The threat was so unexpected I actually laughed. “Whoa, you’ve got quite the mouth on you.” I chuckled from deep inside my chest. “But I like a woman with a dirty mouth.”
She didn’t let the implication deter her hatred. “Trust me, you aren’t going to like me.”
She was stuck in a prison with nowhere to run, but yet, she wouldn’t drop her guard. She wouldn’t drop her hostility or her pride. She could easily fall to her knees and weep. But she still stood on her own two feet—strong. “I think I already do.”
Stupidly, she thought I wasn’t paying attention to every single move she made. She waited until my eyes were locked on hers before she launched her hand through the opening between the bars and tried to grab my neck.
I’d been expecting it, so I dodged to the left and grabbed her wrist. I pinned her arm down, bending it at just the right angle to twist her elbow in an agonizing way. With just a little more pressure, I could’ve snapped it right in half.
She breathed through the pain but didn’t wince. The fire was still in her eyes, refusing to let me believe I had any power over her.
Somehow, my respect grew. “Don’t fuck with me, London.” I pressed my lips against her ear, listening to her heavy breathing. “I promise, you’ll lose.” I released her arm, allowing her to keep it for another day.
She immediately pulled her arm back into the cage and stood where I couldn’t reach her again.
“Smart girl.”
She let her arm hang limply by her side, refusing to caress it despite the pain she must have been experiencing.
“The sooner you behave yourself, the better your life will be. We’re on an island in the middle of the sea. There’s nowhere for you to run or hide—unless you want to jump to your death from a cliff.”
She stared at me with vicious eyes. “Doesn’t sound so bad right now.”
The corner of my mouth rose in a smile. “If you get your act together, you can visit the rest of the house. But if you’d rather put up this fight, then you can stay in here.”
“I’m never going to act like an obedient dog, so it looks like I’m gonna stay down here.” She moved to the cot and leaned against the wall, pulling her knees to her chest while she stared me down with pure hatred.
“It’s awfully cold down here,” I warned.
“Better than being any closer to you.”
When I first saw her being carried off the helicopter, I had a completely different assumption about the kind of woman she was. I’d assumed she would be like everyone else, whiny and weak. I assumed her backbone would be just as soft as her cheek. But she took someone like me by surprise—which was difficult. “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s not a shower down here.”
Her expression didn’t change.
“You won’t be allowed to take one until you behave yourself.”
“People used to only bathe once a year,” she countered. “I’ll be fine.”
I chuckled, loving the fact she had a response to everything I said. “Give it a week, and see if you change your mind.”
She pulled the thin blanket over her legs to keep warm. “If you’re done taunting me, you can leave.”
She was excusing me? “You don’t have any questions?”
“No.”
“You don’t want to know why you’re here?”
“It’s obvious.”
It was? “How so?”
“I don’t live under a rock,” she said coldly. “I know I’ve been abducted into sex trafficking. But I’m not worried about it because there’s a solution to every problem. I will find one.”
The smile left my face. “This isn’t school, London. There’s not a solution to every problem. Life isn’t as simple as a mathematical equation. I’m one of the greatest criminals of the underworld. I’m the kind of problem with no solution. I’m the kind of problem that can’t be solved. The situation you’re in is far worse than being sold into slavery—because you’re my slave.”
3
Crewe
I walked into Ariel’s office. “What’s on the agenda?”
She remained at her desk, her black glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. She spun a pen in her fingertips as she pressed her lips tightly together. “We have a new buyer in Ireland. Wants to buy a large order of Highland Whiskey. And when I say large, I mean enormous.”
“How enormous are we talking?” I fell into the chair and unbuttoned the front of my black suit.
“We’d need to hire an extra crew just to oversee the production. You were thinking of expanding anyway. Perhaps we should pursue that now.”
If a business wasn’t growing, then it was at risk. That’s how I saw it. “Let’s do it.”
She made some notes. “Alright. I’ll take care of it.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Her Highness Wilhelmina is having a ball next weekend. Of course, you’re on the invite list.”