Dungeon Royale (Masters and Mercenaries) (19 page)

God, she was in love with Damon. It was silly to even think it wasn’t true. She’d been in love with him for a very long time.

He stared down at her, his jaw tight. “I won’t talk to you, Penelope. I won’t acknowledge your presence when you walk in a room. I will pretend you don’t exist. This was all about one single operation. That operation is over for you. I can’t use you anymore.”

She felt tears slipping from her eyes. She reached up and cupped his cheek. “Damon, I want to go with you. I don’t care about the risk.”

It didn’t matter that there were other people in the room. She couldn’t be one more person who disappeared on him.

He stepped away, his face going cold, eyes blank. “Penelope, I’ve done you a great disservice.”

“Don’t, Damon. I know what you’re going to do. Don’t.”

He didn’t look away from her. He looked right through her, like she was already gone, already relegated to some place in his mind where he shoved useless things. “I needed you to obey me. Getting you to believe yourself to be in love with me was the easiest way to go. You know I made a study of you. You were lonely. You had very little experience with sex. It was simple. I do have experience. I knew exactly what to say to you.”

Her heart was breaking because she did believe that he would do everything he said he would. He would walk away from her. He wouldn’t speak to her again. She would dream about him for the rest of her life and his last words to her would be about how he’d tricked her. “You told me it was real.”

He shrugged a bit, an aristocratic gesture. “I lied. Getting in your knickers was the best way to control you. You can’t honestly believe I was attracted to you.”

“You certainly looked like you were.” It came out as an accusation.

A nasty smirk hit his face. “Darling, I can get an erection from a stiff breeze.”

So the bit about his cock not working around anyone but her had been a lie, too.

“Don’t call me that. Don’t call me that again.” His endearments meant nothing. They were one more way he’d drawn her in.

Something died a bit. A light that had started to grow inside her dimmed again. It had been foolish of her to believe him. She looked in the mirror on a regular basis. No amount of makeup would ever make her really beautiful. The people at the wedding had stared at them, but not because they looked right together. They stared because they wondered what the hell he was doing with her.

He was good. He’d known exactly how to get past her walls. He’d defended her, built up her self-esteem. He’d been just vulnerable enough to make her think they really did have something in common. She’d started to believe she was good for him.

She’d have to tell her sister and brother it had all been a joke. A joke on her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Cash.” He didn’t sound sorry. He sounded bland, blank, distant. But then he’d always been. The connection she’d felt had been one sided. Otherwise, there was no way he could hurt her like this. Love didn’t work that way. Even friendship didn’t work like that.

She’d been safer in her shell.

“Why did you sleep with me? I offered to do the job without sex.” She was proud of how steady her voice was. She was calm again. This wasn’t anything that hadn’t happened to her before. It would likely happen again unless she simply shut down.

“I told you. I was training you to obey me. The easiest way to ensure a woman’s compliance is to make her happy in bed. It’s so much easier if the woman’s never had a real lover. It wasn’t some grand romance, Penelope. It’s part of my job.”

And she knew what he would do for his job. He would kill himself for it so sleeping with a woman he found a bit distasteful was likely simple for him.

He’d needed someone pliable, someone smart but naïve. If she looked at it logically, she was rather perfect.

“Are you all right? You went pale. Do you need to sit down?” Damon was looking at her with something akin to pity.

“I’m fine. I believe I’ll go to my desk and clear it out.”

He frowned. “You’re not fired, Miss Cash.”

“Oh, Mr. Knight, I do believe I quit. I expect my belongings back in my home by tonight.” She turned to Nigel, praying she got through the next few minutes with some semblance of dignity. “Thank you for everything, sir. I’m sorry it ended like this.”

Nigel sat down, shaking his head. “I told you this was a bloody bad idea, Knight. I really hope you’re happy with yourself.”

“Damon, we have a problem.” Tennessee’s voice broke through her gloom, and she was suddenly deeply aware that she wasn’t alone with him. Two men had witnessed her humiliation.

Damon turned to him, every inch the competent agent. “Of course. We can discuss it after Penelope leaves. I would rather not compromise the mission further.”

Tennessee sighed. “You’ve already compromised it, and now we’re all royally screwed. He didn’t just kill Harris. He’s threatened to out undercover agents across the globe if you don’t show up with her.”

Nigel cursed under his breath. “Miss Cash, your resignation is rejected. You will keep your cover with Knight. You’ll be issued a sidearm this afternoon. Please don’t use it on him, though I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

Damon cursed.

She shook her head. “No. I can’t. I can’t be around him anymore.”

Nigel passed her the file. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to.”

With shaking hands, she took the file. “May I read it at my desk?”

“Of course. Take a few moments.” Nigel nodded her way. “But I really can’t let you leave.”

She turned and walked out the door. She was suddenly afraid there was no way out of the trap. None at all.

Damon called out for her, but she kept walking. She might not be done with the operation, but she was certainly done with him.

Tears blurred her eyes, but she brushed them away as she sat down and opened the file. It was time to work. If there was one thing in the world Penelope Cash understood, it was duty.

Chapter Nine

Damon let the door slam shut before rounding on Tennessee Smith. He was killing mad. Her face. Her sweet face had gone blank and he’d known he’d just destroyed something lovely and fragile. Now Ten just happened to mention that it was all for nothing?

“You couldn’t have said something when you walked past the bloody door?”

Ten just smirked. “Hey, I always like a little drama, man.”

Damon got in his face. “Do you understand what you did?”

“I understand what you did. I understand that you fucked that girl and then broke her heart. That was quite easy to see. Don’t worry about it. Baz’ll probably kill her, but then you won’t give a shit. She’s just a pawn, right?”

