Madam Temptress Read online

  Madam Temptress

  Meghan March

  Contents

  Madam Temptress

  Also by Meghan March

  About Madam Temptress

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek of Ruthless King

  Sneak Peek of The Fall of Legend

  Also by Meghan March

  About the Author

  Madam Temptress

  Book Two of the Magnolia Duet

  * * *

  Meghan March

  Copyright © 2020 by Meghan March LLC

  All rights reserved.

  Editor: Pam Berehulke, Bulletproof Editing www.bulletproofediting.com

  Cover design: © Regina Wamba, Mae I Design www.exclusivebookstock.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  * * *

  Visit my website at www.meghanmarch.com.

  Also by Meghan March

  Magnolia Duet

  Creole Kingpin

  Madam Temptress

  * * *

  Legend Trilogy

  The Fall of Legend

  House of Scarlett

  The Fight for Forever

  * * *

  Dirty Mafia Duet:

  Black Sheep

  White Knight

  * * *

  Forge Trilogy:

  Deal with the Devil

  Luck of the Devil

  Heart of the Devil

  * * *

  Sin Trilogy:

  Richer Than Sin

  Guilty as Sin

  Reveling in Sin

  * * *

  Mount Trilogy:

  Ruthless King

  Defiant Queen

  Sinful Empire

  * * *

  Savage Trilogy:

  Savage Prince

  Iron Princess

  Rogue Royalty

  Beneath Series:

  Beneath This Mask

  Beneath This Ink

  Beneath These Chains

  Beneath These Scars

  Beneath These Lies

  Beneath These Shadows

  Beneath The Truth

  * * *

  Dirty Billionaire Trilogy:

  Dirty Billionaire

  Dirty Pleasures

  Dirty Together

  * * *

  Dirty Girl Duet:

  Dirty Girl

  Dirty Love

  * * *

  Real Duet:

  Real Good Man

  Real Good Love

  * * *

  Real Dirty Duet:

  Real Dirty

  Real Sexy

  * * *

  Flash Bang Series:

  Flash Bang

  Hard Charger

  * * *

  Standalones:

  Take Me Back

  Bad Judgment

  About Madam Temptress

  I didn’t choose this path. No one would.

  I played the cards I was dealt.

  This life made me. This city made me.

  I won’t apologize for who I’ve become.

  Moses wouldn't have me any other way.

  He says he wants forever, and I’m starting to believe him.

  But I can’t outrun my past, and my sins are catching up with me.

  If it’s time to atone, I’ll gladly pay my penance.

  We might be getting our second chance, but we have to make it out alive first.

  * * *

  Madam Temptress is the second book in the Magnolia Duet and should be read after Creole Kingpin.

  One

  Magnolia

  Fifteen years ago

  Cold showers in the dark are a giant pain in the ass, I thought as I shut the tap off as quickly as I could, but it wasn’t quick enough to stop the chill from rippling across my skin as I reached for the towel hanging over the rod.

  A thump came from somewhere downstairs, and I froze.

  Since all the other girls left last night before the hurricane hit—when they realized we’d be out of business for at least a few days, if not longer—I’d been hearing noises I’d never heard in the house before. Probably because it got its bones rattled good with those terrifying howling winds.

  You should’ve left with them, Ho-It-All whispered, but I brushed off the voice in my head that wouldn’t shut up. This was my house now, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to it, hurricane or no. We made it through, but I knew what looters could do to a place, and it wasn’t pretty.

  I listened for another sound, but there was nothing but silence.

  See? Just my imagination.

  I dried off with record speed, wondering why I’d waited until dark to shower anyway. Oh, wait. It was because without power and A/C, it was hot as balls, and I’d sweated my ass off all day until even I didn’t want to smell myself anymore. Still, note to self, I’d shower during daylight tomorrow.

  I left the bathroom with the towel wrapped around me and the candle in my hand, only making it a few steps before I saw dark, shadowy forms coming up the stairs.

  “What the hell are you doing in here? Get the fuck out of my house!” I screamed as I made a break for the bedroom—where I’d left my sawed-off shotgun.

