Now that Mia was firm in her decision to murder me, I had to chain her up.

I wasn’t happy about it.

Neither was she.

Just like when she first came into my captivity, I cuffed her ankles to the bed so she could only reach the bathroom when she needed it. Her bedroom was stripped bare, so only the essentials remained behind. Without access to anything, there was nothing she could use to plot against me.

But now she would have to live her last few days this way.

Like a prisoner.

She sat on the bed and stared at me with hatred. Like I was the biggest asshole on the planet, she despised me. But that hatred was nothing compared to her disappointment. There was a point in time when she’d actually liked me, enjoyed fucking me. There was affection between us, delicate kisses between two lovers. She even said I was a good man. But now, all of that was gone.

She hated me again.

“Let me know if you need anything.” I pocketed the key and walked out of the room.

“Fuck off, Carter.”

I kept my back to her but paused on the threshold. Insults never bothered me, but hers did.

She had a son.

I shut the door and locked it behind me before I walked into my office.

She had a son.

I couldn’t believe it.

An eight-year-old boy was out there somewhere, without a mother or a father. He would never know how strong his mother was, how hard she fought to get back to him. Instead of giving in to the temptation of suicide, she continued to persevere in the hope she would be free someday.

She was brave.

Far braver than I was.

Most people would have given in to the temptation and prayed their child would understand. But her spirit gave her the strength to keep moving forward, to accept Egor’s punishments in the hope she might escape someday. That was probably the reason why Egor chose her to begin with—she wouldn’t take her life like all the others.

Could I really give her back?

Did I want to be that man?

If I didn’t have a family to protect, I would consider it. If I could keep this war for myself, I might take the plunge. I cared about this woman and not just because I was attracted to her. It was because I respected her. She reminded me of my sister, of the strong Barsetti women who didn’t put up with bullshit.

I felt like shit.

Worse than shit.

I already didn’t want to do this, but I didn’t want to do it even more, knowing she had a little boy.

What if this were my mother? I couldn’t picture my life without my mother, the woman who stayed home with me every single day and raised me. I was a grown man who didn’t need anything anymore, but I would always need her. I would do anything for her. Mia was an exceptional woman who had already lost the last three years. Why should she lose more time? And we both knew Egor would kill her eventually.

Her son would lose her for good.

Could I stand by and let that travesty happen?

Did I want to?

I sat in the leather chair behind my desk and stared across the room at the bookshelf. I used this room for paperwork, but it was unnecessary. I had so many luxuries I didn’t even need, like this huge house. Mia didn’t even have her freedom.

I went over it in my head again and again. Even if I wanted to save Mia, it wasn’t possible. Egor paid me a hundred and fifty million to get her out of the Underground. Regardless of how rich he was, that was a lot of dough for a single person. That meant she was extremely valuable to him.

The idea of just letting her go without a fight seemed unlikely.

Even if I wired the money back to him, he still wouldn’t be happy about it.

I needed to ask the Barsetti clan for advice, but I couldn’t ask Conway. His wife was about to go into labor at any moment. I didn’t want to ruin this special time with him with my problem. I didn’t want to bother my father either, not when it would stress him out. That meant there was only one person I could turn to.

I called Vanessa.

She answered right away, despite the late hour. “Carter?” She panicked into the phone. “Everything okay?” I hardly ever called her, and if I did, it wasn’t this late at night.

“Yeah, everything is fine. I’m sorry to call you so late. I was actually wondering if I could talk to Griffin…” I didn’t have his number, and I didn’t want to bother Conway by asking for it.

“Oh…sure.” The phone became muffled as she made the handoff.

Griffin answered the phone in his deep voice. “Carter. How can I help you?”

We’d never really talked one-on-one before. I always hovered in the background, letting my father and uncle decide how to handle him. But after he saved my family, all of that hatred had faded away. He was accepted into the Barsetti clan. I dropped my dislike along with everyone else. “Can I speak to you in private? Vanessa can’t know about this conversation.”

