Revenge, Inc.
Chapter One
by Michelle Carlyle
copyright © 2009
Target sighted, Fay crossed the expansive dining floor of Fleur, the hottest new restaurant in San Francisco.
Wearing her latest weapon, a sleek little black Prada cocktail dress, she sidled up to a table and glared down into the blue gaze of Peter Madden, CEO of Madden Computers, the billion dollar jewel of Silicon Valley.
She ignored his classic Grecian features, his perfect aquiline nose, square jaw and heavy brow. She was in character.
“You bastard!” she yelled loud enough for most of the tables in the vicinity to hear. “You two-timing creep!”
His eyes wide, jaw in his lap, he stammered, but said nothing intelligible.
“And you!” Fay said, swinging on his date: a petite blonde twenty-something. “How dare you! Before you go sleeping around with a man, you might want to find out if he has other women in his life. You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Peter’s brow went into a deep V, his eyes filled with fire. “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you’ve me mistaken for someone else –”
She burst into tears. “Peter! Why are you doing this to me?! You told me you loved me!” She collapsed down next to him in the booth, buried her head in her arms and howled.
“Miss! Please, I don’t know you!”
She lifted her head up to bawl in his face. “It’s the baby! The baby I’m worried about. Our baby!” She dropped her head to the table and sobbed.
“What the hell? Lady! I’m not who you think I am!”
“That’s it!” she yelled, leaping up on her feet once more. “You told me you wanted a child! So I got pregnant! You said you’d marry me! Just last Tuesday when we were on your stupid boat, The Charlemagne, you proposed! What happened to that?!”
The maitre ‘d appeared at her elbow. “Is there a problem?”
Finally! Took the jerk long enough.
She spun on the tall, Middle-Eastern-looking man. “Yes! There’s a problem! My fiancé is here with another woman! And I’m pregnant!”
Peter got up out of the booth, and she was momentarily taken aback by his size; he had to be over six five.
He took the maitre ‘d by the arm. “Andre, I swear, I’ve never seen this woman before. I think she must have escaped from a lockdown facility.”
“Yeah! Our apartment! That’s where I escaped from! Fine! You want to cheat on me?! You want to break all your promises to me?! You want to get me pregnant and dump me?! Fine! I don’t want you, anyway, and neither does your son! That’s right! It’s a boy! A boy!” And with that, she pushed aside the maitre ‘d and stormed off.
As soon as she hit the street, she broke into a run. Around the next corner, she dove into the back of a white van. “Drive!”
Mitzi grinned. “You bet!” Her friend and business partner loved the new venture as much as she did.
Fay removed the Prada dress and hung it up in their makeshift dressing room in the back of the van. “Are the cops out there?”
“Oh, yeah. They’re looking all over. Oooo, along with Mr. Target. Man, he looks madder than a losing team’s coach. Wow. So, it went well?”
She pulled on a red t-shirt and some jeans. “Oh, God, it was so funny.” She laughed. “You should have seen the looks on their faces. Oh, and in that fancy place! God, that was fun.”
Fay grabbed a baseball cap, slipped it over her head and hopped into the front seat of the van. They were just past the restaurant. She looked in her side mirror. A couple of cops with a very tall man in their midst stood outside the eatery.
“Oh, that was great!” she crowed. “Damn, I’d better get a bonus for that one.”
“Was the Chronicle lady there?” Mitzi asked.
“Oh, yeah. But goddamn, took the staff long enough to come over. I almost had to start recycling material.”
“So what did you say?”
Fay took off her cap and smoothed her long, dark hair. “God, I kind of went too far this time. I didn’t just pull the pregnancy thing; I named a gender.” She put the cap back on.
“You what?”
Fay shrugged. “It just slipped out. I was so into the scene. I really don’t remember everything, but suddenly I was talking about the guy’s baby boy. Christ.”
Mitzi giggled. “You are too much.”
“I just hope I was believable. Kind of went over the top. Oh, well, what’s done is done.” She reached for the clipboard on top of the dashboard. “Who’s next on our list tonight?”
“Ah, yes, man, remember the good ol’ days when we had only one job a night?”
Fay chuckled. “You mean last month?”
Mitzy had a dreamy look in her eye. “Yeah.”
