I bite back a retort and smile sweetly. “Yes, sir?”
“Here.” He points beside him. The heft of the talisman in velvet weighs against my palm as I obey. I drop my hands to my sides as we march into the club.
“Show me,” he says, as soon as we’re inside, tucked safely behind the doorway. This has to look exactly like the real thing.
Before we came here, I did my research. I know we’re looking for a quartz sphinx that fits in my hand. It’s ancient-looking and encrusted with gems. Napoleon wanted something unique, something no one else in the world had. What he got was a treasure unlike any that had come before.
I open the velvet bag and tip it into my hand.
“Mon Dieu,” Fabien whispers. “It really does look like it, doesn’t it?”
“From what I’ve seen online, absolutely. And he believed this brought him good luck?”
“He did.” He glances at his watch. “We need to go. Let’s move.”
Does he believe he’ll garner good luck from the real talisman as well?
He takes the fake talisman and slides it into his pocket as we walk hand in hand down a narrow hallway, past a hall filled with so many mirrors I’m almost self-conscious, to the left where another set of double doors leads to a double set of elevators.
“You walk as if you know where you are going,” I say, trying to hide my dismay. “You’ve been here before.”
He isn’t yours. You’ve got a job to do. Think of Savannah.
“I have.”
It isn’t fair for me to be jealous of the fact that he’s been here before. “It isn’t owned by the Lyon family, then?”
“Not at all. Several other families frequent as well.”
Are they all mafia? I suppose it makes sense that organized crime and kink with a side of control run hand in hand.
“When I snap my fingers, you kneel,” he says in a low whisper.
I blink. “What?”
I should hate this. I should have to suck it all up just for the money, but a part of me’s… intrigued.
“We have no time,” he explains. “If we’d had the time we planned, we would’ve gone over all this already, but we didn’t, so for now, you’ll have to remember to do exactly what I say.”
“Okay…” I swallow.
“If you disobey me, I’ll punish you, and it won’t be the kind you like.”
Oh, so there’s a kind I like and I kind I don’t now?
I nod, kinda, sorta going along with this, but my mind is still stuck on “kneel.”
Kneel?
“Yes, sir,” I say helpfully.
“Is there a question in your voice?”
His fingers tighten around mine. “You please me very much.”
Is that… part of the role, or does he mean it?
Is he playacting now? Or is this real?
