Owned (Office Intrigue Book 8) by Nicole Edwards (year 2 reading books TXT) 📗

in a dungeon somewhere no one could find her, but I’d already disrupted her life enough. After all, I was the one responsible for putting us both in this predicament, for stirring up the past and all but painting targets on our backs again. For the past year and a half, I’d spent every single minute waiting for the anvil to drop. And when I wasn’t doing that, I was ensuring it didn’t fall on my sister, too. The least she deserved was to enjoy her freedom.

Even if it meant I had to forego a night dominating a willing submissive or two in lieu of lurking in the shadows to ensure Braelyn was safe. Yes, I had skipped another night at Dichotomy so I could give my sister somewhat of a life. It was the least I could do. Of course, I wasn’t feeling the club much these days. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what my issue was, but I was growing tired of the drama, the tediousness associated with developing a scene, following through. Had been for quite some time now. Even the sex had become uninspired. The high I used to get from it all had faded.

So maybe it wasn’t such a hardship to be keeping an eye on my sister. At the very least, it gave me the excuse I needed to avoid engaging with others.

I could tell the date wasn’t going well based on Braelyn’s body language. I’d seen her do this before. Braelyn called it enduring. I preferred to say she was wasting her precious time. The good news was, it appeared the date was coming to an end, which meant I’d be able to retire for the evening soon enough.

I watched as Braelyn pulled her cell phone from her purse, typed something.

A second later, my phone screen lit up with a text from her. I’ll be going home soon. Hope you’re having fun at the club.

I downed what was left of my coffee, smiled, grateful my sister was abiding by my request to keep me informed of her whereabouts. I knew it was beginning to irritate her, and I couldn’t very well blame her. She was a grown woman, could do what she wanted, when she wanted, yet I insisted she report in so I knew she was safe. My sister assured me she understood my reason for hovering.

Granted, she didn’t know I was lurking in the parking lot, nor did she know that I was living in a rented apartment in the same building as her rather than the three-bedroom house I owned, just so I could be close in the event something happened. It was just another step I was taking in my efforts to keep her safe.

Would she be pissed if she found out? Yeah. Maybe. Even my easygoing sister was known to get upset from time to time. But her anger was the least of my worries. My only goal was to keep her alive so she could run the gamut of emotions another day.

I turned my attention to a car pulling into the lot. It wasn’t the midnight-blue sedan that had been following me earlier in the day, although I kept waiting for that one to appear. I had managed to lose the tail two hours ago, but I knew whoever was tracking me was still out there, waiting. I’d outwitted them for eighteen months, but it appeared they now had me in their sights. It wouldn’t be long before they caught me. At that point, my life would be over, but not before I endured a significant amount of torture that would be used as a means of getting me to give up my sister. I wouldn’t. Not to anyone. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.

I exhaled sharply, looked back at the restaurant, waiting for Braelyn to get to her feet. She almost made it, but the douche managed to delay her once more.

I was so focused on watching her, I damn near came out of my skin when my cell phone buzzed. My reflexes had me grabbing for it, only for the fucking thing to fall between the seat and the console. It took effort to shove my hand in the narrow crevice, fumble for it, but I managed.

And it was still ringing when I retrieved it.

Thank God.

I took in the caller’s name, exhaled a relieved breath, and answered with a choppy, “Hey.”

“I got your message. You said it was urgent.”

“Thanks for calling me back,” I replied. “Would it be possible for me to stop by your office tomorrow?”

“It’ll have to be early. I have a day full of meetings.”

“The earlier the better,” I told him, remembering I had to take Braelyn to work. “Any chance you’ll be there before seven?”

“I will. My first meeting’s at six. Got a few minutes to spare at six thirty.”

“Perfect. I’ll be there at six thirty. See you then, Talon.”

The call disconnected.

Talon. No last name. Simply Talon. He was the one man I knew was capable of keeping my sister safe. He was also the one man I was hesitant to let my sister be around. Not because he was a bad guy. No, Talon was one of those men you could depend on in a crisis. However, he was a different breed, which was saying something considering my best friend, Zeke Lautner, was a ruthless Sadist who got off on inflicting pain.

I dropped the phone back into the center console and leaned my head back, staring through the restaurant window where my sister and the douche from the coffee shop continued to sit. It seemed to me the guy wasn’t ready for the night to be over, and there was no way he could miss Braelyn’s desire to leave. It was obvious by the way she’d turned in her chair as though getting ready to boost herself to her feet. She was just too sweet to follow through.

I hated that I was out here. I hated that I was intruding