The Love of Money II
Copyright© 2025 by MindSketch
Chapter 19: In the Cage
Fiction Sex Story: Chapter 19: In the Cage - Marcus and the others are no longer just surviving the world—they’re shaping it. Erin has always known what she wants. Now she’s orchestrating it. Helen is learning that submission isn’t surrender. Bobbi, stripped of her old identity, stands at a crossroads. New women cross his path. Old ones return. Some hand him their heart. Some, a leash. Some, a knife in the back. And then there are the ones waiting for him to stumble. It's hard to rest when you have a target painted on your back.
Caution: This Fiction Sex Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Fa/Fa Mult Coercion Consensual NonConsensual Reluctant Romantic Lesbian BiSexual Heterosexual Fiction Rags To Riches BDSM DomSub MaleDom FemaleDom Light Bond Rough Sadistic Spanking Group Sex Harem Orgy Interracial Black Female White Female Oriental Female Indian Female Anal Sex Analingus Cream Pie Exhibitionism Facial Massage Oral Sex Petting Pregnancy Sex Toys Squirting Voyeurism Big Breasts Small Breasts Slow Violence
Friday, September 13th, 12:27 am
Fifteen minutes later found me standing in front of the elevator in the main foyer. Chloe was already there, arms crossed, eyeing me as I approached.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey,” Chloe replied.
She looked as tired as I felt as we waited for the elevator to arrive. It wasn’t surprising, considering everything we’d been through.
“After surviving the day that wouldn’t end, I’m surprised you wanted to come with me.”
Chloe snorted. “I was tempted to just stay in bed, but considering who it is, I didn’t want to miss out on the fun.”
“Yeah, I can’t blame you,” I admitted.
The elevator opened, and we both stepped inside. The awkward silence was so thick I could’ve cut it with a knife. As the doors shut, I looked over at her.
“Are we okay?”
“Are we?” Chloe asked, looking me dead in the eyes.
I always admired that about her—she never looked away, never flinched.
“I’m sorry, too,” I said, referring to the apology note she’d left in my study ... the one Erin had mentioned.
The corner of her mouth twitched—the ghost of a smile on her lips. She didn’t say anything else. Typical Chloe.
I wanted to say more, but it didn’t feel right. That hint of a smile had been her version of anyone else screaming acceptance and forgiveness. Trying to pry anything more out of her probably would’ve just brought us right back to square one.
I wanted Chloe in my life, but that meant taking her as she was—a surly, terse soldier who’d rather face an army than talk through her feelings. So I just smiled back.
The next two minutes were quiet between us until we were standing in front of an apartment door one floor above Phoebe’s. I knocked.
The door opened just enough to show Henry Psalter standing there, looking at me with an expression that suggested he could just as easily kill me as shake my hand. He looked me up and down through the three-inch gap in the doorway, then stepped aside, opening it wide enough to let me in.
“Where is he?” I asked as Chloe and I stepped into the room.
“In the dining room,” Henry said as he shut the door behind us. The tone of his voice made it sound as if it were just another quiet evening at home.
He didn’t waste any time leading us through a nice, spacious kitchen, an arched doorway, and into a respectably sized breakfast/dining room. Chloe and I passed several of Psalter’s men as we followed in his wake. I noticed one of them holding a collection of zip ties.
As soon as we stepped into the living room, I saw him.
“Mr. Upton,” Psalter said, gesturing to the small man sitting at a table in front of an empty plate. “I believe you’ve met Ryo Tanaka.”
He looked small.
I mean, Ryo Tanaka had seemed small before, but this was different. Back in Norway, his stature made me think of a tiny dog—not typically deadly except in the right circumstances. While he had hostages and a gun in my face, it felt like that small dog had its teeth around my throat.
Now, he just looked frail ... like the little alien inside that robot mustache guy in the first Men in Black movie.
He was sitting at a small four-person table that held a single empty plate with a dusting of crumbs and a half-empty glass of water. It made sense that he’d be hungry ... I can’t imagine Psalter provided in-flight snacks.
“What did you feed him?” I asked as I took the seat across the table from our captive. He simply stared back at me in sullen silence.
“Your maid brought it. Jenny?”
“Jessica,” I corrected.
