Chapter 3 CHA

Kathy's POV

The gasp was torn from my throat, raw and involuntary. It wasn't just the sheer audacity of the man-Basil Cavendish-it was the chemical reaction he provoked. Every nerve ending in my body felt suddenly stripped bare, exposed to the charged atmosphere of his royal suite. The moment he stripped, making himself as vulnerable, as exposed, as he demanded I be, the balance shifted again. This wasn't just about my compliance; it was about his own profound lack of control around me.

His kiss-when it finally came-was a revelation: possessive and consuming, nothing like the soft teasing mouth that had just been on my skin. His tongue was a demand, his hands anchoring me, lifting me, and finally dropping me onto the decadent expanse of his king-sized bed.

The world narrowed down to the feel of his weight, the scent of expensive cologne mixed with something earthy and purely masculine, the agonizing skill of his mouth and hands. He was right; he was highly trained. Every stroke, every suckle, every deep, investigating kiss was designed to unravel me-not just physically but mentally. He was laying siege to my control, mapping my weaknesses.

Let him map the wrong ones, I coached myself, even as a tremor of pleasure shook my core when his fingers expertly found the most sensitive, needy part of me.

"Tell me what you want, Kathy," he breathed against my ear, his voice ragged with his own need, but the command was still sharp. "I want to hear you say it."

"You already know," I managed, clutching the silk sheets beneath me, trying to hold on to some semblance of clarity. I couldn't be weak now. Not when I was this close. "You told me you saw it in my eyes."

He chuckled-a dark, triumphant sound. "Oh, I saw the lust, yes. But I also saw the ambition. Which is it that's screaming right now, nanny? Are you ambitious to finish what you started, or just desperate for this?" He flicked his tongue over me again, harder this time, and I bucked beneath him.

"Both," I confessed, the word a shattered whisper. It was an admission of defeat, but somehow, it was also a weapon: I was feeding his ego, granting him the power that he coveted, allowing him to overlook just how deep my true motive ran. He thinks he controls the terms of this exchange.

He shifted, rising up onto his elbows, his eyes glinting down at me-a predator surveying his catch. "Good girl. I like a woman who's honest about what she takes."

His hand had slipped down before I could process the meaning of his words and guided his rigid cock to the slick entrance of my body. Friction was immediate, demanding. It was wild, fast, utterly unhinged. No lubrication, no pre-amble, just raw, hot need slamming against me.

A sharp, sudden pain took my breath, a sensation not altogether unfamiliar, yet forgotten for many years. He was unrelenting, pressing forward until I was stretched and full, the pain eased into a throbbing heat that felt both dangerous and exquisite.

"Look at me," he ordered, his eyes searing into mine. And I had to, harnessed by the sheer power of his presence. "You're in my world now, Kathy. You belong to the secrets of the Sky Tower. To me."

I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him deeper, matching his aggression with my own. My mission was here, buried beneath the beautiful, toxic surface of this man. I needed him to talk, to trust, to reveal the flaws in the Cavendish International Holdings fortress. If this was the price of entry, I'd pay it-and make sure the receipt was addressed to him alone.

I stared back, refusing to let my real emotions-the fear, the calculating victory, the unexpected jolt of connection-bleed through. "You're the one who needs something, Basil," I replied, tilting my hips and forcing a deeper connection. "Don't forget that you hired me because Tifania is alone. You might control this room, but I control the access to the rest of the house."

His jaw clenched, a muscle jumping in his cheek. The haze of his lust had been pierced by my challenge.

He slowly began to move, deliberately at first, then quickening into a rhythm that stole the air from my lungs. The pace was insane, the contact brutal. It was pure, unadulterated passion-toxic and utterly compelling.

The tension mounted, but not merely in the physical sense. Each thrust was a question, each moan a lie, each shared gaze an unspoken struggle for supremacy. That's how I got in; that was the first brick laid in my foundation of deceit.

Just as the pressure became unbearable, just as my vision started to white out, he stopped, pulling back almost entirely, his body suspended above me, chest heaving.

"We have a sister who knows things, Kathy," he said, his voice husky, eyes black with sudden gravity. The switch was instantaneous, chilling. He was talking business, secrets, danger, while still inside me. "She needs to be watched. Closely. If you are going to be living under my roof, you need to prove your loyalty isn't to the paycheck, but to the family."

I knew what he meant. He was looking for a spy, not a nanny. He was looking for someone to monitor Tifania's frighteningly insightful observations.

I reached up, wrapping my fingers around the back of his neck, pulling his lips to mine in a searing, breathless kiss that felt like a secret exchange of vows.

"Tell me what I'm looking for, Basil," I whispered against his mouth, my legs clamping down, holding him prisoner inside me. "And I'll make sure you never regret letting me in the door."

