AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He laughed blackly. “She even studies jewels as a hobby—if that’s what she means by rocks. It’s almost too parfait.”
My teeth ground to dust as I fought the violent urge to shove my fist into his parfait nose. “Votre point?”
“My point, Mr Ward, is she is a jewel waiting to be mined. I want her for my collection, and you’re the one who’s going to get her for me.”
Black, icy dread ripped through my bones. “Me?”
“Oui, you.”
Pulling away from me, he dropped his arm, snapped his fingers at a man sulking close by in a grey suit, and clipped off a reel of French. Immediately, the unknown man passed the Master Jeweler a thick envelope.
He gave it to me as smoothly as if it were a glass of champagne.
My fingers latched around it, feeling the weight, the size, knowing instantly what it was. “Money. You’re giving me money to kidnap her?”
His lips spread into a triumphant grin.
Roland laughed nervously, trying to play the same despicable game but failing.
“Oh no, mon ami. Nothing like that, I assure you.”
The blackness pouring from the cavern within me—the abyss where I chained all manner of dastardly things—billowed darker. My cock thickened with anticipation. The ache in my blood frustrated me, irritated me, and made my rage unfurl. “What then? Dis moi ce que tu veux?” (What do you want from me?)
With a quirk of his eyebrow, he gave a silent command to the man in grey. The guard tipped his chin and, without any hesitation, moved to where the couple continued to argue.
He subtly broke up the watching crowd, then muttered into his wrist. The music in the club grew suspiciously louder, the lights dimmed, and darkness slithered from every corner. The garish disco balls stopped bouncing rainbows over everyone as the club sank into my personal version of hell.
The girl and her ex didn’t notice, too wrapped up in their fight.
The Master Jeweler’s eyes gleamed as he looked at me. “What I want, Henri, is for you to prove you’re one of us. Let go of all those restraints. Stop fighting your true nature. Step into the monster within you and embrace who you truly are.” Slapping me on the back, he added, “Inside that envelope is ten thousand euros. Give it to the ex, and when he asks why, say it’s payment to fuck his girlfriend.”
“What?”
“He’ll accept it. I guarantee it. I’ve been watching him while you’ve been watching her. He’s an asshole with a poisonous ego. He wants revenge. He wants to hurt her for the embarrassment she’s just caused him. Perhaps, on any other day or any other fight, he would tell you to fuck off, but not tonight. Tonight, his vanity is bruised, and he’ll take the money. Not to hurt her but to prove to himself that she’s nothing without him. She is because of him. And he’s merely collecting what she owes.”
“No man would willingly sell their girlfriend. Breakup or no breakup.”
“He will. You have my personal guarantee.”
Shit.
My pulse pounded in my veins, whooshing in my ears.
How the fuck would I survive this?
How could I control myself when this bastard was giving me the very permission I’d denied myself all my life?
Fuck, Q.
Help.
I glanced at my birdcage cufflinks, wishing they had a microphone. I wished the stranger who was my half-brother would appear and slaughter this guy now, instead of making me infiltrate a club that operated far out of the sanctity of law.
No one knew where The Jewelry Box kept their slaves.
No one ever found the men and women trafficked through it.
Once a girl or boy was targeted, they were swallowed up and never seen again.
