The Ruthless Heir

Judge’s [POV]

Ezra shakes his head as I take in the damage. “A dark SUV was seen speeding off the grounds. The manager had received a complaint from one of the nearby rooms about noise.”

“Jesus, Theron.”

I don’t expect him to answer, but he gurgles something I can’t quite make out.

“He’s pretty out of it,” Ezra says.

“We can move him as soon as I get these dressed,” says the doctor.

Ezra nods and then turns to me. “I’m guessing you don’t want to take him to a Society hospital.”

“Correct.”

“You can house him at your clinic?” he asks the doctor.

The doctor looks at me, and I know what he’s seeing. A big fat payday. “I’ll have to clear out my patients.”

“That’s fine. Do what you need to do,” I tell him. “The SUV?” I ask Ezra.

“I’ve got a partial plate, but it won’t be easy to track.”

“Did he do this himself?” I ask, gesturing to the band around his arm and the needle on the floor.

“I don’t think so. He was tied down when we got here,” Ezra says. “And he doesn’t have tracks. A regular user would have tracks. My guess is the coke was his, but whatever was in that needle wasn’t.”

I look at his arms, at the strips of bloody clothing. They used his shirt to tie him down. “Probably owed someone money.”

“That would be my guess, considering what I have learned recently. My car is in the lot. Let’s continue our conversation outside,” Ezra says, glancing at the doctor. We step out, closing the door partially behind us. “I was going to courier these files to you, but then this call came in, so I brought them with me.”

“What did you find?”

“I tracked down at least where some of the money went when he was in Europe. And finding him like this… The beating was inflicted to deliver pain but he’d have died of an overdose if the manager hadn’t called it in. The intent was murder. I’m not even sure whoever was responsible cared about it looking like it, considering.”

“Fuck.” I follow Ezra to his car. He unlocks it remotely, then opens the trunk, where I see a small safe. He’s nothing if not thorough.

“That bad?”

“It’s not good.” He unlocks the safe and hands me a sealed folder. “There’s not much else you can do here. Go home and read what I sent you. We’ll need to get ahead of it. If this was who I think it was, they tracked him from Europe to New Orleans and were pissed off enough to send soldiers. If they find out he survived, they’ll come back to finish the job.”

“How the fuck did I not know?”

“No one did. Not even your grandfather.”

“I want to know the instant he’s lucid.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Ezra says.

“No calls. No disappearing acts. He’s good at that.”

“I got this, Judge. I’ll call in private security.”

“Thank you.” I walk back into the motel room to look at my brother one last time. He seems to be asleep.

“Go,” Ezra pushes.

I do.

I don’t go home, though. I go to my office.

Mercedes is out on her lunch date with her friends, and when Raul calls to tell me she wants to go shopping, I agree. It’ll be a good distraction, and she may ask fewer questions later.

I expect to be home by dinner, but the information Ezra has gathered is worse than I would have imagined.

My brother has managed to get on the wrong side of the Italian mafia. He owes them money. A lot of it.

I spend most of the night reading through the thick file and reaching out to my counterparts in that part of the world to learn as much about the family as possible. By the time I’m finished, I have a headache and am exhausted. It’s after midnight when I get to the house, which is quiet. Raul is having a beer with Paolo in the kitchen. I pour myself a scotch and join them.

“How was she?” I ask Raul.

“Pleased with the shopping. She put a dent in your card, though.”

“I’d expect no less.” I swallow the scotch, smiling. I am guessing she bought her friends a whole new wardrobe compliments of me.

“Where is she now?”

The men shrug their shoulders. “Had dinner with Lois a little while ago. I guess she went up to bed. Lois turned in early.”

“Alright. You two have a good night.”

I finish my drink and walk out of the kitchen. I’m passing my office to go up to bed when I hear something inside. I pause and listen at the door. It’s quiet for a moment, but then I am sure I hear the sound of a drawer closing.

Without hesitation, I open the door to catch Mercedes sitting in my chair. She must have her nose in the bottom drawer because, in her haste to come up, she hits her head on the still-open top drawer. She mutters a curse, rubbing the spot before fixing her face in a cool, indifferent expression.

I close the door behind me and set my briefcase on the floor. “Can I help you with something?”

She cocks her head to the side and taking a beat too long to answer. “I was looking for my phone.”

“I gave you a phone.”

“My old one. I have a number I need to get out of it.”

“Whose number?”

“Just a number. Why do you have to know everything?”

“Because I’m not used to people snooping in my office.”

“I’m not snooping. I’m looking for my phone.” She shoves the drawer closed, but it sticks, and she has to stand to use her hip to do it. I notice she’s wearing a white camisole that comes to the very top of her thighs. The peaks of her nipples press against the silk.

I produce a key out of my pocket, unlock the single-locked drawer, and take out her phone.NôvelDrama.Org is the owner.

She tries to grab it, but I hold it out of reach. “It needs to charge. Let me know whose number you’re looking for, and I’ll get it to you tomorrow.” I tuck the phone into my pocket.

“You were gone the whole day.”

“I was. I thought you’d enjoy the time alone with your friends.”

“It was a distraction. Don’t think I don’t know that.”

“How was lunch?”

“Good. Did you find him?”

I raise my eyebrows.

She shakes her head. “And here I thought when you told me he was gone that you’d sent him away.”

“My brother won’t come near you again. I will see to that.”

She folds her arms across her chest, inadvertently lifting her breasts and drawing my gaze to the soft swell of them. When she realizes what she’s doing, she lowers them again.

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep. I already told you that.”

