psychopath?”

“If you want to stick around, you wouldn’t want for anything, but don’t think we’d be playing house or something. I want a womb, not a wife.”

“Could you be any more callous?” she asks in a murmur. “You’re asking me to give up my whole life, to have a baby with a man I’ll never actually even be with.”

“I could be more callous, like if I remind you that I’m offering you this instead of simply carving your brother’s heart out in front of you. It doesn’t really matter to me which you choose. There’s plenty of other women I can make this offer to. You only have one of your brother.”

She narrows her eyes and my cock jumps. I almost groan at the venom in her eyes when I expected more fear.

“There’s plenty of women, and yet, you’re asking me, which means, for whatever sick reason, you want me to be the one who has your baby.”

I quickly walk around my desk, getting so close to her that our noses almost touch. So, that way, I’m sure she can hear my growled words.

“Do you think that gives you any type of upper hand, the fact that you’re in this office instead of another woman? Maybe I should tell Shane to start dragging that knife across your brother’s throat to show you just how much power you have.”

I don’t even completely raise my hand up to motion to Shane before she grasps my wrist, stopping my hand from moving.

“No,” she states loudly, then softer. “No.”

She looks down, and I can imagine the thoughts running through her head, the impossible situation she’s in. But that’s what makes me so sure she’ll say yes. I am getting impatient with how long it’s taking to get the only answer she can give.

“Yes or no, Rayanne?”

Her head snaps up at me saying her name, and there’s something in her eyes. Is that… lust? Can she be considering more than just my offer right now?

“What will it be?” I press. “His death or you give me a life?”

She swallows and I hate how anxious I am for her answer, for just a single word. Her eyes leave mine and go to her brother. I don’t have to look to know he’s in the same position he was when I last glanced his way. In Shane’s hold with a knife to his neck. No way my cousin is giving him an inch. When she closes her eyes and lets out a heavy breath, I smirk, knowing I have her.

“I’ll do it,” she says with her eyes still closed.

My smirk grows into a grin, even as Nolan begins shouting.

“Are you crazy, Ray?”

Her eyes open then, fire blazing in them as she glares at her brother. “You’ve left me with no fucking choice. Do I let them kill you? Huh? Do I do that? Tell me, Nolan.”

“Yes, let them fucking kill me!” he yells. “You can’t go through with this.”

“But I will. And you will get as far away from here as possible while I do it.”

He begins to struggle now. “I’m not going anywhere, and you are not leaving here with him. No fucking way.”

“Nolan, stop it!”

He does, to look at her with pleading eyes. “Rayanne you can’t do this. Not even for me.”

She just looks away from him, eyes on the floor as she slowly says, “I have some… questions.”

I chuckle. “You already agreed. It’s a little late for questions, wouldn’t you say?”

“Please.”

Something inside of me, a part I can’t really say I recognize feels something at her low tone, at the way she won’t look at me now, when she stared into my eyes so defiantly before. Is it… pity? Sympathy? I don’t know.

“Go on.”

“To get me… pregnant, will we doing some type of medical procedure, in vitro or…”

I shake my head. “The good old fashioned way.”

A blush creeps up her chest, rising right from that bare skin the neckline of her dress shows between her breasts. It crawls up her neck, covers the bottom of her face, and then spreads to her cheeks. Damn, it looks beautiful on her.

“And will you… will we…” The fear and hesitancy in her voice tells me what she’s trying to ask.

“I have never forced a woman to do anything with me, and I’m damn sure not going to now.”

Her relief is clear, even if my mind is asking if this is force, but just in a different way. I push those thoughts aside to finish. “You’ll want me. Have no doubts about that.”

She looks up at me through her lashes at those words. Does she want me already? Is that what the blush is for? God, I hope so because my cock is aching at this point.

“When does our arrangement begin?”

Finally, this fucking conversation is coming to an end. Satisfaction truly begins to fill me now. I button my jacket closed as I start talking.

“You’ll leave here with me tonight.” Her eyes meet mine then, her mouth ready to speak. I don’t let it. “You’ll give me your keys, phone, and wallet. You won’t have contact with anyone until you have the baby.”

“How will I know you haven’t hurt my sister?” Nolan asks.

Ah, so he’s finally accepted what’s happening here. Good. But still, his words infuriate me. I turn on him, my steps quickly eating up the distance between him and I. Shane lets him go just as I reach him. I grab his jacket and yank him forward. He cringes away from my touch, but it seems like it’s not in fear, but disgust. It’s confusing, but I don’t care enough to consider why. I just tighten my grip on him.

“And what the fuck would you do if I did?” I growl in his face. “What the fuck could you do? Nothing, just like you can’t do a fucking thing right now.” I toss him towards Shane who easily grabs him up by his jacket collar. “Get him the fuck out of here.”

“Is it still that day?” Nolan desperately asks Rayanne. Although his words make no sense at all to me, she responds so they must have some meaning to her.

“It’s still that day,” she barely whispers, looking down at the floor.

He grips the door frame to stop Shane from pulling on him, hard enough that his knuckles go white.

“Don’t you dare murmur that to me, Ray!” he shouts, making me arch a brow at the fucking audacity of his tone considering the situation. I begin to motion for Shane to get him the hell out, but Rayanne’s eyes snap to him. She glares at him for a moment, but then she visibly softens and she gives him a single nod.

“It’s still that day.”

Then, I watch her watch her brother get dragged out. Only when his words are drifting further away does she allow tears to glisten in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Ray!” he shouts. “I swear, I’m sorry.”

His voice disappears with the shutting of my door. She closes her eyes for a moment while taking a deep breath that fills the otherwise silence of my office. When she opens her eyes and turns to face me, the tears are gone, and only a determination remains. A steely resolve in her gaze. I fucking revel in it.

“So, ready to go to your new home?”

It’s simple: Either she gives him a life or witnesses her brother’s death.

When Rayanne’s brother calls her at two am, desperate for her to pay off his gambling debt, she promises to settle it. But when she gets to the club, the debtor lets her know he’s no longer accepting cash.

The moment Damian sees Rayanne walk into his club, he knows she’s the answer to his problem. He needs to produce an heir within the year in order to inherit his family businesses. So, he makes her an offer he knows she won’t turn down. Agree to have his baby or watch her brother take his last breath.

Faced with an impossible choice, Rayanne ends up in Damian’s back seat, on the way to her new home until she gives him a child. But nine months is a long time to spend with a man whose every look sets you on fire. And when Damian made the barter, he didn’t take his heart into account.