“Alright.” His movements turned audible as he excused himself from her presence. They were probably in bed together at this time of night. It was nearly a full minute before he addressed me again. “This should be interesting…”

“I apologize for bothering you. But I have no one else to turn to.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” he said with a chuckle. “We just declared peace with the Skull Kings, and now something else comes up…”

“It went well?”

“Yes. We made the exchange and buried the hatchet.” His baritone reverberated over the line. “They were pleased by the money and the little speech your uncle gave. We parted on good terms. I’m glad that shit is over.”

And I was about to stir up more. “Good to hear.”

“I’m sure your father was going to call you in the morning. He’s probably still talking to Crow right now.”

“In our family, no news is good news.”

He paused a while before he spoke. “What can I do for you, Carter?”

Just because the issue with the Skull Kings was completed didn’t mean saving Mia was a good idea. But it did make it a little easier. “Fuck…it’s a long story.”

His smile was obvious over the phone. “Those are the best kind.”

“So…I did one more deal a month ago. Some guy offered me an insane amount of money to buy a woman from the Underground. Claimed he was her brother. I was greedy and stupid and took the deal.”

“This doesn’t sound good.”

“The woman is beautiful, smart, sassy…very much like a Barsetti.”

“Yep,” Griffin said. “I see exactly where this is going.”

“I realized this man isn’t her brother. He’s her old master. She ran away from him and got captured by the Skull Kings, and he wants her back. He’s a psychopath. The more I’ve gotten to know this woman—”

“And fuck her.”

I didn’t deny it. “The more I’ve come to care for her. She didn’t know I was giving her back to Egor until she overhead my conversation. Of course, she got angry. Felt like I betrayed her…which I did.”

“She thought she was just getting a free vacation with a nice master?” he asked incredulously.

“She was skeptical at first…but eventually believed that.”

“Poor girl,” he whispered.

“Anyway…I told her I had to give her back even though I didn’t want to. I don’t want a war with this guy, not after all the wars my family has already fought. My father and uncle just want peace. I can’t do that to them…”

“I’ve only dated Vanessa a short while, but I’ve noticed a pattern with the Barsettis. They get themselves caught up in a lot of bullshit.”

I didn’t rise to the insult, knowing he didn’t mean it in an offensive way.

“So, what are you asking me, Carter?”

I didn’t give him the last piece of information until now. “I’d already made my decision to give her back even though I didn’t want to…until she told me something else. It makes me sick to my stomach. It fills me with so much guilt, I can barely breathe.”

“What is it?” he asked quietly.

“She has a son…”

Griffin was silent.

“He’s eight. There’s no father in the picture.”

He was quiet longer, obviously at a loss for words.

“I have no idea where the kid is right now. If she knows, she didn’t tell me. But when she told me that…I lost all my nerve. I already didn’t want to give her back, but now…Fuck. All I can do is think about my mom and how devastated I would be if I ever lost her—” I knew I’d shoved my foot in my mouth, but it was too late to undo the damage. I’d forgotten that Griffin has lost his mother…and his father.

“Yeah…it’s pretty shitty.”

“I apologize, Griffin… I wasn’t thinking.”

“No.” He spoke with a firm voice. “No need to be delicate, Carter. I’m not a delicate man. And you’re right, losing a mother isn’t easy. This kid reminds me a lot of myself. His mother is a slave to men, and there’s nothing he can do to help her. I was very young when my mother was killed. I barely remember her face. But I could never forget her spirit.”

I fell silent, unsure what to say to that.

“It’s a pretty fucked-up situation you’re in, Carter.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“You’ve gotta have some advice, Griffin.”

He sighed into the phone. “If this were Vanessa, I’d murder every man in Italy to get her back. I’d risk my life a million times to give her the life she deserves. I wouldn’t even need to think about it. The fact that you have to think about it tells me she’s not Vanessa to you.”

“I don’t love her…if that’s what you’re asking.”

“But you care about her enough to think about risking everything to help her.”