Fay pushed on her shoulder. “We were also broke. At least, I made my rent this month.”
“Me, too.” Mitzi gestured out the front window. “Who knew there were this many people who wanted revenge on their exes?”
“I had no idea how unhappy the upper classes were.”
Mitzi turned the corner and headed to their office. “Yeah, and we know one specific upper class guy who really isn’t happy right now.”
“I wonder what the girl said after I left.” Fay belly-laughed.
Peter Madden’s jaw hurt from clenching it so tightly. The woman had disappeared. He’d run after her, but he’d been too late on the draw. He’d never experienced anything so disturbing in his life. After he made his report to the police – they hadn’t been very interested, and he didn’t blame them – he straightened his tie and made his way back to his table.
All eyes were on him; his face grew hot. When he saw the gossip columnist for the local paper, he knew it was all over. This would be in the paper in the morning. He swore inwardly. This was all he needed. After that horrible divorce had splashed him over the papers, he’d hoped he’d be spared another public humiliation. Apparently not.
He knew he couldn’t avoid it, so he stopped briefly at the middle-aged woman’s table. “I didn’t know her. And that’s all I’m going to say on the subject. And if you want access to me in the future, I’d think carefully about what I wrote tonight.” With a cold glare of a warning at her, he turned and walked away before she could respond.
He kicked himself all the way to his table. He just provoked her. Good job, Pete.
Tiffany looked just as he expected her to: wary, upset. Barely covering her simmering fury. Great. No sex tonight, either. What a great night this was shaping up to be.
What the hell? This was the third unpleasant surprise this week. He was used to studying patterns and odds. This incident tonight tipped the scales. Something was going on. Someone was after him. He didn’t know why, but he knew one thing, he would get to the bottom of the problem.
“Tiffany, are you all right?” He’d try a super caring approach to see if that could restore the seduction.
Her red lips tight, she shook her head a tiny bit. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Look, are you sure you don’t know her? I mean, she knew the name of your boat. And last week, you went sailing. I know you did; you told me.”
“So what? Anyone could have gathered that information.”
She looked down at her nails. “Is it possible you got drunk and...” Her blue gaze searched his.
He straightened his shoulders. “I never get drunk.”
She blinked at him, and then bit her lower lip. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You know, I’ve got a bit of a headache. Maybe we should call it an evening...”
He’d lost. Damn it.
After driving her home, he drove straight to his club. There wouldn’t be anyone under the age of eighty there, but he needed a drink and didn’t want to be alone. Surprisingly, he found one of his closest friends sitting in front of the fire with a brandy.
Horatio, a corporate lawyer, indicated the burgundy leather chair across from him. “Join me, friend. And tell me all about your exciting evening.”
“You know?”
“Jimmy was at Fleur tonight.”
His shoulders slumping, Peter ran a hand through his thick mane of dark hair. “Christ.”
“You know, it’s curious. You’re not the only one who’s had weird scenes with strangers lately. Thom, Rob Colt and Graham White, all had crazy women accost them. Women they didn’t know. Just like you.”
Peter frowned. “What the hell? Really? Rob and Graham?”
“Yes, plus other strange troubles. Rob had a flight cancelled, Graham had his car impounded, and Thom found his car filled with orange juice.”
“Orange juice?”
“Yeah, I guess there was a tanker nearby, and someone put a hose from the tanker into his car window and filled the sucker.”
Peter burst out laughing and then caught himself. “I know that’s not funny. Was it the Ferrari?”
“Yeah.”
“Not the ‘67?”
“Yep.”
“That’s irreplaceable.”
Horatio nodded. “Whoever it was wanted to hurt him.”
“Damn,” Peter said, stroking his chin. “You know, I had my phone service cancelled this week, and my car died suddenly – it’s in the shop – someone put sugar in my gas tank. And then this woman attacks me in Fleur.”
“Obviously, a pattern. What do you all have in common?”
“Um... don’t know. We’re rich... Wait... Divorced. We’re all divorced. In the past two years.”
“Yes.”
