Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I groaned under my breath.
My skin sparked with her closeness.
Goddammit.
I dropped my chin as a crossroads appeared.
Sadistic fate gave me one last choice.
Shake my head and she’d leave.
And survive.
Nod and she’d stay.
And die.
It’s her or countless other women will suffer.
Is her life really worth more than those already trafficked?
She’s the key…
I held her stare.
I buckled beneath nightmarish urges.
She was just one in thousands. Thousands of missing and tortured souls I’d been tasked to save. She meant nothing. Nothing more than the tax I had to pay to be cured.
Only question was, did I have the strength to pay it?
In the end, fate made the choice for me.
With a sharp inhale, Ily suddenly announced, “You know what? Everything’s fine. I’m the one who made a mistake. He doesn’t have to go.”
Fuck, Ily, what have you done?
The bouncer muttered some French slurs about intoxicated youth and ridiculous drama, then stomped back to his post by the wall. Dancers forgot about us as the music switched to an electric trance.
Energy crushed us, trapping us with dark chemistry and strobe lights.
I had no idea what to say.
No idea if I had the courage to save her or steal her.
Raising her chin, Ily studied me.
She looked far too young and far, far too breakable.
She represented my end.
I was a motherfucking dead man.
Ever so slowly, she stepped into me and stared directly into my dirty, despicable soul.
I couldn’t look away as her beautiful gaze darkened with decisions and dangers.
And then…barely noticeable, she nodded. “A million…to see where the night takes us.”
I smothered my groan.
My life was over.
Her life was over.
We were officially bound in death.
I held out my hand and waited.
With the smallest hesitation, she placed her fingers in mine.
A crackle, a bolt, a fissure of electricity.
“I’m trusting you, Henri…don’t…please don’t make me regret it.”
As quickly as that electricity arrived, it died.
My teeth turned to dust in my mouth; I couldn’t reply.
I doubted I’d ever be able to speak to her again.
Hating myself, I tugged her into the nightmare that would destroy both of us.
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.