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)
Victor smirked as he sat in an empty row, buckling up with elegant hands well used to the opulence surrounding us. His private plane dripped with decadence from the oversized cream leather seats to the rose-gold accents and twinkling starlights above us. “Henri is in for the time of his life. We’ll all have to watch how he adapts.”
I forced a smile. “Can’t wait.”
Ily muttered a slur under her breath.
Victor chuckled. “To think…two new guests. One potential Master and one new jewel. I love when things work out.” Running his forefinger over his bottom lip, his gaze slithered from me to Ily and back again. “You’re sitting beside a stunning girl, Ward, yet you’re not touching her. Why?”
I choked. “Why? Eh, because we’re not at your estate yet?”
“Wrong.” He shook his head. “You’re not touching her because you still don’t think you can.”
“She’s yours for the weekend; you heard the Master Jeweler.” Roland chuckled. “You can touch her any place you want. Any time you want.”
“Like hell he can,” Ily hissed. “Let me off. Right now. You’ve all had your fun. If you let me go, I won’t say a word to anyone, I swear.”
“Ah, you could’ve come up with something original, my sweetling,” Victor drawled in his posh French accent. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that one over the years?”
Ily turned into a statue, her midnight hair kissing her bare shoulders. “How…how many girls have you taken?”
“You know what? I seem to have lost count.” Victor grinned. “Boys too. We don’t discriminate. We’re an inclusive society, aren’t we, Roland?”
“Very inclusive.” Roland finished his pancakes and licked his lips. “And don’t worry, once Henri has broken you in, we’ll all have some fun. Diversity is key, after all.”
Ily shifted as if she was moments away from launching across the aisle and stabbing Roland with his syrup-sticky fork.
She’d struggled when I’d first shoved her onto the aircraft but wisely stopped when one of Victor’s guards pressed a gun against her temple and raised his eyebrow.
“He’ll pull the trigger, my pet,” Victor had drawled as he’d climbed into the cabin behind us. “I don’t tolerate uncontrolled crying, fighting, or begging. You can sit quietly and behave, or you can die and have your body dumped at sea.”
Ily had complied, but it seemed as though she needed another reminder.
I clamped a hand over hers on the armrest.
She sucked in a breath as her eyes whipped to mine.
My skin stung where I touched her and every part of me screamed to stop. To rip my hand away so I didn’t suffer the infectious heat prickling between us, even now.
Her overbright gold-hazel eyes trapped me into my chair, and I had the awful sensation that she saw straight through me. Saw the deal I’d made with my stranger-of-a-brother. The cracking of my resolve. The blackness I could never quite tame, no matter how hard I tried.
“Don’t touch me.” She yanked her fingers from under mine. “Ever.”
I sighed heavily, clenching my fist as residual tingles stung. “You and I both know that’s not going to happen.”
My gaze dropped to her mouth and my mind exploded with images of her cuffed on the table. I’d never been so hard in my life. Never been so close to throwing every moral out the shattered fucking window and sinking inside her with no control.
I was grateful we’d been interrupted.
Thankful for the time it’d taken to drive to Charles De Gaulle in a black limousine.
Ily had fought.
She’d screamed.
It hadn’t made a damn bit of difference.
She’d cowered against the side of the limo, glowering at all of us, her golden eyes darting from Roland as he poured some champagne to Victor who typed on his phone.
By the time we pulled up to the private airstrip, she trembled with terror, and I shook with desperation.
Sucking in a breath, tasting her floral citrusy perfume on my tongue, I fingered my birdcage cufflinks. Was the GPS location working? Could Q see my little red dot blinking with sin as I sat in a plane ready to fly into hell? Surely, he’d dealt with other traffickers who had technology like Victor’s and knew how to get around it?
Victor never took his eyes off me as the engines started with a powerful purr.
Ily flinched, a soft whimper under her breath.
“You know, Henri…I was once like you,” Victor said softly as the plane shuddered and rolled into motion. He tapped his chest, his face full of commiseration. “I always knew I was different. Always knew I was destined for greater things. I might’ve been born into a middle-class family and taught to get a menial job where I would be turned into a slave for a tyrannical government, but I didn’t accept that. I didn’t allow myself to be bled dry by taxes and robbed of life’s great pleasures. If I had, I would’ve eventually gotten sick and died, just like everyone else.” He shuddered as if his tragic ‘could-haves’ truly terrified him. “Life would’ve been meaningless, pointless, devoid of happiness and…fun.”