“Bonjour.” He clicked his teeth. “I wondered when we’d be graced with your famous presence again.”

I knocked his arm away, and stalked toward the large oval table. Picking the head seat, I sat with my hands steepled on the tabletop. “Get to your point, Frederick.”

“Well, I assumed with a hot piece of ass at home you’d take longer than four days before coming back to this chaos.”

My temper exploded. “Don’t. Ever. Disrespect. Her.” I squeezed my eyes. Not for the first time I regretted stringing Tess up from the ceiling for the impromptu business meeting. I hated that Frederick saw her like that.

I’d been a f**king bastard to do it, but I had my reasons. Reasons that didn’t add up with the way Frederick Roux gloated at me.

He threw himself in a chair next to me, holding his hands up. “Hey. Just stating a fact.” He shuffled forward eagerly. “So…you’re finally letting a woman tame you, huh?”

“She didn’t tame me, she—” I stopped mid-sentence, swallowing back the pansy thing I was about to say. She didn’t tame me, she set me free. Definitely not appropriate for my fearsome reputation.

I seized the huge pile of paperwork that I’d requested to catch up on, and pretended to ignore him. I couldn’t deal with his shit right now.

Leaving Tess alone had been the hardest thing I’d done since making an oath to never become my father. I left my capacity to breathe upstairs with her. Only the knowledge that she was completely safe and untouchable allowed me some relief to get to work.

What the f**k was with her panic attack? She was so strong. It didn’t make sense for her to let memories get the better of her. I’d seen enough women lose their entire lives to reliving what happened. The switch that sent them spiralling into depression and destruction never turned off.

I would never let that happen to Tess.

“Stop gloating. I can feel your smugness from here,” I grumbled when Frederick refused to look away.

“Hey, man, I’m allowed to gloat when my long-time friend finally comes to work looking well-fucked and a tinge happier than every other day of his sad little life.”

I dropped the paper and took a swing at him. Half-hearted, but I missed all the same.

He ducked, laughing. “I’m pleased for you.” Inching forward, he slapped me on the back, grinning. “Welcome to coupledom. You’re no longer a sulky bachelor who has to get his wallet out to get his kink on.”

“For f**k’s sake, keep your voice down.” My eyes darted to the door. Any moment we’d have company, and people did not need to know what I did with the cash in said wallet.

Frederick nodded. “I’ll stop now. Just happy for you, that’s all.”

Warming a little, I leaned back in the chair. “What makes you so sure I’m keeping her? I sent her back the first time. I could do it again.”

He snorted, covering up a loud laugh. “Seriously, Mercer? You were a f**king wreck the day you sent her back. Or are you forgetting I found you almost comatose, lying on your pool table, mumbling about God knows what?”

It was unfortunate that he’d found me. I’d planned on getting a lot drunker. I needed something to numb the pain.

He ducked to sniff my shoulder. I managed to deck him, not hard, but enough to make my point. “Plus, you smell like sex. You reek of it, my friend, and that little glow you’ve got going on tells me that you’ve kept her, and you’re finally going to stop kicking yourself in the balls for needing what you do.”

“Back off, Roux. I get it. You’re happy for me.” I narrowed my eyes, gathering the papers once again.

He smirked and his blue gaze, so bright that I always secretly wondered if they were fake, glinted. “You’ve got a wrinkle.”

I paused, rubbing my forehead. Great. A f**king wrinkle. It was only fitting, I supposed—I felt ancient. Ever since Franco forced Tess to bow at my feet, I’d aged a little every day, worn down by the monster inside, cursing my urges that would end up killing me one day.

Or killing the one you care for.

The thought stopped my heart, and I glowered at Frederick. “Is this another one of your f**king analogies?”

He nodded, chuckling. “Wanted to see if you cared. Bet you’ll care if I tell you there’s a crusty tie and a pair of what I’m assuming are panties sticking out of your pocket.”

Merde!

I hastily shifted in the chair and stuffed Tess’s underwear, along with my come-encrusted tie, back into my pocket. I couldn’t stop my smug grin at the vision of Tess on her hands and knees while I pile-drived my c**k deep inside her. Goddammit, I wanted to do it again.

