I scream. He wasn't kidding about someone like him. His cock stretches me out like a rubber band as I come around it, electricity pulsing through my body and making my legs shake with pleasure. He's merciless as he drives into me over and over, letting me ride out my orgasm. He grabs one of my tits in his huge fist and squeezes it as his mouth meets mine. He tastes and smells like the fresh musk of the forest, a giant woodland beast enveloping, filling, and stretching me to my limits. I moan in pain and pleasure as I suck on his tongue.

"Fuck, Sienna," he growls when I'm done, "you're so fucking hot, so goddamn tight."

I laugh and lift his shirt over his head, throwing it away. He rips mine off.

He might as well be a Greek god carved out of marble. Running my hands down his chiselled abs, I marvel at their perfect definition. His biceps ripple when he pulls me closer. I feel his short beard brush against me as he bites my jaw and neck; his hazel eyes look at me like I am water and he's dying of thirst. I rake my hands up and down his back, eliciting low, eager growls from him. He pulls my hair and thrusts harder, stretches me wider, kisses me stronger. There is anger in his thrusts, fury in his kisses.

"You're fucking mine first," he growls in my ear, "you were always meant to be mine first. I want you to remember that every time you fuck anyone else. I was the first man in your life who made it count."

My pussy clenches around his cock as my eyes roll. He's in so deep that it feels like he'll come out of my mouth, and I can't feel my arms or legs as he drives into me.

He grabs my throat in his fist, and I look into his eyes, mentally pleading with him not to ever stop.

"Say it," he commands.

"You–" it hurts to speak.

He slaps me and readjusts his hand.

"What's that?" he prompts.

I growl in frustration and arousal.

"You were the first," I manage.

He slaps me again.

"First what?"

I growl again, the anger on my face making him smirk. He fucks me harder, overstimulating my G-spot and making me scream again.

He shakes me by my throat. I'm making noises I didn't ever think I was capable of. I sound like a spent hyena panting, but he only laughs in triumph.

"First what, Sienna?"

"First..." I breathe, trying to get my bearings as he rearranges my insides, "first man to make it count."

He presses his mouth to mine, devouring me as he brings his free hand to my pussy. When he rubs my clit, it's almost too much for me to handle, but I don't want him to stop. I moan in pleasure as I grind and push into him. I feel another orgasm cresting.

Still holding me by my throat, he lifts me and drives me into the rose bushes around us. Thorns prick my skin as he repositions his hand and cuts off my air supply. I still push my hips into him, matching his rhythm, chasing my orgasm.

"Come for me," he says, "and I'll let you breathe."

He hits that bundle of nerves that makes me weak and pounds into it mercilessly. My skin gets pricked over and over as he drives me into the bushes each time he pushes. He watches me like a fucking hawk, ready to dive for me like I'm his dinner. My vision begins to blacken at the edges.

"Now," he orders.

My back arches as he releases my throat, and I scream as a tsunami of sweet, sweet pleasure runs through me. My vision goes black with the blood rushing to my head and every muscle in my body contracting. He's still fucking me. I feel thorns pricking my hands as they close around the plants. They puncture my scalp as my head presses into them. He's still fucking me. I grind into him as I regain my vision, doing everything I can to prolong this heavenly feeling. And he's still fucking me.

I look into his eyes as he pulls me up and into him to kiss me. Unlike his previous anger, there's a gentle affection underneath all that hunger and roughness. Even though this man has borderline destroyed me, the way he holds and kisses me now makes me feel warm, safe.

"Come inside me," I whisper to him, "I want it all."

He releases with a groan muffled by my mouth. I throw my arms around his neck as I continue to kiss him and his cock throbs against my walls. His arms wrap around my back, and his hands thread through my hair.

"Holy shit, Gage," I pant hoarsely, laughing, "I don't know if I can walk."

He chuckles as he comes out of me and sets me down. My pussy throbs in response. As if it hasn't had enough.

He grabs my head on either side and angles my face to his as he looks down at me.

"I'll carry you if you tell me what this is all about."

"Isn't it obvious?" I raise an eyebrow and grab his ass with both my hands.

"Maybe," he leans into me, "but all you had to do was ask me to come over. It couldn't be the only reason."

"Hm, I guess you're not all brawn."

He cocks an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I laugh and stand on my tiptoes to kiss him. He presses one hand to my lower back and pulls me in. A wave of warmth spreads through me. His lips are so passionate yet gentle. His hand in my hair grabs onto it like a madman, yet the one on my lower back caresses me so softly. This man of contradictions is making me want to stay here, with him, for as long as possible, but it's a luxury I can't afford.

"I meant what I said," he tells me after we pull away. He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and says, "You were always meant for me first."

"I don't think I was meant for anyone," I respond, "but I'm glad you were the first man in my life to make it count."

