A Night With Lord Cole

Chapter 5: No Choice

The paper felt like ice against Sarah’s skin, burning her with a truth so cold it turned her blood to slush.

“The daughter will be here by Monday. Game over.”

The words blurred before her eyes. He had known. Every desperate tear Chloe had shed, every vacant stare from her father, every cent they had lost—it wasn't a streak of bad luck. It was a calculated harvest. Cole Andrews hadn't just been the man of her dreams; he was the architect of her nightmare. He had hunted her family into poverty just to force her to walk through those iron gates and beg for a job.

He didn't want a nanny. He wanted a trophy from the ruins of the Martins empire.

And she had walked in like he had planned it. His perfect trophy.

She needs to get out of this place. She thought as she forced the papers back in to the folder, not carefully but with so much urgency that the door suddenly opening again forced her to jerk off her skin.

It was Cole and he was looking at the folders in her hands. He reached towards her and grabbed them, his eyes lingering, maybe searching if she saw what's in it or not.

"The lawyer came earlier than I expected, he's in the lounge, freshen up, I will send Mrs. Halloway to come get you," he said before he turned and left.

She can't believe she willingly walked into Cole's well curated trap. A silent burn of anger began to eat her up.

A knock came on the door and Mrs. Halloway appeared as she opened the door and walked in, "My lord sent me to get you."

"I'm not very much interested in the nanny job again." She said before she even thought about it as she grabbed her briefcase, "Tell that to him and thank him for actually thinking of giving me a chance to showcase my skills."

" I'm afraid that I can't relay that message to My lord."

"Well, then I'd better tell that to him myself. " She said as she pushed past Mrs. Halloway, tugging through the large hallway, entering one space to another looking for exit, she made it halfway down the grand staircase before she saw him.

Cole was standing in the foyer, silhouetted against the massive stained glass windows. He was holding a glass of amber liquid, swirling it slowly. He didn't look angry, he looked like a man watching an intestine experiment reach it's boiling point.

"I thought you will come down with Mrs. Halloway, my lawyer have been waiting."

She swallowed. The slow heat that had started to build again as she watched this beautiful man. And then the anger, the slow bite in her heart..." I won't be able to take care of Leo, I... I chose... Choose... " She felt his legs thudding as they climbed the stairs towards her.

"... Choose not to take gambles and anger the little boy instead of... " He had already grabbed her jaw, tilting her face up.

"...instead of finishing what you started?" Cole finished the sentence for her, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that vibrated through the bones of her face.

His fingers didn't just hold her jaw; they claimed it. The smell of expensive bourbon and cold winter air rolled off him, thick enough to make her head spin. Sarah’s grip on her briefcase tightened until the leather groaned, but her body was already betraying her, leaning instinctively into the heat radiating from his massive frame.

She licked her lower lips, too soft, too lazy that his gaze spread across her lips like fine wine waiting for a taste mixed with vinegar.

"I saw the papers, Cole," she hissed, her voice trembling with a cocktail of fury and unwanted arousal. "I saw what you did. You ruined my entire life. You pushed us. You took our house, our money...our company... you took my father's sanity!"

Cole’s thumb moved, grazing the corner of her mouth, his eyes darkening to a shade of charcoal that promised a storm. "I took a kingdom that was already rotting, Sarah. And in exchange, I provided you with a golden bridge to the only person who can save what’s left of it. Me."

His audacity was blinding and what's more shocking is the slow spread of wetness as his voice thundered one after another into her ears.

"I'm not staying," she breathed, though her heart was thundering against her ribs like a trapped bird. "I’m leaving. Right now."

"Are you?" Cole leaned in closer, his chest pressing against her shoulder, forcing her to step back onto the next stair. "If you walk out that door, the liquidation of the Martins estate moves into its final phase. By midnight, your sister will be hauled out of that house by her hair. Your father will be moved to a state ward. Is that the 'choice' you’re making?"

She shuddered mixed with fear for the words that fell from his lips, the pleasure spreading across the lips of her p***y and the pulse rate in her heart.

He released her jaw, but only to slide his hand into the hair at the nape of her neck, his fingers tangling in the neat bun she had worked so hard to perfect. With a sudden, firm tug, he tilted her head back even further. The hair came lose to her shoulders once again.

"You wanted to be here, Sarah," he whispered against her ear, his breath hot and bruising. "You’ve spent years praying to my image in the dark. Don't play the victim now that the god you worshipped has finally decided to answer your prayers."

The sheer arrogance of his words should have made her slap him. Instead, Sarah felt a jagged sob catch in her throat. He knew. He had always known about her obsession. He had used her own lust as the leash to lead her into this cage.

But how? How did he find out about her obsession. They might have been from the same world of affluence but their words were so much apart from each other.

She had always known him through pictures, followed his lifestyle, through videos on f*******:, i********:, tiktok...so how did he know that she was dirty crazy to sleep with him?

"Your innocence in my office earlier gave you off." He whispered, his hands brushing through her strands, "You even dared to f**k in my restroom, leaving all your traces on the floor."

Her breath quickened, "Why?" she choked out. "Why go through all this for me?"

"Because," Cole said, his eyes dropping to the swell of her breasts, "everything else I own was bought with money. But you? You’re going to be bought with your own surrender. Now, drop the bag."

It wasn't a request. It was a command that echoed the 'Lord' he was.

Sarah’s fingers went limp. The briefcase clattered down the marble stairs, the sound echoing through the vast, empty foyer.

"Good girl," Cole murmured, a predatory smirk ghosting his lips. He let go of her hair and stepped back, gesturing toward the lounge where the lawyer sat in shadow.

"Go sign your life away, Sarah. And then come find me. We have a lot of 'teaching' to do tonight.”