“She brought a chicken sandwich—one for him as well as some for the men. They were quite good. Compliments to the chef.”
“Thanks. I’ll pass it along,” I said.
I studied Ryo for a few moments and then said, “How was the flight?”
He didn’t answer.
“I’m afraid he skipped that part. He only woke up thirty minutes before I texted you. Benzodiazepine ... one hell of a drug. Especially if it’s being administered as a constant drip.”
I could see that now. He looked about five times rougher than I did when I woke up. I hadn’t been able to immediately tell because of the bruising along the left side of his face.
“Sounds kind of nice,” I said. “I’m still catching up on the sleep I lost while you were hunting me.”
Ryo stayed quiet.
“Fuck, Ryo!” I said, exasperated. “This isn’t going to be satisfying if you don’t talk!”
Before anyone could even register her movements, Chloe stomped over to Ryo and hit him. It wasn’t an open-handed slap. It was a punch aimed so perfectly that the skin at his cheekbone split, adding another injury to his already pummeled face. It drove his head to the side, and blood spattered across the floor.
“Ah! No! I’ll tell you what you want! Please! Don’t hit me!”
His arms were raised in a defensive posture, and his eyes remained closed as he cringed away from my bodyguard. It didn’t stop Chloe; she grabbed his wrist in some kind of fancy hold and twisted it in a way that had Ryo leaning back into his chair, facing her as he let out a strangled gasp.
It left his face wide open for another punch—a firm jab to the nose accompanied by a loud crunch.
As she pulled her knuckles out of his face, I could see blood pouring from both nostrils. The bridge bent at an angle.
Ryo’s hands flew to his face, trying to stop the bleeding as Chloe released him.
“Oh, my,” Psalter said, shaking his head in dismay. “These are new floors, aren’t they?” He looked toward the kitchen and called out, “Ricardo, would you be so kind as to bring us some ice and towels?”
Ricardo did as instructed, handing them to Ryo, who was sobbing as he took the materials and began cleaning himself up.
“A bit excessive, don’t you think?” Psalter asked.
“He wasn’t talking,” Chloe huffed, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the wall.
“Thanks, Chloe,” I said. “Now...”
I turned my attention back to Tanaka, watching as he shakily applied a makeshift cold compress to his bleeding nose, whimpering as he adjusted it. His head was tilted in a way where he could peer at me out of one eye.
“Start talking,” I said.
“What do you want to know?”
“We came in peace. Why did you try to kill me?”
“You think Dad was ever going to get over what you did to him?” Ryo said, his words slightly muffled by the towel. “You hurt his pride. He doesn’t get over something like that.”
“Then why did he invite me out?”
“He was doing a favor for Mr. Hofferson,” Ryo said. “Dad has a lot of respect for him, and did it because he was asked. He never intended to agree to anything.”
“He didn’t?” I asked, a little surprised. I had a vague idea that Ryo had stepped out of line when deciding to kill me, but I hadn’t realized that Tanaka hadn’t even intended to meet in good faith. That made my stomach turn a little—not because of Tanaka’s subterfuge, but because of Astrid’s part in all this.
I didn’t know her father from a hole in the wall, so Astrid must have used her father’s social credit with Hiro to set up our meeting. Why had she pushed so hard to get me this opportunity? What was in it for her? Surely it wasn’t simple goodwill. I’d been around Astrid long enough to understand that she didn’t do anything out of the kindness of her heart.
Had I avoided owing her a debt because of this little asshole?
That brought up another question—if Tanaka had so much respect for Hofferson, then why the fuck was his son shooting his daughter out of the sky? Surely that would backfire.
“You do know Astrid was on that helicopter too, right?”
“You think I was going to leave any evidence that I had anything to do with it?” Ryo said.
“What do you mean? I was there to see you. Who else were they going to blame?”
“You know how many enemies the Hoffersons have? My family isn’t among them, and Dad is too ‘honorable’ to betray someone like that ... no matter how much he hates you. There are no cameras in the cabin, but my phone hasn’t left that place, and I streamed nearly the entire time. As far as they are aware, I was there the whole time with two or three aides. Sure, people might talk, but that’s all it’ll be.”
“And you would have knocked me off, and ... what? Gained points with your dad?”
