Chapter 16: Irony of Ruin
Ethan had already hung up the phone before his secretary could finish her report.
Bankruptcy?
Prison?
Suicide?
How intriguing.
He glanced down at Lily's sleeping form, his lips curling in a mocking sneer. It seemed she was no longer a proud princess, but a fallen heiress.
How the mighty had fallen...
The corners of Ethan's mouth twitched into a wicked smirk as his fingers danced over her exposed thigh, tracing a path up towards the juncture between her legs. Teasingly slow, he skated his fingertips along the sensitive inside of her thighs, smirking at the hitched breath and shuddering gasp she emitted.
Lily squirmed beneath his touch, her body instinctively seeking more. Her emerald eyes were wide, pupils blown with arousal mixed with fear. However, it was evident from her sharp intake of breath and the light tremors that ran through her body; she was far from unaffected by his touches.
She had actually passed out.
Not only had she failed to obtain the video, but she had also been thoroughly violated once again.
She had practically gift-wrapped herself for him, offering herself up on a silver platter. Lily, you utter fool.
"Be my mistress until I tire of you," Ethan's sudden proposal caught her off guard, his eyes boring into hers like twin pools of inky darkness. "One hundred thousand a month."
"You're insane!" Lily spat, throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed. It was only then that she realized she was wearing a bathrobe. Modesty be damned, she snatched up her jeans and began to put them on.
"You want celebrity gossip, don't you? For every night you spend with me, I'll give you an exclusive scoop."
His deep, seductive voice stopped her in her tracks, one leg halfway into her jeans.
Lily couldn't explain why she hesitated. By all rights, she should have slapped him across the face without a second thought for his outrageous proposition. But she wavered...
The terms he offered were simply too tempting to dismiss out of hand. With a steady supply of juicy exclusives, the magazine could quickly rise from the ashes, profits pouring in. Her uncle would no longer have to walk on eggshells around his wife...
But Lily... did she truly comprehend the price she would have to pay? She would be selling herself.
Selling her body to a monster...
She was considering it?
Ethan watched her stiffen, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips. Women were nothing more than commodities on a shelf, distinguished only by their price tag.
Lily, a haughty heiress who had fallen from grace, was no exception.
"You're a smart girl. The long-term profits from those exclusives are worth far more than a mere hundred thousand. And my interest in you likely won't last more than three weeks." He moved to sit behind her, his arm snaking around her waist as his palm cupped her breast through the thin fabric of her robe. His voice was a rough, honeyed purr in her ear, "Shall we draw up a contract?"
Lily's heart raced, her skin crawling at his touch. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to run, to flee from this devil's bargain.
But a small, insidious voice whispered in the back of her mind, urging her to consider the benefits. The magazine, her uncle's livelihood, their future...
Could she sacrifice her dignity, her self-respect, for the greater good? Could she bear to submit to this man's twisted desires, to be used and discarded like a cheap plaything?
The choice loomed before her, a yawning abyss that threatened to swallow her whole.