Peter gestured sharply. “But Lily couldn’t be behind this. She’s too refined. Barely shed a tear during the divorce proceedings. But then again, she leaked all kinds of misinformation to the press. Sure I was cheating on her, even though I wasn’t. I don’t know. She’s the only one in my life who hates me enough to pull something like this. But it’s not her style.”
“She knows the other guys’ ex-wives. They’re all in a little coffee clutch.”
Peter shot his friend a look. “You think they’re behind this?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Maybe they’re pulling stuff on each other’s respective exes.”
“I know those ladies. None would ever get their hands dirty. Would fit, though. That woman tonight didn’t look deranged. She looked more like an actress. There was a look in her eye. She knew what she was doing, and she knew me. And if her purpose was to get Tiffany to dump me, it worked.”
“Then Tiffany wasn’t worth a damn.”
“Suppose. Thought she was a nice girl.”
“Beware of nice girls. Especially ones that come from your marketing department.”
“Yeah... maybe you’re right.”
Horatio leaned forward. “Listen to me, my friend. Look for a girl from your social circle. Dating a company woman only works when you’re working your way up. Not when you’re on the top. Can’t trust the lot of them. Watch out for the gold-diggers. You’ve got a target on your chest.”
“Yeah, I know.” Dismal information, but true. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not taking this crap lying down. Someone attacked me this week, and I’m going to find out who that woman was. If she’s working for my ex, I’ll shut down her little business and put her behind bars where she belongs.”
He pictured the slip of a woman in that clingy dress. While he hated her, and she was clearly a lunatic, her body was beyond perfection. Had the nicest, rounded bottom he’d seen in a long time.
“But maybe before I send her to jail, I’ll take out some of my frustration on that perfect little ass of hers.”
Horatio’s brow rose. “She had a perfect ass?”
“Oh, yes. Very spankable.”
Horatio’s eyes lit up. “Sounds like fun. Nothing more exhilarating than spanking a deserving behind.”
Peter grinned. “Isn’t it, though? Had a girlfriend once who pushed me so hard, she rarely sat down comfortably. And that little girl tonight... Can’t wait to give her the treatment. Quite the actress. Hey... What if she is an actress? Theatre world isn’t very big in this town. Maybe I’ll start there.”
“Williams is a good man. Helped me with some trouble with an ex-partner. Anyone get a picture of your woman?”
“Maybe she’s on the security camera. Good thought. I’ll call the restaurant right away. Andre will help me. Slipped him three grand tonight to cover the damages.”
“Sounds like you have yourself a mission.”
“I’d say so.”
His spirits buoyed, Peter finished his drink and drove home. He’d find that little brat. A thrill went through his loins at the thought of that perfect rear over his knee. He’d teach her a lesson, all right. One she’d never forget.
Fay finished filling out her deposits. Eight grand, more than she’d made in a week in years. So cool! Finally, a business that worked!
Mitzi popped her head in the door to her office. “You going to the bank now?”
“Yeah. What do we have on for tonight?”
Her partner leaned against the doorjamb. “New account meeting. A Mrs. Wellington.”
Fay nodded, tapping her pencil on top of her desk. “Sounds rich. Anything else?”
“Nope. We see her at six until seven, and then we’re free.”
“Cool, I want to catch up on some tube and take a bath.”
“Sounds good. Brad’s taking me out to celebrate our success.”
“Does he know what we’re doing yet?”
Mitzi laughed. “Oh, God, no. He’d divorce me.”
“Really?”
“Let me put it this way – it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“I’m glad I’m single. So, what does he think we’re doing?”
“Event planning.”
Fay laughed. “Well, that isn’t a lie.”
Mitzi sent her a smug smile. “I know. Clever, aren’t I?”
“Very. Say, why don’t you let me do the initial interview, and you and Brad can start off early on your date?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why not? I can handle it. Where are we meeting the woman?”
“Marriott on Fourth. Hotel room. She wanted to be discreet. I got all the info here. Room 1411. You’re supposed to go on up when you get there.”
“Perfect. Afterwards, I’ll stop by the mall and pick up some take-out on the way home.”
At six o’clock on the dot, Fay knocked on Mrs. Wellington’s door. A tall, slender blonde woman answered.
“Fay Wright?” she asked. Her voice was deep and husky. She wore a black business suit, Gucci, if Fay wasn’t mistaken.
