Page 4 of Bound to Him
“I’m the man who’s keeping other money-hungry, slightly less-scrupled men from killing your father right here, right now. And I’m doing that with a big, juicy loan. I’m holding the entire Divine Conglomerate hostage, of course. Your dad thought he was keeping himself safe by putting up bits and pieces of his business as collateral to different men, never dreaming someone like me could come along and put the puzzle together to take the whole thing from him. And one other thing—you’re very integral to this deal of ours. Did you know your father has the largest single-held pile of businesses on the Eastern Seaboard?”
Noah’s breath came in a furious little rush. “I can’t say that I did, but I’m not surprised.” Noah’s tone was cold, and thatwassomething I would’ve expected from Edison Divine’s son.
I’d first noticed Noah at a party for the opening of the gaudy building downtown the Divine Conglomerate had built with Clint Mansfield, a greasy lawyer who was damned good at his job. I hadn’t planned to go, despised schmoozing bullshit, but I had happened to be in town taking care of other business contracts, and there’d been a few men attending the party who I needed to see to threaten—so I went.
Lo and behold, I’d walked into the ostentatious rooftop gala where the overstuffed, overblown Divine shindig was being held, and in a corner, in front of a lonely view and staring out over the city, was this tall drink of water. He’d worn an expensive black suit that accentuated every curve of his legs and ass. He was the very definition of casually elegant, the pinnacle of everything I never thought I’d get to own growing up on a long stretch of farmland in Southeast Texas.
There was something about the way this sad-eyed man existed in the whirl of monied boozing that circled around him. He didn’t give anyone a second glance and acted like the opulence surrounding him didn’t matter. I supposed to a newly minted man like him, one who’d grown up with parties like that one, none of it was impressive. His attitude ensnared my attention as much as his looks, and the fact that he was clearly alone.
I didn’t talk to him that day, but I could do whatever the fuck I wanted now.
Striding closer to Noah, I found my voice. “Does anything much shock you, or are you one of those boys who’s seen it all?” I expected he’d been around the block seven or eight times, sexually speaking, especially looking the way he did and coming from money. His unconcerned shoulder shrug confirmed my suspicions.
The memories of that party had driven me to this moment—to this victory. My mouth practically watered as I came to stand beside Noah. Edison seethed in my general direction.
“You hurt my dad?”
“Like I said, not me personally.” With great relish, I studied his handsome face. “You’ve got bigger problems,” I whispered. Noah’s eyes widened as he checked with his father, but the old man only turned his gaze toward the floor. “Me. I’m your problem, darlin’.”
I didn’t think Noah had realized it that day at the party, but everyone who’d walked by him stopped to visually peruse his body, eat him up, own him with their eyes. The itch to have him had started right then. I’d stared at him, too, same as every other fool, because he was beautiful. The way other people were gawking at him had made me want him even more. It had also made me want to gouge their eyes out. The instant jealousy was crazy and new, but I’d rolled with it. I’d spent most of my life caring what other people thought about me.
No more.
Hours before the party I’d toppled over my first billion on my business ledger, and I’d made a promise to myself:I will stop giving a fuck about what other people think of the things I want, and how I want them.
I wanted the heir to the Divine Conglomerate and I’d found a way to get him—and some mighty well-deserved revenge while I was at it.
Twisted as it was, one of the most satisfying things I’d discovered about having too much money was the pure pleasure that came with owning beautiful things other people craved but couldn’t have, especially other rich assholes.
This man in front of me was a work of art.
Singular.
Expressive.
Delicious.
Unattainable except for the best of the best—me.
After I’d talked to Mansfield about Noah at the party, I’d quietly gone around questioning other men I thought might know more about Edison Divine and his son.
“Who is he?” I’d asked Nick Franklin, who was president of one of the banks I did a lot of business with. He must have recognized some urgency in my voice because he’d turned his full attention toward me, away from the other men in the group we were standing in. He’d stared lazily in the direction I was looking and smiled. “Oh, that’s Divine’s son. I’m not sure what his name is.”
“Not good enough.”
His eyes had widened and he’d nodded frantically. That was another thing I enjoyed a lot these days, the way important people fell all over themselves to please me. A few quiet questions from Nick to the men in our group and I had the name Mansfield had given me confirmed, which was what I’d been after.
“Noah. He’s the oldest Divine son,” Nick said with a sycophantic smile that made me want to punch him in the throat. “There’s a much younger boy, too, if I remember correctly.”
Only the fact that I didn’t want to interrupt the party had made me keep myself in check.Noah—simple and sweet. The name appealed to me on a personal level. Noah was a good country name, not that I ran into many countryfolk these days, but I liked that. I also liked the way I’d watched him send away more than one woman. Several had tried to coax him into conversation, and a man or two as well. No one had gotten him on the hook, but there was more to the exchanges with the men, more to the back-and-forth, and he’d smiled wider and longer.
Excitement had surged in me. Standing still while watching Noah from across the rooftop rivaled skydiving, and the satisfaction of finally taking those last few steps to the top of Kilimanjaro.Gotcha, kid. You’re mine.
The Noah who stood before me wasn’t the same quiet man from the party, though. His self-contained confidence was still in full effect, but his eyes blazed with a quiet fury I hadn’t counted on. “I have no idea what’s going on, but if you hurt my family I’ll make you regret it.”
Maybe if I hadn’t decided he must be gay that day, after an insane plan had begun to percolate in my brain, I’d have left him alone, but I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I’d started asking around about Edison Divine, and his businesses. I already had dealings with him and knew the bastard was a rat. The Divine Conglomerate had taken hits in the recent steel-tariff wars. They were on the edge of solvency in a lot of ways. I’d set some of my rabid lawyers and finance men to digging up all the dirt they could. It hadn’t taken long to unearth shady investments, some ill-advised bets, and precarious loans from very bad men with balloon payments and horrible terms.
And then I’d offered to buy that debt for a few million dollars more than the interest could ever amount to.
