Page 23 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

“H-how do I know it’s not drugged?”

Impatience flashed in his gaze, but a moment later he had downed the shot of brandy himself. Turning away, he took the decanter and placed it on the desk. “Watch closely.” He poured himself another shot and downed it in similar fashion. He poured a third serving and offered it to her again. “Satisfied?”

She reached for it, but her hands shook so badly that by the time she had brought it to her lips, the contents were nearly gone and she was only able to take a small sip. Even so, it was still enough to have her choking at the way the liquid burned her throat.

The prince appeared faintly exasperated. “Let me guess. You don’t drink.”

“N-never.”

“And of course that’s not an exaggeration, I suppose?”

She shook her head.

He released a low sigh. “You should never have worked for me.”

Yes,she thought numbly, recalling what she had seen in the entranceway. She should never have worked for the Prince ofDarkness because everything that people said about him was true.

When the prince made a move towards her, Fawn couldn’t help tensing, expecting the worst.

The prince noticed this, too, and he stilled.

Igor’s words echoed in his mind.

It’s unusual for you to be so worried over one of our staff.

However galling it was to admit, the prince knew Igor was right. And if he was smart, he should use this opportunity to get rid of her.

“W-what happened to the girl b-being attacked?”

And now, the opportunity was knocking on his door, begging to be seized.It would be so damn easy, the prince thought tautly. Make her believe she saw what she thought she saw, and she would never want to see him again.

“Did you let those men r-rape her?”

If he were smart, he would say yes. If he said yes, that would be it. She would be terrified of him and she would leave. His obsession with her would be over.

He heard himself say, “No.”

Clearly, he was not as smart as he usually was where this girl was concerned, and the realization made the prince’s lips compress in mute self-disgust. Even so, he found himself turning the frameless monitor on his desk to face her. Perching himself on the edge of his desk, he typed the necessary commands, and soon the monitor started playing back the sequences he selected.

“This is the girl when she was about to enter the compound, and the pill she’s taking is a chemically-produced aphrodisiac.”

She blinked. “Like Viagra?”

He nodded. “Not at all illegal or with any known side effects. It’s the only kind of pill I allow to be...sharedin my parties. All other drugs are prohibited, and my guests know this. It’s one way to prevent police from ever interfering or raiding my property.”

“But she was being attacked—-”

He summoned another sequence for playback on the monitor. “The effects of the drug do wear off, and as you can see...”

Fawn did see. It was Noah helping the girl to her feet while his guards took care of the girl’s attackers.And that was putting it very lightly, Fawn thought with a wince. In the screen, Noah’s men, all ex-army, were thorough and methodical as they beat the girl’s attackers before sending them away.

“Where’s the cab taking them?” she asked faintly, thinking that everything about this night made her feel like she had fallen into some kind of depraved rabbit hole.

“To the hospital for treatment,” he answered dispassionately. “A lawyer will meet with them next day, and if the girl agrees, they’ll soon find themselves facing the wrong end of a lawsuit.”

The prince ran another command, and another sequence showed on the monitor, this time of Noah speaking to the girl in a room she had never seen before. It almost looked like some kind of cell in a dungeon.

“Where is that?”

---