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Hey babes! So below is chapter one of the series that I’m about to finish! Let me know your thoughts…
My relationship dies today.
Donât get me wrongâI donât get off on breaking hearts, and Iâm definitely not a cold-hearted bitch. Well, at least most of the times.
Today, though, is a special occasion: Iâll get paid to break a heart and be a cold-hearted bitch.
âHereâs fine,â I tell my driver, leaning forward and gently laying my hand on his shoulder. With a quick nod, he pulls up to the curb and jumps out of the driverâs seat to get my door. Stepping outside, I use my hand to shield my eyes from the morning sun, a smile spreading across my lips.
What a beautiful day to kick ass.
âI wonât be long, Mark.â I let my gaze wander toward the apartment building right in front of me, my eyes drawn to one of the windows on the 17th floor. My floor. Or Peterâs, really. Both our names are on the contract, at least for a couple of hours more. After Iâm through with this, the first thing Iâm going to do is cross my name off the lease.
âGood luck, Ms. King.â Tipping his hat off at me, Mark lets a knowing expression take over his face.
âDonât need it,â I reply, taking a deep breath as I ready myself. âBut thank you.â
With that, I start my march toward the apartment building.
Cue the music and pay attentionâthis is my intro shot.
Louboutins on my feet, Hermes bag in my hands.
A smile on my face, and ice on my heart.
The nameâs Alexa King, and Iâm the best damn fixer there is.
Never heard of me? Donât worry, Iâm not in the fame game. Iâm too busy cracking skulls and fixing problems to worry about having my face on the cover of some vapid magazine.
Those who matter, they all know my name.
Most times I work in the shadows, operating behind the scenes, and thatâs how most my clients prefer it. When you spend most of your day sweeping issues under a proverbial rug, the shadows quickly become your best friend.
See, whenever someone important needs a problem to go away, itâs me they call. Curiously enough, Iâm the last person they call. Not because Iâm not good at my job, but because Iâm the best at it. After all, you only call for the big guns after youâve already hit the emergency button.
âGood morning, Ms. King,â the doorman greets me as he pushes the door open.
âGood morning,â I greet him in return. âIs Peter still in?â
âYes, he is, maâam.â
Good.
Thereâs nothing better than going home for a quick visit during the morning and have your long-term boyfriend already there, waiting for you. Especially when youâre planning to break-up with himâIâd hate to come home just to head out again and look for his sorry ass.
When I finally get to my floor, I hesitate before sliding the key into the lock. Shifting my weight from one foot to the other, I consider the best way to approach the situation. Peterâs ass has to go, thereâs no doubt about itâIâm just not sure on what the best approach is. Do I put him down gently, or do I go in hard?
âGo hard,â I mutter under my breath, solving that riddle in half a second. The fact heâs my boyfriend should award him a few compassion points, but I really donât careâheâs the one that screwed up. Besides, Iâve never really understood why I started to date him in the first place.
Maybe it was his easy smile, or his confident attitude.
Maybe I thought it was time for me to settle down.
Either way, Peter Rivera was a mistake from the start. Iâm not in the habit of making mistakes, but Iâm damn good at fixing them. Itâs time I fix this one as well.
Not that any of this is personal…itâs just business, babe.
Peter Rivera, my soon-to-be-ex, is Maxxon Oilâs anointed heir. The only son of Anthony Rivera, the founder and owner of one of the biggest oil companies operating in the western hemisphere, Peter is bound to inherit the whole company and a cool two billion when his father finally passes. Thing is, Peter doesnât like to wait. Even though heâs already on Maxxon Oilâs executive board, heâs an impatient one.
I just had no idea how impatient.
No more than a week ago, I was hired by one of Maxxon Oilâs rivals company to make a problem go away: someone was extorting their own executives, using all kinds of compromising material to have them give up on a bid for a drilling site. I did some digging, and it turned out my sweet corrupt boyfriend was the one behind it. He was planning to create a subsidiary for himself, one from which all profits would flow into his own pocket, and he was looking to secure the first drilling site by twisting arms and pressuring people.
That ends today.
In just a few minutes, Iâm gonna lay him flat on his ass, and then Iâm going to call my client and tell him that the problemâs solved. After that? Collect my check, and move on. In this line of business, feelings just get in the way.
âPeter,â I start as I open the door. âWe need toââ
âYES, MISTRESS!â Peter groans, his voice almost a scream. âIâve been very bad, and I deserve to be punished.â
Well, shit.
With both hands on my hips, I narrow my eyes and take in the scene in front of me. Peterâs on all fours on the floor, wearing nothing but his boxers and socks, and thereâs the heel of a leather boot sitting right between his shoulder blades. A boot belonging to a woman clad in tight leather, a punishing expression on her face and an even more punishing looking riding-whip on her right hand.
âAm I interrupting?â I ask as I slam the door shut. Thatâs enough to get Peterâs attention. He looks up at me, his eyes widening as he realizes I just caught him cheating on me with what looks like a BDSM biker from hell.
