The Buchanan's Redemption (5 page)

“Don’t be so dramatic. Laird seemed quite intrigued by your sister. He’ll treat her like a queen. He loves to pamper and dote on women. But if you continue to stonewall me, I will make your life —
 
and by proxy —
 
your sister’s life very difficult.”

“And how is that?”

Instead of answering right away he said, “It must be a challenge caring for your sister on your meager freelance salary. I would imagine that it’s very important to protect your connections just to make rent every month.” His gaze narrowed to a point and she suffered a very bad feeling in her belly. He was going to blackmail her into helping him. He’d found the perfect way to force her to bow her head and walk ten paces behind him by using Lana against her. Emma began to shake and angry tears threatened to fall but she held them back, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her break. “You’re a smart girl,” he said approvingly. “Good. You can see where this is going, which means I don’t need to spell it out. Fall in line or you’ll find yourself without work for the foreseeable future. No one will cross a Buchanan, not even for a pretty face like yours. So unless you want to find yourself swinging that tight little ass on a stripper pole, you’d better adjust your attitude —
 
quickly —
 
because my patience is shot. Got it?”

She wanted to tell him to go to hell but he had her. Since the incident, Lana hadn’t been able to work. Her sister wasn’t exactly agoraphobic but Lana became extremely agitated around strangers, almost to the point of pure panic if she felt overwhelmed, which had made it impossible to hold down a job. “I need to talk to her,” she said, trying for a brave front. “Lana is…”

“Laird told me,” Vince cut in, his tone gentling with the slightest note of understanding. “No harm will come to her. You have my word.”

“And what is your word worth?” she couldn’t help but ask without masking her bitterness.

“My word is worth everything I have and more,” he answered and she heard no mocking couched in the reply, which for some reason settled her nerves a bit. She shouldn’t trust him but what choice did she have? Until she figured out how to best him, she had to pretend to cede defeat. Satisfied with her nod, he said, “One more thing, you will be required to sign nondisclosure paperwork, which you may do over dinner tonight. Appropriate clothing will be brought to you.”

She ground her teeth. “I’d prefer to eat alone.”

“I didn’t ask for your preference. Strike one, little dove. Three strikes and you’re out. Am I clear?”

“Perfectly.” She gave him a sweet, completely fake smile. “And am I going to be required to suck your cock after dinner, too?”

At that he laughed and she grumbled at his amusement. “Little dove, if you feel so moved to go down on your knees and suck my cock, I wouldn’t deny you, as long as you don’t bite.”

“Well, I do bite,” she replied, then snapped her teeth for emphasis.

His gaze narrowed sharply. “In that case, we’ll skip the foreplay and go straight to bending you over the dinner table. Sound good?”

“You’re a pig.”

“You have no idea.” He dipped his head ever so slightly and then said, “Until this evening, then…” before leaving her alone again.

She exhaled sharply and dropped her head in her hands. Her entire body ached and groaned from her ordeal but the pains of her body couldn’t rival the agony in her mind as she worried about Lana with that licentious Laird Tiechert, who was no better than the Buchanans in his pursuit of pleasure, no matter the obstacle. Lana had always been a bit naïve and sweet, always seeing the good in someone no matter how broken and damaged they were, and it was that innate goodness that had managed to put Lana in that wicked place to begin with. Of course, Lana refused to talk about that night, saying she didn’t remember much but Emma wasn’t so sure that Lana’s memory was fogged but rather purposefully blocked. Lana had no interest in remembering what had happened to her.

And now Lana was in the care of Laird…Emma suddenly felt queasy and made a wobbly rush to the restroom but Just as she reached the toilet only bile came up because she hadn’t actually eaten anything. Emma sat on the cold marble tile of the polished executive bathroom and her shoulders shook with silent tears. This was her own fault. If only she’d been prepared for trouble, she could’ve handled herself. Now, she and Lana were forced to dance to Buchanan’s tune, whether they wanted to or not.

