Black Ink

Black

Ink

N.M. Catalano

Copyright © 2016 N.M. Catalano

All rights reserved.

Any resemblance to characters, events, or places, are purely coincidental.  There is no known affiliation with official members of the government and such references are purely for the purpose of this fictitious story.

DEDICATION

Writing a book is all consuming.  The characters are constantly living in your mind, their lives going on and moving, talking and engaging.  They demand our constant attention insisting on being heard, (it sounds a little like schizophrenia, I know, but there you have it).

I need to thank my family for allowing me time to bring these characters to life and introducing them to you, the readers.  I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with when I live in two worlds during the creation of a story.  I appreciate your incredible patience and support.

You, the readers are magnificent,  embracing these people and loving them as much as I do.

Thank you.

Black Ink is dedicated to my family and to you.

With Love,

~N.M.

One Night With a STRANGER, Book 1 Stranger/Evolution Series

Made To SWITCH, Book 2 Stranger/Evolution Series

KINK, Book 3 Stranger/Evolution Series

PERFECT, Book 4 Stranger/Evolution Series

THE ROOSTER CLUB, The Best Cocks in Town

BLACK INK, Part I, The Black Ink Series

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Books

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Black Ink, Part II

Other Works

About the Author

1 CHAPTER

Gemma

Desperate.  I was absolutely desperate.  I only prayed my nervousness wasn’t visible and they couldn’t see me shaking.  I needed this job.  No one would see me, not until now.  I was being punished, black balled, because of something I didn’t do.

That only made me want to fight harder.

After Malcolm was arrested, the Feds took everything, seized the bank accounts, my beautiful condo on Park Avenue, the one my money mostly paid for, and took the cars.  I lost everything.  I was left with only my personal belongings.  And a shitload of his debts. 

I couldn’t believe that I had to start from scratch…again.  A polished, educated, professional woman, after years of building an impressive reputation, it was all destroyed by one man.  My husband. 

Now I have the nerve to come to the man who had suffered the most from my husband’s actions, his extortions and embezzlements, and ask for a position with his company.  It was all I could do to sit across from this
kid
who’d probably just gotten out of college and kiss his ass when I
knew
I could do his job better than he could, and prove to him, not that I would be the best choice for his assistant, but that I wouldn’t make him look like a fool because
he knew
he should be mine.  The truth is I’m happy to have the opportunity
to
be here.  There is no way I’m going to fuck this up.  I would tell him whatever I had to, do whatever I need to do, to be this kids assistant. 

I had to force myself to keep from looking at the imposing figure who had built this empire, Alexander Black, standing in his glass enclosed throne room watching me.  I could feel the weight of his stare bearing down on me.  I’d never met him personally but I knew everything about him, his ruthlessness, that he grew up bouncing from one foster home to another, had minor scrapes with the law when he was a teenager, and his broken engagement in college from that Texas oil tycoon’s debutante daughter.  After that, the only information about him read like a resume’.  Until ten years ago when Black Inc. was born.  From that point he hurled through the business world like a tornado, consuming everything in his way.  If he didn’t take it over, he destroyed it. 

Alexander and Malcolm had begun what was called a merger, which was really a take-over, of Malcom’s software development firm.  It was too late by the time Malcom’s Ponzi scheme was revealed and Alexander had lost three million dollars.

I wasn’t involved with Malcolm’s company, never had been.  I worked for a prestigious law firm in mergers and acquisitions.  And when the shit had hit the fan with Malcolm, I got hit right between the eyes.  I was fired before Forbes magazine released the details and my house was padlocked and surrounded by yellow police tape.  My office had been cleaned out and the boxes filled with the things that I’d brought in were waiting for me downstairs at security the next morning when I entered the lobby. 

I was humiliated. 

Now, here I sit, my spine straight, across from this snot nosed brat, determined to clear my name and prove myself once again.  The only way I was going to do that was working for Alexander Black.  I had to kick some serious ass to disassociate myself from Malcolm.  Alexander Black was the only way I could.

And he knew it.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Mrs. Stevens...,” the punk was saying.

“Gemma.  Gemma Trudeau.  I’ve never used my married name,” I corrected him unwaveringly.

Yes, lets, I’m tired of pussy footing around.