Rage boiled and he couldn’t stop himself. He reared back and his fist met Ten’s jaw. He was satisfied with the way his hand cracked, the way Ten stumbled back.

Ten dropped his usual charming-guy act, his eyes hardening. “I’ll take that once, Knight, because I think you just figured out how much you fucked up your own life, but don’t try it again. You won’t like the outcome.”

“Knight, you will stand down!” Nigel got between the two of them, his face a bright red. “I told you it was a bad idea.”

“I was trying to protect her.” He couldn’t let Baz have her. He couldn’t allow it. Since Baz seemed determined to take everything Damon gave a damn about, he couldn’t keep Penelope. Baz had killed Jane without a thought, but he would likely torture Penelope. He would make her hurt.

“You protected her by ripping her heart out and stomping all over it in front of everyone?” Ten asked.

“I had to. You don’t understand her. She wouldn’t have left me.” Penelope would have stood by his side no matter what the cost. She was brave and smart, and for some reason, she’d started to love him. He wasn’t a fool. He knew she was attracted to him. He’d used it to his advantage, but it wasn’t until a few moments ago that he realized how deep her feelings went. She’d declared to everyone that Baz couldn’t break them up, that she was here for him.

He believed her.

Which was why he had to let her go.

Ten snorted, his hand rubbing along his jawline. “It didn’t occur to you to talk to her about the situation? To sit her down and give her your logic?”

“She wouldn’t have left me.” She would have found a way. She hadn’t left him in the Tube station despite his direct orders. Baz could have taken her out while she held his unconscious body.

“Well, I doubt she’ll give a damn about you now.” Nigel moved back to his desk. “What a bloody mess. We need her. Do we know how thoroughly compromised we are?”

Ten glared his way but took a seat across from Nigel. “He doesn’t specify which operation he’s targeting, but he mentioned Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have twenty operatives in those countries under various covers. Some of them have been working their way into terrorist cells for years. If we have to pull them, it’s a massive setback.”

“That’s unfortunate.” Damon couldn’t sit. He was too tightly wound. He’d wanted Ten to hit him back, wanted a brutal fight. His hands were still clenched in fists thinking about Penelope sitting out there alone. She’d gone pale. He’d thought for a moment she might faint. “You’re going to have to pull them all. SIS doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.”

“That’s not your call, Knight.” Nigel leaned back. “He’s threatening our operations, too.”

“Do you still think he’s working for the Chinese?” Damon couldn’t resist the gibe. “Do you think the Chinese are behind any of this?”

“I think it doesn’t matter who he’s working for. It could all be a bluff, but after realizing our tech department’s been compromised, I can’t call him on it. I need you to meet with him. You have to figure out what he wants and if it has anything to do with the operation on the boat. Given that he’s planning on meeting you somewhere in Northern Europe, I would say he does have something to do with this whole Nature’s Core mess.”

“He told me he wanted to talk about the operation when he cornered me in the Tube.” And if Baz was involved, then The Collective was involved. How was The Collective involved with an environmental group?

“All the more reason to run the operation as planned,” Nigel explained. “Beyond that, I need you to give me time to figure out what he knows.”

“And when we have everything we need on him?”

Nigel’s eyes narrowed, staring right into his. “Then I need you to kill him.”

Finally someone was talking sense. “Of course.” That was a forgone conclusion. He would make it his life’s mission to see Baz in the ground. “But Penelope is out of this. And I want those photos destroyed.”

His vision had misted over with a red haze of anger when he’d seen the photo Baz had left with his directive.
Tell Damon I want to talk to him or this continues. I’ll get him instructions on time and place. And he should bring his whore with him.

The photo had been grainy, a still from a video. The bug on her bag had caught them in the act. Penelope’s legs were spread, his hand on her pussy, her pretty face open. The moment of her orgasm. It was ingrained on his brain. He would very likely die thinking about it. It was their intimate moment, the first time he’d been with her.

And Baz had put it out there for everyone to see. Like it was a porno.

That was what he planned for Penelope. Humiliation and death. He couldn’t allow it to happen. She was more than an asset. She was…

He wasn’t even sure of what he felt. He simply knew that she wasn’t safe around him. His first job was to protect Penelope. Somehow she’d become important.

“She’s going on the op, Knight. Nigel promised my bosses that you would take care of this.” Ten glared Nigel’s way. “Get control of your people. I’m going to talk to Tag, but I fully expect that blonde out there on Knight’s arm when he goes to meet Champion. Losing those agents would set US intelligence back by years.”

“It won’t be a party for us either,” Nigel shot back. “We will take care of it.”

Ten stopped, staring at Damon for a moment. “He screwed the girl over. I doubt she’s going to help us out.”

“She will,” Nigel replied with surety. “She’s been with SIS for a long time. She’ll do her job. Miss Cash is loyal.”

Yes, she was. Which was exactly why he’d had to break with her in a way that would bust her loyalty to him.

She would have walked beside him into hell, and he couldn’t allow that. “She’s not coming with me. I won’t do the job with her. Do you understand me? I will not work with that woman.”

“Is there any way we could find someone who looks like me? I would be willing to spend time with her so she could get my mannerisms down.” Penelope stepped into the room, the folder against her chest as though she thought it was a wall to protect her. “If Mr. Knight won’t deign to work with me, I’ll do whatever I can to help out. I understand how important this is.”

Naturally, she’d heard the worst. And his stupid cock didn’t care that he’d blown their relationship to hell. His idiotic dick just knew she’d walked in the room and called him Mr. Knight in her soft, polite voice, like he was some character out of a bloody Jane Austen novel. He wanted to hear her call him Mr. Knight while he shoved his cock in her arse.