Rebel Revenge (Saint View Rebels Book 1)

Harold Coker’s office was bigger than mine, had a better view, and was closer to the city center.

All things that irked me.

On arrival I’d offered my sympathies on the recent death of his business partner, Bart Weston. But the pompous prick had droned on ever since, sitting at the head of a long rectangular table in his boardroom, preaching to the rest of us about a new business deal he’d just made worth more money than I’d ever seen on a contract.

Another thing I really didn’t like.

I refused to let that show. On the outside I was a focused and determined man, with only one mission on my mind.

Making these men my acquaintances.

I was the youngest in the room by at least fifteen years. Most of these men were my father’s age, and they acted like I was the baby of the group. Which meant I had to work twice as hard as anyone else to gain half the respect and trust.

Also fucking irksome.

I wanted to stand up and yell I was more talented than any of them. That my company would one day leave theirs in the dust, and I wouldn’t fucking look back.

But that wasn’t how one got to the top.

No. You caught more flies with honey than vinegar.

Which was why I’d asked Bethany-Melissa to marry me. People liked her, and having a wife on my arm, one who was the daughter of another respected businessman, would make me seem older. More settled and mature. More like one of the old boys who loved to bitch about their ball and chains.

I clenched my fingers around the armrest of my chair. I could still barely believe everything that ungrateful bitch had done. Fucking slut, running around with three men from the Saint View slums like the common piece of gutter trash she was.

She embarrassed me every minute of every day.

Fucking her little best friend and hearing her scream had barely taken the tip off my hate for the woman who’d betrayed me.

She was just like all the others. All sluts, the lot of them. Only good for sucking my cock.

I didn’t need a bitch.

Harold dismissed the meeting right at five, and I stood slowly, letting the room empty out before I strode toward the man who’d hosted the gathering. I pasted on my most charming smile. It worked on both men and women. “Harold. I just wanted to tell you how inspirational you are. That Simpson deal is the stuff of legend. I’m so impressed.”

Harold’s barrel chest puffed up, and if it were even possible, I was sure I saw his ego inflate.

“You like that? I’m barely getting started. By the end of the year, I’ll have much more impressive figures to report.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but though he was a dickhead, he wasn’t top of our field for nothing. He probably would have more impressive numbers at the next meeting, and I’d be stupid to insult the man. Sucking up his ass might have grated every nerve I had, but I could swallow that pride if it got me where I needed to be.

I was destined for the top and willing to do whatever got me there.

“I’d really love to hear more about it. Maybe over a game of golf? I have a reservation at The Royal if you’d like to join me this weekend?”

Harold raised an eyebrow. “The Royal, huh? Great course. Hard to get into.”

I was aware. The only reason I’d managed to make a booking was because my father was a part shareholder. Harold mustn’t have known that though, and I wasn’t about to tell him. I mimicked a golf swing while I waited for his answer. “I could definitely use some more hours on the green. You’ll probably pummel me into the ground. You’re pretty good, right?”

“Was twelve over par last I played that course.”

I whistled like I was impressed.

I wasn’t. I’d been nine over, beating his score, but I could let the old codger win if it meant strengthening the relationship. “I can get us on at ten?”

He patted my shoulder. “No can do, unfortunately. Ted, James, Simon, and I are away this weekend.”

I froze.

Ted, James, and Simon were all business acquaintances who’d been sitting at this very table a few minutes ago. The fucking old boys club I’d spent the last two years trying to get into. Clearly, that hadn’t worked well if they were all going away for a weekend together and hadn’t even invited me.

I took a breath that did little to calm the anger at being passed over yet again. “Well, that sounds fun too. Another time.” I went to leave the room before I could blow a gasket.

Harold caught me by the arm. “Why don’t you come too? You can afford a trip to the Bahamas, can’t you?”

It was fucking insulting he’d even ask about whether I could afford it, but I brushed that aside and focused on the fact I’d been invited. “Have your secretary forward mine the details. First round of cocktails is on me and Black Industries.”

Harold shook my hand. “That’s the attitude. Let me walk you out.”

I was beaming when we exited the boardroom and stepped into the reception area of Weston and Coker Investments. A leggy blonde sat on the black leather couch in a tiny red miniskirt and heels that matched.

Great fucking tits. No flab on her thighs. Totally bangable.

I got ready to turn on the charm when she looked up from her magazine, bypassed me completely, and ran into the arms of Harold. “There’s my man!”