“I guess…”

“Sounds complicated.”

I chuckled with pain in my heart. “You’re telling me. I was trying to think of a plan to get what I want and avoid the war. Maybe I could save her and save my family at the same time.”

“What’s your idea?”

“There’s only one possibility—fake her death.”

Griffin was quiet as he considered what I said.

“If I can make Egor believe she killed herself, then he could forget about her. I could wire the money he paid me, and that would be the end of it.”

“She could never really be free, though,” he said. “Because if he spots her somewhere, it could destroy your entire plan.”

“Well…she offered me something if I saved her.”

Griffin’s grin was obvious over the line. “I think I know what it is.”

“So she would be with me anyway. I guess her kid would be too. I would probably sell this place and move to Tuscany, start over in a new place.”

“The plan is plausible. But if Egor is an egomaniac, he’s not going to let you make him look like a fool. He’s going to want to see the body for proof—so he won’t be outsmarted.”

“That’s what I was worried about.”

“And if this woman is as alluring as you make her seem…then he’ll probably be suspicious of you.”

“Agreed. So the only way I could accomplish this is with another body…but that’s not going to happen.”

Bones was quiet for a long time before he spoke. “I can make that happen.”

“What?” I blurted. “You have a body?”

“I know a guy.”

“Who just has dead bodies lying around?”

“Something like that,” he said vaguely.

“But the corpse would have to look identical to her. She would have to be decomposed at the perfect amount.”

“I realize that,” he said. “But if we tell him that Mia died in a fire, it could ruin her features enough to make her indistinguishable.”

“She killed herself by burning herself alive? That sounds extreme.”

“Tell him she did it after she overheard your conversation. The idea of going back to him was so disturbing that she killed herself. You kept her locked up in her room, so the only option was to burn herself alive.”

“Why would she be exposed to fire?”

“She could have had a candle in her room. Lit the drapes on fire. Then the room caught on fire…and the flames engulfed her. By the time you got there and put it out, she was dead.”

“Sounds extreme…”

“It’s the only option you have.”

It seemed like a plan that could easily go wrong. “And then what? Hide her forever?”

“He’ll forget about her eventually. But it’ll take a few years for that to happen. She’ll have to stay close to you for a while. Private property where he can’t even see through the gates.”

“Yeah…” The idea of her and her son living with me didn’t bother me, surprisingly. Especially with the offer she’d given me, that would be the ideal situation. A part of me knew I should help her because it was the right thing to do and not make her uphold her end of the bargain.

But I wasn’t that kind of man.

If I was going to take this kind of risk, I wanted something out of it.

I wanted her.

Griffin spoke again. “So, what are you going to do?”

“Fuck…I don’t know.”

“You’ve got to decide soon. When are you supposed to give her back?”

“Friday.”

“Shit. You need to decide now. Because you’re going to have to catch that room on fire and put it out again, just in case he checks.”

“I’m gonna have to burn my own house?” I asked incredulously.

“A controlled fire.”

“Sorry, don’t have much experience with that.”

“I’ll help you.”

“You know a lot about this stuff…”

He chuckled over the phone. “I’ve seen a lot of shit in my young life. Does that mean you’re in?”

It seemed like too much work for one woman, but I knew handing her over would haunt me for the rest of my life. She was a good person. Her only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her freedom was taken from her as if she’d never had it in the first place. If she hadn’t gone to that bar with her friends, her life would have been completely different. She was beautiful and exceptional. She deserved to be with her son, to have a man she wanted to be with.

But all of that was stolen from her.

I shouldn’t want to help her, but I’d grown fond of her over the last month.

Doing nothing didn’t seem like an option.

“Carter?” Griffin’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “You need to decide now.”

I kept thinking about the tears in her eyes, the way she spoke about her son. Her heart was on her sleeve, and she showed her resilience when she threatened to kill me. She slashed me with that knife, willing to do anything to escape. There was nothing that could keep her from her son…from raising him to be a man.

I was her last chance. If I handed her over, that would be it.

