Penance (Devout Trilogy #3) - Lesli Richardson Page 0,12

someone with a lot of deep ties told me to vote like that if I wanted to be able to leverage favors later.

For example, if I wanted help getting an amendment included in another bill up for debate. An amendment one of my father’s buddies is highly interested in seeing passed.

That shut my father up, shockingly enough. I didn’t think it’d be so easy to move him off his position, but it turns out the narcissist is completely controllable if you tap into the right transactional relationship dynamic.

Today will be a long day. I was over at Liam and Daniel’s house last night, and every bone in my body aches in good ways from the beating and fucking I received. I honestly don’t know what will happen in the future. There are times where I feel like Daniel is into me, and times where I feel like he’s simply using me as a pawn to get revenge on Liam.

Last night, I felt loved and cherished, like a future happiness might be possible, and it’s confusing as fuck. In some ways, Daniel reminds me of my father, but not in bad ways. I see the driven, ruthless side of him professionally. The man who knows how to bend the world to his will to get what he wants.

He’s a man juggling many balls, and I know I don’t want to run afoul of him either in the halls of Congress, or in the bedroom.

Once I’m through security and heading in the direction of my office, I feel my phone buzz.

My burner phone.

H. Now.

Shit. That’s Daniel’s code for meeting him at the hideaway.

I pivot mid-stride and change course. Two minutes later, I’m lightly rapping on the door for him to unlock it and admit me.

I’m barely allowed time to remove my coat and jacket before I’m bent over the desk and fucked. He must be mad at Liam this morning, because there’s a ferocity to his thrusts that nearly takes my breath away.

Accompanied by a cold emotional chill that’s in direct opposition to what I felt from him last night.

He also doesn’t jerk me off like he frequently does. So when he finishes and pulls out, I’m left standing there, panting, my trousers and briefs around my knees and my rock-hard erection dripping pre-cum.

I can’t help that I’ve been trained to enjoy this. That’s all Liam’s doing the better part of thirty years ago.

I don’t turn until I hear him zipping up. He uses wipes to remove the condom and clean up, and wads all the trash into a small plastic grocery bag. I clean up and zip up and pull on my jacket. After I grab my coat, he hands me the garbage to dispose of in a trash can somewhere else.

We never leave trash like this in here.

“I’ll think about letting you come later,” he says.

I follow him out and he locks the door behind us. As he starts to walk away, the words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. “How long do you make him pay? Take it out on me, if you want, but please don’t punish him.”

He stops and turns. “That’s not your call, is it, boy?”

“You’re eventually going to make him cut ties to me, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“Out me so I lose my ass in a divorce?”

Anger flashes across his features as he stalks back to me. He jabs me in the chest with a finger. “If you think a shitstorm might erupt if your secret gets out, it’s nothing compared to the absolute fucking Hell on earth I will make your life if you break my husband’s heart a second time. That’s not a threat, either—that’s a goddamned promise. You have some hard choices to make, and soon, asshole. You have a chance to have both of us and an authentic life, and a chance to finally be happy, or you can stay stuck in the closet and living a lie that’s making you miserable.”

Daniel leans in and his voice drops to a dangerous growl that, god help me, painfully hardens my cock even as it simultaneously terrifies me. “There’s always been three people in my marriage, Ward. Problem is, you’ve been AWOL for most of it. Now you’re finally back, and you’re still managing to fuck up his head and his heart. I’m here to tell you that changes now. I own you, and you’re going to obey me. It’s time you both stop throwing yourselves on swords and start adulting