Page 12 of Her Cruel Empire
Gatto scrambles after me, his voice rising with panic. “Now hold on, we can work something out. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot?—”
Leon stops him dead with one arm. “Step back,” he says calmly. “Ms. Novak is leaving.”
My other men form a protective wall around me as I storm through the casino toward the exit.
But in the foyer, with its cold marble and flickering lights, with the distant sound of slot machines echoing in my ears, I stop walking.
Leon, who has been bringing up the rear, notices immediately. “Ms. Novak?”
I don’t answer. Can’t answer.
She didn’t crumble. That’s what I keep thinking. In that spotlight, with those animals salivating over her, she just stood there with her chin up, blue eyes blazing.
And she certainly didn’t smile. Not even the fake smile from last night, the one that gave way to a real one, that made her eyes sparkle when I flirted with her.
What was she doing there?
The disgust I felt at that auction shifts, morphs into something more dangerous. Not because of what I saw, but because I can’t stop seeing her. That red-gold hair. Those defiant eyes. The absolute wrongness of finding her in that place.
No. This has to be a setup. The man at the bar last night—he must have seen me flirting, that’s all. They thought they could buy my favor by offering me a woman.
Leon murmurs something to the other men about scanning the room. They wait respectfully while I think, but my pulse won’t slow down.
Because what if it’snota setup? What if that pretty little waitress is about to be “purchased” by one of the horrendous men crowded into that room?
She must be very desperate or very naive.
Or a plant.
But my God, if she’s a honeytrap, she’s the most convincing one I’ve ever seen. I know bait when I see it. And she did not make me suspect for a single instant?—
I will not allow the Gattos to let it be known that I will accept human currency. And I certainly can’t buy a human being like livestock. I won’t. I’ve done terrible things in my life, but I’ve never crossed that line.
Then again…is it really so different from my normal arrangements? I pay women for their company all the time. For their company, their bodies, their silence. For them to leave when I’m done with them. It’s cleaner that way. Safer.
But I cannot show weakness to Gatto. I cannot go back to that auction room.
I certainly cannot let anyone see that a strawberry blonde bartender with frightened eyes has gotten under my skin.
“Call the car,” I tell Leon.
But as we continue our walk to the exit, as the casino’s garish lights fade behind us, I can’t shake the image of her standing in that spotlight. Alone. Afraid. Brave.
And in short order, she’ll belong to someone else.
Chapter 5
Robin
The stage lights burn against my skin like heat lamps, but I can’t stop shaking.
The dress they shoved me into barely covers anything—it’s obviously meant for a woman much less curvy than I am, and cut so low I’m terrified to breathe too deeply. My legs wobble in heels I’ve never worn, stilettos that make me feel like I’m walking on literal knives. The other women backstage whispered instructions through painted lips:Stand straight. Smile. Don’t look terrified.
I’m failing all of them spectacularly.
I’ve been blocking out the auctioneer’s voice, but I tune in when he mentions Lot Seven, because that’s me. “And lastly we will have a true prize—untouched, unspoiled, and ready for the right bidder to claim.”
Untouched. The word makes my stomach lurch. It’s not really true, but they told me—the man I called told me—that I’d get more money if the buyer thought I was a virgin. I nearly backed out right then, but the kids had been so excited, and the moneyso tempting—and anyway, my sexual experiences have been few and far between, so…
