Page 58 of The Tycoon
“Before…before I begin. I have to let you know that when you learn everything… when you know what I am…you’ll have to make a very important decision, Dolly,” he says, hardening his features. “There will benogoing back.”
Goosebumps dance along my exposed skin, his ominous words cause my heart to jump into my throat. I’m not sure I like the sound of this.
“What kind of decision, Sutton?” I ask.
Lifting his right hand from my waist, he moves to cup my cheek. The pad of his thumb swipes tenderly over my skin, adoration flashes behind his crying eyes.
“I can’t lose you. I can’t…but when you know who I am, what I have done, you will have to decide on our fate, Dolly. Accept me and we will live happily ever after. I will make sure you never want for anything. I will worship you in every way, shape, and form. I will spend every single second of every single day making sure that you know that you are loved and cherished beyond measure. For the rest of our lives, you will have me wrapped around your little pinky finger. I will relinquish my power to you if you choose me.”
“And if I don’t?” I ask.
“If you don’t,” he says, his deep voice wavering as he drops his hand from my face. “Then you will break both of our hearts.”
My mind reels with the implications of his heavy words. I know what he’s about to tell me isn’t going to be good. I hope I’m strong enough to make the right choice.
“Alright. Tell me who you are.”
Taking a deep breath, he frees his last set of tears with a calculated blink.
“I murder people and sell their organs on the black market. The woman in the video…I don’t even know her name. I was tasked with killing her so that our great Senator Paul Murphy’s niece could have her liver.”
Laughing in disbelief, I wait for him to tell me he’s joking. He stares at me, giving me a knowing look.
“I’m not kidding, Princess.”
An ice-cold shiver runs down the length of my spine. This was the last thing I expected him to say. Mama’s words echoin my mind; things start to click into place. These are thedisturbingappetitesand family secretsshe was speaking of. The ones I will have to uphold if I am to be brought into the Douglas family.
Holy shit. I think I’m going to be sick.
“You killed that woman for her liver?”
He lets out a defeated sigh.
“Yes.”
“You sell organs on the black market?” I ask, my voice breaking.
Nodding his head, his tongue darts out nervously to lick his lips.
“Yes. Well, for the most part. Sometimes, like with this woman, I’m tasked with killing someone for a specific organ with a recipient in mind. Politicians, actors, musicians, professional athletes, businessmen…our clientele run the gamut of who’s who in America. My family, we’re involved in a lot of dark things, Dolly. This is just one of them. For generations we’ve skirted morality. This is who we are, this is who we will always be.”
Swallowing back the bile rising in my throat, I try my best to absorb his words. This is why the Douglas family is so rich and powerful. They are part of the machine that most of our society doesn’t want to believe exists. I am at a complete and total loss; how can I move forward from this?
“Can you stop?” I ask, my tone wrought with desperation.
Leaning his head, he gives me the tiniest of grins. Not because he’s pleased, but because he knows that I probably won’t love his answer.
“I wish I could, Princess…since you have come into my life, my desire to kill has grown cold. Please believe me when I tell you that I didn’t want to kill that woman. I was forced to. But Ican’tquit this. If I tried to, my family would become a liability.My entire family,Dolly. Do you get what I’m saying? So as much as I would love to right now, it isn’t an option for me. I am tied to this darkness until my last breath…just as I am tied to your love,” he says, once again lifting his hand to touch my face.
My breath hitches, my shoulders sag as I meet his conflicted eyes. He’s going to ask me to make an impossible choice.
“This isn’t an either or situation, Dolly. This darkness and our love can go hand in hand. I promise they can.”
Leaning in, he brings his handsome face close to mine. Keeping my gaze, his lips curl into the little smirk that even now, after everything that has happened and everything I’ve learned, turns me to jelly.
“I love you Dolly. Please…stay with me? Be with me? Let me worship you?” he begs. Closing the space between us, his lips brush over mine as he continues to speak. “Accept my darkness, accept my family. We can make this work. We can. I promise.”
Whimpering softly, I allow him to kiss me. His lips are hesitant, moving over mine with the lightest touch. My stomach ties into sharp knots as I melt into him. What he’s asking of me is evil, it goes against everything I’ve been taught is right and good. I should tell him no, I should push him away and curse him to hell. But I can’t bring myself to. Despite what I know, I love him. Fiercely. Uncontrollably. Undeniably. I am his until my last breath.