Chapter 3 THE WIFE

The doorbell rings like a gunshot. I'm pulling on one of Ryder's dress shirts, black silk that hangs to my thighs. When the electronic chime echoes through the penthouse. My fingers freeze on the buttons.

Ryder's turns his head from the blueprints spread across his desk. The security monitor showed a woman in the corridor, her blonde hair perfectly coiled, her cream trench coat worth more than my yearly rent.

"Stay here," Ryder ordered, already moving toward the elevator. But I'm at his shoulder before he could stop me from staring at the screen. The woman taps one manicured nail against her leather bag, her mouth a slash of red lipstick.

"Who is she?" I ask, though I'm guessing that she's either his girlfriend as I didn't see any ring in his finger.

Ryder's jaw tightens. "A problem." The elevator dings again, more insistent.

Then the woman looks directly into the hidden camera and smiles. "Ryder, darling. I know you're home." She yelled. Ryder's jaws clenched. He stood fuming. Ryder didn't invite her up but She lets herself in.

The penthouse door opens to reveal the lady gliding across the marble floors like she owns them which, I realize with horror, she probably does. Up close, she's even more beautiful with ice-blue eyes, a diamond wedding band, and the kind of posture that screams power.

Her gaze sweeps over my bare legs, borrowed shirt, the bruise on my neck where Gavin's needle went in and her smile sharpens. "I see you've been...entertaining."

Ryder steps between us. "What do you want, Natalia?" He cuts in as she smirked. I don't want to be the reason they might quarrel. Maybe I should explain myself to her, she seems to misunderstand.

"Can't a wife visit her husband?" She sets her bag on his desk, right over the blueprints of Gavin's properties. "Especially when he's been missing from all his meetings today?"

I stiffen. Wife. I stare at her, she's an epitome that men can't help but drool. She's powerful and my definition of a successful woman. So I'm not shocked that her husband is Volkov Ryder's wife.

"It seems you now suffer from amnesia, when last I can remember I'm not married but a divorcé. So when addressing yourself never forget to add ex before the wife." He stated clearly. Natalia flinches but regains her posture. Then she circled the room, trailing fingers over his whiskey decanter, his leather chair, the bed where we laid on.

"Interesting," she murmurs, picking a black lace bra from the floor. My bra. I mutter as I wrap my hands in my breast. Shit, I forgot to put them on. "This isn't your usual type, Jacob." She said as she waved it in the air then threw it at my face. I picked the bra hanging on my face then out it at my back. The room became suddenly quiet. I should leave. No, I should run. But my feet stay rooted, my pulse pounding in my ears.

Ryder's voice drops Dangerously low. "We had an arrangement." He said as her eyes lit up in surprise.

"And arrangements can change." Natalia finally turns to me. "You must be the bartender Gavin's been looking for." I shudder in fear, how did she know, I'm I being set up. Or is this one of Gavin's games.

My breath catches. "You know Gavin?" I asked shakily then she busted into a fit of laughter.

Her laugh is like shattered crystal. "Darling, I fund Gavin." She said as I stood frozen. My gaze at Ryder then Natalia. A tear escaped from my eyes. I'm done for.

"You don't have to be afraid, she's the heiress to Petrova pharmaceutical. Their lab specializes in. Erosyne is their latest production." Ryder explained as my mouth is opened wide agape.

"How do you expect me nit to be scared of Gavin's boss. And what are you? Are you also Gavin's other boss?" I asked, I already knew the answer. Of course it's a yes. Tears streamed from my eyes.

"What a big crybaby you are. He's been trying to shut us down for years." Natalia tells me, pouring herself a drink from Ryder's bar. "Ever since his little sister overdosed on one of our early prototypes." She said coldly as she emptied the content of the glass in her throat.

Ryder's fist slams into the wall. "Enough." He yelled as I flinched in fear.

But Natalia continues, savoring each word. "Poor Anya. She was always so fragile. The Erosyne trial was too much for her." She said grinning. Then I saw that look on his face. The raw grief flashing across Ryder's face before he locks it down. "When he found out that my company is responsible for his sister's death, we divorced. Isn't that childish buy I hold no grudge against him." Ryder's face turned red like it was placed in boiling water. This isn't just about saving me. It's about vengeance.

Natalia sets down her glass. "Which brings us to you, Miss Cole. Gavin tells me you resisted the drug longer than any test subject." She steps closer, her perfume choking me. "We'd like to know why." I moved backwards a little bit. I averted my eyes trying to avoid her gaze.

Ryder moves faster than I thought possible. One second he's across the room, the next, he has Natalia by the throat, her back against the windows. Forty stories above Manhattan.

"You touch her," he snarls, "and I'll burn your entire empire to the ground." Fear crept on her face but she washed it off with a smile.

Natalia just smiles. "Too late, darling. The second dose is already in her system." She said as Ryder dropped her on the floor. She landed on her butt on the marble floor.

My blood turns to cement. "What?" I gasp as I looked around and touched my neck. But I wasn't injected. So how?

Natalia taps my stolen shirt where it clings to my sweaty collarbone. "Did you really think I came here alone?" She said with a smirk on her face.

The elevator dings again. My legs trembled. Ryder eyes runs round the room. Maybe searching for the nearest weapon. The door flung open then I gasped in shock, Natalia's laughter filled the room.

Gavin steps out, flanked by two men in lab coats. "Miss me, sweetheart?" He said, a sinister smile on his lips. I blinked severally.

Ryder reaches for the gun in his desk but Gavin is faster. A dart embeds itself in Ryder's neck. His knees buckle, his eyes locking onto mine as he crashes to the floor.

"Don't worry," Natalia says, straightening her coat. "That's just a sedative. We need him conscious for the demonstration." She said as she patted my shoulders. I had become stiff.

Gavin grabs my arm, his fingers digging into the still-tender injection site. "You're going to help us perfect Erosyne." He leans in, his breath hot on my ear. "And this time, no one's coming to save you."

The men in lab coats walk towards me with syringes. I do the only thing I can.

I scream, maybe I'll get a savoir.