“‘Got you’ is the wrong word choice. The magic in that bottle amplifies your primitive urges, allowing you to relinquish all inhibitions. It’s the stripped-down version of you—the most authentic you. Have you ever heard of love potions? They’re not a thing of lore. Sensors used to sell them for good money, but things like that have gone out of fashion.” He set down the bottle and approached me with an easy stride. “Poe broke the rules and entered my club.”
“To save me.”
Houdini tilted his head, his features unreadable. “What a hero. I didn’t take you for a woman who needed saving, but now I wonder what might have happened with my little experiment had he not interfered. Would you have given in to lust, or would you have fought against it and killed the man? I wonder…”
I stared with blank surprise. “You knew what happened in the red room?”
He jerked his chin at the screens behind me. “I see everything. Did Poe tell you it wasn’t your fault? That you were a victim?” Houdini shook his head. “Sensor drinks don’t remove free will. Deep down, you always have a choice. You know that, don’t you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Then have a drink and see how much controlyouhave.”
“They only reveal your deepest desires.” He stepped forward into my space. “You’re underestimating what I would want. Perhaps we should both have a drink.”
“Let’s not.”
The recessed lighting brought out the white in his hair. “What do you think might happen?”
“Don’t try to convince me that I wanted to screw some random guy.”
“Would it have been so terrible to give in to your desires with a total stranger?”
“They weren’t my desires. They were artificial.”
“Did it feel artificial when he spanked you and you moaned for more?”
The blood drained from my head. “You watched the whole thing? And chose to do nothing?”
“Like I said before, I see everything. And what would I have to gain from interfering?”
I slapped him hard. Then I did it again and my palm stung. Despite my sudden violent outburst, I managed to keep a cool and collected tone. “I’m not your experiment anymore. We have to play nice for the sake of this assignment, but if you ever meddle in my life again, so help me, I’ll put you in the ground.”
“Killing your maker is punishable by death. That will haunt you for the rest of your days.”
“I didn’t say I’d kill you. I only said I’d bury you.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Will you keep my key? Since we’re on the topic of meddling.”
“Why do you keep turning this back on me?”
Houdini strode to his desk and sat on it. “Because you’re desperate to blame me for all your woes. Had you followed my rule about drinking, you wouldn’t have put yourself in that predicament. I created an opportunity to expose your weakness. When others see your weaknesses, they use them against you. And if you keep turning to the bottle because you’re incapable of suppressing your emotions, you’ll make it easy for someone to take advantage of you. You’re not a woman who takes orders, so showing you was better than telling.”
“You’re really good, you know that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Christian warned me, but I didn’t want to see it. I still don’t want to see it. But there it is. You keep trying to make me believe that everything is my fault and you haven’t done anything wrong—that I’m just overreacting or imagining my fears. You think you know what I really wanted last night based on a video, but you weren’t inside my head. And because you didn’t pour the drink down my throat, you think that absolves you of any responsibility. I’ve done a lot of bad shit in my life, but I still have a sliver of a conscience. Do you?”
Unperturbed, Houdini reached for the phone and dragged it toward him. “I’ll inform the others that you’re on a special errand. Be back in two hours.” He lifted the receiver. “And don’t ever threaten me again. Not unless you mean it.”
Chapter 16
“Ifind the evening hours dreadfully boring.” From her wicker chair, Lenore drank white wine in the dark sunroom. “Remember when we had Vampire parties from dusk until dawn? Those truly were the days.”
Christian had just finished a security check throughout Lenore’s estate. Every window, every door, and every possible way in. He gave her a notepad. “I made a handy list of all your weaknesses.”
“I have none,” she said with a wink. “Come sit with me.”
Christian branched away and began testing the windows—anything to avoid mindless chatter. Lenore had changed into a white nightgown that left nothing to the imagination. Her dark nipples were staring at him through the semisheer fabric like two beady eyes.
