She knocked on the door and waited. A bleary-eyed servant answered the door and let her inside. But when he tried to bar her from going upstairs, Nora had to remind herself of Kingsley’s rule number two.

You are the Dominant.

Act like it.

She acted like it. The five-foot-ten, two-hundred-pound butler ended up on the floor with his arm behind his back.

“I’m just here to talk to Talel, who is an old, dear friend of mine. That Aston Martin out there? He bought it for me. I know he’s still in bed. That’s where you should be. Go now or everyone in this state will find out that a five-foot-three woman put you flat on your face. Say ‘yes, Mistress’ if you understand.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“Good boy. Scoot.” Nora let him up and raced for the stairs. She had no idea where Talel’s bedroom was, but it didn’t take long to find it, or Talel, wide-awake and waiting for her by the window.

“I heard you coming, Mistress. I’d know that engine anywhere.”

“You should. It was your engine before it was mine. Need it back?”

Talel turned around and smiled sheepishly at her, not meeting her eyes.

“I wouldn’t say no.”

“I would have given it back had I known you needed the money enough to kill a horse over it. How much do you owe?”

“Mistress…I didn’t—”

Nora stormed up to Talel and slapped him viciously across the cheek. He flinched and stared at her in shock that turned quickly to desire.

“How much do you owe?” she asked again.

“I don’t—”

Nora twirled the riding crop in her fingers. That had been her signature trick—the twirl. Playing with the crop like a baton before catching it by the handle and bringing it down hard.

Talel watched the spinning crop with fearful eyes. Nora let it slide through her fingers until she grabbed the grip and hit the back of Talel’s knees. He crumpled to the floor.

“Don’t lie to me. I defended you to Wesley. I saw the stables—the empty stables. How much do you owe?”

Talel didn’t answer, but that didn’t surprise her. He loved being broken, loved having his pride stripped of him. He’d give her the answers she wanted, but she’d have to work for them. She could do that.

“Take your clothes off,” she ordered. In seconds and without any sort of fight, Talel stripped naked. She wasn’t at all surprised to see him hard. The more vicious she’d been with him, the more he’d wanted her. “On your back.”

Nora straddled Talel’s stomach and sat on his erection. He winced in discomfort. Jeans plus force against naked skin couldn’t have felt good. She didn’t it want it to feel good. Holding the riding crop at both ends, Nora pressed it against his neck.

“Your c**k just twitched under me, Talel. You always liked being choked. I haven’t forgotten that.”

He swallowed hard and didn’t speak.

“I also haven’t forgotten how much you love submitting to a woman who’ll beat the shit out of you before f**king you for her own pleasure. You liked that, didn’t you? Being used? Answer me.”

“Yes, Mistress. I loved it.”

“I know. You didn’t have to tell me.” Nora sighed. “I’m really very unhappy here, Talel. I liked you. Genuinely liked you. It impressed me that you’re royalty in your own country, but you stay in the States so you can be treated like a normal person. Kingsley told me I shouldn’t f**k you, that I should see you as a paycheck and not a person. But I adored you. Stupid me.”

Nora stood up and put her foot on the center of Talel’s chest.

“Kiss it.” She let her dirty, horse-shit-covered shoe hover by his face. Talel lifted his head and obediently kissed the toe. “Good boy,” she said, before bringing her foot down to rest on his throat. All she had to do was drop her full weight onto her foot and Talel’s next breath would his last breath. “Now…how much do you owe?”

“Thirty million dollars.” The words were barely audible.

“That should be nothing for you.”

Talel shook his head. Nora lifted her foot a millimeter.

“My father found out…about me.”

Nora swallowed the pang of pity that threatened her resolve.

“He disinherited you?”

“I don’t know. I’m cut off for now, at least. The farm, the banks, the creditors…thirty million is an amount no one will forgive.”

“And Spanks for Nothing was insured for forty. Convenient. A miracle and spare change. You’re saved.” She glared at him with a mix of fury and pity.

“Not entirely. The investigators…they could discover it wasn’t an accident. We were careful but…”

Talel’s voice trailed off and the implications of that “but” hung in the air between them. Nora pulled the red clip out of her pocket and showed it to him.

“Not that careful.”

He said nothing, only stared at the evidence that could keep him from his miracle.

“Your creditors…are we talking banks? Or deep pockets?”

“Both.”

“Shit.” Nora’s jaw clenched. Deep pockets…that meant the mob. “Horse Mafia, huh?”

“Anywhere there is money there is the Mafia…as you know, Mistress.”

She nodded. Talel hadn’t merely been her lover, he’d been her friend. And she’d told him the truth about her background—her father with his Mafia ties, growing up in a chop shop, the car thefts that had gotten her sentenced to community service supervised by her priest. She better than anyone knew the reach and the power and the money of the mob. And if Talel got on their bad side and stayed there…it would be only a matter of time before the Underground had one less male submissive.