He kissed her with the enthusiasm of a horny teenager, and she sighed happily in his arms.

I had to clear my throat uncomfortably for them to separate.

Harold chuckled. “Caleb Black, meet Luanda Coker. My wife. Caleb and his partner, Bethany-Melissa, will be joining us this weekend.”

Luanda clapped her hands. “Oh, lovely! I can’t wait to meet your wife. Us girls are planning all sorts of dinners and breakfasts and golf and the beach!”

I put a hand in my pocket, trying to appear casual. “Actually, it’ll just be me.”

Harold frowned. “Where will Bethany-Melissa be?”

I cleared my throat, debating whether to lie, but too many other people already knew. “We actually aren’t together anymore.”

Luanda put a hand over her mouth and gasped. “Oh no!”

I fake smiled at her sympathy. “It was for the best. But it’s okay, I’m really just ready to move on and be single for a while and concentrate on my career. A weekend away with you all will be just what the doctor ordered.”

Luanda looked to her husband and made a face I couldn’t understand but he obviously did.

He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck awkwardly. “Listen, about that, we’ll have to take a rain check. I didn’t realize you and Bethany-Melissa were no longer together. This weekend is about family. We’re all bringing our wives and kids…”

“But you’ll be talking business too, I’m sure.” The words came out sharp. Probably because I could see where this was going and I was preemptively pissed about it.

“We will, but I think it would be awkward to have a bachelor there. You’ll come next time, when it’s just us boys, okay? Plus, you wouldn’t want to miss that reservation you have at The Royal. It really is the most beautiful course.” He leaned over and pushed the down button on the elevator, a clear dismissal. “Make sure they validate your parking downstairs, okay?”

He hurriedly guided his wife away, leaving me standing there waiting for the elevator doors to open.

I kept a polite smile on my face until they closed behind me and then let out a scream of anger into the tiny box that hurtled toward the ground floor.

Another fucking woman trying to ruin my life. Harold had been quite happy to have me along until his bitch had told him otherwise.

Now I was missing out again. They’d spend the weekend discussing the details of the deal. Details I could have used to expand my own operations and now wouldn’t get to, and why? Because Bethany-Melissa didn’t know what was good for her? Because Luanda had a magic fucking cunt that made Harold gaga?

The rage inside me built by the second.

On the ground floor, I stormed across the lobby, certainly not stopping to get my damn parking validated, like some street rat who couldn’t afford the parking costs. How fucking insulting. Didn’t he know how much money my company had turned over last year?

I got behind the wheel of my new Lamborghini and navigated my way out of the city, my anger mounting with every red light, every car that drove too slow; every dumbass pedestrian who wandered across the road at a snail’s pace.

I was so tempted to run them down. If the entire city hadn’t been covered in security cameras, then I probably would have. It would be natural selection. Taken out for being too damn stupid to cross the road somewhere fucking else.

By the time I got on the freeway that would take me back to Providence, I was fucking fuming. I put my foot down on the accelerator, pushing the car well over the speed limit and not caring one ounce. The cops could chase me if they wanted to. I’d be faster than them anyway, so let them try. I made it back to the Providence exit in record time, only slowed by a car in front of me who took the turn like he had all the fucking time in the world. I rammed my fist on the horn but then swerved around him into the breakdown lane to pass him before he could even respond.

When the cars were side by side, I glanced over, my middle finger raised, even though I knew they couldn’t see me through the dark tint.

There were four people in the car, but only two I’d met before. “Get fucked,” I muttered, recognizing Vaughn and the woman on the seat beside him. Bethany-Melissa’s best friend. The one Leonn, Hugh, and I had shared not that long ago.

She was a slut too, just like her best friend. The fact she was in a car with three men right now was all the proof I needed.

They were all the same. I hoped Vaughn had as much fun with her tight little holes as I had. He could have her. As long as she kept her stupid mouth shut, she could spread her legs for every man in town for all I cared.

I stomped on the accelerator again, zooming past them and losing them easily in the suburban streets of Providence. Leonn and Hugh would already be at my house with a bit of luck, setting up for the Halloween party tomorrow. We could get some beers and pizza when it was done. Maybe get some women over to do the one damn thing they were useful for.

I cruised the last few streets to my home, getting hard over the idea of having a woman bouncing on my cock later that night.

“What the fuck?” I muttered, pulling the car up in the driveway. The green lawn was half decorated with fake tombstones, skeletons, and jack-o’-lanterns. A string of lights lay in a pile, waiting for someone to untangle it. The mist maker I’d bought was set up by the garden, the box it had come in still lying on the lawn, not yet discarded.