âAlexa?â The moment he says my name he falls back on his ass. âI thought youâd be working all day. You said thatââ
âThat I had an assignment, yes. Turns out, the assignmentâs you.â
âWhat…is going on?â The woman standing in the middle of our living room asks, looking from Peter to me, the whip hanging limply from her hand. âYou never told me anything about a third party, Mr. Rivera. Thatâll cost you more.â
âOh, you have no idea how much itâll cost him,â I tell the woman, doing my best not to grin. I should be crushed right nowâI just caught my boyfriend cheating on me with a BDSM escort, after allâbut I feel elated instead. âYou can leave now.â
The woman looks at me, trying to decode the whole situation, but then ends up shrugging. She grabs a long coat from the couch, throws it over her shoulders and ties it at the front, hiding all the leather from view. As she walks past me and toward the door, I reach for her shoulders and make her stop.
âIâll take it from here,â I tell her, grabbing the whip from her hands.
âWell, I already got paid,â she shrugs, throwing me an apologetic look. With that, she finally turns around and leaves, the sound of the door closing making this whole situation feel even more surreal.
âSo, what were you saying?â I ask Peter, walking toward him as I smack the tip of the whip against the palm of my left hand. âYouâve been bad and deserve to be punished…is that it?â
âAlexa,â he starts, using his feet to push himself back across the floor, only stopping when his back is against the couch. âI can explain. Sheâs just a friend, andââ
âShut the fuck up, Peter,â I growl, taking one more step forward. Peterâs eyes fly straight to the whip in my hands, and fear starts pooling in his eyes. âIâll be the one doing the explaining. To start with, the two of us…weâre done. Itâs over.â
âWhat?â He stammers. âPlease, Alexa, I know youâre mad about this, butââ
âIâm mad about this, donât doubt it. But Iâm not breaking up with you because of it.â
âNo?â
âNo,â I grin. âIâm breaking up with you because I just found out youâre a criminal. Youâve been extorting and bribing your way into the oil business. Yeah, I know about your dealings. Youâve been trying to get the Angolan government to rig the bidding for one of their oil wells, and youâve been blackmailing the best-positioned company, doing your damn best to have them drop out of the race.â
âHow the hell do you know about that?â
âThatâs my job,â I continue. âTo know things.â
âThatâs just business. And thatâs how it has to be done! Iâm just trying toââ
âLine your own pockets?â I finish his sentence for him. âBecause thatâs what it looks like. How much of an idiot can you be, Peter? Youâre well positioned inside Maxxon Oil, and youâll inherit the whole thing anyway. But you donât like waiting, do you? You want all the money you can get, and you want it now.â
âIââ
The moment he opens his mouth, I bring the tip of the whip down, using it to smack the floor between his legs, one single inch away from his balls.
âDid I give you permission to speak?â
He looks up at me, fear in his eyes, and says nothing.
Good.
âHereâs whatâs going to happen, Peter,â I continue, slowly moving the tip of the whip toward his balls. As I brush it over the fabric of his boxers, Peter starts growing pale, his whole body tensing up. âYouâre going to stop extorting and blackmailing my client, and youâll get your ass out of Angola right now. If you donât, I wonât even bother with leaking this to the media…Iâll just tell your father.â
âMy father?â If he was pale before, now heâs as white as the snow-capped Everest. He knows that if his father finds out heâs is doing business illegally, the first thing thatâs going to happen is Peter is going to lose his position inside the company…as well as his whole inheritance.
âThatâs right,â I nod, pressing down on his balls with the whip until the white in his face starts being taken over by a faint blue. Is he going to pass out? âAnd this is my final warning. Stop what youâre doing, or youâll be living inside a cardboard box in just a few days. If not jail.â
âY-yes,â he stammers once more, furiously nodding at me.
âSay âyes, mistressâ,â I whisper, leaning forward and transferring some of my weight down the length of the whip. Did I say he was getting blue in the face? Letâs go with purple now.
âYES, MISTRESS!â He screams, closing his eyes in pain.
âGood boy,â I grin, finally easing the pressure. âThis is the last time youâre going to see me, Peter. Donât come looking for me, donât call me, and donât text me. And, oh, donât send me any creepy Snapchats either. I know you think theyâre funny but, newsflash, theyâre not.â
âBut I love you,â he whispers meekly, and that just irks me. I bring down the whip hard, using its small but vicious tip to slap his balls. He howls in pain, the expression on his face almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. Keyword being almost.
âAnd thatâs the last time youâll ever say that to me,â I snap back at him. âTry it one more time and youâll lose your balls for good.â
With that, I throw the whip on top of the couch and leave the apartment, Peterâs cries of pain following me all the way to the elevator. I donât care. From this moment on, Peterâs part of the past.
With a sigh, I grab my phone from inside my purse and press it against my ear. âItâs done,â I tell the voice on the other side of the line. âIâll invoice you.â
Kicking ass and taking namesâthereâs no better way to spend the day. Especially when youâre the best at what you do and get paid handsomely for it.
Thereâs something bothering me, though.
Peter was cheating on me, and I didnât see it coming. No, Iâm not sad about the breakup or the cheating…itâs just that my intuition has never failed me before like this. Any other time and I wouldâve seen it coming from miles away.
Am I losing my edge? Am I growing soft?
Did I miss the signs?
No, thatâs impossible. I just need to prove myself that I havenât lost it, that Iâm at the top of my game.
Itâs time I get myself a real challenge.
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