She never knew how much I loved her. How deeply, how violently, how completely obsessed I’d become.
She ran once but I’d make sure she wouldn’t do it again.
Stephanie Winters was mine.
And the Duchess? The Duchess was everything I’d ever wanted and more.
Chapter 16
Duchess
Present Day…
I lookedacross the conference room to Roulette, who sat at the other side of the table. Her black leather boots were propped up on the table, her seat leaned back, and her hands propped up on her head. A leather jacket hung from her chair, the Queen and her crown emblazoned on the back, the words Royal Harlots MC clearly prominent on the sewn in patch.
Obsidian sat to my right, shoulders hunched, and eyes focused on her screen. She had kept her name as Black Obsidian and was now the MC's hacker. For the most part, she worked with Paramore on security. God knows what she was working on currently, but I never bothered her. She had my complete trust, and I knew whatever she was doing always involved the safety of the Harlots, and that's all I needed to know.
Several of the ladies were just wandering in for Church. Junie, better known as Paramore, was our newly patched Sergeant at Arms. Always on her best behavior, she was a blonde bombshell. A beautiful woman in a suit with a resting bitch face that pretty much screamed, fuck with me and I'll cut yourballs off. Angora, our Secretary, sat beside her. The complete opposite of Paramore with her sweet demeanor and bubblegum appearance. They would have called her Kitty, but she was a little more sophisticated than that. Angora fit her just fine. Next to Roulette, across the table, sat Lantana, our Road Captain. Always in her leather. She was sexy, laid back, and smart as fuck. As a Road Engineer she had access to maps and roadways where we could travel without being seen. A rare Venezuelan gem, for sure. And she was poison to those who wanted to fuck with her. Beside her sat Mirage, the Harlot's Tail Gunner. Mirage worked at the company as my Marketing Manager. Girl was creative as fuck on and off the Road. Rainbow was our Treasurer, she always sat beside Obsidian. We had a tendency of comparing her to Rainbow Bright with all that array of color in her hair. But don't ever underestimate a Rainbow, you never know what you may find at the end of it. She was my numbers girl and kept everyone on track when it came to money matters and accounting. Then there was Stiletto; she strode in with her dark brown curls, looking like a Polynesian goddess. She was ex-military and had worked with the CIA cleaning up their mess for a few years. But something happened to her, and we didn’t talk about it. We just know who to go to when we need things to disappear, and our names off the newspapers.
Demise greeted the group as she walked in. As our War Lady, she had taken Paramore under her wing, teaching her and all our Enforcers what she knew. With everything that was going down around us, we needed double the lady power.
Demise was the Violent Femmes representative and the current manager for the Violent Delights. Always meticulous, she personified what the Violent Femmes were: sophisticated, intelligent, and beautiful women. With that sensual smile and all those curves, no man would deny her anything, and she knew how to use her assets to get what she wanted.
She was in charge of bringing in our clientele. No one came through our system without a background check done personally by her. Each client was especially chosen and at times, if we saw it fit, we'd send out a special invite. Anybody who didn't follow our rules would be discarded. And if you harmed any of our girls, they would find you in the nearest cemetery.
Demise always looked like she was ready to start shit, which was why I loved her so much.
As the rest of the members came in, I thought back to that night and how everything had started. In a matter of forty-eight hours, we had swiped our names clean, shut down the doors to the Rouge Roulette, and using Killian’s new identities, we moved our asses to New York City. Within a month, we'd purchased half of the building we sat in now. A condo facing the Harbor down on Pearl Street in Fulton. Twenty floors, six of which were taken over by our business offices.
Roulette had taken her idea of Rouge Roulette, sold the property back to the Hellbound Lovers MC, and with Obsidian’s help, we created the Violent Delights. On the surface, it looked like a high-end escort agency. Sleek website, luxury clientele, and a reputation for discretion that made it irresistible to politicians, executives, and tech billionaires. The kind of place whispered about behind closed doors, where men spent more for a night than most did in a month. But behind the curated profiles and velvet appointments was something far more sinister.
The escorts were beautiful, trained, and wired moles. Every touch, every word, every moan was a setup. They wore hidden tech that logged voice patterns, mirrored devices, and skimmed data from unguarded phones and laptops. Pillow talk turned into confessions. Intimate moments turned into leverage.
Clients thought they were paying for pleasure. In reality, they were offering up everything they had, from financial records, encrypted files, political secrets, dirty little sins stored in cloud drives and late-night texts. And once they were compromised, the agency sold the information to the highest bidder on the black market. Criminal syndicates, rival corporations, foreign interests. No one asked questions. No one was safe.
The Violent Delights didn’t just traffic in bodies; it trafficked in power. And the worst part? The victims never even knew they’d been robbed. It was the perfect ruse. A highly exclusive VIP escort service that only catered to the rich and sometimes famous. In the last ten years, it had grown in terms of name and numbers, and we were now the number one escort service on the East coast, soon the West if all went as planned.
In order to get rid of the money that we kept having to move, we purchased real estate, to include tattoo parlors, spas, and the occasional bar and restaurant. Our businesses were all profitable and strategically set up in high-end areas in the city.
As much as I wanted my freedom, I pretty much lived a hermit lifestyle, afraid that Caleb Killic would be searching for me. It felt like every time I stepped out of the building, I was being watched. More so now, in the last few months than before. I knew he wouldn’t stop, he’d become obsessed with finding me. But I’d been careful, at least I thought I’d been careful.
The Harlots had been slowly expanding, and we now had several chapters forming across the nation. Jameson had come through, and my girls were well protected. Everything I had hoped for was now a well-oiled machine.
We had Lunatic running one of the tattoo parlors, Violent Ink, up in Cleveland, Ohio. The bitch was certifiable but loyal as fuck. I know she had plans of her own and was slowly taking over in her area. We also had Karma, who’d taken over as Prez in Memphis, TN. We had Quinn over in Atlantic City. She ranthe Steel Roses, which is where most of our girls trained for self-defense. They also made some kickass beer-the Harlots Ale.
I recently named Allure as President of the Los Angeles Chapter, and I was moving Calypso and a few of our other members up to her chapter.
We had chapters growing in Canada, with Shark as Prez in Northern Ontario. They ran a non-profit shelter for anti-bullying and they also were expanding their own fronts. Diamond was over in Quebec City. We took her in after we heard she was being accosted by some dark heavy hitters. We offered her protection and she and her ladies had been with us ever since. Obsidian has been working with Diamond Trucking to get them any info she can find to track down traffic rings. Recently she had been helping them in relocating abused children. Having a son of her own, she had soft spot for kids.
Marisol ran the Tijuana, Mexico Chapter. They, like their brotherhood, liked to kick ass, fighting in cages. Not a lot of people wanted to mess with them, and as long as they kept their fronts up, I could care less about how they made their money, as long as they made it.
We recently put Azrael as the President in Baltimore, MD. Mercy had let me down, she was a troublemaker, and most recently she had gotten herself killed. If it wasn’t for Azrael, covering up the situation, and taking control, our names would have been on a Feds list.
Roulette started Church this time around, asking about the Atlanta Chapter. “Ghost let me know that Chanel, Vivi’s daughter, has returned.” Vivi used to be the President of the ATL chapter until she was brutally killed. The case had grown cold, and they never found the killer. That hadn’t been a good day for the Royal Harlots. It was Ghost who took over as President when Vivi died. Now having Chanel back, it could bring us some trouble.
“You think it’s going to be a problem?” Rhea asked me.
“I think we should have Ghost keep an eye on her. We can give them a call later and see where their mindset is. I don’t want a loose cannon in my MC.”
