novelxo Daddy Devious: Chapter 3
Five minutes can be the blink of an eye, or it can be a lifetime. Right now, waiting for my little thief to spring the last part of the trap I’ve set for her, it feels like a hundred lifetimes.
Standing in the empty lobby just outside my office, I pull a small screen from my pocket and watch as little Victoria leaps to her feet, pacing the length of my office. Her movements are sharp and jerky, conveying the nervousness she must be feeling as she walks back and forth.
Need wells up inside me as I watch her move. The need to claim, to conquer.
To own.
But I promised her time to make up her own mind, and for all my faults I am a man of my word. So I force myself to wait and to watch.
Finally, those hundred lifetimes end with the buzz of the timer I set on my phone. I can’t help but smile as I watch her jump at the sound, her head whipping around to stare at the device. She rushes over and taps the screen, as if she can somehow delay the inevitable with the simple act of silencing the alarm.
Naughty girl.
Tucking the monitor back into my pocket, I school my face into a more suitably stern expression and open the door to my office.
She’s sitting now, her hands clenched tightly in her lap, an adorable flush on her cheeks. My little thief looks every bit the naughty Little girl I am sure she is deep down inside.
“Have you made a decision, Ms. Finch?”
Even with her head bowed, I can see the pink in her cheeks turning darker. “I have a question.”
“If I can answer, I will. What would you like to know?”
In her lap, her knuckles turn white as she clenches her fingers even more tightly. “A-are you going to kill me?”
The question is asked in a whisper, so soft I almost miss it. Poor scared little thief. She’s right to be terrified; a man doesn’t gain the kind of success I have without making—and disposing of—a few enemies along the way.
I can’t in good conscience promise her all will be well. What I have planned for her will test her limits, push every boundary she believes she has. But perhaps I can ease some of her fears.
“Look at me, Victoria.”
At the quiet command, her head lifts, her bright, terrified eyes meeting mine. Her chin tilts up, a hint of defiance I can’t wait to break. “Well? Are you?”
“No, I am not going to kill you. In fact, you have my solemn vow I will do anything and everything within my power to keep you from harm. If you agree to my proposal, your safety will be my top priority.”
I can see the doubt swirling in her eyes. But after what seems like another hundred lifetimes, she nods.
“Okay. Where do I sign?”
Victoria
Pages and pages of legalese swim before my eyes as I sign my life away.
At least, it feels like that’s what I’m doing. I’m not exactly sure what the contract I’m signing says, other than committing myself to thirty-one days “in the care of” one Maxwell Stone.
Whatever that means.
The non-disclosure agreement is several more pages of initialing and signing my agreement to a vow of silence when I am returned home. Not that it matters. Even if I wasn’t promising under threat of legal action to never tell a soul about this, I would be far too ashamed to admit my crimes to anyone, even my closest friends.
It’s the last page, however, that gives me pause. I read it, then reread it, and again a third time before I look up at Mr, Stone.
“I don’t think this final page here is correct.”
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips. “You have an objection, Ms. Finch?”
“No, well, maybe. I must be reading it wrong because it looks like it says if I stay the full thirty-one days, I get to keep the money I stole.”
“Ah, I’m afraid you did misread that bit.”
Disappointment is like a knife to the chest. I knew it wasn’t right, but I had hoped, maybe…
“It says you will receive your original sum, times ten.”
I can only stare at him, once again robbed of my ability to speak. Only now it’s not fear, but mind-numbing shock that steals my voice.
Ten. Million. Dollars.
Holy shit.
With that kind of money, I won’t even need the part-time job at the hardware store. I can buy a house pretty much wherever I want and live the rest of my days in the lap of luxury. Any reservations I’d had about this agreement fly out the window, chucked into the sun by this new revelation.
I sign the final page with a flourish, and all but shove the stack of papers at him. “Done. So, what’s next? I assume I need to go home and pack, let my friends know I’ll be gone for a while.”
Not that I have any clue how I’ll explain leaving town for an entire month, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.
But then I catch the look in Mr. Stone’s eye, and unease settles heavy in my gut. “You won’t be going home, Victoria.”
Victoria. It’s probably really fucked-up to enjoy the sound of my name in his deep, rumbling voice considering he’s just blackmailed me into a month of god-knows-what in some undisclosed location. And yet, I can’t help the way my heart leaps when he says it.
Then his words register and my heart jolts again, but for an entirely different reason this time. “What do you mean, I’m not going home? I can’t leave for a month with just the clothes on my back.”
“Everything you need will be provided for you. There’s a car waiting for us downstairs. We’ll be going out the back, to avoid any unnecessary questions.”
He holds out a hand, I assume to help me to my feet. But instead, I grip the arms of said chair, holding on for dear life as panic once more grabs me by the throat. “I can’t just leave.”
“That was the deal, Victoria. And unless you would like a demonstration of how I deal with defiant Little girls, I suggest you stand up right now.”
Does he mean another spanking? That has to be what he means. Or perhaps some other punishment too devious for my imagination to even conjure.
“Please,” I whisper, pleading with him for understanding. “I need to go home first. Just for a few minutes.”
His expression softens, just a fraction, and for a moment I think I’m about to get my way. “The flight to the island is a little over three hours long. You’ll have plenty of time to make a list of anything you feel you need from your apartment. I’ll send someone to pick up what’s on your list, and you can email your friends from the plane to let them know you’ll be out of town on business for a while. That is my final offer, Victoria. I suggest you take it.”
There’s a hardness to his voice that sends a shiver of fear down my spine. With a single jerk of my head, I force my hands to release their death grip on the chair and place my fingers in his palm.
“Good choice, little one.”
I may like “little one” even more than I like my own name. And even though there’s a voice in the back of my head telling me that I shouldn’t, that it’s all a trap, I can’t help but smile up at him as he pulls me up from the chair. “So, um, if you’re calling me Victoria, should I call you Maxwell?” I ask as he leads me back to the secret elevator.
His laughter, rich and dark as a good cup of coffee fills the elevator cab. “Absolutely not, little girl. And if you try, I can promise you will face far worse consequences than a couple swats to the bottom.”
“Oh.” For reasons I can’t explain, the word consequences makes my pussy clench. “So I have to call you Mr. Stone the whole time we’re together?”
“No.” Turning to face me, he catches my chin in his hand.
My heart races at that simple touch. Not just because it’s a man as gorgeous as Maxwell Stone touching me in such an intimate manner, but because it feels like more than a touch. It feels like a claiming somehow. Like a gesture of ownership, and for the first time since I signed that contract of his, I truly understand that I’ve signed myself over to a man I know next to nothing about.
“Not Mr. Stone. Not Maxwell. Not Max, or any other version your creative little mind can think up. From this point forward you will call me by one name, and one name only.”
I swallow hard, and still my voice is nothing more than a rough whisper when I speak. “What name is that?”
“The only name you are allowed to call me, little one… is Daddy.”