She would never escape.

“Alright,” I said. “I’m in.”

I went back into her bedroom a few hours later. She was lying on the bed with a pillow under her head, her ankles still attached to the foot of the bed. She had a small blanket on top of her, and she was still in the clothes she wore earlier. Her eyes immediately cracked open when the door opened. Prepared to be dragged away, she sat up instantly, like I was about to haul her back to Egor.

I came to her side of the bed and sat on the edge, my weight making the mattress dip slightly. I hated the way she looked at me, prepared to fight me with everything she had. There was no hesitation on her part. It didn’t matter that she’d slept with me and enjoyed me. When it came to her son, I didn’t matter anymore. It made me admire her even more. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll help you.”

She froze in place, her eyes widening noticeably.

“I talked to a friend of mine, and I think I have a plan.” I continued to watch her, to see her brown eyes turn warm like hot coffee. The beauty of her soft features became more noticeable. Like her eyes were made of deep pools, they began to water. “It’s going to be—”

The chains didn’t hold her back as she launched herself into me, moving into my chest and wrapping her arms around my neck. She clung to me as the metal of the chains clanked together. She gripped me hard, her face burrowing into my neck. She cried audibly, her chest colliding with mine with every deep breath she took.

My arms circled around her waist, and I held her, feeling so warm inside. This plan would bring me nothing but stress, but it also brought me peace. Feeling this woman thank me with her tears made it all worth it.

“Carter…thank you so much.” She pulled her face away from my shoulder and held my gaze, her eyes leaking with tears. She wasn’t ashamed of her emotion, not when her gaze was so steady. She cupped my cheek with one hand. “You’re a good man. I always knew you were.” She brought her lips to mine and kissed me. It wasn’t full of gratitude, but something deeper. She kissed me like she meant it, like she’d given me her heart as well as the rest of her body. Her hand moved to my shoulder, and she gripped me, her tear-soaked lips devouring mine.

I cupped the back of her head and returned her deep embraces, getting lost in the chemistry that had been there since the moment I’d laid eyes on her. Something about her made me weak. Something about her made me question who I was.

When she pulled her lips away, her hands continued to cling to me. Her tears were on my lips now. She looked at me with those beautiful, warm eyes, the gratitude deep inside. “Thank you…”

“Before you thank me, you should know that I expect something in return.” I held her gaze with authority, wanting her to understand that my decision wasn’t made based on the goodness of my heart. I had other motivations to risk everything for her. She was asking me to make a huge sacrifice, and I wanted my actions to be rewarded. “Do you understand me?”

Her eyes shifted back and forth as she held my gaze. “Whatever you want, Carter. If you give me back my son…I will gladly submit to you.”

Hearing her say that word made me melt on the spot. Submit. I wanted to fulfill my desires, and I wanted it to be consensual. I would finally get what I wanted—without the guilt. “Then we have a deal.”

Her eyes emitted more tears. “Thank you…I don’t know if I’ll ever say it enough times. I dream about my son all the time. I wonder if he’s having a good birthday. I wonder if he thinks about me. I miss him…miss him so much.” Both of her hands gripped mine on my thigh. “The idea of seeing him again…gives me so much joy.”

I stared at our joined hands. “If this works, both of you will have to live with me for a while. I’ll be moving to Tuscany where we can have more privacy. It’ll be at least a year before the two of you can go off on your own…just in case Egor’s watching.”

She nodded. “I understand. Wherever you call home, we’ll call home. I’ll make you a home and give you whatever you need, Carter. As long as I can raise my son, I don’t care where we are. I used to read a story to him every night before he went to sleep… I’m looking forward to doing that again.”

Hearing these confessions made me hate myself more. I should have helped her a long time ago.

“What’s your plan?”

I told her everything I’d discussed with Griffin.

“You’re right,” she said. “Egor will want to see that I’m dead with his own eyes. You have to make sure you find someone as similar to me as possible…not sure how you’re going to do that.”

“I have a guy.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re going to kill someone, right…?”

