Chapter Five #2
Panic made me do something I really shouldn’t do.
Throwing a bemused smile at the concerned people watching us, I rolled my eyes as if Ily’s dramatics were common, then planted my mouth over her screaming one.
I grabbed her hips, jerking her into me, not giving her a chance to fight as my lips silenced her cry for help.
Her scream filled my lungs.
Her helplessness and rage coated my tongue.
And I shuddered as she stopped screaming, choosing to thrash against me instead.
Only...her thrashing made me harder than I’d ever been, and I struggled to see straight. My cock rippled with the urge to come as she did her best to knee me in the balls.
Her fight.
Her exquisite, delicious fight.
It fucking destroyed me.
I’d only meant to shut her up.
But...that was the problem with me.
I’d only ever meant to be normal.
To kiss like normal.
Love like normal.
But...I wasn’t normal, and where other men knew when to stop, I merely saw it as a beginning.
Grabbing a fistful of her hair, I held her still and grunted into her ear. “One hundred thousand euros.”
She tensed.
I looked over her shoulder at the bouncer fighting his way to get to us.
She shifted against me, sending another bolt of electricity through my dick. “What did you say?”
“Just...don’t fight me. Give me one night and then you’re free. You have my absolute word.”
Liar.
You’re condemning her to hell.
Ignoring common sense, I ran my nose down her cheek and sucked in her scent. Flowers and something else. Something citrusy and vanilla-y all at the same time.
“Damn, you smell good.” I didn’t hold back my tortured exhale.
“Get off me.”
Her fight kept slicing away at my self-control.
I wouldn’t get through tonight unless she surrendered.
I wouldn’t get into The Jewelry Box unless I did what Victor had tasked.
Standing there, with her in my arms, her scent up my nose, and my heart pounding in an unfamiliar rhythm of recognition, want, and possession, I wished I’d never come to France. Wish I’d never stopped digging that blade into my leg. Wish I’d never met her.
But you did.
And now, you need her if you want to succeed.
Swallowing back so much fucking shame, I grunted, “I’ll give you one hundred thousand euros if you just agree to go with me.”
“Go with you where?”
“To a back room.” I winced. “That’s all.”
She stilled, probably sensing what I wouldn’t say.
She didn’t ask what would happen in that room and I didn’t want to think about it.
Her chin tipped up bravely. “I told you...not for all the money in the world.”
I pulled back just enough to meet her eyes.
I should release her.
I should shove her away and chase her screaming down the street.
But she was the price.
The key...
Nausea crawled up my throat. I felt fucking sick. “Name a number.”
“A number?”
“Two hundred? Three?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’d pay that much? Just to get me naked?”
I shook my head, doing my best not to picture her bare. “I’d pay that much to do what I need to do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m doing this for a reason and—”
“The reason because you want to sleep with me?”
I clamped my lips together. I’d hidden who I truly was all my life. I’d never shared my deepest secrets or divulged my innermost longings—not until six months ago when I met my half-brother and couldn’t stop my confessions.
The same urge to be honest with her scratched at my soul.
I couldn’t seem to look away from her.
I wanted her.
I’d wanted her the moment I noticed her.
I couldn’t tell her the real reason why I needed her to come with me but a very vulnerable part wondered if she felt it too. Did she feel the raw connection? The stinging awareness? The unbearable lust that only grew stronger the longer we were together?
Or is it all in my godforsaken head?
Sighing heavily, I gave up trying to explain anything and just muttered, “Five hundred thousand.”
“Five hundred...?” Her eyes rounded. “What on earth for?”
Your life.
Your soul.
“You’re right. That’s not enough. A million. I’ll give you a million euros.”
“A million...” She laughed under her breath. “Yeah sure, alright. A million. As if.” Her laughter faded away. “Wait. Do you...do you have a million euros?”
Finally, a crack. A sliver of submission.
It did things to me I could never outrun.
It didn’t matter that I didn’t have that sort of money.
My half-brother did.
The bank account he’d opened in my name in order to fake my way into this lifestyle did.
On paper, I was rich.
And he’d fucking gut me if he knew I bribed and coerced this girl with money he used to free slaves, not enslave them. But...he’d thrown me to the wolves. He’d willingly tossed me into hell and had to have known I wouldn’t have the strength to climb back out.
“I have the money.” I cupped her chin and ran my thumb over her bottom lip, wishing like hell I could let her go. “I’ll give you a million euros.”
She blinked as if shocked at my sudden tenderness. “W-What would I have to do?”
This was the part where I told her the truth.
That she’d have to become a sacrifice. A non-negotiable offering to the devil.