Page 80 of Punish Me, Daddy

I couldn’t let that happen, even if part of me wanted to.

Even if some sick, stupid part of me ached when I thought about the way he looked at me the night before, like I was his world. Like I was something worth holding. Even if I could still taste his mother’s recipe on my tongue and feel the weight of her necklace against my skin. That necklace felt like a collar now.

I didn’t wear leashes.

I didn’t care how good his hands felt or how soft his voice got when he called me baby girl.I wasn’t his. Not yet. Not if I moved fast.

Not if I was smarter.

Me: Set it up. Two nights from now. 8:00 p.m. I’ll trigger a distraction. You get me the route, and I’m gone.

Ghost: Copy that. You sure about this?

I stared at the screen again for a long time. Was I sure? No, but that didn’t matter.

I could want him and still leave him.

Me: I was born sure. He thinks he owns me. Let’s show him what I do to kings.

I killed the program, wiped the cache, and locked the screen before slipping out of the office with no one the wiser.

CHAPTER 26

Nikolai

My phone pinged the second I stepped into the elevator.

It wasn’t an alert most people would notice. Just a soft vibration in my coat pocket, followed by a barely perceptible flash across the lock screen. But it wasn’t from my security system.

It was from Ivan.

I swiped to open the encrypted message, eyes scanning the feed as the elevator rose in smooth silence toward the penthouse.

Data Event: External Communication Triggered. User: Sloane Kingsley

Device: Primary Terminal—Office

Time: 17:37

Program Accessed: Encrypted Comms (Custom build)

Connection: Ghost—VPN route masked through Prague, rerouted to Toronto node

Transcript attached (partial):

I opened the file, and there it was.

Sloane: I need out. Full ghost. One shot. No trace. Disappear for six months minimum.

I stared at the screen, jaw tight, pulse thrumming steady behind my temples as I read the rest of the conversation. The cursor blinked. Her words echoed in my mind like they were whispered straight into my ear.

Sloane: I was born sure. He thinks he owns me. Let’s show him what I do to kings.

She thought this was like a game of chess, but she hadn’t realized the queen she was trying to protect was already in my pocket, and I’d been playing with knives, not pawns.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped into the silence of the penthouse. Her scent hit me first—lavender, clean skin, something faintly floral clinging to the air. It wrapped around the space like she already belonged here. I could hear her moving in the other room. Light footsteps. Soft shuffling.

I crossed the living room, footsteps soundless over polished stone, tension simmering low in my gut. My hands balled intofists, jaw set hard. All I could see was the way she had curled up in my lap yesterday morning, moaning, begging, soaking my thigh like the sweetest fucking thing I’d ever touched.

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