Page 79 of His Wild Seduction

I love my wife. So damn much.

My chest tightened as I opened the SUV door, glaring at Mario when he moved to do it until he stepped back.

No one got to touch my wife’s door when I was present. She was mine in every sense of the word, and I was fiercely protective of what I considered mine.

My man understood that and backed away towards the front, where he would ride with my regular driver.

“How far is the trip?” Meredith asked, seemingly unaware of the tension brewing within me.

“Not far. I would have driven myself, but I thought maybe you’d like to talk with me?” I asked, feeling a little stupid about it, really.

The truth was, I wanted her to talk to me.

I looked forward to that time of day after we both came home from work, between eating dinner and making love, when Meredith would share little stories and tidbits about her day.

Yes, Mario sent me updates. Every hour on the hour.

Possessive prick that I was, I demanded it.

But that was not the same as hearing it from her sweet lips.

“Today was rough,” she said, and I watched her frown as she chose her words.

I already knew about the woman with the broken arm and small scared son who came to the shelter seeking safe harbor earlier in the day.

Mario had informed me immediately, as he’d been instructed.

Within an hour, I had all the information I needed on Ellie Maxwell-Peters.

She was the Maxwell heiress. Due to inherit billions that stemmed from an old mining fortune.

Her people were from Pennsylvania, originally, but she’d moved to Manhattan with her husband.

Gary Peters was a fucking prick.

The guy worked for his wife’s father, came on strong, got her pregnant, forced a marriage, then lost his shit when he realized the company wouldn’t go to her.

Oh, she inherited money after her father’s demise. But it was spread out.

The big deposit wouldn’t hit until she turned thirty, and that wasn’t for another year.

Maxwell Mining had taken a deep nosedive when Ellie’s father passed on. The whole thing was going on the auction block.

I already sent Andres what I had on the company and asked him to investigate. If he thought it was a good investment, Andres would bring it to Adrik and Marat.

It was kind of what Volkov Industries did. I’d take my piece, of course.

But the real benefit to everyone was that I had plans to sink that fucking asshole for putting his hands on his young wife.

I hated abusers. And Gary Peters was the worst fucking kind.

Hitting a woman because he wasn’t smart enough or good enough to build himself up on his own? Oh, I didn’t fucking think so.

I turned my attention to my wife. My sweet, caring, beautiful wife who worked so hard to make a difference.

“I’m just worried she won’t want to stay in the shelter. So, um, I wanted to tell you, I took that money I had, that Gray Corps had been paying me all those years, and I asked Fr. Augustus, he’s the head counselor for St. Elizabeth’s, to find some properties that might be worth buying as a secondary location for some of our tri-state residents.”

She bit her lip, as if she thought I would object. I narrowed my eyes and dipped my chin.

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