None of it was out of place, except for the three people standing in the middle of it all, their shouts audible even over the roar of my engine.

They all looked over at me, and the woman, heavily pregnant, stormed over.

“Is that you in there, Caleb Black, you son of a bitch?” She slammed her fist against the window.

I’ve never opened a door so fast. She had to scramble backward to avoid getting hit by it.

“Who the hell are you? Do you have any idea how much this car is worth?” I checked for any damage, but there was nothing. Bitch got lucky.

She shook her head, her chest heaving. “Do you seriously not remember me?”

I let my gaze flicker over her face, but I was no more aware of who she was than when I’d driven up. “Why would I?”

I hated how important women thought they were. Like I should remember all their names. As if I cared. Arrogant bitches. None of them were so special, and social media needed to stop telling them they were. They’d forgotten their place.

“Do you rape so many women you don’t even remember their faces?”

Leonn and Hugh glanced around, cringing at the shrill tone of her voice. My property was large but still suburban. I had neighbors within earshot, and this bitch shouting accusations was sure to draw the attention of someone sooner or later. I grabbed her arm, digging my fingers in until she yelped in pain.

I loved the rush of power that came from making a woman submit. Especially after a day like today. I hauled her in close to me and hissed in her face. “Say that again, slut, and see what happens.”

She fought me, and the urge to slap her took me fast and hard. But if any of my neighbors had heard her shouts and were peeping out their windows, I wouldn’t be able to cover for striking her. There was no explaining that. Our current hold could be construed as two lovers about to kiss if you weren’t close enough to hear our conversation.

I let her shake her arm free. She stared at me with all the same fire and hate I had for her. Good. At least the feeling was mutual.

“This baby is yours,” she spit in my face.

I looked down at her swollen belly and then laughed. “No, it’s not.”

“It is,” she insisted. “You’re the only one…” Her voice broke off. “There’s no one else it could be.”

“Liar.”

“I’m going to the police as soon as he’s born. Getting a DNA test will prove it. Prove what you did to me. The hospital has the photos from the night he was conceived, but I had no proof it was you. Now I do. They’ll trace his conception date back to that night. My lawyer says my case is strong.”

A muscle ticked in my jaw. I would have continued to call her bluff, but I remembered her now. The police had questioned my whereabouts the night of her attack, and Leonn had covered for me. The police had been quickly persuaded to investigate other suspects.

But if what she’d said was true, and my genetic offspring was inside her belly right now, then she might not be bluffing.

“What do you want?” I clenched my jaw. “Money? How much? A hundred bucks?”

She laughed bitterly. “You really think you can buy me off that easily? You destroyed my life, Caleb. Now I have to look at my son or daughter every day, knowing what a monster their father is. I have a lifetime of payments to make for what you created. A hundred bucks! Hell, a hundred thousand doesn’t even come close. A million dollars, Caleb. A million dollars a year for the rest of my life.”

I snorted at her ridiculousness. “You’re insane.”

“Am I insane, or do you want to go to jail? If this kid is born without the first million in my account, I go to the cops. Every year on his birthday, I’ll expect a payment, or I’ll be straight down to the police station. If you’re late by even one day, same deal. Do you get the idea?”

I glared at her smug face. The stupid bitch thought she had the entire thing figured out.

Leonn sighed. “Just give it to her, Caleb. You have the money.”

It wasn’t the point. The point was there was yet another weak-willed woman trying to dictate what I did with my life. How I spent my money. How dare she?

“Get her inside.”

“What?” the woman asked sharply. She backed away a step, fear flashing in her eyes for the first time since this whole thing had begun.

I liked that.

I grinned, reveling in her terror. Enjoying watching her realize she’d pushed me too far.

Leonn and Hugh stepped in behind her, grabbing her arms.

She opened her mouth to scream, no doubt, but Hugh was quicker. He slapped his hand over her mouth and dragged her toward the house. I hurried to get the door open and shoved the three of them inside, hoping none of my neighbors had noticed what was going on.

“Put her in the basement. No one ever goes down there, not even the maid.” I shut the door behind them.

Sounds of a struggle floated back but got quieter and quieter as Leonn and Hugh hauled the woman to the basement stairs.

If they were smart, they’d throw her down them.

Hopefully, the fall would kill both her and the bastard baby she carried.