Chapter Six
...............................
Ily
––––––––
“AH, YOU’VE FINALLY decided to join us.”
The impeccably dressed man I’d seen speaking to Henri while I broke up with Sam grinned and raised a goblet full of amber liquor. He leaned nonchalantly against a private bar, his lips quirked into a smile that made my stomach tangle with nerves.
“Roland and I had a bet that you’d tucked tail and ran.” He sipped his drink as Henri pulled me over the threshold and closed the thick door behind us. Immediately, the racket of the night-club faded, leaving only the heavy thud of bass.
Henri didn’t speak as he tugged his fingers from mine and strode forward, shaking out his hand as if I’d contaminated him.
What the hell?
He’d offered me a million euros to most-likely sleep with me, yet he acted as if holding my hand was the worst thing imaginable.
Not what I expected at all.
What’s going on?
I froze by the door, blinking at the strange space.
Why had he brought me here? A place with company, not privacy.
I bit the inside of my cheek as Henri threw me a glower and stalked toward the other men. His suit glimmered with wealth and perfection as he crossed the room, his image bouncing from every direction thanks to the mirror-covered walls.
So many mirrors.
I frowned as my image reflected over and over again.
My rose-gold skirt, navy top, and silver boots looked utterly cheap compared to the three expensively dressed men.
My black hair seemed to suck the light from the room, and my mascara-lashed, distrusting gaze gave the terrifying impression of a rabbit.
A wide-eyed rabbit that couldn’t quite believe it’d agreed to hop into the fox den, all because the fox dangled a carrot worth a million euros in front of it.
What a stupid rabbit.
God, what was I thinking?
My heart rate picked up as I dropped my stare. Thick, ruby-red carpet covered the floor, doing its best to swallow up my boots and climb my legs as if I waded through a lake of blood.
Terror darted down my spine. All the false bravado I’d wrapped around myself shredded like a flimsy coat as I glanced back up.
Henri refused to look at me.
I’d agreed to follow him because I was pissed off and hurt and burning with recklessness.
I had nowhere else to go. Nowhere to stay.
No one to turn to for help. The idea of going to the train station at one in the morning and sitting alone, vulnerable and rejected on a cold bench had paled in comparison to staying in Henri’s orbit for a little longer.
There was something about him.
Something that drew me in, despite his prickly, unreadable strangeness.
And to be honest...the tiniest part of me thrilled that a man who looked like Henri wanted me enough to pay for my company. Any other day, I would’ve slapped him the moment he propositioned me. Any other night, I would’ve run in the opposite direction.
But tonight...well...
There’d been something.
And now...there was fear.
Those darts of terror turned into daggers of panic as I made eye contact with the eldest man.
He lowered his glass and licked his bottom lip.
His dark blue gaze drifted over me from head to toe.
The way he studied me was approving but also clinical, almost as if he saw me as stock to buy or a painting to invest in.
My skin crawled as he smiled. “Hello.”
I locked down every atom suddenly straining to run. Social niceties almost bent me into saying hello back, but then I glanced at Henri and choked on every wrong thing I’d just agreed to.
He stood with his hands balled and jaw clenched. Grey eyes churned with vicious storms, and his entire body bristled with...fury? Despair? Hunger? I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t tell because I didn’t know him and this was all a very, very bad idea.
“Eh...I think I made a mistake.” I stood as tall as I could. “I’d like to leave.”
“Oh, come now.” The older man with greying dark blond hair stood from his suave slouch. “That’s not very nice. We’re friendly...once you get to know us.”
Henri muttered something under his breath.
The guy shot him a narrowed glance. “What did you say, Ward? Come now. We’re all friends here. If you’re going to speak, let everyone hear.”
Henri braced his shoulders. “I merely agreed with her. She did make a mistake. And I doubt she’ll be going anywhere...not now she’s here.”
I flinched. “E-Excuse me?”
Henri’s turbulent gaze met mine. I sank into their smoky depths, and came face to face with how badly I’d fucked up.
I’d agreed to go with a complete stranger.
In a foreign country.
The same night I’d broken up with Sam.
For the ludicrous promise of a million euros.
God, Ily...what have you done?
“You should’ve run when I told you to,” Henri growled, rage etching his features, turning him cruel instead of dazzling.
“You told her to leave?” the older man asked sharply. “I thought you wanted into my club.”