Kathy's POV

It had been a calculated weapon, that shift in rhythm. Basil's breathing was ragged against my neck, so different from the cold, calculating strategist I'd met minutes ago. Now, he was only a man consumed, driven by this raw, chemical connection we'd forged. I felt him gather the pace, pushing faster, deeper; the urgency in his eyes reflecting the chaos blooming in my chest.

He was right about the connection. It was impossible to separate the purely physical pleasure from the surge of power that ran through me, knowing I could reduce this formidable man to a grunting, frantic lover. Every gasp he took was one small chip in the armor of the Cavendish empire I was here to dismantle.

But as the pressure built again, focused and relentless-his thumb expertly riding the edge of my climax even as he plunged into me-the analytical part of my mind began to waver. I was lost in the sensation, clawing at the muscles of his back, desperate for more, desperate for him to finish this destruction he had started.

"Say my name, Kathy," he said, his voice strained, raw with his own approaching peak. "Basil."

"Basil," I repeated-the name tore out of me, a surrender that tasted like fire.

The world dissolved in the electric shock of a second orgasm, powerful and immediate, and I cried out, arching violently against him. The force of my climax seemed to ignite his own. He groaned-a deep, guttural sound that vibrated through my core-and drove into me one final, devastating time, emptying himself into me with a shuddering urgency.

He collapsed, his heavy, damp weight pinning me to the bed, his forehead coming to rest against my own. For one long, heated moment, the only sound in the opulent room was the sound of two people trying to reclaim their breath.

When he finally pulled back, he didn't look at my body; he looked directly into my eyes. The lust was still there, hot and possessive, but beneath it, the cold strategist was already returning.

"That," he said, his tone low and serious, "was a contract, Kathy. Signed and sealed. We are not a normal family, and you are not a normal nanny. Everything you see, everything you hear-it comes to me first. No exceptions."

I swallowed, the lingering heat from the climax mixed with a rising sense of danger. I was inside now, but I was exposed.

"I understand the terms of employment, Basil," I said, putting a subtle, professional distance back in my tone. I reached up and smoothed his sweat-dampened hair back from his brow, a gesture of faux tenderness. "But a contract is a two-way street. You said Tifania needs watching. What exactly is she saying, and what exactly does it have to do with Elena Cavendish de Rivas's sudden vacation?"

Then he rolled off me with sudden, startling efficiency to grasp his discarded shirt and tie. He was no longer even trying to mask the transaction in the slightest way.

"Tifania has an imagination. That's what we tell the outside world. But she doesn't just see shadows, Kathy. She talks about memory leaks. About people who 'shouldn't be there' when she's alone. She talks about the Blackwell Vault." He pulled the shirt over his head, effectively covering the glorious evidence of our recklessness.

The mention of the Blackwell Vault-the supposed secret facility for Cavendish International Holdings-sent a cold spike of adrenaline coursing through me. It was the same location I had been tasked to find.

"Memory leaks?" I repeated, sitting up and pulling the silk sheet up to my chin, mimicking his sudden return to decorum. "What kind of leaks?"

"She said her mother, Elena, didn't leave alone. She said her friend did it. And she named a place," Basil said, eyes scanning the room as if checking for hidden cameras. "The Rivas Regency Hotel. That's where my mother was last seen, according to the official-but very discreet-police report.

"She knows the location of her mother's last known whereabouts?" I asked, focusing on the sister, trying to maintain the nanny persona even as my mission intensified.

"And more. She mentions a 'green file.' She says her mother hid something important, something that was taken from the Blackwell Vault. And she says, 'The man with the snake tattoo is still waiting.'" Basil fixed me with a gaze that had returned to its habitual, icy detachment. "We need to know how much she truly knows, Kathy. And how much of it she's learned since Elena vanished."

He finished dressing, his movements sharp and precise. Walking back to the bed, he tossed me a luxurious silk robe.

"Get dressed. Your room is the suite opposite mine. The key card is in the pocket of the robe. Get acquainted with the house rules from Amanda Quispe tomorrow morning. But let me repeat the only important one: Tifania is not a normal child. Find out who she's been talking to. And if she mentions the green file again, you come straight to me."

He turned to leave, his hand already on the doorknob. "What about your brother, Baxon?" I asked, stopping him. "Does he know about the memory leaks and the green file?" Basil's hand tightened on the metal handle; he didn't turn around.

"Baxon trusts Tifania too much to see her as a liability, and he's too emotional to handle the truth of our mother. He believes in the simple version of the story. You will keep it that way, Kathy. He sees you as a distraction. You will make sure he stays distracted from the real danger."

He opened the door, but before he stepped out, he delivered the final, chilling instruction.

"You aren't just working for the Cavendish family, Kathy. You're working for me. And if your mission here involves anything other than keeping Tifania quiet and safe, you will regret ever setting foot in the Sky Tower."