“Yes.”
“Do come in.” The woman stepped out of the way and allowed Fay to pass. Nice two-room suite with a breathtaking view of the city skyline.
Mrs. Wellington gestured towards two chairs in the corner. “Please sit down. Can I get you a drink?”
“No, thanks.”
The woman sat opposite her in the suite’s living room area.
“Well, Mrs. Wellington, what can I do for you?”
“I’m a friend of Lily Madden’s.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I heard you did her a... um, favor.”
“Yes, I did.”
The woman suddenly brightened. “Did you really embarrass Peter in the middle of Fleur?”
Fay grinned. “Oh, yeah.”
“So how do you... what exactly do you do in these cases? I heard you have an acting background.”
“Yeah, I was a drama teacher until California public schools decided that drama was an extracurricular class they didn’t need. Well, some still offer it, but mostly it’s a dying elective.”
“That’s too bad. So you decided to... how did you get into this?”
Fay shifted in her seat, getting more comfortable. “I taught the child of one of my initial clients. When I lost my job, we stayed in touch, you know, Christmas cards. After my horrible divorce, my husband got everything, and I wasn’t too happy about that. So... I went after him. Not formally, because he always won in court, but behind the scenes. And I mentioned this to Georgia, and she loved the idea and hired me to do the same thing to her ex. Only, since he didn’t know me, I was able to take her revenge to a higher level. I basically did the same thing to Peter Madden. Accosted him when he was out dating. And then she told her friends, and here you are. And here I am. Now tell me, how badly do you want your husband to suffer? And what did he do to you?”
Her delicate brow rose. “Why do you need to know that?”
“Helps motivate me. What your friend Lily told me about Madden, that was plenty motivation. I really only like to attack the more odious guys. But of course, for money, I’ll go after anyone you like. Nothing traceable, of course.”
Mrs. Wellington nodded. “Of course. And you haven’t been caught or –”
“God, no. I don’t travel in your circles, so I won’t be likely to run into anyone you know or your husband knows. And this will be our only face-to-face meeting. You tell me what you’d like done. I’ll tell you my price.”
“How far are you willing to go?”
“I won’t hurt him physically. I won’t do anything that will ruin his business, I mean, like stealing or anything really illegal. Basically, all I do is cause a string of bad luck events to happen to him. Cancelled flights, cancelled services, cancelled credit cards at inopportune times, like when he’s seeing his new girlfriend. Basically, I ruin his relationships with his new women. I work mainly in humiliation.”
“You sound like just the girl for me.”
A cell phone rang. Mrs. Wellington reached for her purse and took out her phone. “Yes? What? Wait, I can’t hear you. Let me call you right back.” She turned to Fay. “I need to talk to this person, and the only signal I can get is out in the hallway, near the elevator. Will you excuse me?”
“Sure.”
Mrs. Wellington got up and left the room. Fay wandered over to the window.
“Interesting job. How can you sleep at night?” came a deep voice from behind her, startling her.
She jumped and spun in place. She couldn’t believe it. Peter Madden, standing right there in the doorway to the suite’s bedroom.
All at once, it hit her. This was a set-up. Her eyes darted to the door.
He followed her line of sight and quickly moved to block the exit. “Oh, no, you don’t. You and I are going to have a little talk.”
“I’m not saying anything to you. You let me out of here. This is false imprisonment.”
He took out a remote and turned on the TV. Fay appeared on the screen from just minutes before.
“I’m sure the police would find your activities very interesting. Don’t you?”
She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him. “Look, you creep. If you hadn’t cheated on Lily and humiliated her and tried to take her kids from her, none of this would have happened. You just got what was coming to you, that’s all. You need to take this up with your ex-wife, not me. I was just the messenger.”
“Nice speech. Won’t work. I don’t want revenge on her; I want it on you.”
“Why me?”
“Because you were the one who ruined my date with Tiffany.”
She laughed. “Anyone who would date a woman like Tiffany deserves to have the date ruined. Miss Perky-Butt-Twenty-Something deserves better than you, anyway. I did her a favor.”
His jaw hardened, his gaze turned to molten lava. “I am going to teach you a lesson in research. As in, you’d better do your homework before you go after someone. I never cheated on my wife. She made all that up.”
