Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 372(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
I didn’t have any options. I wanted to make this right, but I didn’t know how. I couldn’t go back in time and erase my mistakes. I couldn’t go back and not demand sex from her. I couldn’t take back all the hurtful things I said, the disrespectful way I treated her. I couldn’t give her back her virginity when I took it so ruthlessly. I couldn’t change the foundation of our relationship. “I don’t know…”
“You could set her free,” Carter said. “And let her decide what she wants.”
But what if she made the wrong decision? What if she left me? I’d be devastated. “And if she leaves?”
He shrugged. “Don’t give her a reason to leave. Give her a reason to stay. Or as many reasons as she needs.”
Nicole made all the necessary arrangements for me, and by the end of the afternoon, I had successfully wired the funds to the American authorities and paid back all the money that Muse owed. She owed immense property taxes that were never paid, in addition to the loan she defaulted on. She also had student loans for a degree she never finished. Once the money was transferred, Muse was officially cleared.
She didn’t owe anything.
But she had a much bigger debt that had never been repaid. She shouldn’t owe a single penny to that psychopath, and in turn, I shouldn’t have to give him a cent of the money I worked my ass off for.
But I didn’t see any other way.
I could bury this debt once and for all.
Then she might be free.
“Are you sure about this?” Carter asked as he drove through the streets of Milan at three in the morning.
Muse was asleep in the bed I shared with her. I’d snuck out in the middle of the night without her noticing. She was safe on my property, protected by gates, a security system, and a cabinet full of guns. “Yes.”
“This could go badly.” Carter kept one hand on the wheel while his arm rested on the windowsill. “This guy is insane. Who knows what he’ll say.”
“I’m not scared of him.” He should be scared of me.
Carter sighed under his breath. “For the record, I’m against this.”
“Duly noted.”
We pulled up in front of the hotel then made our way inside. My men escorted me into the building, all carrying hand-held guns in the back of their jeans. In the basement, there was an exclusive bar that was used for business purposes only. I’d never been to the Broken Handmaiden, but I’d heard about it from Carter.
Knuckles was there, tattoos all the way up the side of his neck. He sat at a lone table in the center of the room, in a black collared shirt with a drink sitting in front of him. It looked untouched, as if he was waiting until I arrived. Each of his knuckles was marked with a different letter in black ink.
D-E-A-T-H.
The nickname suited him.
Carter and my men stayed back by the stairs as I entered the bar. Knuckles had his men against the opposite wall, their eyes trained on me. One man held an assault rifle with a finger hovering over the trigger.
Like I was meeting with any another distributor, I sat in the chair across from him then looked to the bartender. “Scotch—on the rocks.”
Knuckles stared at me with bloodshot eyes, his thick arms crossed over his chest. The vein in his forehead was bigger than ever. He hated me before I even stepped into the room. If his hands weren’t in plain sight, I would have worried he would pull a gun on me and shoot me between the eyes.
But he wasn’t that stupid.
The silence between us was just as loud as the sound of the bartender. He grabbed a glass and then poured the amber liquid inside. He placed it in front of me seconds later.
I took a drink. “Smooth.”
“Should be. It’s fifty years old.”
“I know wine. And you know scotch.”
He finally took a drink from his glass, downing half of it before setting it down. “I hope you are here for good reason, Conway. I’m a very busy man. I have a bed full of women waiting for me upstairs. Chained to the wall with blindfolds over their eyes, they aren’t going anywhere. But a gentleman should never make a woman wait.”
He was as much of a gentleman as I was. “Then I’ll make it quick.” I snapped my fingers.
One of my men brought the black suitcase and set it on the table before he walked away.
Knuckles didn’t look at it. “Care to explain?”
“It contains a million euros in cash.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“That’s how much Sapphire owes you. I’m paying her debt.”
His eyes narrowed farther, with displeasure rather than interest. “Yes, that’s how much she owes me. Not you.”
“Now that she’s mine, her debts are my debts.” The second I said the word mine, I became more possessive of her than ever before. I knew Knuckles wanted her chained to the wall, gagged, and covered with bruises. But she was my plaything because my pockets were a little deeper. “And I’m the kind of man who pays my debts.”