Page 40 of Temporary Vows

“I made a mistake,” I whisper, deep shame and disappointment burning through me like acid. Then I tell him. I tell him exactly what I told Jack.

When I’m done, his gaze doesn’t soften like I thought it would. I imagined him understanding, but he looks more enraged.

“Does Jack know about this loan?” His hands ball into tight fists at his sides.

“Yes. He couldn’t help me. He’s…” What should I tell him about Jack? “He’s struggling financially.”

Again, his gaze doesn’t shift. “Does he know you’re here?”

“No. And I don’t want him to find out.”

“Oh, believe me, he won’t hear about this from me. I don’t have time to battle over me buying his baby sister in a fucking auction.”

Baby sister.

Great. After all this time, he still thinks of me as Jack’s baby sister.

“I did what I had to do.” I lift my chin, hoping an appearance of confidence will mask the tremor in my voice. “You think I wanted to auction myself off? My choices were limited.”

“But you had choices.” He steps closer, those sharp blue eyes locking with mine. “Igave you a choice. You could have come to me.”

“I didn’t want to go begging for your help,” I rasp. “I wanted to fix the problem myself.”

“Oh, I see.” The tension in his gaze loosens, but it’s not with something softer. It fills with something dark and daring. “Have you ever been here before, Elodie? To the Dark Odyssey?”

“No.”

“Do you know what kind of men come here? What kind of men bid on girls like you?” His gaze travels down my body, stopping just above my knees where the robe cuts, giving him a good view of my bare thighs.

“Men with money.”

The smirk he gives me treads the edge of psychotic. “Money? Oh no. It’s not just aboutmoney, little lamb. It’s about power that goeswaybeyond money. The kind of power that allows you to do whatever dark, twisted, fucked-up thing you desire, no matter the cost.”

A shudder coils through me and settles in the pit of my gut. He’s right. But the thing that grips my attention is how well versed he sounds. Like he’s talking about himself.

The fact that he’s here says a lot. It’s not like he found out I was here and came to save me. We ran into each otherhere—one hell of a coincidence.

“You agreed to do anything, didn’t you? On the application.” He searches my eyes. “That’s why your bids skyrocketed.”

“Yes. I was desperate.”

He moves closer, closing the distance between us. He stops a breath away. He’s too close. So close the scent of his aftershave and his dominance tickle my nose.

He presses a finger to my chin and lifts, making sure my gaze is on his. “Pray tell, little lamb. What would you have done if Ididn’t step in to save you? Would you really have doneanythingwithanyone?”

My breath catches. I try to swallow past the lump in my throat, but I can’t. His gaze is too intense.

“Would you have allowed a complete stranger to own your body and do whatever they please with you?” His brows lift.

“I… would have to.”

The scathing look he gives me makes me feel like a cheap whore.

“Oh, so you’d allow them to come in here, bend you over, and fuck you just because they paid for you?” He catches my face, fingers digging into my skin. “What if they brought company and wanted you to fuck all their friends, too? Would you have done that, Elodie? Because that’s whatanythingmeans here at the Dark Odyssey.”

My stomach churns at the sickening image that comes to my mind, but the determination that sent me to the auction takes over. I know he’s trying to scare the fuck out of me—and it’s working—but I didn’t come here because I was bored or wanted some crazy new sexual experience.

I came here because my life depended on it.