Page 31 of Midnight Revelations

“Do I not give you a beautiful life?”

“Yes, but what if God takes you like he took Mama? We would be at the fate of whatever vultures arrive at our door.” I dragged in a breath. “I don’t want you to teach me so I can escape, I want you to guide me so that I can be your daughter.”

He took another puff of his cigar. “Madison scolded me earlier and told me that I had failed in this aspect of being a papa. I’m starting to see the truth in her words.”

“Ash helped me because I asked Xavier and he was busy. I shouldn’t have had to ask for help, Papa.”

His expression darkened. “No daughter of mine should ever have had to accept help from a Blackwood. Matteus is an evil, twisted bastard with the soul of a demon. There is no way his children have not inherited his genes.”

“Papa! Ash spent every summer here. If you’d felt like that, you would never have let him stay under your roof.”

He finally gave me his attention. “I walked away from the Council long ago and Xavier sits in my seat. I watch from the shadows while greedy men get richer and destroy the lives of others. Ash’s mother had been a friend of your mama. I saw how Matteus tormented her when he was younger. I witnessed Matteus become the man his father had been.”

Papa sat and shook his head. “It is not Ash that is the problem, but his father. Women who marry into the Blackwood family are ripped apart until there is little left of the woman they were. No, Lucrezia, as soon as it is possible to dissolve your business arrangement I will be insisting that you do.”

I wanted to argue and defend Ash, but this information just added more mystery to the man I barely knew but loved anyway. I wearily pushed myself to my feet. “Uncle Hugh is cruel and Xavier is not his father. I don’t know the Blackwood family, I only know that when I asked for help that the only person who gave it was Ash. He’s my business partner, Papa, not my husband.”

“We can only but thank the good Lord that is the case,” he muttered darkly. “Because if Matteus got a pure soul like you in his family, he would suck you dry until there was nothing left.”

Fear rattled around inside me, even as I crawled into bed. Nightmares filled with men sucking my soul out tormented me, and I tossed and turned the entire night. I craved Ash beside me, but there was only emptiness and a deep hurt in the depths of my heart.

***

Chapter Twelve

Ash

I lived my life in the shadows so that I could protect my family and friends. Xavier, Jordan, and I each belonged to different organisations that allowed us to have eyes and ears everywhere. My domain was the financial world and I was needed in Switzerland.

Poppy stepped into the elevator in front of me. She was used to sexual depravation to increase her pleasure when she finally earned the sex. Right now, she believed this was all an intricate game of seduction. The sad truth was that my dick just wasn’t interested. He’d been spoiled by polka dot panties.

She slammed the red button with her hand and dropped to her knees in front of me. “I know you are teasing me, Ash, but maybe I can tempt you.”

Right now, I felt like a frightened virgin the first time a man propositioned her. I stepped back and found the wall prevented me from going any further.

“Just a little nibble, I promise.” Her fingers trailed over my trousers as she deliberately bit into her bottom lip.

Normally my dick would be twitching into action and straining to get through my zip. Poppy had a mouth that could suck you dry in under sixty seconds when she put her mind to it.

My hand covered hers. “Not tonight, Poppy.”

Her lips pouted in indignation. “I cancelled a lot of my clients for you, Ash. This has nothing to do with money, I knew that you’d make sure that I screamed in pleasure every night.” She eyed my crotch. “Are you having performance issues? We can get you medication for that.”

“My dick works just fine, thanks. Please, Poppy, just leave it.” She was staying at one of my apartments, but I spent most nights sleeping in my townhouse because it was the place I felt closest to Lucrezia. “When I come home, I promise to make it up to you.”

When I came home, she’d be sent packing and another would fill her position in my bed while I slept somewhere else. I was finally starting to see why Lucas wanted no other woman after his wife passed away. Once your dick found his home, he refused to live anywhere else.

Poppy slowly rose to face me. “You better, because the only thing I enjoy more than spending money is a huge cock fucking me into submission.”

Her dirty talk would have turned me on in a different life. Now, I had no interest. I reached around and hit the stop button to make the elevator move again.

Poppy paced around my apartment like she owned it. That had been my plan, but it was slowly starting to backfire on me.

I held my phone in the air. “Gotta go. Emergency meeting.”

She glared at me as she kicked off her ridiculously high heels. “Who the fuck has a meeting at this time of night?”

“Me. Chat to you later!”

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