Revenge Forsaken Read online

  On some level, she’d already divorced the idea of Victor being her father but if he truly didn’t share any DNA with her…

  That would absolve me of all the fears I had that I was carrying some part of him in me.

  “We could arrange for a DNA test,” Remy suggested. “Find out the truth.”

  She swallowed and nodded as he closed the door and took his seat on the driver’s side.

  “Yes,” she murmured. “I would like that.”

  He smiled and nodded, starting the SUV before turning to her.

  “Since we’re on the subject of Victor,” Remy offered. “There is a federal case against him once he’s caught.”

  Olive’s eyes widened.

  “Federal?”

  “It turns out he’s pissed off a lot more people than we realized.”

  Olive sighed heavily.

  “What good is jail time going to do? He’s ripped off so many people, Rem—you’re out so much money…”

  “It’s only money,” Remy told her softly and she groaned.

  “That’s a nice sentiment but it’s a lot of money.”

  He turned fully to face her and shook his head.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “It’s a lot of money but you want to know what?”

  “What?”

  “If your father hadn’t done this, I would have never met you, would I?”

  “How romantic,” she groaned. “Don’t downplay it. You must be pissed off about this, Remy.”

  “I was,” he conceded. “I was very pissed off. But I learned something really important in all this.”

  She eyed him with raised brows.

  “Which is?”

  “Which is, no matter what happens, I will never be Victor Chaminga. I will never be a man who will sacrifice the love of his family for the love of money. I will never abandon those who care about me to save my own neck.”

  “You better not,” Olive laughed but her heart welled with emotion. She heard the sincerity in his words and she believed everything he said.

  “Moreover, I learned to start avoiding calls from old Army buddies,” Remy cracked and Olive punched him in the bicep.

  “All but Luke,” she replied.

  “All but Luke,” he agreed, leaning forward to kiss her on the mouth. When they parted, he continued to stare into her eyes.

  “What?” she demanded. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “I was just thinking about what your mom said.”

  “About Victor?”

  “About my junk.”

  “Oh God, Remy!”

  He snickered and kissed her mouth again.

  “About maybe how we shouldn’t wait until you’re done with art school or until the new studio is finished. Maybe we should start trying for a baby now.”

  Her eyes brightened.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah,” he conceded, dropping another kiss on her nose.

  Olive exhaled in a breath and closed her eyes as Remy started the car.

  Could this be real? She wondered. Because I’ve never been this happy before.

  But as Remy’s fingers closed over hers, she knew it was no dream. For once in her life, Olive was truly, blissfully, safe - and even more importantly, loved.

  Sneak peek at Book 1 “Revenge Unleashed” by Chloe Fischer

  “Sweetheart, do I look like I scare easily?” he growled, his bemusement gone. “I served in the army for five years—in the action. I’m an MMA fighter. You might want to take a different approach if you’re trying to come at me.”

  Meredith cocked her head to the side.

  “Fear comes in many forms, Mr. Vaughan,” she replied quietly. “It doesn’t matter how physically strong one might be, everyone has their weaknesses. Any good comic book will tell you that.”

  His lips parted for a moment and Meredith was suddenly worried she had gone too far.

  “You graduated suma cum laude from University of Michigan. You’ve been groomed to take over the company. Isn’t that why you went to one of the best business schools in the country?” she asked quickly, trying to change the subject.

  “You know me so well, don’t you, Ms. Maddox.” The scorn in his voice changed the sentence from a question, to a sarcastic statement. It took her aback and she just barely stopped herself from replying snidely. He was a conundrum of opposing emotions beneath a stark, composed exterior. It was no wonder that his presence couldn’t quite be captured in a photograph.

  “I didn’t come here to fight with you, Mr. Vaughan,” she told him softly.

  He scoffed and sat back, the glimmer of anger fading from his eyes.

  “Then you might want to start calling me Luke and not ‘Mr. Vaughan.’ I happen to despise that name.”

  “Luke,” she agreed.

  Understanding how he felt about his father might come in handy later.

  “Call me Meredith.”

  Begrudgingly, he nodded and Mer smiled at him.

  “Let me try this again,” she offered. “I don’t know what my father said to you to turn you off of the idea of taking over the company which your father left you, but I want to explain some of the more humane aspects of what’s at stake here.”

  “And what makes you think I give a shit?” Luke asked conversationally, finally flopping back comfortably. He folded his arms over his chest, drawing Meredith’s eyes toward his hard pecs.

  Stop it! It’s not like I can run my tongue over those right now. But if I did, would it shock him or would he just guide my head down along the ridges of—

  “That’s what I thought,” Luke snorted and Meredith realized with great humiliation that she had been gawking at him without answering.

  “You don’t care about your father’s company? I mean, it was something you had all around you growing up, something—”

  “Meredith, you’re beginning to remind me of your father,” Luke barked at her. “Did you come here to say something different or—”

  “Did my father tell you what would happen if the company dissolves?”

  “Oh no! You mean I won’t get my mitts on the billions that Carter squirreled away? That sounds awful. If only I had learned some way to take care of myself without his help all these years!”

