Page 2 of Her Keeper
Honestly, I didn’t know where I got the nerve to say anything at all. I was shaking so badly I wouldn’t have been able to stand if he wasn’t supporting me. But something, some spark flying up my spine and making it stiff, kept me upright.
And that something was telling me that unless Michael listened to me—unless he let me give him the information I had, that he didn’t know about—things were going to get a whole lot worse. Michael might never let me into his bed again and he might never look at me like I was the only woman in the world. We might not ever be friends again.
Hell, we might not ever evenspeakagain.
But unless he heard the information I was holding, that might all be because he was dead. Or in jail.
And he might be ready to kill me. He might be on the edge of squeezing my neck so hard that I choked. But I wasn’t ready to watchhimdie.
“Michael, please,” I whispered again.
He closed his eyes and groaned like he didn’t even want to look at me anymore—or maybe didn’t want to hear me begging for my life. And I thought for a moment that he might have come to his senses. Maybe he’d remembered our history and the histories of our families and realized that I actually had his best interests at heart. Maybe he’d at least listen to what I had to say.
But when his eyes opened again, they were hard and cold. They didn’t remember any of the things we’d been through, and they certainly weren’t interested in hearing anything I had to say.
“I should have known when you accepted the job so quickly that you had an ulterior motive,” he said, his voice low and deadly. “I should have known something was wrong. But I was so hot for you that I didn’t see anything else. So hot for your fucking pussy.” He snorted, now, laughing at himself.
At me, for having been party to this stupidity.
“But not anymore,” he muttered.
And instead of releasing me, he used his grip on my neck to drag me to the door, and then through it.
2
MICHAEL
Iwas so furious, so betrayed, that I couldn’t even see straight, and anyone who knew me could tell you I didn’t let my temper get the best of me like that. I never let my emotions rule my decisions, and I never let my temper get out of hand.
That was my brother’s job. My job was to keep my head on straight and make sure the family got exactly what it needed out of every deal.
Until I met Penny Lane.
Or rather, until I let Penny Lane burrow her sneaky little way under my skin and make a home there—which she then used to sell me the fuck out to the first buyer who came along.
“I can’t believe I let myself care about you,” I snarled, dragging her along behind me and not caring who the fuck saw us. Sure, the entire office was here—all the secretaries looking up from their desks at the sight of me literally dragging my assistant through the main aisle like she was a prisoner of war.
I turned to the first one I saw staring and stared right back at her, knowing exactly how scary I had to look at that moment. She grew pale, then even paler, and looked quickly back down at her work. A slight hesitation and her hands went back to typing, the buttons clicking slowly like she couldn’t remember how to use them.
A moment later all the other secretaries started typing as well. As they should.
I didn’t look at anyone else as I continued forward, Penny struggling in my grasp. But I didn’t need to see the room to know that everyone was still watching us.
Because the silence was heavy enough to suffocate a man.
They were all scared out of their wits. They knew who I was and what we did in this office. They knew who my family was. And I was sure they’d all realized that death made regular appearances on my contact list. They’d just never seen me manhandling one of the employees.
Especially not one that I was pretty sure they all knew I’d been fucking.
Then again, none of the employees had ever grabbed my heart and tried to strangle it the way Penny had.
And she was acting the whole time. Showing me the pretty things with one hand while the other hand was passing information to whoever her contact was. I couldn’t fucking believe I’d been so stupid.
Though I was even angrier that it made my father right. He hadn’t trusted Penny right from the start, and now I was going to have to admit that he’d been correct about that. I fucking hated the thought.
And there was a part of me—a part that was currently being shouted down—that was breaking in half at the idea that this girl, who I’d thought saw me and actually liked me, had been using me for information. I’d thought we had something real. Sure, I’d thought we were both beyond stupid to be going after it. I’d figured we were going to get in trouble for it at some point.
But I’d also figured we were going to get in trouble and stand together to face it. I didn’t think I’d even admitted that to myself yet, but I’d definitely been thinking about it.
