Page 7 of Tamed

Also, I’d make it so that she’d have no choice in the matter. With Isabel it was all about the correct handling. It had been me who’d suggested to Ten that he tell her that her taking over Fox Tech was predicated on her performing well at Cross. I knew she wanted to be CEO of Fox Tech and I knew she wanted to prove herself. It was all about getting Daddy’s approval for Isabel.

Ten was silent for a long moment. “It might give us some breathing space,” he allowed. “But they’ll get to her at some point. If she’s in France, I can’t keep an eye on her.”

It was never a good idea to tell a man how to raise his own child, but that didn’t stop me. “You can’t keep her in your pocket forever,” I told him. “And you stopping her from seeing Juliana’s family is only going to make them more attractive. You know what she’s like.”

“Thank you for telling me what I already know about my own daughter.” Ten’s voice was icy. “Last time I checked, I was her father.”

“And thank fuck.” That was not a job I wanted or ever had. “My point still stands, however.”

Ten muttered a curse. “Fine. Then I’m going to need twenty-four-hour security on her to keep them off her and you’ll have to do without an intern.”

Naturally, that was his response. He held tighter, not looser, which had never worked with Isabel. She was already on the verge of giving him the middle finger and if he wasn’t careful, when she ran, she’d run straight into the arms of the very family he was trying to prevent her from running to.

“If you do that, you know where she’s going to go,” I said bluntly. “And it won’t be straight into the cage you’ve built for her.”

“Fuck.” Ten must be pissed — he used his cursing sparingly — and it was because he knew I was right. “Then what the hell am I going to do? I don’t want her anywhere near the Hamiltons.”

It wasn’t the time to tell him I disagreed, that Isabel both wanted and needed to talk with them. Nevertheless, I knew what was coming. I’d seen it a mile off, from the moment he’d asked me to create an intern position for her.

“Don’t act the helpless maiden, Ten,” I said. “It doesn’t fucking suit you.”

“Fine. Then you know what I’m going to ask, don’t you?”

“I’m not her goddamn babysitter these days. She’s too old for that now.”

“I don’t care. This is Isabel we’re talking about.”

I sighed and shook my head. We both knew I wasn’t going to refuse, because as he’d already said, it was Isabel we were talking about here. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on her then, shall I?” It was the obvious solution since she was already working for me, and the Cross International building’s security was as tight as Fort Knox.

“Yes,” Ten said. “Not that I have any choice in the matter since you’re the only one she seems to listen to.”

There was more than a little sarcasm in his voice, but I didn’t rise to the bait. “If I’m going to be responsible for her, there’ll be some ground rules that she’ll have to obey.”

“Good luck with that,” Ten said acidly.

I ignored him. “And you can’t interfere. If I’m in charge of her safety then she answers to me, not to you.”

It was best to keep things simple, especially when you were managing difficult people, and I’d managed the worst there was. Old Nick’s empire was now a shadow of what it once was — or maybe, if you looked at it another way, it had been the root of Cross International that had grown into something far beyond Old Nick’s meagre ambitions. I’d told him once that I’d take it from him. He hadn’t listened.

“I’m her father,” Ten growled. “She pays attention to me—”

“My house, my rules,” I growled back. “You know the deal.”

He was such an overprotective motherfucker and controlling to the nth degree. But no one told me what to do, especially when I was the one who’d offered to take care of the mess he’d made with her.

“She doesn’t have any contact with that family,” Ten snapped. “Understand me? None.”

“All right,” I said, allowing him that. “No contact.” I paused. “Friday’s auction night at Arcadia. Come and we can talk about it then.”

Arcadia was the very exclusive private club I owned. It catered only to the very rich and members were heavily vetted. Anything went at Arcadia, as long as it was legal.

The auction nights had started with a couple of members who were into master/slave fetish and wanted to do some role play. It had proved very popular even with those who weren’t into the same kink and so it had become a monthly event.

I’d been too busy to go for months but I had some space on Friday night and I needed to check on the club, and it was the perfect opportunity to drag Ten out. He hated the place but was a huge fan of the very rare Macallen single malt I had in the cellar and could always be tempted out with the promise of a glass or three.

“Auction night?” Ten sounded disgusted. “No, I think not.”

“It’s a virginity auction,” I said, purely to piss him off. “You could put a bid in yourself.”

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