Ryo just blinked, staring at me out of the corner of one eye, mouth open as he breathed loudly.
I had to hand it to him ... the rocket launcher attack was heavy handed as fuck, but Tanaka Junior didn’t sound completely devoid of brains. There was enough plausible deniability there that it might have actually worked. At least ... I would have had my doubts, no matter how flimsy the alibi.
Something else bothered me about his story, though ... something I couldn’t put my finger on.
“So ... what? I cross your dad once and I’m on his shit list forever?”
“You insulted his honor! He doesn’t take that lightly.”
“I won a boardroom deal!” I retorted.
“You turned his wife against him!”
Of all the mistakes I’d made since becoming a billionaire, that was probably one that I regretted the most. It had caused me no end of trouble. I had to provide Carla with protection, and apparently a job. I got shot out of the sky and nearly killed by this asshole, and I had to remove Psalter off the hunt for Roger VanCamp to pull my butt out of the fire, giving that asshole time to move locations and sink further into obscurity. Sure ... I’d managed to keep my grandfather’s flagship company under my control, but goddamn it had cost me.
He was technically wrong, by the way. Carla had texted me under the pretext of being Astrid. Then, after Tanaka had betrayed me by voting for Kelly Maddox as CEO, Carla offered me her shares in exchange for a date. At the time of the vote, I thought that date would be with Astrid.
As if that would have been much better.
Come to think ... Carla Tanaka might have saved me from owing Astrid, too.
All that to say, I never had any intention of turning Tanaka’s wife against him.
Only ... by the time I went out on the date, I was so mad at Hiro that I slept with his wife out of pure spite.
Now, Tanaka’s son tried to have me killed. Tanaka’s daughter was probably waiting in the bushes with a poison dart loaded in a blowgun, just waiting for me to walk by. His family was going to be the death of me.
Fine. If that’s the way it was going to be, then I was done with trying to be reasonable. I had worked my ass off to try to convince a bunch of blow-hards that I knew a little about the company, only to have the entire thing come down to some weird chess match between a married couple that hated each other.
It had gotten me nearly killed.
It had forced me to kill others.
And I hated them for that.
I leaned over the table. “He betrayed me, first.”
“My old man doesn’t see it that way! Business is one thing, but you cucked him!”
“Maybe I’ll send him a tape next time I fuck his wife.”
I ignored the flinch from Chloe. I already knew how she would feel about that. Well, she might have had a say in who I slept with a day or two ago, but that ship had sailed.
“He’s going to kill you,” Ryo said.
“He can try,” I said with a shrug, leaning back in my seat.
I stared at him for a long moment while he gazed at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Would he stop this fight if it meant getting you back?” I asked.
“Yes,” Ryo said a little too quickly.
I had my doubts.
“Chloe,” I said.
That was all my bodyguard needed to hear. She took a step forward and ripped the rag from Tanaka’s face. Ice chips flew in every direction, skittering across the floor. No one seemed to notice.
“Noooo!” Ryo screeched, swinging his fists above him in vain as he leaned forward in an attempt to stand up.
Chloe batted his hands out of the way and clamped her hand under his lower jaw, yanking him back into his seat violently enough that its back creaked and the two front legs left the ground.
Tanaka flailed and cried out through a jaw he couldn’t move. “No! Don’t! I’m telling...”
“Hit him in the face again!” I called out over his screeching. “I want to see his fucking teeth on the floor!”
“If you want him to talk,” Chloe said, her voice cold as ice, “I should probably work up to that.” She tucked her middle finger behind her thumb and flicked him on the nose hard enough that it sounded like she’d rapped her knuckles against a pumpkin.
The softer part of me winced at that ... it had to hurt.
A wordless wail came from Ryo, and he bucked off his chair.
“I’m telling truth!” he said through clenched teeth, unable to move with Chloe’s hand holding his jaw shut. Evidence of English as a second language bled through thanks to his fear. “I’m telling truth! I’m telling truth! I’m telling truth!”
“I know he’s pissed at you, Ryo! I know you couldn’t call for backup before you killed me!”
“I’m telling—AUCHHH!” He made a wretching sound as Chloe thumped him on the nose again. Harder.