I didn’t get my reputation by being intimidated, my poker face was securely in place. 

“How can you possibly think Mr. Black is going to hire you?” he said smugly as he sat back in his chair.

“Mr. Davis, Alexander Black is a smart man.  I’m good – very good - and he knows it.  I would be an asset not only to you, but more so to him.” I was known for being shrewd, sometimes ruthless, but always successful.  

It was simple.  I knew it, Alexander Black knew it, this kid was the only one who didn’t.

The real question is, how is Black going to play?

I felt his eyes penetrating me through the glass wall across the room.  I didn’t flinch under the weight.  I lifted my gaze to look directly into those eyes that I knew hadn’t left me while I sat patiently during the my time with this newbie who’d, I’m sure, recently finished his internship. 

My breath caught in my throat.

I’d seen pictures of Alexander Black on occasion but nothing had prepared me for him.  The words ‘formidable and hard’ would be how I would have described him, and fucking gorgeous. 

Even from where I sat across the room, he hit me like a freight train and I’m sure my body showed the impact.  I could feel the rush surge through me enflaming my face and igniting my every nerve ending.  I hadn’t had sex in so long, I thought my vagina had stopped working but it, too, roared to life.

I could tell he was tall, very tall, with wavy chocolate brown hair a little on the long side, close cut facial hair that was too long to be scruff but not long enough to be a beard and mustache, perfectly tailored black pinstriped suit with a vest, a crisp grey shirt and pink tie.  He had one arm across his broad chest with the other raised as his finger and thumb stroked his jaw.  Danger and power.  While he studied me. 

I knew the young man across from me was talking as he sat back in his chair.  I saw his mouth moving out of my peripheral vision, but I didn’t hear a word he said. 

The world had been sucked into a vacuum of only Black and me.

He was stunning.  Too beautiful for words.  His features were strong and chiseled, defined cheekbones, arrogant brow and eyes, square jaw, full, deliciously full lips.  His body was not lean but not bulky, well defined, even hidden inside those obviously very expensive clothes.  If I had to bet I would say the suit was tailor made Brioni   I should know, I had bought enough of them for Malcolm.  His shoulders and chest were broad, his waist lean, and I could tell his legs were not thin within his slacks.  I immediately envisioned thick braided, muscular thighs, the kind that a beautiful ass rested above with the cheeks dipping in at narrow hips.  My mouth went dry and I had to clench my jaw to keep from licking my lips.  The thing that truly took my breath away was the intense savage energy that emanated from him even with the distance separating us. 

I sucked in a breath when a corner of his mouth lifted in a cocky smirk.  He lowered the hand that had been at his jaw and reached for the phone at his side and broke our gaze.

I was relieved to be released from the hold he’d had on me and my eyes returned to Davis sitting across the desk as the sound of his voice was turned on in my ears again. 

“…are over qualified although, from what I’ve seen on your information, you have an impressive history…,” he was saying. 

Before my mind had a chance to clear, his phone rang.  The noise made me jump.

Shit, what the hell is wrong with you, get a grip.

“Miles Davis,” he answered it.  A pause.  His eyes dart to me, his expression shocked.  “Yes, Mr. Black, of course.” Another pause, his eyes widen.  “Yes sir.”  He hangs up.  He blinks once.  Then again.  “Come in tomorrow morning at nine.  Tonight you’ll take your first case home with you.  Familiarize yourself with the details and be prepared to present how you think we should proceed with it.”  He blinks again seeming stunned. 

The familiar adrenaline courses through my system that fuels me each time I begin a new case, preparing me for the kill.  It’s always a hunt with me, and I always catch my prey.  This time is going to be different as I have to do the legwork, but I find I’m looking forward to it, invigorated by it even.  I was back!

“Absolutely,” I almost purr.

“Ms. Trudeau.”

I turn my head to the man standing behind me.  From the sound of his voice, he is British, Wales probably, and wearing a bowtie, khakis and a cardigan.  His clothes are perfectly pressed. 

“Welcome to Black Inc.  I’m Simon, Mr. Black’s assistant.  Please follow me, I’ll show you to your desk.”

“Certainly, thank you.”  I rise from my seat in front of Davis and glance back at him.  He still has a look of surprise on his face.

“I’ll bring you the file,” he mutters noncommittally.

