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“Not at all,” Gideon said briskly. He sat on the edge of my bed and tapped on his tablet. “We thought you should go into this evening with every possible advantage. The records I’ve been able to dig up on him are… not ideal.”
“He’s a fucking lunatic,” Kaige clarified, scowling.
A shiver ran down my back. “What exactly did you find?”
Gideon hesitated for a second before he spoke. That seemed like a bad sign in itself. He cleared his throat. “At least three sex workers he’s hired were never heard from again. And those are just the ones where I could find enough of a paper trail, which means the actual number could be many times higher.”
“I’ve heard of several who ended up with major injuries, even though they survived,” Anthea said. “He definitely likes to play rough, and he doesn’t care whether his partner is into it. He might even prefer that she isn’t.”
Rowan winced at those words. I tried to put them out of my mind. My goal, going in, was to avoid sleeping with Jasper by any means. Then he wouldn’t get the chance to act out those urges. I just hadn’t figured out how I was going to manage it yet.
“Isn’t there some way we can convince Ezra to take a different tactic?” Rowan burst out. “This is sick.”
Emotion rippled through his voice. Apparently my safety did mean a lot to him.
I tried not to let that shake my nerve as I squared my shoulders. “I have to go. If it means we get to crush the Steel Knights the way they deserve, it’ll be worth it.”
“We figured you’d say that,” Kaige said with a hint of a growl in his voice. “That’s why we’re going to make sure you’ve got everything you could possibly need going in.”
Oh. They’d come to help me prepare just like Anthea had. A weird warmth flooded my chest, but I couldn’t help asking, “Does Wylder know about this?”
“Wylder doesn’t need to know,” Gideon said coolly. “It wouldn’t look good for him to act as if he doesn’t trust his dad’s judgment anyway. But we can lend a hand… as friends.” A sly gleam entered his eyes that made them hard to look away from.
Kaige touched my arm, drawing my attention back to him. “Let’s go over all the self-defense techniques that might come up. Since you can’t carry any weapons to your meeting, you’ll have to depend on yourself and your core strength. Never turn your back on him. If you have to get him off you, use your elbows and knees since they can hit hard without risking much injury to you. And always, always, aim for the groin.”
“I know all of that already,” I reminded him. “I’ve spent my whole life learning how to defend myself.”
“It can’t help to get a reminder. And you’ll need to be extra smart about it after the wounds you’ve taken recently.”
I glanced down at my palms, which now showed only pink lines where I’d cut them escaping from Colt. If I could survive my ex-fiancé, I could survive Jasper too. “I haven’t stopped training. I bet I’ve been in the gym more than you have.” I hadn’t had a whole lot of other things to do between missions while Wylder was shooting death glares at me every time we were in the same room.
“Well, good.” Kaige rubbed his mouth. “We found some pictures of the guy. He’s big—not as buff as me, but he’ll have a lot of weight on you. You’ll want to rely on speed and agility rather than strength.”
I nodded. “Thanks for the tip.”
“Just… Just come at it smart, not hard, and you’ll be fine. I know you’ve got lots of experience putting pricks in their place.”
The corner of my mouth twitched, and I managed to smile at him despite the dread coiled in my gut.
Rowan spoke up, his voice low. “From what I gathered during my meeting with Jasper’s representative, Jasper is a take-no-prisoner kind of guy, like Ezra himself. His man alluded to his violent nature, so it’s obviously a fact he doesn’t try to hide much. In fact, I got the impression he revels in it, which means he won’t be worried about shocking you or trying to keep a low profile.”
“Wonderful,” I said with a grimace.
“My research has turned up some more details on his recreational activities,” Gideon said. “It seems he has a wide variety. He gets season tickets for the Rallum Opera House every year.”
Kaige gaped. “Opera? Are you serious?”
“This doesn’t seem like a good time for making jokes.” Gideon skimmed through the data he’d gathered. “He has an extensive collection of classic cars, the jewel of which is a 1967 Lamborghini Miura. But what I found most interesting is this bit of info I doubt he’d like anyone knowing about.”
He turned his tablet around so that we could see the screen. It showed a list of what looked like bank transactions.
“What’s this supposed to mean?” Kaige asked.
“Payments he’s made that I traced to a local dominatrix. One who specializes in dominating male clients. It seems Jasper enjoys receiving violence nearly as much as he likes dealing it out. From what I can tell, he’s one of her regular patrons and her most well-paying.”
“So our Jasper boy likes his ass spanked by a woman in tight leather, maybe even calling her his mama.” Kaige chuckled. “Who would have thought?”
“It’s not that uncommon for men in positions of power,” Rowan said. “They have to be so in control in every area of their life that they need some kind of outlet now and then.”