Now that Vince had Emma's sister he didn't worry about her leaving the minute he turned his back, which freed him up to take care of some details before dinner. Satisfied with the way things had panned out in his favor, he was humming a tune as he awaited his twin at Envy, his favorite designer dress shop. Most times he would’ve handed off the task to his executive secretary but since Penny had gone off and married his older brother Dillon, he and Nolan had not yet filled her former position so the task was left in his hands. Not that he minded, actually. He rather liked the idea of hand selecting the very clothes that would go on Emma’s body. The power gave him a very satisfying pleasure and he was not above savoring it.

Vince wouldn't lie, he enjoyed knowing that he was bending the rigid woman to his will and thus going dress shopping put a small smile on his face until Nolan walked in, looking as happy as a drowned cat. "Why are we meeting here?" Nolan asked.

Vince paused in answering, instructing the leggy, pencil-thin proprietor, Dana, that he wanted to see every dress she had in the color red, then returned to Nolan, saying with a subtle frown, "I wanted your opinion on a dress and I also wanted an update on everything you've managed to uncover about Emma Winters. I figured we could kill two birds with one stone."

“Why are you buying a dress?”

“Because as much as I’d enjoy seeing Emma sit across the table naked during dinner, something tells me she’s not going to let that happen. At least not yet.”

Vince expected his twin to chuckle at his joke but Nolan’s serious expression didn’t so much as crack. “You're playing a dangerous game, Vince. Emma Winters is unlike some airheaded starlet looking to sleep her way to the top or even a woman who’s just looking for a good time.”

“Oh? You know her well?” Vince lifted his brow, unimpressed thus far and becoming annoyed at the general killjoy his twin had become as of late. “My brother, you’ve become far too prudish in your married old age. Lighten up and tell me what you know about my little dove.”

“I probably shouldn’t but seeing as we’re both tied to Malvagio, here goes. Emma Winters is twenty-six and the oldest daughter of Mike and Sarah Winters —
 
both deceased after a car accident when she was eighteen and her younger sister, Lana, was fourteen.”

“Tragic,” Vince commented, wondering how he could use that information to his advantage. Given that information, it was readily apparent why Emma felt responsible for her sister Lana; Emma’s been taking care of her sister since she was a young girl.

“Yeah, but she’s pretty tough. She managed to put herself through college, in spite of having to work two jobs and care for her sister. She graduated with a degree in journalism-”

“Which nowadays is pretty much useless,” Vince cut in dryly and Nolan agreed.

“Yeah, and that’s why she’s had a hard time finding a job. There just aren’t many newspapers looking to hire new journalists when a lot of print newspapers are going digital only or going out of business completely.”

“Don’t we own a newspaper?” Vince asked, trying to jog his own memory.

“We did but we sold it. It kept losing money year after year.”

“Pity. I might’ve enjoyed offering her a job just to watch her gnash her teeth at me. She’s a spitfire,” he mused, mostly to himself. To Nolan, he asked, “Anything else?”

Nolan shrugged. “Not really. She’s a poor, struggling freelance writer. She barely makes her rent most months but she’s honest. Everyone I talked with said she’s always professional and always does a good job.”

“No boyfriend?”

Nolan sighed, knowing Vince too well. “No,” he answered.

“Excellent. I hate entanglements.”

“Let’s stay focused on the issue at hand. We need her help to catch who poses a threat to the club, nothing else. Right?”

“There’s nothing wrong with combining business with pleasure. Isn’t that what we’ve spent our twenties doing? I like to think I’m pretty good at multi-tasking.”

“She’s nothing like the women we’re accustomed to,” Nolan warned.

"Good. I bore easily." Vince lifted a strapless red dress that looked as if it’d need to be painted on and held it up for Nolan's opinion. "She has beautiful tits. What you think of this?"

