Dangerously Mine

Chapter Three: Shadows

Blake's POV

The iron gates of our estate swung open silently. I killed the engine of my BMW with the sudden quiet feeling louder than the roar of the game we’d just won.

My guys were still celebrating with their whoops and hollers echoing in my head but my own mind was somewhere else entirely.

It kept drifting back to her… Bernard’s sister. Emily.

“Man, she’s got a loud mouth for real,” I muttered to the empty garage, the words tasting weirdly like a compliment.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. Bernard was my boy, my brother from another mother. But his sister? She was a whole different story.

At first, I thought she was just ignorant.. some newbie who didn’t know who I was. But that look in her eyes at dinner… when she knew.. she knew exactly who I was and what my name meant in this town and she still gave me that defiant little chin-lift.

Everyone else treats me like I’m a bomb about to go off. They walk on eggshells, smile too wide and agree too fast. But not her.. she looked at me like I was something she’d scraped off her shoe. It was… impressive and damn annoying.

I scolded myself for the hundredth time. Why was I even thinking about her? I pushed the car door open and stepped out, the cool night air doing little to cool my weirdly heated thoughts.

The house was like a tomb.. all dark marble and echoing silence. I toed off my sneakers, planning to ghost my way up to my room. No need to wake the old man..

Click!

The lights in the living room blazed on, blinding me for a second.

“Out late.”

The voice was cold and rough. I squinted and there he was. Howard Beaumont.. my father.. sitting in his favorite leather armchair in the dark like some kind of villain with a glass of amber whiskey dangling from his fingers.

“The game ran long,” I said, my voice tighter than I meant it to be. “We won.”

“I don’t care about your games, Blake.” He didn’t even look at me. He just swirled the whiskey in his glass. “I care about your future. Which from where I’m sitting, looks increasingly irresponsible.”

Here we go. The nightly lecture. I stifled a sigh.

“You are the sole heir to a billion-dollar empire. Act like it. You spend your time with… athletes.” He said the word like it was a disease. “When will you start taking your place seriously? Your brother, Drake, he understood this. He was a man by your age.”

My jaw clenched. I hated when he brought up Drake. Perfect.. dead Drake.

“Drake’s not here,” I said, the words coming out harsher than I intended.

“No, he’s not. Which is why the responsibility falls solely on you. And a man handles his responsibilities. A man secures his legacy.” He finally turned his head, his eyes pinning me to the spot. “Which is why you will marry Lucy McGregor after graduation.”

I saw red.

“What? No. I’m not marrying Lucy. That’s not happening.”

“It is not a request.” His voice dropped low and dangerous. “Her family’s reputation is impeccable. She is an heiress in her own right, already running parts of her father’s business with a competence you would do well to learn from. A union makes sense. It will solidify our interests and it will force you to grow up.”

“I’m not a business merger, Dad! I’m not marrying someone just because it ‘makes sense’ on a spreadsheet!” I was almost yelling now, not caring about the time of night.

“You will do as you’re told!” he roared back, slamming his glass down on the side table and the sound cracked through the room. “This is not a debate! This is your life!”

The fight drained out of me, replaced by that familiar hollow feeling. He always won.. he always would. What was the point?

I just shook my head, turning my back on him without another word. I stormed out of the living room and took the stairs two at a time, my blood still boiling. I just needed to get to my room, to my space and shut the world out.

I shoved my bedroom door open so hard it bounced off the wall and then I froze.

Lucy McGregor was lying on my bed!

She was propped up on one elbow, wearing something black and lace that did little to cover anything with a lot of skin on display.

“What the f**k are you doing in here?” I snarled, not even trying to hide my anger.

She gave me a slow, cat-like smile.

“Your father let me in. I told him I wanted to check on you after your game. He thought it was a wonderful idea.”

Of course he did.. the puppet master, pulling all the strings.

“You need to leave, Lucy. Now.”

“Oh, come on, Blake,” she purred, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up and walked toward me, the movement exaggerated. “We both know how this ends. Our fathers want it. I want it. Why are you always so difficult?”

She reached out, tracing a finger down my chest and I recoiled but she just moved closer.

“We’re going to be married,” she whispered. “We might as well get used to each other.”

Her hand darted down, her fingers brushing against the front of my jeans and feeling my d**k and I saw red.

That was it.. the final straw!

I grabbed her wrist firmly enough to stop her.

“Get out,” I said, my voice low and shaking with a rage I couldn’t contain.

Her smile finally faltered.

“Blake, be serious...”

“I said GET OUT!” I didn’t yell but the words were a cold sharp command that seemed to suck all the air out of the room.

Her face flushed with embarrassment and anger. She snatched her hand back.

“You’re making a huge mistake.”

“The only mistake I made was not making myself clear sooner. Get out of my house. Now.”

I didn’t wait to see if she listened. I turned and walked right back out, slamming the door behind me but I didn’t go back downstairs.. I couldn’t face my father again. I went down the back staircase, through the kitchen and out the servant’s entrance into the night.

I didn’t take my car.. I just started walking with my hands shoved deep in my pockets and my heart pounding.

I hated him.. I hated his business.. I hated the life he had mapped out for me and I hated the ghost of my perfect brother I was always being compared to!

How could I get out of this? There had to be a way. I’d rather be disowned than be Howard Beaumont’s pawn married to Lucy McGregor!

I was so lost in my own head, I almost missed it.

A short sharp sound cut through the night.. a yelp stifled and cut off.

I stopped dead with my head snapping up. What was that?

I scanned the street which was poorly lit here and then I saw it.. a flicker of movement in a dark alley up ahead.. a flash of pale skin and a hand clamped over a mouth…!