My chair scraped across the floor as I stood up. “He doesn’t seem to have a lot of fatherly sentiment, and he still has a daughter. Why does he need a fucking loser like you?”
Tanaka made a sound that made my blood curdle—he chortled. At least, that’s what it sounded like. It was hard to tell with his jaw clenched shut, laughter bubbling through teeth coated in blood from his nose.
I looked up at Chloe, surprised. “Is he laughing?”
Apparently, Chloe was equally disturbed by the sudden change in behavior. She let go of his jaw, and Tanaka sagged in his chair, his hands shooting to his nose.
“What the fuck is so funny?” I asked.
Ryo chortled. “My sister...”
Chloe and I exchanged glances again.
“You think he’s going to let her take over for him? Have you met my father?”
“Regretfully.”
“He’s the biggest misogynist I know. He’s not going to let a woman anywhere near his business!”
I glanced at Henry. His head was bowed as if he was in deep thought, but when I didn’t respond to Ryo, he cut his eyes up and met my gaze. He sighed and gave a non-committal nod, as if admitting that Ryo was probably right.
So ... he is worth something.
“Okay,” I said, dropping into my seat as I thought over his words. “You don’t have any other brothers?”
“No,” Ryo spat. Literally. Congealed blood sputtered down his mouth, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.
Gross.
“So ... I need to keep you alive. Easy enough. Can you give me some incentive to make sure I’m doing more than the bare minimum?”
Ryo looked a little desperate around the eyes. Maybe it was just the pain. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you know if your dad had anything to do with my kidnapping?”
“Kidnapping?” Ryo asked.
“Hit him again!”
“No! He didn’t do it!” he said, cringing as Chloe stepped in with her hand raised. She kept her eyes on me, and I gave her a subtle shake of the head.
“How do I know for sure?” I asked.
Roger had been one of the guys responsible for my kidnapping, but he’d been working with Amber, who had been working for someone else. I didn’t think Tanaka actually had a hand in it—we hadn’t been quarreling at the time. Still, he or his son might know who was responsible. I was starting to understand that all these people were more entwined on a level that was borderline incestuous.
“I would have known about it,” Ryo said, eyeing Chloe as he kept his hands raised. “I handle a lot of that kind of shit for him.
“And you don’t know who else might have kidnapped me?”
Ryo peered through his upraised arms at me, sniffled, whimpered in pain, and shook his head. “I swear I don’t.”
Another dead end.
I sighed. “Okay. Fine. Do you know what Brantwood Holdings is?”
“Brantwood Holdings?” Ryo asked, sounding confused.
It was a name that had only come up once in reference to Amber Bell—the only other person I was sure had been at my kidnapping. She struck me as more of an enforcer than a mastermind, so I was hoping that whoever hired her was the one pulling the strings ... because that certainly hadn’t been Roger.
It made sense that the kidnapping was tied to my grandfather because the flash drive they’d been asking me about had turned up in his home office in the Catskills. The only connection Amber had to all this was her client, Brantwood Holdings, who owned a large portion of VistaVision.
It was the only lead I had to find out who else wanted me dead.
Roger had it out for me because I had essentially cuckolded him, and he was losing control over his wife. Tyler, my brother, was a suspect, but I couldn’t draw a connection between him and Amber. He’d had his own representation that day in the board meeting.
I had a lot of time in the woods by myself, trying to piece things together. My conclusions weren’t rock solid, but they were the only thing I had.
And now I was frustrated beyond all belief.
I’d focused on recovering from my time in the woods the entire flight back, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d anticipated getting some answers from a captured Ryo Tanaka.
Instead, all I got was blood all over my floor.
My head dropped back, and I glared at the ceiling as I groaned. “Jesus Christ, Ryo! You’re fucking useless, here!”
“I’m not useless!” Ryo insisted.
“Well, you certainly seem useless,” I retorted. “I’m not feeling particularly generous if you can’t offer me any information. It seems like all I have to do is hand you over to your dad. It doesn’t matter what kind of shape you’re in.”
“I can tell you things about my dad,” Ryo said.
“Like what?” I asked, feeling skeptical.
“I can tell you ... if you did something drastic, he might be willing to forget his vendetta.”
“Something drastic?” I studied him for a second. “Like what?”