"Forget the dress. We have bigger problems. What are you doing with this woman? Laird told me that he's holding onto Emma’s sister on your orders. Are you blackmailing her into helping you?"

Vince shot a look at his brother, irritated. "And what if I am? It's nothing you and I haven't done before. Sometimes the ends justify the means. I'm not about to go down in flames just because you were afraid to pull the trigger. There was a time when you were just as ruthless as I am. It's not my fault that your new wife is holding your nuts in Aubrey’s diaper bag."

"Watch it.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love my niece and Shannon’s pretty nice, too but you’ve made some major changes since they crashed into your life and I don’t even know you anymore. I want my brother back.” He regarded Nolan with sadness. “Remember when we used to prowl the clubs, taking what we wanted without apology? Fucking women together? Sharing everything?”

“Of course I remember,” Nolan answered quietly. “I’m not that guy anymore and I don’t want to be.”

“Why not?” Vince shot back. “There was nothing wrong with being who you are.”

“It’s hard to explain. I guess I had an epiphany and I realized I didn’t want to be that guy anymore.”

Vince stiffened. “And what guy was that?”

“The guy that our own mother wouldn’t want to know,” he answered, pulling no punches. “If she knew half the shit we’d done…hell, it’s embarrassing just to think about it.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done,” Vince said, hating that Nolan had thrown the mother card in. “Besides, she died before we really got to know her at all and I don’t let the ghosts of strangers run my life.”

Nolan realized he wasn’t going to win with anything he had to say, so he let it go. “I didn't come to fight with you. Nor did I come to listen to you insult my wife. Or my nuts. I'm worried about you, Vince. Lately, you haven't been the same. Dillon and I both worry that you're on some self-destructive course, and we want to make sure that that's not the case."

"I'm touched by your concern. I'm fine."
Great. An inter-fucking-vention from two of the biggest hypocrites of the year.
Vince tossed the red dress in his hand and reached for another. "You know before Dillon came back and got all respectable, you and I were unstoppable in this town. Now both you and Dillon are neutered and I'm forced to prowl the streets alone. I'm not doing anything that you and I didn't do together so stop judging me and stop being such a pansy."

"Yeah, we did a lot of shady things together. But that's the point. There comes a time when you have to stop dicking around and start taking responsibility for your life. Before Shannon, I never realized that money wasn't everything. That saying was just some trite statement that people who don't have money would say. At least that's what I thought. She made me realize that there is more to life than money and if I lost it all right now I'd be okay because of Shannon and Aubrey. What would you do if you lost all the money?" he asked in earnest but Vince wasn't interested in having a philosophical conversation. He was horny as hell and the one person he wanted to satisfy his urge with, was the one person who wanted to claw his eyes out. He tossed the second red dress and grabbed the third. Nolan pressed harder. "There was a time when you would've settled down. There was someone who made you want those things. And I feel responsible, as we all do, for what happened to Isabel. But she's been gone a long time, man. It's time to let her go and move on."

Vince shot his brother a warning look. "Don't talk about shit that you know nothing about. I was using her just as you were. Don't try to make it into something it wasn't."

"You can lie to anyone else but you can't lie to me. I know how you felt about her. There's no sense in putting up a front. I loved her too but not like you did. Hell, I'm pretty sure you loved her more than Dillon even, but she's gone and your soul climbed in the grave with her."

"Don't waste your time rewriting history. You want to remember things how you want to remember them but I remember things as they were. Isabel was a pretty piece of ass that I wanted and so I took it. The relationship, if you can call it that, ended badly. End of story. But why the hell are you bringing up Isabel? She has nothing to do with what's going on with Emma. From a pure business standpoint, we all have a lot to lose if Malvagio goes down in flames because of this. Emma wasn't being cooperative so I had to find a way to force her hand. I don't feel bad about it and I'm not going to back down. Even if you are not interested in protecting the club’s interests, I am. Unlike you, I'm not ashamed to do whatever it takes."