“No, of course not.” I never asked Griffin, but I didn’t need to. He would never do that, especially with Vanessa in his life.

“Okay. When are we going to do this?”

“Tomorrow.”

“When are you supposed to give me back, again?”

“Friday.”

She nodded. “We don’t have much time left.”

“No, we don’t.”

“You think he’ll believe you?” she whispered.

“I hope so. Sometimes fear of something is worse than the actual thing itself. So knowing you have to go back to him might have been enough for you to take your own life. You realized there was never any hope that you would escape and find your son, so you just ended it. It’s believable.”

“True. And you’ll give him back the money?”

“I’ll wire it after I discover your body.”

She gripped my hands tighter. “How long do I have to wait to see my son?”

“Do you know where he is?”

She nodded. “An orphanage in Milan.”

“Egor knows about him?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have to pay someone to adopt him, someone not connected to me. That way Egor won’t know we took him.”

“Yes…that’s smart.”

“It’ll take me a few weeks to get that taken care of.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer.”

“And I’ll need to hide you somewhere when Egor comes snooping around. I’ll hand you off to my friend Griffin. There’s nowhere safer in the world than by his side.”

“You think we can trust him…?” Fear entered her eyes. Mia had only one kind of experience with men. It was impossible for her not to assume Griffin would do the same thing every other man did.

“Absolutely. He’s one of the best guys I know. He’s in love with my cousin Vanessa. He won’t even touch you. I promise. And you’ll love Vanessa. She’s pretty amazing.”

“Oh, okay,” she said in relief. “Then that should be fine. When will I be with you again?”

Did she want to be with me? “After I buy the house in Tuscany. I’ll move you there in the middle of the night.”

“Okay. So…we start this plan tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Tomorrow.”

She sighed then cupped both of her cheeks. “God, I hope this works. Just thinking about my son brings tears to my eyes. I never thought I would see him again, and now I’m so close…it terrifies me.”

I watched this strong woman break down right in front of me, her son being her only vulnerability. “It’s really happening, sweetheart. I’ll get him back for you…I promise.”

Griffin showed up the next day, bags under his eyes and exhaustion in his limbs. It didn’t seem like he’d slept much the night before. He stepped inside the house, and we got straight to work. He had the equipment we needed to burn the bedroom, along with the candle that started it all.

We carried everything to the bedroom and set it on the ground.

He was in a particularly sour mood. “The fire will have to originate near the nightstand. Just in case he hires men to really check everything.”

“Didn’t sleep much last night?”

He looked me dead in the eye. “I had to pick up the body.”

“You found one that quickly?”

“My guy is good.” When he stood to his full height, we reached the same level. He was thicker than I was, having more muscles than any other man I’d met in real life. His tattoos made him innately formidable. With sleeves of black ink, he seemed like a difficult man. Mia might have a hard time leaving with him.

“You didn’t kill anyone, right?”

“No,” he said with a dark chuckle. “Vanessa would leave me if I did.”

Thank god for that. “What the description?”

“Brunette, same age, same body description. The face is charred pretty bad, so her features will be nearly impossible to decipher. I’m not gonna find anyone better on such short notice. This girl was supposed to be cremated. Her family will get animal remains.”

I felt guilty for lying to a family, but since I was saving someone else, I could justify it. “Alright.”

Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and then Mia walked into the room. Her long hair was pulled into a braid, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She’d slept in my bed with me last night, even though we didn’t have sex. She took one look at Griffin and immediately flinched, terrified of his dangerous appearance.

His eyes flicked to her, not the least bit surprised by her reaction. “Griffin.”

“Uh…Mia.” She immediately turned to me, showing fear for one of the first times. Even in the face of danger, she didn’t back down. But this time, she was visibly affected by his terrifying appearance. In her defense, he did look like a member of a drug cartel. “Is Vanessa here?”

“No,” Griffin said. “She needed to work today. And I haven’t told her what’s going on…yet.”

“You didn’t tell her?” I asked incredulously.