Fay snorted. “It was all over the papers, dude. Stop denying it.”
A muscle in his cheek twitched. “That’s because she set me up, so she could get the kids and my money. You’re not the only person she hired to ruin me. The other guy was better. I never found him. You were easy. My world isn’t large, and you’ve made some good friends of mine very angry. I’m sure they’d love to know who you are.”
She stuck out her jaw. “I’m just doing a job. Making a living. You’re the idiots who couldn’t get along with your wives. Maybe you should have picked a better wife. Or treated her better.”
His intense gaze unwavering, his face hard as granite, he moved towards her.
Trying to intimidate her. The jerk. She tried not to show any fear, but her belly did flip-flops, and sweat broke out all over her body. She balled her fists to stop her hands from shaking.
She stepped towards the bedroom door, but he blocked her way, his gaze fixed on her. She got the feeling she was the mouse, and he was a hungry cat.
Wait a minute, why was she so scared? What could he do?
“No, I’m not running from you, buddy.” She straightened and took a bold step towards him. “What? You want to fight? I’ll freakin’ take you on. You picked the wrong chick to intimidate. I did nothing wrong. Just did a service. And from what I gather about you, it was a service that was greatly deserved.”
He stopped and grinned. “Good. This will make my job that much more satisfying. By the time I get done with you, I can guarantee you, you will think twice before you do this to another man.”
“Blah, blah, blah. Come on, you chicken, take the first swing, I dare you,” she said, assuming a defensive posture.
He laughed. “This is priceless. Come on, do you really think you’re any match for me?”
“The bigger they are the harder they –” She abruptly stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Your girlfriend’s back.”
The idiot actually turned around. By the time he turned back, she was in mid-air.
She nailed him in the jaw with her right foot. As he reeled back, she kicked up with her left and sent him to the ground.
She launched off the floor once more and came down, intending to kick him in the face just one last time. Hopefully dazing him enough so she could laugh and leave.
Just as her foot touched his jaw, he reached up so fast that she didn’t see his hands move. The next thing she knew, she was eating carpet.
Before she could move, she was in mid-air, his vise-like grip immobilizing her. Two large steps of his, and they were at the suite’s couch. A split second later, he was sitting, and she was across his lap. One arm was behind her back, and with the other pinned underneath her, she couldn’t move.
“You let me up, you big – what are you doing?” she demanded, as she felt a hard tug on the back of her pants. When air rushed over her suddenly bare behind, his plan became all too clear. “You’d better not!”
His first strike took her breath away. Across both buns, the sting was beyond painful. She couldn’t get her head around the situation. How had this happened? How the hell did she end up over one of her victims’ laps? She was better than this!
Rapid fire, the man delivered a series of punishing swats all over her poor, vulnerable rear end. Pain seared her ass, sending shockwaves of agony throughout her body. She struggled, but that only made him increase the intensity of his spanks. She let out a howl that would wake the dead. To which he chortled with victorious guffaws.
“This is fun!” he crowed, spanking one bun and then the other.
Each strike burned like nothing ever had. Who knew spankings could hurt this badly? Tears stung her eyes, and she kicked her feet, her rage exploding. She would ruin this man’s life, and she’d use everything at her disposal to do it. The slaps, followed by her screams, filled the room. Where was security? Could someone just get away with an assault like this? Soon, she couldn’t get a thought straight in her mind; all focus went to pain management. His rhythm was ceaseless, the power to his swats, awe-inspiring. The sharpness of each swat blazed her nerves. His firm hand barbecued her poor ass.
All at once, she was on her feet, facing him. She went to punch him, but he grabbed her arm and got her in a very painful hold. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Unless you want more? You want more?”
“No! No, please, no! Don’t! I won’t hit you! I’m sorry.”
“That, I don’t believe for a minute,” he said, spinning her around to face him. He was so close that she could see his stubble.
She caught his scent, the feral edge to his gaze, and even though her ass was throbbing, something about his awesome looks tripped her up for a second. Up close, the man was nothing less than a god.
Why was she noticing?
His features, hard with vengeance, suddenly softened. His gaze dropped to her lips. And before she knew it, the man had kissed her.
To Be Continued...