“Thank you, Mr. Davis, I look forward to working with you, I appreciate the opportunity.”  I know I have to kiss this guy’s ass even though it hadn’t been his decision to hire me.  But if I want to make things pleasant it has to be done.  I still can’t help but wonder what Black’s angle is for doing it though, the lawyer in me is sure it’s not only my impressive history.  A man didn’t achieve what Black has before the age of forty with playing only one hand in the game.

I glance at Alexander Black’s office as I follow Simon to a desk in a cubicle that is slightly separate from the others offering it some privacy.  The glass has gone smoky making it impossible to see inside his office.  In my mind the details beyond the glass spring to life; the modern black polished desk with the wall of windows behind it overlooking Fifth Avenue, the tufted black leather sofas with chrome legs, the matching black polished bar on the side wall with cut crystal decanters on top, a huge conference table with tufted black leather chairs surrounding it, and televisions along the top of the wall facing his desk above the glass.  Black’s inner sanctum, where he rules the world.

Even though I can’t see inside, I know he’s watching me, I can feel him.  The sensation makes my heart pound and my palms sweat.  A fact which completely throws me off-balance.  I never get frazzled. 

But there isn’t anyone like Alexander Black.

Alexander

What was a woman like that doing with a scumbag weasel like Malcolm?

My fingers drum atop my desk as I watch Simon lead her to the desk I specified she would take.  I’d picked it
because
of its location, separate, and I could watch her…closer to me.

I’d felt the stirrings within me as I studied Gemma Trudeau from the moment she’d stepped inside my building. 

Keep your friends close…and your enemies closer.

When her resume’ arrived, I’d only smiled.  I’d already known everything about her.  And had been waiting for it.  I’d also known she couldn’t even get an interview anywhere else.  She is the plague…but I’m the King of Darkness.  I smirk at the fortunate misfortune. 

I knew she was brilliant, but not so…
my erection jerks.  The beast inside is roaring to feast. 

I am a sick fuck, I know it.  I’d also thought she wasn’t the type I usually played with, my taste in games a bit unconventional.  The women I typically gravitated toward are more…disciplined. 

Gemma is strong.  The fire inside her licks at me, making me burn.  I like it.

A lot. 

She is also aristocratically beautiful, black hair twisted up in a reserved French twist, white creamy skin, full pink pouty lips, almond shaped hazel eyes, lush full hips, and perfect breasts that would fit in each of my hands.  Her suit is impeccable, although I’m sure she’d chosen an understated one that is suitable for the position she is applying for, the one that’s beneath her.  I got some sick satisfaction in that as well.  I wanted her groveling, warped son-of-a-bitch that I am.  I want her in many positions, in many ways. 

She is all woman.  A woman, I’m sure, that has yet to be unleashed.  Too bad I want to break her, make her scream, beg, cry, and do things to her she never imagined.  And I want her to want them, love them, need them so much she can’t live without them. 

My cock is throbbing.  The details are already forming in my mind on how this would play. 

I grin.

“Welcome to Black Inc., Ms. Trudeau,” I murmur staring at her through the glass.  “Let the games begin.”  

Gemma

I unlock the door to my parent’s house in Jersey City, New Jersey, the house I’d grown up in, and kick it closed behind me when I walk in with a bag full of groceries in one arm, files and a briefcase in the other.  The light I always leave on in the kitchen shines from the back of the house casting a soft glow all the way up to the front foyer.  I sit the bag on the table by the door along with the case file and lower my briefcase to the floor.  I still hated the quiet of the house, but I’d gotten used to it.  My parents had died in an accident last year. 

I was an only child.  My father was a detective who’d started in the police force pounding a beat in uniform.  That’s where I’d gotten the law bug, I am a lot like my dad.  My mother was a kindergarten teacher, she loved the babies, and it had broken her heart she couldn’t have a dozen of them.  So she’d adopted every single one in her heart she’d taught throughout her career. 

I missed them terribly.

My father was smart.  A few years ago, when things had gotten really strained between Malcolm and I, my father asked me to set up an estate and put all of his and my mother’s assets in it, thus protecting everything so it wouldn’t go directly to me should anything happen to them.  He knew his job was dangerous, always had known, but I didn’t think he suspected anything would happen to the both of them.  But there was something else