“Sorry,” he snapped. “I was busy finding a dead body in the middle of the night and getting all this shit for you.”

He had a point. “Alright. Fair enough.” My arm moved around Mia. “I know Griffin looks like a murderer, but he’s not. Trust me. He’s a good guy.”

“Well, I am a murderer.” Griffin crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s what I do for a living, actually. But I’ve never been into hurting women. So we won’t have a problem.” As if nothing had happened, he picked up the flame gun and carried it to the corner.

When Mia and I had some privacy, I spoke to her again. “He would never hurt you. I promise you.”

She looked into my eyes for reassurance. “I was just hoping Vanessa would be here…”

“You don’t need her to be here. He won’t even touch you. This guy has a done a lot for my family because he’s so in love with my cousin. I understand why you’re scared because of what you’ve been through. But trust me on this.”

She found comfort in my gaze before she nodded. “Alright.”

“You should go downstairs so we can get to work.”

“Okay.” She rose on her tiptoes and cupped my face so she could kiss me. Whether she was fulfilling her end of the bargain or she actually meant it didn’t matter to me. As long as her lips were on mine, I was happy. She gave me a soft kiss then a smile before she walked out.

I turned back to Griffin, who was staring at me with a wicked grin.

“What?”

He shook his head then got to work. “Nothing.”

I walked Mia to the truck.

Griffin was already behind the wheel, waiting for her to join him. The engine was on, and he was scrolling through his phone to keep himself busy.

She looked up at me, her hands resting against my chest. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late…”

It was too late. I’d given her so much hope, and I couldn’t take it away now. “Yes.”

Her eyes softened. “I’ll see you soon, right?”

“In about a week or so.”

“You’ll call me?”

“When I can.”

She hooked her arms around my neck and hugged me, her luscious body pressed against mine.

My chin rested on her head, and I secured my arms around her waist. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid of Egor’s wrath. There was a real possibility he might not believe me. He might come to the house and find something that contradicted the lie I’d made up. I’d be risking everything, my life and my family.

But I had to try.

“Thank you, Carter. I can’t wait to see you again…” She tilted her chin up and looked at me again, the sincerity in her eyes. She squeezed my arms tightly before she leaned in and kissed me.

My hands cupped her cheeks again, and I kissed her, finding strength in the embrace. Her affection offset the terror in my heart. And a part of me believed that my family would be proud I was saving a young woman so she could be with her son. This wasn’t about the money anymore. It was about doing the right thing…even though I wanted something in return. “I’ll miss you too, sweetheart.” I squeezed her arms before I opened the passenger door and helped her inside.

Griffin kept staring straight ahead, indifferent to our interaction.

“Tell Vanessa I said hi.”

Mia stared at me with a prominent look of affection, like there were no words to describe how she felt toward me. She’d told me she hated me, that I wasn’t a good man. But now she looked at me like I was some kind of superhero. “I will.”

It was hard to shut the door and walk away. It was hard to do this on my own, to know she wouldn’t be in my bed that night to chase away the stress. If I could get lost between her legs, it wouldn’t be so bad. But I had to wait until this was over before I could finally get what I wanted.

I sat in my office and stared at my phone, taking my time before I made the phone call. Egor was a psychopath. I didn’t know much about him, but I knew he wasn’t an enemy I wanted to make.

But this was the decision I had made.

I had to follow through with it.

I was worried about the grief this would bring my family, but I had to remember that I was a terrifying opponent as well. The Barsettis were loyal to one another, and that’s what made us ruthless. We would stop at nothing to protect each other. A paid army was only loyal for the paycheck, but soldiers bound by love were a completely different story. My family had allies in many places, and now that Griffin was a part of our family, we were even more powerful. Egor had probably heard about the attack on Conway in Milan—and how we wiped out an entire team within minutes.

He didn’t want to fight me either.

I finally made the call.

