“Do you know where you are headed with him?”
“He mentioned living in Paris.” Paris. That small house in the suburbs, where we’d sat in the moonlight and he’d gone down on me for the first time in the garden as I’d struggled to stifle my moans of pleasure. Those memories now only caused pain.
“Then I’ll fly there. Contact me when you can. Jenny. Remember, he has no reason to suspect you. Be desirable. Look at him with lust-filled eyes. Bat your eyelashes at him, but don’t forget who he really is. Your survival depends on it.”
I knew that. I didn’t have to fake the desire. I didn’t have to remind myself who Alexander was. I never forgot. The memories never receded. I remembered everything.
I stared into the mirror and a dark-haired woman with frightened green eyes stared back at me. I bent my head to survey my fingers again, willing them to stop shaking. I could survive this. I had to. If there was any sense of balance to the universe, any sense of fairness, Dylan McAllister needed to die at my hands.
“I have to go,” I said into the phone.
The SIM Card I flushed down the toilet, hoping it wouldn’t clog the pipes and create a mess. The list of outgoing calls couldn’t show Lucien’s number. I broke the phone into pieces mechanically, my thoughts a tangled storm. Remember this, I told myself once I’d disposed of the pieces in the trash, Jenny Fullerton’s sister is dying. Jenny likes to submit and please her man. Jenny knows nothing about Alexander except that he’s apparently very rich, and has bid an insane amount of money for the pleasure of her company for the next three months. Jenny is a little nervous, but Jenny is also excited. Because Alexander is good-looking and wealthy, and what girl could pass that up?
For the next few months, until I was inside the Hanoi compound of Dylan McAllister, Ellie Samuelson didn’t exist. Her fears and motivations didn’t matter. They couldn’t matter, because if Alexander Hamilton ever found out who I was, he would kill me.
I needed to be Jenny so completely that nothing I did would arouse suspicion.
I pasted an apologetic smile on my face and headed out to find my new master.
Chapter 10
Alexander:
I should have forced her to walk away. Fuck that, I should have walked away myself. But I did neither of those things.
My phone rang. It was Jean-Luc. “Her cover story’s fake,” he said.
“How do you know?”
“Because our people just searched the hotel room she was staying in on Khao San Road.”
“And?” Jean-Luc wouldn’t have called if he hadn’t found anything.
“We found a knife taped to the underside of the toilet seat,” he said. “Why would a first-time traveller from Cleveland need a twelve-inch Bowie knife? Your little slave girl has some dangerous toys. ”
“Submissives are not slaves,” I said automatically. I searched for explanations but every single scenario damned her. “Don’t worry. I can take care of myself. And I’ll be careful.”
Jean-Luc exhaled. “Please do, Alexander,” he said dryly. “I’d hate to lose a boss, particularly one who pays as well as you do.”
As I waited for her, my lips curved into a smile as a wicked thought struck me. I didn’t think she had a weapon on her, but there was only one way to find out for sure.
***
Ellie / Jenny:
Another of Madame Lorraine’s staff was waiting for me outside the washroom to take me to Alexander. I followed quietly, my eyes distant.
With each step I took, I forced Ellie to recede. With each step, I embraced Jenny. When I got to the room, I smiled a genuine smile at Alexander and when I spoke, my voice was warm. “Sorry I took so long.”
His lips twitched. “You took about as long as I expected,” he replied easily. “It’s one of the things about women that we men just don’t understand.” He gestured to my cheap, yet obviously new suitcase. “Is this all you have for three months?”
I nodded, and he shook his head. “We’ll have to fix that,” he said mildly. “Now, change into something a bit more suitable for walking around and we’ll go grab dinner.”
“Should I change here?”
His eyes slowly surveyed my body. They started at the top of my head, slowly wandered down to my face, with my rouge-stained cheeks, my fire-engine red lips, and my soot-darkened eyelashes, then down to the black, translucent robe that revealed more of my body than it hid. His gaze took in the swell of my breasts, before sliding lower in a heated scan that traveled to my waist before sliding out again to my hips. His eyes lingered on my mound, which had been waxed clean by the handlers. I was completely naked under the robe and I could feel the air caress my *. I was completely aroused by the time he was done with his inspection, though my heart was beating as loud as a drum.
“Yes, Jenny. Change here.”