  Meredith almost smiled at the mock horror in his tone, as she looked around the elegantly decorated living room.

  “You don’t seem to be failing, Luke, but surely you can always do better. I know you live for a challenge.”

  “Lady, you really are not coming at me the right way,” Luke hissed and Meredith realized he wasn’t lying.

  I need to change tactics. I need to disarm him, but how? He’s so fucking hostile all the time.

  “Forget about your money,” she said quickly. “Maybe you don’t care about that, but what about the thousands of people who are going to lose their jobs when the company gets dissolved, Luke?”

  “Not my problem. Maybe they shouldn’t have worked for such an unholy bastard.”

  Meredith scoffed.

  “Really? You think that people who need jobs are busy investigating the CEO of the company they work for? Seriously? Did you thoroughly investigate the US Army when you took a job with them because, have I got news for you—”

  “Enough!” Luke barked, his jaw clenching hard, and Meredith saw that she had struck a nerve, pointing out his callous statement.

  “Thousands of people are going to be displaced, Luke,” she told him simply. “I don’t know what the beef was with you and your father, but he’s gone now. Whatever the bad blood was about, it shouldn’t affect the employees and family members who have nothing to do with this feud.”

  Luke was quiet for a long moment, staring at her almost accusingly for several seconds.

  I’m getting through to him. I did it! Without seducing him! Her libido started to write a letter of complaint, but inside her mind, she was proud that she was making headway on her own...wasn’t she?

  She was growing hotter and hotter under
her clothes, each glare he administered making Meredith want to feel his strong body over hers, pinning her down.

  Breathe. Focus on your breathing before you orgasm right in front of him.

  “Your five minutes are up.”

  Her breath caught in her throat and she stared at him in shock.

  “What?”

  “Your time is up,” he told her flatly, rising from his place on the sofa. He extended an arm for her to go and she gaped at him, unmoving.

  “You’re not going to consider it even?” she asked in disbelief. “You don’t care about those people?”

  He sauntered toward her and paused, towering over her to cast a shadow on her curvy frame.

  “I care about my people,” he spat. “That’s why I make efforts to take care of my people. If Carter couldn’t be bothered to take care of his own, why should I have to clean up his mess?”

  The bitterness in his tone pierced through her and regret flooded her body as she slowly stood. She couldn’t be sure if it was his nearness or the devastating blow that he had delivered, but suddenly, Meredith was finding it difficult to focus.

  “I’m going to leave my card,” she mumbled, defeat sweeping through her as she reached into her Prada handbag and scrawled her cell on the back of her business card. “You can call me any time if you change your mind.”

  “I won’t,” he assured her, turning away. But before he could move, she reached out to grab him, pressing the card against his palm.

  He flinched as if she had struck him and started back, dropping the card on the floor.

  “I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “I-I was just giving you my card.”

  “You should go,” he told her flatly, stalking away quickly and leaving Meredith no choice but to follow him.

  She paused to pick up the card off the floor and leave in on the coffee table. When she caught up with him in the foyer, he was standing at the door with it open, his eyes fixed on her.

  That’s it? That can’t be it!

  But Luke didn’t say another word as Meredith walked toward him and she was at a loss for something to say.

  “Luke—” she started to say, an apology ready to spring from her lips. She couldn’t be sure why she felt like she needed to say sorry.

  “Nice meeting you, Meredith,” he told her, but he didn’t meet her eyes. And then the door closed.

  She stood in the hallway, feeling like she had the female equivalent of blue balls somehow.

  What had she done?

  Also by Chloe Fischer

  The MAFIA BOSSES Series:

  Book 1 Taking My Mafia Princess

  Book 2 Breaking the Law

  Book 3 Taken by the Mafia Boss

  BODYGUARDS & BILLIONAIRES (the boxset)

  These hot alpha men will do whatever it takes to protect the women who belong to them.

  Even if it means being an a$$hole first.

  BLACKMAIL- Diren vowed never to let another treacherous b*tch into his heart. Until Ayla showed him a pure kind of sweetness. But when he finds out she's the most treacherous b*tch of all, he swears to make her pay. Ayla's caught between a rock and a hard place. She's being forced to blackmail the man she's quickly falling in love with. If he finds out, he'll never forgive her...

  BREAKING MY CHAINS -she traded being bound by her virginity, to being bound by him...

  PROTECT HER - His best friend's little sister. His damn kryptonite. But when his buddy asks him to protect his baby sister for awhile, he can't say no, can he? It'll be okay, he's disciplined. He can control this, right? But what he really wants to do is control her...

  PROTECT ME - Mark accepts a bodyguard position for a weekend protecting spoiled rich girl Mia. How hard can it be? But then the mouthy socialite escapes from him the first chance she gets. Yeah, that's right. She. Runs. Away. After he saves her from her a vicious kidnapper, he is SO going to teach her a lesson.

  PREVIEW FOR ‘BLACKMAIL’ BY CHLOE FISCHER

  Diren Benning gritted his teeth in irritation and glanced at his Piaget watch for the third time.