“I have no intention of breaking that promise. Now…”

I take her by the hips and tug her close, then turn her to face the desk. I press myself against her ass and brush her hair over her shoulder. She shudders when I run the scruff of my jaw over the beating pulse at her neck before sliding my chin along the curve of it as I bring my mouth to her ear.

“Put your hands on the desk, Mercedes.”

She glances back, just barely, her breathing suddenly shorter as that pulse beats wildly. She sets her hands flat on the desk.

“Good girl.” I take hold of her panties and drag them down over her thighs, letting them drop to her ankles before pushing her forward to bend her over the desk.

“What are you doing?” she asks breathlessly.

I put the toe of my shoe on the scrap of fabric around her ankles. “Step out.” She does. I lift the camisole to her waist and cup her ass with one hand, keeping the fistful of silk out of the way with the other. I spank her cheek lightly, testing.

She gasps and tenses. But otherwise, she doesn’t move.

“Okay?” I ask.

She nods.

I do it again, harder this time, and release the silk to weave my fingers into her hair.

“What did you want coming in here, little monster? Tell me or take your punishment.” I spank, then rub the spot. I’m not worried about what she’d find in here. Anything important is locked up in a safe.

“Nothing.”

I grin, then spank her ass once, twice. No rubbing this time.

She sucks in a breath, and I use her hair to tug her head backward.

“Try again,” I tell her, slapping her legs apart and slipping my hand between them to find her wet sex. She moans when I rub her clit and whimpers when I spank it. “Mercedes?”

“I was just bored.”

“Did you miss me?”

“No.”

Smack.”Tell the truth.”

“I didn’t miss you. I missed your tongue.” She turns her head a little and grins a sly grin. “I just wanted you to make me come again.”

“There you go. That wasn’t so hard, was it? You missed my tongue. All you have to do is say so.”

She glances at the erection pressing against my slacks, then up at me.

“Get on your knees and make me come, Judge.”

I raise my eyebrows, and it takes all I have not to laugh out loud at her command. Never before has a woman instructed me to kneel. Never will a woman order me to kneel.

“News flash, little monster. I eat you out because I love the way you fucking taste. But I don’t do it on your command.” I smack her ass hard. “Stay. Understood?”

“Are you going to lick my pussy if I do as you say, Lawson?”

With a snarl, I release her and sit so I’m at eye level with her gorgeous ass. “Finger yourself.”

Heat flushes her cheeks, but Mercedes is not one to back down so she does exactly as I know she will. She reaches between her legs and rubs her clit with a moan before pushing two fingers inside herself.

“Good girl. Very good girl.” I unbuckle my belt and undo my slacks.

She licks her lips and moans for my benefit. “You like watching me fuck myself? Because you know I’ll never let you fuck me again, right?”

“Careful or you’ll eat your words, sweetheart.”

“Are you going to jerk off watching me? Imagining my tiny little finger is your big, thick cock stretching my tight pussy?”

“You, my little monster, are a very dirty girl.” I stroke myself over my briefs. “So dirty, I think you should take those wet little fingers of yours and smear them all over your asshole.”

Her mouth falls open, eyebrows disappearing into her hair. The look is so comical I can’t help my burst into laughter.

“Fuck you, you jerk!” She spins to face me as I rise, her arm poised to slap me. I capture it, then the other, and secure both behind her back.

“It’s cute when you get mad.” My smile must so irritate her she snaps her teeth at me like she’d bite my face off if she could. “Makes me even harder for you.”

“Let me go!”

She twists in my arms as I lift her onto the desk and kiss her lips, barely pulling back before she snaps again.

“I’d like to fuck your ass one day. I admit I do imagine it when you have me jerking myself off twice a fucking day like I’m a goddamn teenager. Not yet, though. I don’t think you’re ready to take me in that tight little hole just yet.”

She swallows hard, and it takes her a minute, but she does respond in true Mercedes fashion. “As I said, Judge, you won’t ever be fucking me again.”

“No?” I tug her to me, grind against her, her pussy soaking my briefs before I push them down so there’s nothing between us.

She looks down and sucks her lip between her teeth as I draw myself through her wet folds. She can’t help her moan.

“You want to come, little monster?” I rub my dick up and down her pussy and push her backward, stretching her arms to opposite sides of the desk and pinning her by her wrists. “Tell me. Tell me you want to come, and I’ll make you come. It’s as easy as that.”

“Your mouth,” she says breathlessly, even as her legs open in invitation.

“I don’t think my mouth will be enough tonight.” Leaning over her, I swallow her moan when I kiss her. “I think you need something bigger inside you than my tongue.”

“Fuck. I hate you!”

“But you want me all the same.” I draw back a little, testing her with the head of my cock at her entrance. I watch her face, her eyes.

“Judge,” she says.

“Lawson,” I correct.

“Lawson,” she breathes, and I push into her. “Oh. My. God.”

“Fuck, Mercedes.”

She is so slick and so tight I’m not going to last long. I intertwine my fingers with hers while moving inside, kissing her, not caring if she bites. Needing it too much.

She opens to me, taking my tongue in her mouth while my cock is in her pussy.

I shift my grip again, the fingers of one hand weaving into her hair, adjusting her hips with the other so I can get deeper inside her. She arches her back, her fingernails digging into my shoulders as she sucks on my tongue and comes so hard her throbbing walls milk me, and I almost don’t pull out in time.

Because of fuck. It’s so fucking hard.

I want to come inside her so fucking bad that it takes all I have to finally pull out of her wet heat and trap my throbbing cock between us at the very last moment and come all over her.