"Did it ever occur to you that you should be? That's the problem, Vince. We both lost sight of what it means to be human. We became our father — the one person that we swore we never would. And if you keep doing what you're doing, you’ll end up just like him or
worse
."

Vincent threw the dress to the ground, eliciting a gasp from Dana as she hovered on the fringe. "We can agree to disagree and leave it at that,” he growled. “And I really suggest that you leave it because right about now I've had it with your self-righteous act. In case you've forgotten you’re no angel. The difference between you and me is,
I never pretended to be
."

Nolan shook his head, disgusted with Vince. "You're impossible to deal with right now. When you pull your head out of your ass let me know and we’ll talk. Until then — you're on your own."

Vince watched as Nolan stalked from the dress shop. Dana stood nervously off to the side, eyeing the discarded dresses with dismay. Vince barely glanced at her before curtly announcing, "I'll take the strapless in a size four. Add shoes to match."

"Yes Mr. Buchanan," she said rushing over to pick up the red cloud of discarded dresses. "On your account then?"

He nodded, adding, "Throw some jewelry in, too. Whatever would look good." He didn't know why he threw in the jewelry and he didn't really want to ask examine his reasoning too closely. Nolan had thrown him off with his amateur hour psychoanalyzing and now Vince was off-kilter.

Why’d Nolan have to go poking at the hornet’s nest? He hated that Nolan knew him so well. He hated that Nolan knew how he’d called their personal jeweler to look at some rings because he’d been on the cusp of throwing everything he had on the table and asking Isabel to marry him. He would have even raised Dillon’s child as his own. In fact, he would have done anything for Isabel. But things had spiraled out of control so quickly, he hadn’t had the chance to make his offer. The day Isabel had taken a swan dive from the top of their building, was the day that Vince realized he'd been beyond foolish to imagine he would be a proper choice for anyone respectable. Deep down, he was missing something crucial — something that kept him from breaking other people. So, yes, there had been a time when he'd naïvely thought he was capable of settling down but he wasn't a foolish boy any longer and for that he was grateful. Now he went into each situation with his eyes wide open. He made no promises and he offered no sweetness. He liked a firm ass, nice tits, and plenty of variety and he made no apologies for it. And if anyone had a problem without they could go fuck themselves —
 
including Nolan.

#

Emma had just exited the shower when there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. She quickly wrapped herself in a large fluffy white towel and for lack of any other clothing had no choice but to open the door wearing only the towel. She was surprised to see a plain-faced, but very kind looking older woman on the other side. "Hi,” she said with a smile wreathing her face. “I'm Janie. I'm here to do your hair and makeup."

Hair and makeup? There had to be some mistake. "I'm sorry, I don't know why you would be here to do my hair and makeup."

"I don't know but it must be something special because Mr. Buchanan said he wanted you to look your best, which shouldn't be hard because you're already beautiful."

Emma blushed around a wan smile, not quite sure how to accept the compliment without seeming as if she were condoning Vince’s inappropriate gesture. She didn’t want the woman to get the wrong impression about her but then, Emma didn’t want to be rude, either. Her brain blanked and she had no choice but to allow the woman to walk in and get settled with her makeup trunk and hair accessories. Emma had never had anyone do her makeup and hair in her life. She’d missed out on prom, being too busy trying to scrape by with a little sister to feed. So when her girlfriends had been going to the salon for their special dates, Emma had stayed behind with Lana, splurging on popcorn and soda for a rental movie night. And it definitely felt weird to have it done now. Particularly knowing that Vince Buchanan had ordered it so. "This really isn't necessary," she began as she sat in the chair that Janie had pulled forward. "Mr. Buchanan I are not dating or anything like that." She wanted to make that very clear right away. "I don't even know why he wants this done. We have more of a business relationship. We’re not even friends. I don’t really like him in the least," she tacked on just to make sure there was no confusion as to how she felt.