Caught Between Brothers

Chapter 3

Sebastian’s POV

It rained that night. I still remembered what she was wearing. It was nothing like this.

I'd wondered what a girl in a pair of baggy jeans, an oversized tee, and a leather jacket was doing in a place like that. She didn't look like she was interested in anything, and I thought she must have had a rough day.

“How long have you been working on this contract?” I thought she was a damn stranger, but it seemed I was wrong.

“I cannot reveal that to you either.”

And then, in the twinkle of an eye, her features melted as she jutted her bottom lip out. “Can you please let me go? My cat…my poor cat is all alone right now, and it is going to be a cold night.”

“You should be more bothered about yourself,” I said coldly, eyeing her curvy frame. I’d been too into the moment that night to take a good look at her. We had other things on our minds.

I hadn’t been able to forget it since then. The deep sighs, the whispers of the sheets, her f*****g moans that serenaded the walls of the room. I imagined that was what angels sounded like. Ethereal.

And now…

“Look, Sebastian…”

"Do you dress like this often? That night…"

“I don’t want to talk about that night,” she snapped as I pulled off her, putting my fingers through my hair as I paced my office.

I halted. "I do. Were you asked to seduce me? Was that a part of this grand plan?"

She rubbed her palms against her arms as she leaned away from the table, standing straight. She still looked a little drunk, but the situation had made her snap out of it more than she would have.

Mara.

That name.

“My cat…”

“Mara!” I growled. “This isn’t a joke.”

“You want to talk about that night? Fine!” she raised her hands exasperatedly in the air, causing her dress to ride up more than it already did when I pressed her against the table.

The gods better help me because all I wanted to do right now was tear that dress off her and bend her over the table, like I did that night.

“Ask all the questions you want, but I am not answering any. Unless you actually have something to charge me with. Then, the cops can take me in. But the details of my profession are none of your business.”

She was bluffing. I could tell by the tilt of her head and how her eyes darted towards the door a million times, like she was contemplating making a run for it.

She must be damn joking if she thought she could run away from me.

I owned the city.

“You call stealing a profession?”

“People need me,” she retorted. “At least, someone needed me enough to get something off you.”

"And that's why we are going to turn this narration around." I edged slowly past her, careful not to let any part of me graze her warm skin.

It still tingled from when I touched her. I wanted to do more than touch her.

Pulling the drive from the processor, I turned around and stared at her. I needed her to watch as I dropped it into the bin.

“Sebastian…”

The way she called my name. God!

“I have a better offer.”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“I know.” I walked around my desk and plopped into the chair. “I don’t care. Rules are not my greatest forte.”

Mara looked really small, standing at the other end of the desk, with her hands still rubbing her arms. She was cold.

I really shouldn’t care when she just tried to steal from me.

“You are going to work for me, Mara. I will have a contract prepared and sent to you before the end of tonight. Or you can try stealing my key card again. Tell me if that is an option so I can leave the contract out here on the desk for you.”

She flinched.

Touche.

I watched her swallow before her lips moved. “What do you want me to do for you?”

A smirk played on my lips. “Since you can’t reveal the identity of the person who sent you here, you can at least work for him.”

Mara angled her head in confusion.

“All you have to do is perform the same act as the one you did in here today.”

“You want me to break into his office?” Her eyes shone wide with the impossibility of the task. “What if he sees me?”

“You didn’t think about that when swiping my key card off me. Did you plan on seeing me this way, Mara? Deep down, did you want a replay of what happened months ago?”

“Is that why you lingered in the VIP section of the club, having more than one glass with me even when you already had the key card with you?”

“You knew,” she whispered. “You played me.”

I didn’t bother refuting her claim. “I don’t want you to break into his office, Mara. That’s keeping your punishment low.”

“Punishment,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Is that what this is?”

"Be a double agent. Get him to trust you, enter into his circle, and steal information about his company for me. It can only be a rival establishment. You can cook up whatever story you want to give him about me. Fake clientele, invoices, whatever. Just ensure your lies are damn believable. No one would buy the story of your sad and lonely cat.”

“What if I refuse?”

"Then you leave me no choice but to reveal to the whole of New York who Miss M, the anonymous, renowned, and professional thief, really is."

I didn’t think her eyes could get any wider.

“You really didn’t think I wouldn’t find out, would you?”

The chair scraped the tiled ground as I pushed it back and got on my feet, heading out of the office.

Halting in the doorway for a few seconds, I turned around and murmured, "You have only tonight to give me a response. If not, your identity will be in the morning news."

“How do I even find you?”

“I’ll find you, trust me.”

“Sebastian!”

“Shut the doors on your way out. You can keep the key card.”