Egor answered almost immediately. “Carter. I wasn’t expecting to speak to you until Friday. Hope this conversation brings good news.” His voice was slightly cheery, probably because he was expecting to get his main source of entertainment back. “I’m exhausted from my business meetings. I’m looking forward to becoming reacquainted with her.”

I wanted to throw my phone against the wall and destroy it, not out of jealousy, but pure hatred. “She’s the reason I’m calling. We have a problem on our hands.”

“What kind of problem?” He immediately turned serious, slightly hostile.

“When you called me the other night, she eavesdropped. She figured out I was handing her back to you.”

He chuckled. “I imagine that didn’t make her too happy.”

“No…it didn’t. I had to chain her up again because she tried to kill me with a kitchen knife.”

He laughed into the phone. “That sounds like her. I thought we could make this transition smooth, but perhaps we can’t. You’ll have to drug her first…even though I would love to see the look on her face when we make the transfer.”

Now I just wanted to kill this guy, to stab him in the neck and watch him bleed to death. “There won’t be any transfer, Egor. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the fire alarm. The fire was coming from her room, and by the time I got there, the place was in flames.”

“What?” he snapped. “What the fuck happened?”

“She had a candle on her nightstand. I think she set the drapes on fire so the flames would spread… I think it was suicide.”

Egor was silent.

“She wouldn’t talk to me after she heard the phone call. She stayed in her room the entire time, chained to the bed. I didn’t think this was even a possibility. Otherwise, I would have kept an eye on her. I’ve already wired the money back to you since this happened while she was in my possession.”

He still didn’t speak.

I leaned back in my chair and stared my bookshelf, unsure what his reaction would be. He was probably so angry, he didn’t know what to say.

“I didn’t think she was at risk for suicide. She didn’t display any of the signs.”

He finally said something. “No, she never did…”

“Maybe it was an accident, but I don’t think it was. She didn’t scream.”

“Then what happened?” he asked, his voice coarse.

“I ran in there and put out the fire. She was on the bed, burned pretty bad.”

“When did this happen?”

“Just now…” I sighed into the phone. “That whole bedroom is ruined. It’ll have to be restored. I wanted to know what you wanted me to do with the body. I have a guy who can get rid of it, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted it.”

Egor was quiet again.

It was impossible to gauge his reaction over the phone, not through his silence or carefully chosen words.

“You better not be fucking with me, Carter.”

My blood turned ice-cold. “I’m not. You think I wanted to lose a hundred and fifty million dollars?”

“We both know she’s worth more than a hundred and fifty million dollars, Carter.”

I didn’t deny it since that would make me look like a liar. “Get out here and look for yourself. I don’t appreciate being called a liar, not when I’ve always been an ethical businessman. It’s not my fault your slave hated you so much that she killed herself the second she realized she was going back to you. Not my problem, Egor.”

He returned to his palpable silence.

I wasn’t going to be a pushover because that would just make me look guilty. “She’s just a woman. You can replace her in a heartbeat. If you treat them that badly, they’re a dime a dozen. Now, what do you want me to do with the body? I left it in the bedroom, but I don’t want it sitting there longer than necessary.”

Egor growled into the phone. “My men and I will be there in a few hours.”

Click.

I called Griffin.

He picked up right away. “How’d it go?”

“I’m not sure. He’s on his way to look at the body.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” The sound of the engine was in the background since they were only halfway to Florence. “But our job is spotless. He’ll be forced to accept it. And make sure to be an asshole. The more of an asshole you are, the more believable you are.”

“That shouldn’t be difficult…since I am an asshole.”

He chuckled. “At least you’re honest about it.”

“He told me I better not be fucking with him.”

“He’d be stupid not to be suspicious.”

“But I made it seem plausible that she killed herself, since I said she did it right after our conversation.”

“It’ll be fine,” Griffin said. “There’s no evidence to the contrary. He might watch you for a while, but even then, he won’t find anything. Eventually, he’ll find someone else and forget about her. It’s the circle of life for criminals like him.”

“Yeah, probably. How’s Mia?”

“She fell asleep about an hour ago.”

