The Guru: Shadow (Dark Triad #1)

32. Deis

32

DEIS

PLAYLIST: COME FOLLOW ME DOWN – GEORGE TAYLOR

H is finger trailed down her neck over her perfect, naked, and unconscious body. He knew she would be a wild one the moment he saw the flicker in her eyes as she pulled the trigger to kill her own father. But as he unwrapped her depth more every day, seeing, feeling, what she was willing to do, the endurance she had, the way she melted into his demands and obeyed, the way she just took what she wanted, it was more than a delightful surprise.

For whatever reason, she trusted him, let him even lose control to a certain degree, although they never talked about boundaries. Not that he had many, she obviously didn’t either. Although some boundaries could be quite the fuel to the fire, especially when there was a thin line to walk, the thrill of testing the boundaries broadened the experience.

“Em, wake up, ma belle ,” he whispered against her ear while her chest continuously lifted up and down in its slow and peaceful rhythm.

Slinging an arm around her, he pulled her towards him.

“Wake up, love.”

And he kissed her neck, her sweet, soft skin with that lovely scent of a fresh b reeze mingled with lavender it was like taking an early morning walk in the Provence.

It was such a weird and yet satisfying feeling to have her so close in his bed. No one had ever been in here, not even Delilah. With Emma, it was different. This entire moment was different. There was nothing he wanted. Nothing he needed. Nothing had to be planned, executed, or strategized. Right now, he just held the most precious form in his arms he had ever seen, felt, experienced. A warmth radiated through his body, filled with something he could not name. And as he dug his nose into her lavender-scented skin, a feeling of relief spread through him. Almost as if the chains holding him his whole life burst from his existence. In this blissful moment of being, it was as if him and her had become one. It could’ve stayed like that forever. Only they had to go back to what was happening outside of this bed.

“Em, might ruin the moment, but we really need to get back to everything.”

“War room?”

“War room.”

Her sleepy groan was so relatable.

When they entered the war room ten minutes later, it was a mess. PR was a nightmare. Not unsolvable, but his decision to release had snowballed into something unmanageable, even with his resources. Press around the globe picked up the case, and from accusations of defamation to investigative reportages underlining the material, it became a messy bouquet of clickbait headlines of lies, half-truths, accusations and defamations.

Delilah and her daddy used, of course, all the power and contacts they had to work against the negative press. They even had the Governor of Florida make a statement in their favor, but then Richard was the one funding his campaign. Woe to those who think evil of it.

Julie had an entire team set up in the war room and they all hadn’t slept much in the last thirty-six hours. As he and Emma entered the war room, the smell revealed just as much.

At least they are dedicated .

Emma, next to him, stiffened the moment she saw all the people, fuzzing and buzzing about. None of them cared about them entering, only Julie’s eyes flashed over to them. She scrutinized both of them from head to foot, lingering a bit longer than she had to on Emma’s neck before she flashed over to his eyes. He only cocked an eyebrow, knowing very well what she and Carl had engaged in. She was no saint, it was not her place to judge.

Emma let go of his touch and wandered into the room, staring at the screens in the back. Following her, he let her take in the reports and new posts flashing up there every other second.

“They’re mostly ripping Gamma and me apart,” he told her.

“And what happened about the accusations against me?”

“Well, we are currently engineering some positive press releases and a bit of social buzz around you.”

She eyed him very suspiciously. “You are, what?”

“Greg, give me all about Emma on screen three.”

Greg, who was generally always short on words, just pulled up the requested content without answering. It took Emma not even three seconds to flash over the headlines and posts before she rounded on him.

“You are kidding me, aren’t you?”

The fire in her eyes burnt him to the ground, which was, by all means, sexy as hell. He knew it was risky, and he knew she would never approve if he had told her upfront. But it was the only way.

“I am not.”

“This is not getting the target off my back; it is making me the target,” she shouted at him. With it, everything else in the room went quiet. It was consuming to see her enraged. There were only a few things more attractive than female rage. To him at least.

“Yes, but it gives you authority,” and whispering he added, “Like I said, to the world outside, you are my queen.”

“My face is on every fucking newspaper and news site! Deis, you are fucking crazy! They will all come after me! ”

“They might, only I don’t believe so.”

“You believe ?” she spat at him derogatorily.

“They are scared of what else you know. Your father was the most trusted man, he kept all the secrets Richard wanted vanished.”

“Exactly. That’s why they’ll kill me the moment they can.”

“No, they won’t. Because in forty-eight hours, the world will only know you as the one who was the essential element in me bringing down the worst conglomerate on this planet. And if they so much as look at you, people will turn on them.”

It was a bit of a gambling strategy, always having the bigger picture in mind, but he could not let her know what else was there, otherwise she would probably leash out again. And right now, he needed her fully focused. She, however, was intelligent. And she saw exactly what could go wrong.

“You are so, so wrong. If it will be as you say, they won’t have anything to lose. People who have nothing to lose don’t act rational.”

“True, that is why I haven’t put everything out there I could have.”

“And what is that?” She eyed him with crossed arms, which reminded him of his mother when he had done something, but she didn’t know what exactly, only that he did.

“Something in the scope of footage of Delilah fucking a seventeen-year-old and Richard raping a woman, who he had killed afterwards, and him financing an underground organization.”

Emma closed her eyes for a moment, and all of her gave the impression she was on the verge of losing her shit.

She’d come around.