I kiss him again before stepping back.

"Come on," I say as I put on his shirt, "I hear they're looking for me."

━━▲━━

He'd helped me remove the leaves and petals from my hair before I packed up, and we headed on our way. Gage insisted on carrying my backpack, but I ended up not minding at all as I savoured his taut muscles. Some guards we passed gave me odd looks, probably wondering how they missed me getting in. Before entering the house, I checked the cameras on my phone to make sure the boys were where I left them. Now, Gage and I stand at the entrance to Elijah's home office.

He sets my bag on the floor beside the door and smiles mischievously at me.

"I know it's ladies first, but..."

"Please," I gesture him forward and step aside so I'm not visible to anyone inside. There's a hallway mirror there, and I use it to glance at myself. I look... well, I look like I've just been fucked. Though mostly leaf and petal-free, my hair is tangled like I just woke up. Gage's giant black t-shirt completely swallows me. It's so long that I look naked even though I'm wearing shorts. Most jarring are the red sore prints he left around my throat. I clench my thighs as I turn to him and smirk. They're going to bruise.

He smirks back and looks me up and down before turning to the door and cracking his neck. Then, he winks at me and flings the double doors open.

"I think you lost something," I hear Jesse's voice.

"No," Gage says nonchalantly, "I think I've got exactly what I need."

I roll my eyes into the pause that follows.

"What are you doing?" Gage says again.

"Looking where the dead thing that crawled out of your ass went," Jesse says.

They all laugh, Kaen the loudest. I stifle my own mirth and shake my head.

With a shit-eating grin splitting his face, Gage pokes his head out of the door and beckons me in.

I approach the door and face them all, thumbs hooked through my belt loops and a smirk on my face. Their laughter dies almost instantly.

"Hello, boys," I say as I lean against the wall beside Gage, "looking for me?"

I watch their reactions in amusement. Jesse raises an eyebrow, smiles, and takes a small step back to look me over. Tiago widens his eyes and tries to suppress a smile while rubbing the back of his neck. Kaen smirks in his chair. And Elijah's eyes climb up his forehead as he looks at me in bewilderment.

"Sienna?" He says, getting out of his chair and approaching me. Looking me over, his eyes stay a second too long at my neck before meeting mine, and his smile dies. Instead, he looks at me with an expression almost like pain, like he wants to say something but can't speak. His icy blue eyes search for something in mine, but I don't think I can help him find it.

"Hi, Elijah," I smile at him, "sorry to keep you waiting. I have a proposition."

His eyes harden, and his jaw sets as he looks at Gage and me.

"First, tell me what's going on."

"Your security is shit," I turn to Gage, "no offence."

"None taken, baby," he smiles.

"Ba–" Jesse cuts himself off and blinks twice, "I need a drink."

He heads to the mini bar as Kaen and Gage snort. I chuckle.

Elijah ignores it all while waiting for me to get back on track.

"So serious," I pitch my voice low to imitate his tenor and mock a pout.

His response is a cock of his head and a warning in his slightly narrowed eyes. It stirs something low inside me, and I bite my lip, wanting to tease him further.

But there will be more than enough time later.

"Alright, maybe it's not total shit," I shrug, "one of the best in the world, I believe Imari said. But not good enough for us not to crack it."

Elijah doesn't say a word. I hate it when he does that. All this stupid bravado and silent intimidation...

Oh, who am I kidding? It's hot as shit.

"I'd also tighten your physical security," I say, "Wait until you hear where Gage found me."

That does it.

He slams his palm on the wall by my head. I don't flinch but raise an eyebrow as I look into his eyes. A few strands of his jet-black hair fall from their usual slicked-back position. His angular features and sharp jawline are accentuated under the angular orange light of the setting sun. His eyes, so vulnerable a moment ago, are now like a window to the madness within him, a glass prison barely holding a demon at bay.

And I thought Gage was the jealous type.

"Don't test me, Sienna," he almost growls.

"I'm not," I say calmly, "I have a point to all this. If I may..."

I move out from under him and go up to his desk. Winking at Kaen, I turn around to face them all, leaning my hips on the table and crossing my arms. Thank God they got rid of that poor goat.

"You've been looking for me, but I've been here all along. Right under your pretty little noses. If I can do this, what do you think my father can do?"

There's a short pause.

"You weren't working with your father, then?" Jesse sips his whiskey and smiles. I try to ignore how he makes me feel when he looks at me like that.

"We've had a... falling out, of sorts," I say.

Kaen and Gage exchange a glance.

"What kind of falling out?" Elijah asks.

"The permanent kind," I quirk a smile, "it's why I'm in hiding. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

Tiago crosses his arms, "Good point, why are you here?"

I sigh and walk over to the window overlooking the sunset.