  Diren Benning gritted his teeth in irritation and glanced at his Piaget watch for the third time. It was six twenty-five.

  Is she going to piss me off first thing on a Monday morning? He wondered. Diren did not abide tardiness, and people learned that lesson fast.

  I don’t have time for this shit this morning.

  A small part of him realized that she still had five minutes to go, but as the next two minutes passed, he grew even angrier, as if she was already late.

  A knock on the door drew his head up.

  “Come in,” he snapped. As the frosted glass swung inward, he was already speaking.

  “You should know I don’t take kindly to waiting - ” he stopped in midsentence as a gorgeous tanned woman stood peering at him from the doorway with apologetic blue eyes.

  “You’re not Sloane,” he heard himself say accusingly in surprise.

  She shook her long layers, a stray strand falling over her eye.

  “No, Mr. Benning. I’m Ayla Dumas, your new assistant,” she told him, stepping forward tentatively.

  There was a demureness about her which Diren found intriguing – and uncommon.

  Is it demureness or is she hiding something?

  It was not an unusual question to enter his mind. Diren’s gut reactions to people were rarely off and had served him well in business. And he always started out with distrust.

  You don’t become a billionaire by ignoring your intuition, he thought.

  “What are you doing here so early?” he demanded. “Catrina won’t be in the office until eight.”

  “I know, sir, but I wanted to get my bearings before she arrived,” Ayla explained quickly. “I – I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I just wanted to let you know I was here if you needed anything.”

  He eyed her with stoic, slate irises, his gaze trailing down her red silk blouse toward the fitted charcoal pants that hugged her curves perfectly, then slowly back up to her high cheekbones and slightly tilted eyes.

  Great tits, perfect face. I’m sure she and I will have many…interesting times together, he thought. I just hope she’s not as slow as some of the others have been.

  She waited, unspeaking despite the long, tense silence which seemed to ensue between them.

  “I loathe the color red on women,” he told her flatly. “It’s whorish. Don’t wear it again in the office.”

  He relished the look of surprise which crossed over her face and for a fleeting second, he noted her jawline twitch in defiance.

  “Of course, Mr. Benning,” she replied sharply, turning to leave.

  Before she could move, Sloane barrelled past her in a swirl of Christian Dior perfume and Versace couture.

  “You’re late,” Diren snarled at the bleached blonde.

  She laughed merrily, turning to address Ayla, who stood uncertainly at the threshold.

  “Ah,” Sloane cooed. “Is this your latest trollop? Go along, tart, and fetch me a cappuccino.”

  She waved her hand dismissively and turned back to Diren.

  Through his peripheral vision, he saw the new girl’s mouth become a fine line.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied evenly. “I’ve not yet started in my official capacity, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to do that for you – legally speaking, you understand. I think the espresso bar is that way though.”

  Ayla gestured into the outer office but did not wait for Sloane to reply before turning and walking away, her back straight and her chin raised, leaving Diren’s ex-wife to gape after her in shock.

  “Did that little bitch just tell me to get it myself?” she squealed and Diren swallowed a smile.

  If it had been any other visitor, Diren would have fired Ayla on the spot, but there was something truly sweet about watching Sloane’s face twist into a mask of fury as she tried to process the word “no”.

  Maybe that girl isn’t as innocent as she looks, he thought. He would deal wit
h his new assistant later.

  “We have to talk about my alimony,” Sloane announced, flopping onto the settee as if she had already forgotten being slighted. “And I need a coffee. Diren, go get me a coffee!”

  He snorted and sat behind his desk, turning to his computer screen.

  “Sloane, you are not getting one more penny out of me for alimony,” he told her flatly. “These monthly visits are becoming tiresome. And next time you gun for one of these pointless meetings, stop at Starbucks beforehand like the rest of New York.”

  They had been divorced for more than a decade but that didn’t stop his ex from crying persecution at every chance and to anyone who would listen.

  As his multi-billion-dollar empire grew, so did Sloane’s greed and she had tried several ways to extort more money from him.

  At first, Diren had found her attempts amusing.

  After all, she was grasping at straws. Their decree was ironclad, his attorney the best that New York had to offer.

  Yet Sloane seemed fixated on finding loopholes she had seen online or probing into some hint of a scandal, looking for ways to cash in on her desire to live the high life again.

  Sorry, baby, that ship sailed as soon as I realized who you were – and what you were capable of.

  As the inner door closed after Sloane’s departure, he touched the intercom.

  “Come in here, Lila,” he barked.

  The door reopened a second later and Ayla stood placidly in the doorway.

  “Yes, Mr. Benning?”

  He gestured with long, manicured fingers for her to enter.

  “Where did you come from?” he demanded.

  “First floor. Reception,” she answered. She did not offer any extra information. He cocked his head to the side and peered at her.

  “So you are aware that it is your job to have customer service skills,” he snapped after a long moment.

  “Of course, Mr. Benning,” she replied serenely, studying his face. Before Diren could continue his lecture, ready to berate her for the way she had spoken to Sloane, the girl continued.