The door clicked shut and the sound hit me like a lock turning on my whole life.

Ryker stood there in front of Victor’s big wooden desk, that black silk tie still dangling from his fingers like a promise. Or a threat. His eyes dragged over me slow, from my shaky legs up to my face, and the smirk on his mouth made my stomach flip.

“Scared, little sis?” he asked, voice low and rough. He took one step closer. Then another. The study smelled like leather, expensive wood, and him—that dark spicy cologne that wrapped around my brain and made it hard to think straight.

I backed up until...