Right on cue, the bastard I was waiting for approached me. He was rumored to be a major player in the trafficking ring. Facilitating the girls from one place to another while also working on the whole campaign for the search for missing and exploited women. The bastard was duplicitous.
“It’s a shock to have you out to celebrate with us,” Councilman Greenlee said. “We know you don’t enjoy having fun at parties.” I smirked with a subtle tilt of my head. I hadn’t joined them before because deals were done at my discretion. If you wanted to meet with me it was at my estate or in one of my private locations where I could control the atmosphere, and no listening device would work. No one needed to be given ammo against me, so I kept my business exclusive and extremely controlled.
“I didn’t know you knew how to loosen up. There are plenty of women for you to meet.”
“I’m sure there are,” I remarked before taking a sip of my drink.
“You know, if you have a particular taste.” He pissed me off, but he was feeding me the shit I needed to hear.
I peered over his head to the sound of giggling, just to get him to stop talking for a moment. His incessant ramblings pressed on my nerves. He had the self-importance of a man twice his worth. He had a wife who was at home right now, and it was clear from the tan line on his hand that he’d intentionally forgotten his ring.
The sound of the laughter wasn’t loud enough to drown him out, but when my eyes landed on one woman in particular, the instant pounding in my ears muted everything else.
A lighthearted smile washed over the dark-haired beauty, who leaned one arm against the bar. Her perfectly red lips spread wide as she grinned at whatever the woman next to her had said. I wanted to capture her joy and keep it for myself.
What the hell had just come over me? The bartender tapped her elbow to snag her attention, irritating me with the innocent graze of his hand on her precious, bare skin. She turned that killer, sexy smile on him, and I wanted to dash the ten feet between us and wring his neck. He’d touched what didn’t belong to him. An extremely territorial rage beat through my chest.
“Ah, see something you like?” the sleazy councilman asked. I wanted to punch him in the throat for just speaking, but it was worse when the denial died on my lips. My face hardened and my knuckles clenched until they turned white on my one hand. The glass of single malt whiskey I’d been served cracked. A passing server ended up with a glass on his tray.
I turned my attention back to the giggling group and my sultry brunette with ruby-red lips and her gray faux-fur shawl that partially covered her bare shoulders. Her slinky dress sparkled, and so did her mischievous eyes as she took the shot glass from the bartender. A possessive vision of tossing his ass out of the fortieth-floor window crossed my mind, although there would be no denying or hiding that from the media. I’d endup in cuffs and a fucking small cell for twenty years, then she would be fair fucking game for all these assholes.
In that instant, I’d made the decision, I had to get my woman before someone else put their hands on her.
The veins in my neck pulsed out of control, and if any of my enemies had been watching, they would have noticed my instant shift. They would have used it against me, acting on my every move and finding my weakness that was visible. There was no denying I’d made a mistake by displaying any emotion. I schooled my features and addressed the obnoxious councilman. “Women are a dime a dozen.”
“Yes, they are, but sometimes you’ve got the energy to spend a few bucks.” He winked and then downed his glass of alcohol. “If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to speak to the blonde. She and I have some unfinished business.”
I made a note to send some footage of this evening to his wife. Cameras and phones weren’t allowed into the room, but owning the damn building came with special privileges, including access to the building’s cameras. I’d pull all the footage from every room this bastard entered and exited tonight for leverage.
He sauntered over to the women while I nodded to my guard, who lingered by the exit. He moved to my side without drawing attention to himself. “Yes, Sir.”
“I’ll be leaving soon and taking a guest with me. I don’t want to be disturbed or questioned. All problems with guests are to be handled by hotel management, understood?” Although his brows raised briefly, he quickly schooled his expression and remembered his place.
“Yes. Is there anything you need me to handle?”
“Yes. I don’t want anyone interfering with my departure or attempting to take her away.” My eyes moved toward her, but it was the bartender’s movements that caught my eye and disturbed me. I hadn’t missed his quick sleight of hand. It was time for me to act. The son of a bitch was working with the trafficker. If I had wanted to throw him out the window before, that was nothing. Now, I eagerly wanted to torture the creep.
I stormed toward them as he put his hand on her again, and then I might have lost it, my patience having slipped in public for the first time in years. Still, I didn’t show the true animal I was—just a taste to remind the room of who I am, but not enough to scare my porcelain doll away.
Chapter Three
Elizabeth
My heart picked up at the sight of a huge, six-foot-four, at least two-twenty man with broad shoulders and a suit that was definitely more expensive than my boss’s. Mr. Keaton was a billionaire, so this man either spent all his fortune on his clothes or he rolled in the same financial circles.
Either way, he was out of my league. I was just an assistant, one who had a father in prison and a mother who’d abandoned me when I was born. I didn’t belong at this party, and I certainly didn’t garner attention from men like the one standing in front of me.
“You don’t touch what’s not yours,” he told the bartender in a calm but commanding tone. He hadn’t raised his voice. No, his deep timber carried the weight of his words all on its own. My heart raced and my pussy pulsed hypnotically to his act of possession.
“Yes, Sir.” Maurice had lost all the charming male bravado he had earlier as soon as the powerful masculine man stepped in his path. My body gravitated toward him, needy with an unexplained, uncontrolled desire. Yes, I wanted to get out of my mundane and explore, but I never expected to ache to explore this giant piece of man in front of me.
He leaned over the bar and practically snarled at Maurice as the words ripped from his throat in an angry whisper, “Did you put something in her drink?”
“Just the regular ingredients,” the bartender stammered as his face gave away his lie. His eyes widened in fear and his bottom lip shook.
“Are you lying to me?” Even I could read the lie dripping from the perspiration off of Maurice’s forehead.
“No.” The one syllable turned into three as he stammered.