“I do.” Henri tore his gaze from mine, focusing on the guy. “I’m here, aren’t I? Regardless of fighting my moral compass.”
“Moral compass?” The older guy snickered. “If what Roland tells me is correct, your moral compass shattered months ago.”
“No, it didn’t.” Henri lowered his jaw. “It shattered the day I was born.” Stalking toward the silver tray on the bar holding a row of crystal liquor bottles, he added, “I’ve just been fighting it for so long, I can’t decide if I’m capable of embracing what I truly want or if I should get as far the fuck away from you as possible. ”
A cold edge filled the room.
The older man shifted and looked at Henri with a bit more respect. He studied him the same way he’d studied me: devious and manipulative, plotting things I couldn’t fathom.
The guy beside the older one, with his pressed suit and large belly, finished his drink and clapped his hands. “So...Henri completed your task, Victor. Now what?”
Henri splashed alcohol into a tumbler and shot it back. He did it again, gulping down booze as if it had the power to erase whatever was about to happen.
Time to go, Ily.
I reached for my cellphone tucked into my skirt waistband.
I needed to call the police.
I need to get the hell out of here.
Withdrawing my phone, I flinched as a hundred reflections in the mirrors did the same thing.
I wobbled as I turned to the door behind me. My heels sank into the ruby carpet, my hand outstretched for a lifeline that would save me. My right hand grasped the handle all while my left thumb flew over my keypad, calling the emergency number.
A rustle of motion behind me. A masculine curse.
I didn’t turn to look. I yanked on the door and—
It didn’t budge.
Panic.
Panic so hot, so thick, so suffocating, I couldn’t breathe.
Come on.
Come on!
I tried again. And again. Pulling, pushing, jerking on the handle.
It stayed stubbornly shut.
Breathing hard, fighting the shaking of my bones, I glanced at my phone. The emergency number wouldn’t connect—the signal just kept whirling, whirling searching for service.
This can’t be happening.
Please!
“As you can clearly see, the door is locked,” the older guy murmured almost apologetically behind me. The splash of liquid on crystal revealed Henri had poured himself another drink.
Fighting every instinct to bolt, I clung to bravery and turned to face the three men.
Henri refused to meet my eyes, glowering into his glass. His entire demeanour bellowed with regret but also savage desperation.
“Your phone is useless too.” The older man slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small black device.
“This little thing will scramble any signal within a twenty-metre radius.” He smiled with a half-hearted shrug.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the moment you stepped into this room, you handed over your life... to me.”
“Open the door. Right now.”
“No.” He smiled. “And be careful how you talk to me, girl. You do not want to see me angry.”
“Angry?” I bared my teeth. “I’m the one who’s angry. You have no right. No right to hold me against my will. Let me the hell out.”
“Careful.” He clucked his tongue. “Don’t make me punish you so soon.”
“Punish?” I choked and stumbled against the door. “No one is punishing anyone. Open it. Or I’ll...I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” He smiled as if I was a new pet whose only purpose was to entertain him. “You’ll scream?”
I stiffened as he chuckled.
He laughed as if my fear delighted him, his smile never dropping. A heartless smile that made everything inside me shrivel up with fear.
Gliding toward me in his expensive, glossy shoes, he said, “You are new and therefore unaware of what’s expected of you, so I will be lenient...
for now.” He kept stalking closer, slowly, methodically.
“But I do expect you to be smart about this. You’re mine now.
Henri has bought and paid for you on my bequest. You can scream, shout, fight, and cry, but the only things those dramatics will get you is the back of my hand and the promise that when we return to my estate, I will not spare you. ”
Stopping before me, trapping me against the door, he reached out and caressed my cheek.
Every cell within me, every molecule, every droplet of blood and unshed tear turned to stone. I leaned toward him, hissing with a thousand snakes on my tongue. “Don’t you dare fucking touch me.”
I slapped his hand away.
I went to scream.
Pain.
It bloomed over my cheek and exploded in my temple.
One moment, I stood in my second-hand dainty boots; the next, I kneeled on the blood-red carpet, my ears ringing, my mouth full of coppery tang from my teeth catching my lip.
“Henri, don’t—” the other guy snapped just before Henri towered over me, his broad shoulders almost touching the man who’d slapped me.
“I thought you said you liked your jewels to sparkle.” He crossed his arms, his eyes unreadable as he looked at me on the floor. “Not bleed.”
The room spun a little. I struggled to swallow past a gush of nausea.