  “Fuck! Get her!”

  Reaching the bedroom door, I tried to slam it behind me, but it bounced off someone or something before flinging open again and whacking the wall.

  Five more steps. Three more.

  I reached for the shotgun but someone tackled me from behind, and I landed facedown on the floor beneath the heavy weight of a man. My fight-or-flight reflex kicked in and I went fucking crazy, throwing elbows and trying to kick him off.

  I’d been in this world long enough to understand nothing good was going to happen if I didn’t get h
im off me and get to my gun. Men took a woman a lot more fucking seriously with a double-barrel pointed at their chest.

  My heart hammered as my elbow connected, and he grunted.

  “Fucking bitch! Gonna make you pay for that.”

  The stench of stale cigarettes and rot-gut whiskey assaulted my nose.

  Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Stay calm and fight like hell. Ain’t nobody making me pay. Especially not some looter.

  I kept fighting, swinging and flailing, praying I’d land a blow somewhere vital, but he grabbed my hair and yanked my head up before smashing my face against the wood floor.

  Sparks flashed in my vision, and my cheekbone throbbed like I’d just been hit with a brick.

  Fucking hell.

  “Let me go! Help!” I started screaming, because what the fuck else was I going to do with what felt like a three-hundred-pound gorilla on my back?

  “Shut the fuck up.” He grabbed the wet hair at the back of my head again, smashing me repeatedly against the floor until I tasted the metallic bitterness of blood.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Screaming failed, and words wouldn’t come out. My brain and my body were disconnecting like the out-of-service phone lines after the hurricane.

  Stay. Conscious. Stay. Alive.

  I couldn’t pass out. Unconscious meant defenseless, and I was anything but. I was a fighter. I was a warrior. And I was no one’s victim.

  My head lolled as he flipped me over, and my towel fell away, exposing my naked body to the thick, humid air. In the pitch dark, I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel him . . . everywhere.

  “Get off me!” My screams weren’t as loud this time, but I was trying.

  “Shut the fucking cunt up. Jesus Christ. Everyone within six blocks had to hear her scream.”

  It was the other man, his form barely visible in the hallway. Of course, there was hot blood in my eyes, so seeing anything in the darkness was nearly impossible.

  A nasty, rough hand covered my mouth, and I did what any smart woman would do—I bit the fuck out of him.

  He yanked his hand back immediately. “Jesus Christ! The bitch bit me!”

  His other fist came crashing down, connecting with my cheekbone that was already battered from the floor. Another shower of sparks exploded, and my consciousness was waning.

  Stay awake. Stay alive.

  While I fought the battle with myself, the thug jumped to his feet, and pain burst through my ribs when he landed a hard boot to my bare side. My lungs collapsed as the air was forced from them, and pain from every corner of my body began to mesh into one massive throb.

  “See how you fucking like that, you whore.”

  As I scrambled back on my elbows from where he stood, a sick realization crept through me. I can’t get away.

  He came toward my beaten body, his hands reaching out like ghostly specters in the darkness. “I’m gonna have some fun with you before we go.”

  My ears rang with the pounding pulse of agony.

  “Hurry up. We ain’t got all fucking night.” The other one complained, as if he had better things to do than rape and murder me.

  “Shut up. We ain’t in no fucking hurry,” the thug with rough hands replied as his fingers bit into the skin of my upper arm.

  “Then you better fucking share.”

  At this, I struggled ten times harder. I wasn’t getting gangbanged tonight. No fucking way.

  “You can have your turn when I’m done with her. Been a while since I fucked a bitch with this much fight in her.”

  I kicked out, catching him in the leg, and the other man laughed.

  “Tie her up. She’ll probably fucking kill you if you don’t.”

  The closest monster took something from the other one before dragging me off the floor and tossing me on the bed like I didn’t weigh a damn thing.

  He pressed his mouth against my ear, and his hot breath made my gut churn. “You’re gonna wish you’d been nice to me, slut. Should’ve just spread your legs. Now I’m gonna make you fucking pay.”

