Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 14237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 71(@200wpm)___ 57(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 71(@200wpm)___ 57(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)
Epilogue
Q
I FOUND TESS GIVING OUR SON, LINO, a goodnight kiss.
His bedroom reminded me of summer with clouds sketched on the ceiling and the bird stencils we’d painted on the walls flying with wild abandon.
I smiled and crossed my ankles, reclining against the door frame. The day Tess had announced Abelino was old enough to design his own room, we’d been covered in paint as much as the walls. I’d balanced our small son on my shoulders while Tess gave him a paint brush and held up the stencil of a flying duck, laughing as he half painted the wall and half painted my face.
“Mum?” Lino stretched in his comfy bed as Tess stroked his tussled brown hair. “Who was that man I heard at dinner? Why couldn’t I come join you guys?” His sleepy, innocent voice made me tense on the threshold.
I’d asked Suzette to keep Lino far away from Henri.
She’d done what I asked, spending the night with our son and the chaos of dogs that always followed him. Dogs that I hadn’t had a choice in adopting after Tess dumped them into my long-suffering heart.
“Just a friend, mon coeur.” (My heart.) Tess kissed his forehead again. “Sorry for waking you. Go back to sleep.”
“Is Courage still here?” He yawned. “I can’t sleep without him.”
The damn dog’s ears pricked at his name. He leaped onto the bed, circling twice before sprawling over Lino’s short legs.
The feral depth of love I had for my child threatened to cripple me.
He chuckled. “Good. Now I can go back to sleep.” Spying me by the door, he waved. “Nuit, Papa. (Night, Dad.)
“Bonne nuit, mon fils.” (Goodnight, my son.) I bowed my head.
“Sweet dreams.” Tucking him in, Tess sighed with unconditional affection then tiptoed to me and slipped beneath my arm.
My chest ached with overwhelming gratitude.
I was the luckiest son of a bitch in the whole goddamn world.
Silently, we walked down the long corridor toward the staircase at the end that led to our tower.
My inherited chateau had undergone many renovations since I’d claimed the keys. Its untold wealth and sordid history was carved into every keystone, but it’d never been more precious to me now it housed my wife and son.
Climbing the curling stone steps to our bedroom, I sighed with relief as we stepped into our playroom and sanctuary. The chains, where I’d strung Tess up the night I got drunk and shattered my self-control, waited, tucked and secretive, in the rafters. The chest full of toys and debauchery beckoned to be opened and played with.
Despite my promise of taking her again, the moon was almost setting, and I was fucking drained. Henri had been given one of the guest suites as far away from us as possible, yet I felt his invasion in every cell.
Tomorrow, I’d sort out a bank account with enough funds for him to buy his way into The Jewelry Box, ensure his online presence couldn’t be traced back to me, and then…he was leaving and never coming back.
I hid my wince.
For all my promises of welcoming him if he proved himself, I already knew it would never happen. He was a dead man walking. By my hand, his, or someone else’s. I refused to get attached to a beast that would be dead before the year was through.
Slipping out from beneath my arm, Tess padded toward our bed.
Pulling back the white coverlets and tossing a few of the nonsense pillows she said looked homely onto the floor, she asked, “You don’t truly intend on sending him into a trafficking hellhole do you, Q?” Pausing with a beaded cushion in her hands, she pinned me with a condemning stare. “He’ll last ten minutes.”
I shrugged out of my blazer and draped it over the chaise. “He came here asking for something I’m not prepared to give, esclave. Until he proves himself, I don’t care what happens to him.”
“Then help him prove himself.” She tossed the cushion to the carpet. “He’s lost.” Her voice turned quiet. “Watching him at dinner…the way he couldn’t take his eyes off us whenever we touched. He’s full of longing and loneliness. So much so, it’s killing him.”
“It’s either that which kills him or something else.”
Her eyes snapped to mine. “It doesn’t have to end that way. He’s going to do what you asked. You know he’ll try. The determination with every question he asked tonight proves he’s willing to do whatever it takes. You heard him. He’s got nothing to lose. Nowhere to go. No one to care for.”
“Then maybe he’ll survive through sheer audacity.”
I refused to give into her cajoling.
I’d let her force four dogs into my life by tugging expertly on my heart strings. I’d allowed her to work beside me while I rehabbed untold number of sex-slaves. I let her travel with me to exterminate the bastards that popped up like rabies-infected gophers. I had a son with her, despite my fear that one day he would turn out to be like me.