“Look at me,” I demanded.
Her eyes found mine.
Wild.
Lost.
“Je te protège.”You’re safe with me.
For a second, just one, the fight left her body.
Enough for us to get her into the car.
The door shut.
Her sobs echoed through the glass as the convoy pulled away toward the estate I had prepared.
Not a cage.
A promise.
And God help me, I was already planning how to keep it.
CHAPTER 24
Zay
“We Don’t Get To Be Soft”
Ihad no desire to sit in a meeting with men who auctioned their families for peace. To me, they were all my enemies.
But I still showed up in France. My son and my girl by my side. I was waiting at the safe house, Ares, and I had turned it into a private rehabilitation fortress just for Yuna.
While they were finishing up their circus of contracts, I stood in the foyer with her assigned medical team. Head nurse. On-call physician. Addiction counselor. Security in plain clothes.
We had everything money could buy to strip her clean.
When I heard engines outside, I opened the double doors.
Ares Rolls truck door flew open, and Yuna stumbled out, frantic, eyes wild. She tried to run before her heels even hit the pavement.
Ares grabbed her.
Not rough.
Not gentle either.
She clawed at him. “Get off me. I am not staying here!”
He lifted her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing and carried her inside. I watched him, frowning. That contract ink was barely dry, and he was already fighting for her.
He set her down on the cushioned bench in the foyer.
“Sit down,” he said low. “Let them help you. Stop acting childish. You’re better than this.”
She tried to slap the blood pressure cuff off.
The nurse was calm as ever. “Ma’am, we just need vitals.”