“Oh, good…she must be comfortable around you, then.”

“Vanessa called me on the drive home, and Mia heard everything. Probably realized there’s nothing more unthreatening than a guy who’s pussy-whipped.”

“Did you just call yourself pussy-whipped?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

“So?” he countered. “You think you aren’t? You called me in the middle of the night to find a burned corpse and help set fire to your house.”

He had me by the balls.

“That’s what I thought. Let me know what happens with Egor.” He hung up.

An hour later, the black Escalade pulled up into my driveway. Undoubtedly, there were four armed men with him. I didn’t have a chance, but I brought my loaded gun anyway. I stuffed it into the back of my jeans, and I walked outside to greet my guests.

Or my enemies.

Egor got out of the car first. I assumed it was him because he was the only one in a suit, navy blue with a black tie. He was not quite six feet tall. With typically Russian looks, he approached me as he buttoned the front of his jacket. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and he was a man in his early forties. He stared at me coldly, not issuing a greeting.

“Egor.” I stood with my hands in my pockets, unflinching in his presence.

He continued to watch me.

“Do your dogs follow you everywhere? Or is it just the two of us?” I headed back to the house, turning my back on him as a sign of strength. I was either stupid or arrogant. There was no way to know which one.

Egor followed me, his armed men remaining outside.

I stepped inside and took the stairs, aware of him behind me. I didn’t make small talk as I guided him to the bedroom where she’d stayed. I stepped inside first then moved to the side, the smell of smoke still heavy in the air. It was almost impossible to breathe.

Egor stepped into the room then slid his hands down the front of his jacket, as if he was afraid of the effect of the smoke on the fine material of his clothes. His biggest obsession was dead, but he cared more about his expensive suit.

It was disgusting.

He examined the room, the signs of smoke and ash everywhere. The bed had burned into dust, along with the nightstand. Some of the wall had been burned away, exposing the insulation. There were signs of the fire extinguisher we’d used when we controlled the burn. He stopped over her body, which was on the floor. Half of her hair had been burned off, and her previous features had been wiped away by the flames. He kneeled down to examine her further.

I made sure that the corpse matched everything on Mia’s body, from the scars on her back to the noticeable freckle on her hip. Griffin helped me with the cosmetics, mutilating the corpse further before it was fully prepared.

Egor pulled on white gloves before he turned the girl over, looking for all the scars she had accumulated in his captivity. He examined her back, her right wrist, and searched for the large freckle on her hip.

He found them all.

He stood up again and pulled off his gloves, tossing them on the ground beside her. “My men will take care of the body. I’ll put her at the bottom of the ocean where she belongs.”

I hid the relief on my face.

“You received the money, right?”

He pulled out his phone and checked the account. “You’re fifty million short.”

“That’s what I paid for her at the Underground. I’m not eating that cost.” Griffin said I needed to keep being an asshole. That was exactly what I was going to do. If I wasn’t guilty, I shouldn’t act like it.

He gave me a cold stare before he put his phone away. “Fine.”

I maintained my stoic expression, but a parade was marching in my heart.

“We’ll wrap her up and leave.” He came toward me but didn’t extend his hand. “I hope you enjoyed her while you could.”

“Only when she didn’t behave.” Pretending I’d never slept with her would be unrealistic. Admitting I’d been with her wouldn’t give me motivation to plan this whole charade, but lying about it would be worse.

“I will miss her,” he said with a sigh. “But knowing she’d rather die than come back to me is a reward in itself. I loved torturing that woman…but I’ll find someone else to torture instead.”

His words made me sick to my stomach, made me want to hurl all over his fine suit. If Mia wasn’t the victim, it would just be someone else. I had to remind myself there was nothing I could do about it. There were other men just like Egor all over the world. Even if I did kill him, someone else would take his place. But it didn’t stop me from wanting to murder him, from wanting to punish him for what he did to Mia. He ripped a family apart…just for his own amusement. It took all my strength to speak the words out loud. “I’m sure you will.”