As we moved toward the exit, it took every ounce of my will not to look back—not to inhale that scent again. Outside, I shoved past people and braced a hand against the wall, drawing in the cool evening air.
It didn’t help. Her scent remained, etched into our memory.
The car pulled up. I walked to it stiffly.
Sleeping adversary or not, no one stood above us.
I needed leverage.
???
I was searching everything I could find on the woman until the car came to a stop. I rushed inside, tossed my keys into the wooden bowl, and bolted upstairs for my laptop. I paused outside my office and decided to change out of the tux first.
The moment I opened the bedroom door, the stench hit me.
It turned my stomach.
I stared at the woman Sasha had sent.
“How many times did you bathe?”
Her head lifted slowly from the floor.
“Three times as requested, sir,” she murmured.
I grimaced as the smell intensified.
“Leave. You’ll be paid. Open the window on your way out,” I said, already striding toward the dressing room.
As soon as I was inside, I slammed the door shut.
Fenrir remained silent—bemused.
“She’s done something to us,” I muttered, yanking the stupid bow tie loose and flinging it across the room.
I owned people. They danced to my tune.
Politicians. Military. Media. Leaders who shaped an entire country. I fucking owned them all.
Wait.
She had African blood.
“What is she?” I hissed.“Don’t piss me about. Take a guess. African continent.”
I don’t know every nation or their tribal legends, Fenrir snapped back.
I tore my jacket off, ready to throw it—then stopped. Drew a slow breath through my nose.
She would not control me.
I hung the jacket with deliberate care and flicked my wrist, unclasping my watch. The ritual steadied me. My mind surged ahead regardless, already dismantling what I knew of her company. Supply chains. Registrations. Names.
Her grandparents’names would be the key. Heritage always left a trail.
Her blood.
I had heard it in her veins. That thick pulse at her throat, beating beneath sun-warmed skin. That alone wasn’t unusual—only possible in silence, in proximity.
