Page 2

Jonas stood up, gearing up to lead the party to another room. He tilted his head at me as if he wasn’t sure what to make of me.

“No, you are not. You have just become an important part of this negotiation,” he said.

What? What did that mean?! I didn’t want to get tangled into even more mafia business! I was sure it wasn’t my expertise they wanted at the negotiation table. Without my brother I was a nobody to them, just a woman not worth anything.

For some reason, the three strange men thought otherwise.

The older man, who had to be the leader of the Sanguine, Tristan, if the way the other two stood at his back creating a united front said anything, objected to my treatment.

“Let Miss Victoria change and take care of her wounds and I will consider the matter of letting you take over the Persimmon nightclub,” he said coldly.

Jonas stepped closer, grinning.

“I will do you one better: agree to at least shared custody of the club and I will let one of you accompany Victoria while she is in my employment.”

That was ridiculous. Nobody would cede the rights to their business for me, least of all a man I met just today.

“Deal.”

Chapter Two

My head whipped to the Sanguine’s leader, my eyes wide. The two men shook on it. The deal was really going down. Because of… me?

“I will keep her company,” Matthias volunteered, still looking like he wanted to tear someone apart. I didn’t want anyone dogging my steps. Would I be safe with a man with such obvious anger issues? If it had to happen I would prefer anyone else than this intimidating behemoth. When Tristan shook his head at Matthias’ proposition I let the air I was holding out.

“No. Theo, you will be the one to accompany Miss Victoria,” the leader decided, motioning to the slender, affable blond man. When Matthias bristled Tristan placed a warning hand on the back of the man’s thick neck.

“Why him and not me?” Matthias still protested but the steam seemed to go out at him at the grounding gesture.

“I suspect we may need someone more level-headed to handle this situation. Besides, I thought you would want to have a say in the negotiations, hmm?” That angle seemed to work as Matthiasstraightened and looked at Jonas like he was prey he just got permission to hunt.

“I will take good care of her,” Theo nodded with determination. “I’m leaving the rest in your hands. Miss Victoria? Would you lead the way?”

I was quick to leave that room.

Only when we were several corridors away did I quickly look around, opened a janitor’s closet, and pulled Theo inside. The door closed behind us, leaving us in near-perfect darkness.

“What was that?” I hissed in a whisper. “What’s going on?!”

“Please do not be alarmed, Miss Victoria,” Theo soothed. “We simply saw you were treated unfairly and could not abide by that.”

Ah, so Carl wasn’t as subtle as he thought. But I still called bullshit.

“There’s more to it than that,” I said with confidence I didn’t feel.

Theo was silent for a time, then his quiet voice filled the room.

“You are right. But I can’t tell you anything until I know where we stand with the negotiations.”

“Are you going to use me as a bargaining chip?” I said bitterly. “I am not his to sell. Jonas doesn’t own me.”

I pushed out of the closet before Theo could point out that, with my brother’s debt, it wasn’t exactly true.

Swiftly, I made my way to the servant’s quarters with Theo at my heels. Only the mansion’s workers were permitted here but, in theory, Jonas gave his permission for Theo to ‘accompany me’ so I glared the butler we passed in the corridor into submission and he only huffed, not making a scene. Not wanting to tempt my newfound luck, I got to my room as quickly as possible and allowed myself to breathe only when the door was closed and locked behind me.

Too bad I was locked inside with a stranger.

“I’m going to shower,” I said after I pulled a fresh uniform from my wardrobe. I could tackle this insanity after I wasn’t shivering from the cold.