"Have you ever had any pets?"

There's a brief silence; I don't wait for them to respond.

"I have. When I was a baby, my mom bought a little toy poodle. Harvey, she called him. My earliest memory is him licking my face in our garden."

I take a deep breath.

"After my mom died, my dad destroyed everything she had. I saved only two things: a photo of me and her, and Harvey. I left him in my nanny's care, and he lived with her for years until my father made a surprise visit. I was ten, so I didn't need a nanny anymore, but she was looking after other kids around us. They talked about him sometimes, but it's not like he's the only toy poodle named Harley around. And it's been ten years by then; you'd think he'd forget all about him."

"But he didn't," Gage says.

"No," I shake my head, "he walked into my old nanny's apartment and shot her point-blank between the eyes, then he brought Harvey to me. Do you know what he did after?"

"Shot him in front of you?" Tiago asks softly.

I look at him, shaking my head slightly. An incredible calmness washes over my mind as my body feels like a guitar string about to snap.

"He put a gun in my hand and told me to do it. I cried and pleaded until my throat went raw. I promised him I'd send Harvey far away, give him to someone at school or something. But all my father did was put a gun in my tiny hands and say that he was going to burn the dog either way; whether it was dead or alive was up to me.

"Harvey was my first memory and my first execution. My father said, 'Let it serve you as a lesson not to make me angry.' Since then, I've tried everything I could to please him and make him proud of me. He'd tell me to kill someone, and I'd do it without question. Torture a couple of people to extort information, and I would. I'd do anything he asked of me. But nothing I ever did was good enough for him. He'd always find something wrong, be it the tone of my voice when I negotiated his black market deals or that I left too much blood on the scene when the deal fell through. Nothing was ever good enough for him."

I pause to catch my breath. I don't know why I say what I do next. Maybe it's because a part of me knows I should lay everything out on the table, but my mouth moves on its own.

"Last night, I killed one of your men for him. Two of his underlings made contact with two of our own. I pulled them out and replaced them with loyal ones to my father. I understand they wanted to leave, but I couldn't let information escape out of my control, so I put them in hiding and sent some double agents your way. Whatever they told you was likely bullshit."

A pregnant pause follows. I see them all tense, unsure if they're angry at me or for me. Probably both. Elijah is the first to speak.

"I wouldn't be so sure," he says.

"What do you mean?" I look around at them. They all seem to want to come closer to me but are hesitating. Kaen turns pale as a sheet.

"What do you mean?" I repeat, my heartbeat speeding up and my previous calmness seeping away.

"They showed us proof," Gage says, "photos."

"What photos?"

He looks at Elijah, whose face is now wholly neutral. His eyes, though, hold the same vulnerability when he first approached me today. Like he wants to hold me, but is holding himself back instead.

"Children," Elijah says, "they were forced to traffic children."

My limbs go numb.

"No, no, there has to be a mistake."

I look around at them all, waiting for someone to tell me it's not true.

"I would've known about this," I snap, "he would've told me."

"Would he?"

"I–" I lean against Elijah's desk so I don't fall, fighting back my tears. "There has to be a mistake."

"No mistake, Sienna," Jesse says as he slips an overturned photo before me, "We censored them, but they're otherwise undoctored."

Like ripping off a bandaid, I flip the photograph. It's a little girl with burn marks on her skin. Two black stripes cover her nakedness, and it's clear what this photo was meant for. I thrust it at Jesse and back away, barring my teeth like an angry wild cat. A sudden bloodlust envelops me, and I bite the inside of my cheeks so hard I taste blood. I realize that what he has done to those children doesn't surprise me at all; it only makes me furious. With him, but mainly with myself.

I see Tiago stepping up to me, but I stop him with a gesture. I force myself to calmness, closing my eyes and forcing my tears back. Now is not the time to lose it. I look at them once again and continue.

"I killed that man," I say, keeping my voice as steady as I can make it, "because I thought if I did something nobody else in the family managed, and I took charge of the hit like he told me he wanted me to do things, then he'd love me."

My voice shakes at the last words, but I bite my cheek again and take a deep breath.

"But," I say when I feel stable again, "of course, I was wrong. See, my father is quite controversial among our ranks right now; many people are leaving or planning to leave. So, I figured I'd join them and bring those loyal to me along. With this," I gesture to where Jesse stashed the photo, "I'm even more convinced I made the right decision."

I look at all of them, in turn, before speaking again.

"I'm here to offer a merger of sorts. I have half of my father's people with me, including people who can make your security impenetrable. I have connections, old and new money, and a higher sway with local politicians. Doing all my father's dirty work got me quite a few friends in high places. Let me use them in your favour and give those children their lives back."

I look into Elijah's burning eyes again, feeling mine match his own.

"Let me help you destroy him."