Falcon's Prey: A Dark Romance Read online

  Fuck, we were going to crash if she kept doing that.

  “Ember,” I groaned, as I watched two fingers dip inside.

  “Ren,” she moaned.

  Fuck me, it stirred my dick to life. I knew I could get pussy when I wanted, but sometimes I only fucked if it was convenient. Just a release that was lacking, and it never took the edge off. Only one thing did. I was thankful to pull into the parking lot of the penthouse just in time for the show to come to an end. I didn’t turn to look back once I was parked. Instead, I adjusted the mirror and fixed my hard dick in my pants.

  “You’re picturing me, aren’t you?” My voice came out thick with desire.

  Ember didn’t reply, but she didn’t have to, not when she started to work her fingers faster, and I could see her pussy get wetter.

  “Fuck three fingers,” I growled.

  To my surprise, she opened her eyes and looked at me. They were still hazy from whatever she’d taken, but her lust for me was right there. Slowly, she opened her legs more, giving me a perfect view. She inserted her fingers one by one and started to move her hips. The sound of her fingers and wet heat caused my dick to grow painfully hard.

  What was she doing to me?

  “Ren,” she moaned again, and I wanted nothing more than to have her bouncing in my lap as I thrust into her. “Ren.”

  She threw her head back, and I knew she was close to coming.

  “Look at me,” I demanded.

  The mirror worked as a barrier; it was enough for both of us to look, but not close enough to see each other’s soul. Ember looked at my reflection as she came, her mouth open to a silent moan, and I wanted to hear her scream. My chest was rising and falling I held on to the steering wheel, watching her as she leaned up to me.

  She didn’t say anything, but she gave me a playful smile. I was about to ask her what she wanted when she shoved her three fingers in my mouth.

  She tasted phenomenal. I grabbed her wrist and sucked her fingers, aware I had crossed a line with her.

  “Here, let me wash the nastiness out of your mouth.”

  I started to turn to see what the fuck Ember was up to when cold champagne hit my face.

  “Fucking bitch,” I murmured.

  Ember got out of the Maybach and started to run toward the elevator. She was smiling, starting to flick me off, when I used all my strength to make sure the door didn’t close in my face.

  My heart spiked up like it did when I unleashed my darkness. It was something that had never happened before, certainly not with a woman I wanted to fuck. Right now, I wanted to fuck Ember, but I also wanted to hurt her. I could practically hear Pam telling me I needed to chill the fuck down.

  I grinned when I made it through the elevator door. Even in her fucked-up state, Ember knew she was in trouble. Fucking with her was half the fun. I undid the knot in my tie as I cocked my head to smirk at her.

  “What have I told you about underestimating me?”

  Ember stayed quiet. She bit her lip, then tilted her chin and looked at me defiantly.

  Oh, she wanted to play it like that? Fine by me. I removed the tie that I was forced to wear for tonight’s special dinner. I stalked to her and smiled; she had nowhere to go.

  “You’re weak, Ember,” I said and saw fire behind her eyes.

  She didn’t like to be reminded of it. She knew it, and it drove her crazy with rage.

  “You’re like a scared little girl.”

  Her chin lifted, and she gave me a smirk. “You didn’t seem to think I was a scared little girl when you were sucking on my fingers.”

  One last step and I was right in front of her. The air crackled with rage, violence, and lust. I reached a hand to grip her hip, testing her barriers, and stopped myself from grinning when she allowed it.

  “You act out in hopes people will notice you.” One of my legs came between hers. “Some attention is better than no attention.” I leaned in, my face almost touching hers. “You are so weak, Ember, you get off on the smallest amount of affection.”

  She was just about to respond when I shoved the tie that had been at my neck in her mouth. The black silk tie was in a nice little ball, and Ember gagged on it. With one hand in her mouth and the other on her waist, I picked her up and set her on my thigh and started to move her. I could still feel her wet pussy from earlier.

  “I bet I can make you come like this,” I whispered as I shoved the tie deeper. She started to get red from the lack of oxygen and the orgasm that was threatening to come.

  I turned my head to see that we were almost at the penthouse. In one second, I removed the tie and let her go. Ember dropped to the floor, holding on to her throat as she took in a breath. When I felt the sway of the elevator, a signal that the doors were going to open, I threw the wet tie at her feet.

  “Probably tasted better than your fingers.”

  When the elevator dinged, I stepped out and waited by the door for Ember to do the same. She had composed herself and passed me without a backward glance. The entrance to the penthouse opened when I nodded toward the camera. Standing in the foyer was Sam, and for a second, I felt unease thinking he might have seen what had happened in the elevator. It was reckless on my part, but when I was in a rage, I couldn’t think straight. That would fuck with my plans.

  “Sam.” I broke the tension.

  Sam looked at Ember, who just walked straight to her room without a word. Playing things off, I shrugged. My ability to lie was uncanny. To be honest, it wasn’t hard when you hardly gave a fuck.

  “What happened?” Sam eyed me, and I couldn’t tell if the look was suspicious or not.

  I shrugged, still testing him out. “Must be the drugs.”

