Page 42 of Outfoxed

“Carl died during one of the recent storms. He leased the place to me properly.” I sighed. “We were supposed to get together for coffee once a month when I’d pay the rent, and the rent was something I could actually afford.”

“We can get together for coffee. I’ll sacrifice myself as a stand-in. I’d heard about the lease law, but there aren’t a lot of landlords who would do a lease in the outskirts, especially not on a linked property. Those things are valuable. It’s not Asylum access, but it’s as close as it gets, and the good ones are just as safe as Asylum. From what I could tell of your records, you have a safe one. Unfortunately for you, I know where it is and how to get into it. Fortunately for you, as it’s your cellar, it’s neutral ground, so while I may come pay you a visit, I won’t catch you for your bounty. I am debating how best to handle your bounty.” Sandro headed up the steps, tugging on my hand until I followed along. “I have decided I couldn’t care less about what the East wants. You’re far too interesting to toss to a bunch of wolves as an underpriced—” He huffed and shook his head.

I tried to fill out the blanks. “Whore?”

“No.”

Hmm. Interesting. “But isn’t that what an uncontested courtesan is? An overpriced whore?”

“No. You’re a woman, not a whore. And even if you were a whore, which you are not, you wouldn’t be overpriced. You’d be underpriced.”

“You have no way of knowing if I’m a whore,” I pointed out.

“You’re not a whore because I don’t view any woman as a whore.” Sandro huffed. “Whore is a word weak men use to shame strong-willed women.”

I stared at him, and my mouth dropped open. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t think I heard you correctly.” I couldn’t have heard him correctly; every quadrant I’d been in, it was the first-choice weapon used against women like me.

“My mother raised me to be more respectful to women than calling them whores because she wants to bed a man. Of course, as my uncontested courtesan, I would be selfish and keep you all to myself. I would also be a proper gentleman, meaning you would be the only one to enjoy my company. That is how this is supposed to work. If I expect or demand loyalty out of you, you should expect and demand it of me.”

I worried I’d somehow tripped, fallen, and bashed my brains out on some rock, as I’d been around long enough to understand there were more men like Tom Hartlen in the world than like Sandro Flores Moretti, who seemed determined to claim me as a prize. “You aren’t making any sense.”

“Right. We’re in the Alley. Apparently, men weren’t brought up properly here. Savage beasts, too many of the ones I’ve met. Being my uncontested courtesan would make you the future matron of my household and my wife. That is a very important position, and it would remove anyone else’s ability to claim you as a courtesan of any type. Frankly spoken, only a woman who gets in my face, smiles, tells me she is getting away, and promptly does so is fit to be my future matron and wife.”

Fuck. Sandro was in line to become the head of his household?

I regretted I hadn’t asked Noah for more information about Sandro before clearing him of any debt owed to me. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“Under normal circumstances, I would say yes, but with how much your pretty little head is worth, the answer to that is no. However, unlike the other bounty hunters, I am absolutely willing to toss a hundred thousand for the right to keep you for myself, as I have no information on the auction you’re slated for in the East. That’s been sealed.” Sandro pulled me into the government building and headed to where the guard stood discussing something with more men in suits, old rich farts from the looks of them, likely Asylum dwellers who hadn’t worked a day in their damned lives. “I will sit down with you and disclose everything, but I want to get some paperwork in place for your protection. I can’t do as much as I would like, but Tulsa being added to the rest of the system will be helpful, since your bounty and contract in the East doesn’t activate until after you arrive there. The Alley’s contracts would override the East’s due to the activation clause. Whoever wrote up that document will regret it, as it was a foolish oversight on their part.”

“What language was that in?” I complained. “I understood the part about being put up for sale. The rest may as well be gibberish.”

“I’ll explain it when we get the paperwork. I’ll walk you through it.”

“That sounds suspiciously helpful.”

“I can be quite the helpful man when I wish to be, and I’ve decided I have a horse in this race. You’re the prize purse, and I mean to win you.”

“I’m not sure that’s how this works.” I needed a few minutes to come up with a good argument against the entire scheme involving me becoming anyone’s courtesan while buying some time to get him alone to ask him about the storms and who might be causing them.

Sandro smirked and dragged me over to Ella, who discussed something with the men, who listened with a certain amount of disinterest but nodded. I only caught the tail end of her speech, which boiled down to ‘deal with it’ before she nodded to Sandro and marched out of the building.

“Gentlemen,” he greeted. “Pass or permit first? I’d like to get her educated about her role in my household and process the appropriate paperwork.”

The men, all old enough to be my grandfathers, took their time looking me over like I was a choice bit of beef available for their enjoyment. Fury distracted me from my goal, and I flattened my ears. My fox demanded that I put the unwanted males in their place so they wouldn’t bother us again.

It amused me she’d altered her policy from a general interest in any man who looked our way to wanting to posture only for Sandro.

She really might get me killed one of these days, and worse, I found her taste in men unfortunately appealing for once in my life.

Sandro cleared his throat, which drew the men’s attention back to him. “What is the permit fee?”

“Five hundred a year for a single weapon, a thousand for unrestricted weapon types.”

“She’ll take the unrestricted permit,” Sandro replied, and he pulled out a wallet from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, retrieving a card and handing it over. “Yes, I understand you’re going to charge an extra hundred for a rush-processing fee, but I don’t want her leaving City Hall without her carry permit.”