CHAPTER THREE

      Damian

      STUNNING. EXQUISITE. BREATHTAKING.

      Three inadequate words that sprung to mind when I first saw Neve Nolan in my hotel bar two years ago.

      Three words that still didn’t do justice to the woman staring me down with fire in her eyes and determination etched into her captivating face.

      My unfettered reaction to her then had propelled me to do the unthinkable. I’d dropped my guard. Put myself in a situation I’d known I’d regret the next morning without taking into account how much. Or the mess it would create in the wake of slowly uncovering the truth of what had happened the night I’d supposedly betrayed Gideon.

      The growing possibility that I might have been drugged by someone I’d trusted had fucked me up worse than I’d imagined.

      Long before that night in Boston, trust had been a shitty mirage I’d given up on. Once upon a time I’d had an innocent child’s trust that my parents would stick around, deliver a modicum of care and attention in a family seething in dysfunction and strife. They hadn’t.

      My only truth was hard work and the bone-deep knowledge that everyone in my life had an agenda and a price.

      Unsurprising, therefore, that I’d been in a worse than dire mood when Neve had crossed my path.

      I’d been reeling from the possibility that there might not be a way of repairing the bridges I’d burned, and my encounter with Neve couldn’t have come at a worse time. Compounding my mistakes by repeating them, by succumbing to that filthy temptation when I should’ve hit the button for my penthouse suite instead of the one that led to Suite 6799... Well, that had been yet another demon I’d been prepared to live with.

      But regardless of my personal foibles, I wasn’t a Mortimer in name only. Regardless of my mood, I’d achieved what I’d gone to Boston to do—assess the viability of merging one of Mortimer Group’s smaller but hugely successful companies with Cahill Hotels, and a lesser known outfit. I’d advised Cahill to reject the bid from Cephei in favour of another hotel chain who were a better fit. The Cahill deal was one of many successes that had fattened the family coffers while I’d continued to search for truth and answers.

      Now, three long years later, my investigators had exhausted every avenue to find the evidence of Penny’s treachery.

       Now Gideon would be forced to listen.

      Acid bitterness bit deep, as it did every time I remembered the consequences of letting down my guard.

      That particular mushroom cloud still hung above my head, contaminating my every interaction. My family hadn’t exactly shunned me, but it was probably because they didn’t know the full truth.

      I sucked in a breath, pulled myself together and refocused on Neve.

      She’d signed on the dotted line to participate in Raider’s Den before I had been made aware of her involvement. By then it had been too late to...what? Get her thrown off the show? Further complicate my life with a possible lawsuit?

      She wasn’t thrilled to see me. Perhaps I could use that to keep her at arm’s length despite the havoc her close proximity was already wreaking on my libido. Because it was becoming clear that my chaos-loving demons might have severely compromised my judgment when we’d first met, but my body’s unfettered reaction to her when I’d walked into this room today was brazen evidence that the chemistry that’d compelled me to her suite that night still raged strong.

      Hell, she was even more spectacular now than she’d been two years ago. My dick had surged to life at the first sight of her, and the damn thing hadn’t subsided since.

       Well, too bloody bad.

      I was done empire-building on this side of the Atlantic.

      My mouth twisted at the thought of what Great-Grandfather Mortimer would’ve made of my particular situation. Probably slapped me on the back with pride that I could still make millions for the family trust even with betrayal staining my bones, my personal life in shreds and my soul in tatters.

      I stared into the slate-blue eyes assessing me. She was up to something. The fire burned too bright in her eyes, for starters.

      Unfortunately that fire only reminded me of the blaze we’d created, the thrilling noises she’d made when I’d fucked her. As crashing and burning went, the all-night-long fucking in her suite had singed deep, left an indelible mark on my cracked soul.

      To make matters worse,