  Sam nodded, like he understood why she did what she did. “I’ll send Dr. Wozniak a text.”

  Right, ’cause that was what Ember needed: a doctor to make sure she didn’t overdose so she could go back and do it all over again. No my problem, though.

  “Any update?” I asked as I went for water.

  “It wasn’t an accident,” Sam said, like I hadn’t already come to that conclusion myself.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “The light had turned green sixty seconds before Michael and Silas drove past it.”

  Running a red light wasn’t uncommon. Running a red light one minute after the light had turned red? Now that was uncommon.

  I walked around the kitchen island counter to where Sam had the tablet. “You have the footage?”

  Sam handed me the slick device, and I played the recording. Figured they had the information in a heartbeat. I watched the black-and-white traffic light tape and saw a car floor it the moment the limousine with the Remingtons started to cross the intersection. A job like this was detailed, and it was thought out to the very last second.

  “You have any suspects?”

  “We’re working on it,” Sam said and took the tablet away from me.

  I started to walk away when Sam called my name. My hand tightened on the bottle before I turned to look at him. “Yeah?”

  “You can have your day off tomorrow. I’ll be at the hospital with Mr. Remington, and I’ll have Marcus watch over Ember.”

  “Perfect,” I managed to say through gritted teeth.

  This time when I left, Sam didn’t stop me. Before I thought better of it, I took the servant stairs to the second floor to where Ember’s room was. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer, but I didn’t hear one. I tried to open her door, but it was locked. I stayed there for a second, staring at the large gray doors, before I turned around back to my room.

  Making sure that my door was locked, I went to my bed and went through my messages—nothing I could do about those for now. After that, I started to search the Remingtons. Something I probably should have done sooner, but arrogance was a downfall. I couldn’t find much, which was frustrating. All I found was the company’s website and pictures of Ember walking around displaying diamonds like a whore. Pictures of her father and uncle. It was all galas, parties, and shows, but nothing that could help me.

  I was starting to lose my shit. A couple of pages in, I found pictures from another party. I found myself clicking on it because Ember was smiling. Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever seen her smile. Gloating and smirking, yes, but not a smile. Ember was a lot younger; her face still had the softness and roundness from her teenage years. Her hair was long, her dress strapless but not revealing. She was standing in between her father and uncle. Her father didn’t touch her, and her uncle had a hand across her waist. I did think much about it until I came across another picture that looked like it was the same event, but a few years later. In this picture, Ember looked older, her eyes sharper, and there was no longer a smile on her face as she stood between her father and uncle. If anything, she looked vacant. I could tell she was biting the inside of her cheeks by the hollow look in her jaw.

  “What made you angry?” I asked the empty room.

  After more searching and coming across more useless shit, I did what I should have done since the beginning and used Wiki, where I found out more useless shit.

  Their original name wasn’t even Remington. Ember’s great-grandfather had changed it when they came to America. Redelinghuys was their original name before they Americanized it. Since all that Wiki gave me was that the Remingtons originally had a partner, but after a mining accident took him out, they became sole heirs since there was no more family, I decided to call it quits.

  There were two things I was now sure of: first, I needed to find whoever was targeting the Remingtons, because they were making my job more difficult. Second, I was going to need Pamela’s help, after all.

  The next morning when I woke up, I headed straight for the gym. I had some pent-up aggression, and it would be the only thing to give me a release. The first thing I heard were grunts, and my first thought was that Ember was fucking someone in the weights room. Murder before breakfast wasn’t my favorite. I walked deeper into the gym facility as I took off the safety on my gun. There was no guy, and Ember wasn’t even naked. She was wearing black joggers and a pink sports bra, and the grunts were because she was “hitting” a punching bag. She didn’t have gloves; she just had her hands wrapped.

  “You’re only going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that.”

  “Go away.” Her response was immediate.

  “Look, I don’t want to be responsible if you break your wrist in a fit,” I mocked, knowing it would make her angry.

  Ember stopped hitting the bag, then turned around and glared at me.

  “What part of get out of my fucking face don’t you understand, dog?!” she screamed before she came at me, hitting me.

  Fuck, her technique was all wrong, but that shit still hurt.

  “Stop.”

  “I hate you!” She punched my chest. “I hate you.” My stomach. “I hate you!” My jaw.

  “That’s enough,” I gritted out before she lifted her foot to kick me.

  Before it could make contact with my body, I grabbed it and lifted her heel, making her lose balance. My other hand was at her waist before she could tip over.

  “Are you done acting like a bitch?”

  “Fuck you,” she spat.

  She wiggled, trying to kick me, but all that did was align my hard dick to her pussy. The moment she noticed, her eyes burned up, not with lust but with hate.

  “Get. Away. From. Me.”

  I smiled at her. “You’re still mad because I wouldn’t fuck you?”

  Her hand came to my face, but she didn’t slap me—the bitch started to scratch me. That fucking pissed me off. With her leg still in my hand and my other arm around her waist, I walked us until the bench press was behind us, and I threw her on top of it. She didn’t have enough time to get up before I was on top of her, grabbing her arms and pinning them above her head.

  “It kills you, doesn’t it, princess? That I won’t touch you,” I taunted her.