I wanted to f**k and hurt her right on this boardroom table.

As much as Frederick drove me nuts, I liked that he wasn’t afraid of me. He knew how far he could push. Whispering under my breath, I said good-naturedly, “Va te faire foutre.” Fuck off. “Stop being a dick about it.”

Frederick chuckled . “Fair enough.” His eyes darted to the door, looking to see if we still had privacy. My hackles shot up when he leaned forward, bowing his head. “I heard from the Russian mob. The man you shot for touching your slave, he’s out for blood.”

My hands fisted, and I shot forward into his personal space. “She’s not my f**king slave. Her name is Tess and she’s a part of my life now. You’ll never discuss how she came to be that way. Am I understood?”

Frederick nodded, non-repulsed by my temper. He had the disposition of an unflappable pilot. Always smooth, forever calm. I wished I could steal some of his serenity; maybe then I could stop the swirling mess of feelings inside me.

“You have my word. But can I ask one question? You made it your life’s work to save so many women from situations that you put Tess into. Why did you string her up to be eye-fucked if you hate it?”

Trust Frederick to see through the ruse. Yes, that night had been fifty percent selfish. I wanted to do something as horrid as my father. I couldn’t help it. Just once I gave into the beast and did something I deplored. I got hard watching Tess struggle and put her in a situation that f**ked with her mind. But I also knew the Red Wolverine wasn’t happy with me.

Too many times I accepted his bribery—agreed to an underhanded real estate permit, or provided my name as collateral against a mob enterprise—all to get my hands on the women he traded.

My reputation was sick and tarnished in the underworld—exactly the way I wanted it. They didn’t know I used black money to fight filth; every penny went into saving slaves. But Tess. Shit, I wanted to f**k her so badly that night. I wanted to cut off the dress and take her so many f**king ways.

And with the darkness running thick in my veins, I knew it would be a good opportunity to show the minion of the Red Wolverine that I did enjoy my bribes.

Whispers had begun. Foul gossip that I released the bribes I accepted. That I turned them loose and never touched them. Something had to be done.

I couldn’t let that information leak. It would mean all the girls I’d saved would be rounded up, tracked like vermin, and sold once again into nightmares. So, I gave them a show. I put Tess on stage and f**king forgot it was all a pantomime to calm the gossip and halt one of the largest mafias involved in trafficking from suspecting me. I let myself get achingly hard, entertained visions of f**king Tess like the slave she was, and allowed other men to drool over what was mine.

She was too perfect. So amazingly sexy hanging from the ceiling, tempting me like the apple tempted f**king Eve.

The entire dinner I couldn’t concentrate as Tess hung like a gold-imprisoned doll, completely helpless, completely defenceless, completely at my mercy.

Frederick slapped my shoulder. “Stop gouging the table, Q. Your temper is getting out of control.”

Fuck. I placed my hands into my lap, cricking my neck from the overwhelming tension in my back.

“I did it to protect other women. I sacrificed Tess’s dignity and f**ked with her mind in order to put on a show for the cocksuckers we do business with.” I glared at him. “Happy?”

He nodded as if it made perfect sense. “I thought as much. If you weren’t emotionally invested, you wouldn’t have ruined the show by shooting the same cocksucker you were trying to impress in the f**king leg.”

I snorted, remembering how satisfying it’d been to pull the trigger and cause bodily harm. He dared put his hands on Tess—hurt her, torture her. I would kill him next time I saw him.

Then my heart died with black repulsion remembering how Tess fainted from pain and shock. That night would go down as one of the best and worst of my life.

Shaking away the memories, I asked, “Have you heard anything? Did you rush through that bastard’s paperwork?” I wanted to confirm the building permits he requested as soon as possible. After all, the approval of his application represented Tess’s freedom. Her life for a piece of concrete and glass in the heart of Moscow. A front for laundered money, weapons, and women.

“Yes. The permits have been approved thanks to some carefully greased palms. But I don’t think that’s the end of it. The guy you shot wasn’t just his minion. It was the Wolverine’s son.”