She’d even tried to manipulate him to get her pregnant.
He’d never been with anyone but Mira without a condom. The moment he caught her trying to steal the condom, he’d ended things, paid her off, and never thought about her again.
His new PA alerted him to her arrival, and he got up from behind his desk. Arms folded, he leaned against it, waiting.
Katherine entered his office. She wore a short dress, barely covering her ass. “I’m sorry, baby. I would have come sooner, but I just wanted to pick the right outfit.”
He nodded at his man, who left without a word.
Drake caught the pity in the man’s eyes. Clearly, Katherine’s incessant chatter hadn’t faded during their time apart.
“Sit,” he said.
She paused and the smile on her face dropped. “I can sit wherever you like.”
He pointed at the chair in front of him.
She tutted. “You know, I always knew you’d call back.”
“Where are you getting your information,” he asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Katherine, you’ve got one choice here. You think I don’t know how heavily in debt you are? Who you’re in debt with? Every detail of your fucking life?” This time, he tutted. “I have to say you’ve got balls, going to my enemy, getting a loan from him. Did he tell you the repayment cost with him? How if a woman doesn’t pay, they end up becoming whores for him?”
“We’ve got a special arrangement, but it means nothing. He’s not like you.”
Drake felt nauseous.
“Come on, Drake, baby, you know how I make you feel. You know what I can do to you. How you like it.”
He’d heard enough. “You’re going to stay away from Mira and her brother. I’ll settle your debts, for you to leave the city. Go anywhere else. I don’t want you here.”
Katherine pouted.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime offer, but he should have known.
“Where is your little whore, anyway? Nigel told me all about her. I never thought you’d have to stoop to fucking the women you bullied as a kid.”
“Be careful,” he said.
Katherine got to her feet and stepped toward him. She put her hand on his thigh. “Remember how it was between us? Remember what I could do to you? How hard I could make you? There’s no limit with me. You can take it all, Drake.”
He grabbed her neck, drawing her close, and she gasped. He saw the spark of victory in her gaze, how her smile seemed to deepen as if she’d won.
She hadn’t won a single thing.
He pulled her close. Lips barely touching hers.
“And all that time, I was thinking about Mira,” he said.
She tried to jerk back.
The door to his office opened and he turned. Everything happened so fast. Mira entered his office, and Katherine, taking advantage of his surprise, threw herself at him, kissing him hard, moaning and rubbing herself against him.
It was offensive, and he was pissed off.
The split second he didn’t react had Mira already rushing out of the door.
He threw Katherine off him and she stumbled to the floor. The dress she wore rode up her body, revealing she wasn’t even wearing any panties. Filthy bitch.
“You disgust me. If you even for a second try anything again, you’re going to regret what you just did. Leave the city and pay your own fucking debts.”
He rushed out of his office. “Hold my calls.” He spoke to his PA as he made his way toward where Mira stood.
She glanced back at him and immediately rushed toward the stairs. They were on the penthouse floor, and he’d never even entered the stairwell before.
All this time they’d been together, she’d rarely shown him any emotion that would give him even a single hint that she cared. With the tears he caught glistening in her eyes, it had to be a sign. He refused to ignore it.
“Mira,” he said.
She was a couple of stairs ahead of him. “Leave me alone.” She didn’t stop.
He ran down them, advancing on her. The moment she got to the bottom step of another half flight, he captured her arm, pushing her up against the corner of the wall, trapping her.
“Let me go.” She tried to fight him, but she wouldn’t look at him.
This, he couldn’t stand. He had to have her gaze on him at all times. “Mira, for fuck’s sake, stop this.”
“Stop this? Why don’t you fuck off!” She put her hands on his chest and tried to shove him away, but he wouldn’t budge.
He was stronger than her.
She tried to do it again, and still, he didn’t move.
Her little growl was cute, and he captured her hands above her head, pressing his body against her.
Mira squeezed her eyes shut, and he hated that she tried to lock him out.
“Don’t,” he said.
“I don’t want to look at you. I hate you!”
“You don’t mean that. What you just saw was nothing.”
“No. Katherine’s ass was nothing? What the hell was my brother’s aide doing here? Is this some form of humiliation? Is that it? You want to break me, Drake? Hurt me? I’ve done nothing to you. I never did.”
“I was trying to get Katherine out of your life. What you saw, I was … threatening her.”
Mira laughed, her eyes finally opening. “Really, you were threatening her? Your kisses are so scary. Imagine if I hadn’t shown up!”
“I wasn’t kissing her, okay. I never … fuck, Mira. You’re always so quick to believe the worst of me. I wanted her out of your life. She’s fucking crazy. I get that. Yes, I was in a relationship with her