  When she just glared at me, I smirked at her and then put my mouth to her jaw, trailing soft bites down to her chin. Ember’s chest rose and fell, but she had yet to move or tell me to fuck off.

  My face was right in front of hers. I could see the purple bags under her eyes, and her bloodshot eyes that I had a feeling weren’t due to being high, but from crying. She was delicate, despite her tough exterior

  “Are you done, dog? I have shit to do,” she said in a blasé tone that made me seethe.

  Instead of getting off as I should have, I bent my head to hers. I was so close I could taste the mint on her lips mixed with desperation. With my lips, I grabbed her lower one. She wasn’t sweet, but she was still addicting. Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth parted. That’s when I removed my lips and used my teeth. When both of our breaths were labored, I did what I’d wanted to do since the beginning. I bit her hard until I drew blood. Her back arched as I swallowed her pain. The coppery taste of her blood hit my taste buds—now that was sweet.

  “You’re weak, Ember. You know that, and deep down, it kills you,” I spat in her face.

  “I. Hate. You.”

  I smiled. “You hate that I won’t fall on my knees for you.”

  I pushed off her and walked away, still tasting her blood on my lips.

  Anger lit a fire under my veins. It fueled the hatred in my heart, and it still wasn’t directed at Ren, as much as I wished it could be. Looking at my lip in the mirror, I knew it was a problem.

  My father was in a goddammed coma; it had been four days since the accident and nothing. My lip was busted, and I was summoned out of my castle into a meeting. Things were rocky with Silas right now, so I needed to find a way to cover up my bruised lip so it wouldn’t raise suspicion. Maybe the guilt was only on my part.

  Right now, I was an heiress with no fortune, like a princess with no crown. I was useless.

  My mother’s choker was on my neck a little too tight, suffocating me, a reminder of her death. I wore a strapless black leather dress with a black jacket and black combat boots. On each boot, I added a necklace instead of shoestrings.

  In these meetings, the council liked to remind me how useless I was to the company. I loved proving them wrong. Whatever I wore sold. I was their biggest asset despite the fact that I was what they called a liability. That was the main reason why I didn’t have my trust fund. My every move was monitored, down to the drugs I bought. My dealer took my diamonds. I took his drugs. They didn’t trust me with much cash or credit cards, so I traded what I had.

  Poor little rich girl.

  The nude lipstick was thick enough to cover the bruising. My lip still hurt, and it was a reminder that I was weak. But one thing Ren got wrong was that I hated myself way before he got in the picture. Before I left my room, I grabbed a spiked collar Lilah had dared me to wear on Halloween.

  “Dog!” I yelled as I came down the stairs. “Let’s go. Time for your walk.”

  Ren appeared from somewhere in the living room, walking toward me. He wore his usual dark jeans and T-shirt attire.

  “That’s all you got, Ember? Your whole ‘dog’ bullshit is getting old.”

  I threw the collar at him. “Here, Fido, got you some accessories.”

  His face became stony the moment he caught the spiked collar. I walked past him smiling to myself. Before I could close the elevator door, he was there.

  Bummer.

  “Where to?”

  “Headquarters.”

  The ride to Remington’s headquarters was quiet on my end. Not that Ren tried to engage me in conversation.

  I knew how things worked, and with my father in a coma, the board would make a move for temporary control over our assets. Even when something was yours, it was still conditional. Men craved power, and they seized opportunities.

  Once Ren parked the Maybach, I got out and smiled because I knew this close to downtown, someone would always be watching.

  Ren gave me a funny look. The doors to my family’s empire opened, and the employee there greeted me.

  “Good morning, Miss Reming—”

  “Fuck off,” I told him as I made my way to the elevators.

  “You’re a delight this morning,” Ren commented.

  When the elevator to the top floor of headquarters opened, I walked in like I owned the place. I was used to the looks—you know, the ones jealous people give you. The whole “she was born into this, she didn’t deserve it” bullshit. Well, I believed I’d paid for my entitlement—every day at the cost of my life or when I kneeled for my family. There were things I did that they had no idea about.

  “You can come into the room, but you have to stay in the back. Do not talk,” I told Ren without waiting for his response.

  I pushed open the doors to the meeting room and strutted inside. The men at the oval table looked at me, some with disdain, others with lust, all of them with hate.

  “You’re late,” Mattias, the head of the board of trustees, said as I walked in.

  “Sorry. While you were too busy sitting here contemplating a way to remove my father from power, I was out there making the snake necklace a best seller. You know, the one I said was too basic and you shouldn’t produce in the first place?”

  His jaw went hard, and he sent a look toward Silas, who was sitting at the head where my father should have been. But right now, he was too busy almost dying.

  “Please sit down, Ember,” Silas said between gritted teeth.

  Rolling my eyes at him, I did as he said and took a seat next to him.

  “So, what’s your big play?” I directed my question toward Mattias.

  “Remington’s annual gala is fast approaching, and with your father indisposed, we need to move fast before investors sense weakness. We took a vote, and for all of our best interest, we decided that while your father recuperates, I should take the lead for the company.”

  I looked over to Silas, who was eerily quiet.

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