  “Get away from me,” I growled, trying to roll to the other side, which would put me within grasping range of the shotgun on the other side of the bed.

  “Not a fucking chance.”

  And then he was on me, pinning me down and forcing my hands over my head. That’s when I heard the rippppp of duct tape.

  “No!”

  The first piece went over my mouth as I screamed and fought from beneath him. He kept me pinned under his bulk as he tore off another piece and used it to secure my wrists together. The third piece bound me to the bed.

  I yelled, but the duct tape muffled the sound so there was no way anyone outside the house could possibly hear it.

  As soon as he had my arms taped down, he slithered down my naked body, raking the skin on my legs as he secured my right ankle. I tried to kick with the left one, but he caught it under his knee and rendered me helpless.

  “Nooooo!” I screamed, but even I could barely hear myself over the rushing static in my head.

  He laughed as he taped one foot, and then the other, to the bed posts.

  “Fuck you!” I yelled, but he couldn’t understand me through the tape.

  As soon as I was trussed up like a fucking sacrifice, he chuckled, and the sound sent goose bumps scattering over every inch of my bare skin.

  Fuck. Why couldn’t I at least have clothes on? Jesus fucking Christ.

  Tears sprang to my eyes, even though I fucking hated crying. It was useless to do and certainly wouldn’t help me.

  But it was no mystery what was coming next.

  Something I swore I’d never let happen again. Over my dead goddamned body—which wasn’t really a stretch of the imagination. I was beaten, bound, and defenseless.

  I can survive this. I can survive. All I have to do is survive. I chanted it to myself . . . and then something flashed in the darkness.

  A knife.

  No.

  Fuck.

  No!

  “After we get done with you, I’m gonna make you pay for that elbow to my fucking dome. You hear me, cunt? So you best treat us real nice, or I’ll slit you open from lips to lips.”

  Bile rose in my throat, and I nearly choked on it with the duct tape over my mouth.

  “Yeah, you like that. Probably already fucking wet for me. Whore like you probably walks around dripping, just waiting for a cock.”

  I wanted to close my eyes, but that wouldn’t make it better. If anything, it would be worse, because I wouldn’t know when he was coming at me.

  I heard a jangle. His belt.

  Fuck. Just survive, Mags. You can survive.

  If they decided not to kill me, that was.

  The next sound was the slow, taunting hiss of his zipper.

  Cold sweat broke out over my body because there was nothing I could do. I was completely at their mercy, him and the owner of the other voice from across the room.

  Please, God. I don’t ask for help a lot, but right now, I could surely use a goddamned miracle. Please. Please. Please. Don’t make me carry this. This might be what breaks me.

  The thump of his jeans hitting the floor came next, and right then, I doubted God or anyone else could rescue me. Shit like that didn’t happen for girls like me. We were the ones the bad shit happened to, and we had to learn how to survive it.

  It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve been raped. But there was absolutely no fucking comfort in that thought. None at all. Still, it reminded me it wasn’t impossible to live with. I just had to live through it.

  “Gotta get hard for you.”

  He grunted, and I didn’t want to even think about him standing there with his dick in his hand. I prayed he couldn’t get it up. Maybe he’d have whiskey dick. I hoped like fuck he had shit blood pressure and couldn’t get hard, even if Marilyn Monroe blew him.

  “Oh, I’m gonna give it to you so good.” His voice was gravelly, and I was shit out of luck.

  Monsters didn’t
have problems getting hard-ons. They got off on the violence. Thrived on the evil. Their power only grew as they rip yours away.

  Then there was a thud, but bound as tightly as I was—my ears half-taped over—I couldn’t sense where it was coming from.

  It wasn’t my imagination, because I could make out his form spinning around.

  “Ernie? You okay?” When there was no answer from Ernie, the gorilla paused for a few seconds before yelling again. “Ernie! Where the fuck you at?”

  That’s when I saw it. Another figure in the darkness. This one was taller and filled the entire doorway when he stepped into the room.

  “Motherfucker, why didn’t you answer me?”

  A flashlight turned on, nearly blinding me. The monster shielded his eyes too.