“We do—but our business.”
“Purchasing kidnapped women?”
I nodded. “We split it fifty-fifty.”
“What’s his role in this?”
“He has the connections. Families get in contact with him once their daughters or wives are taken. He handles the wire transfer and then tells me to head to the Underground.”
“Why does he send you and not someone else?”
“I have a preexisting relationship with the Skull Kings. I also have a legitimate alibi. When I buy a woman, I usually put her in a show or an event one time. That way they think I’m using them for my own business gains. Then I release them, and by that time, the Skull Kings have moved on to something else and aren’t paying attention to me anymore.”
“What happens if they catch you?”
I took a long drink of my wine. “I won’t be allowed back to the Underground. But I’m not sure if they would do anything more extensive. Technically, I’m not breaking any rules. I pay for my women fairly by winning the bid. What I do with them after that is none of their concern. When government officials have asked for my cooperation in taking down the Skull Kings, I always refuse. I won’t rat on them. Therefore, there should not be repercussions in the event I’m caught.”
“But if you never take down the Skull Kings, they’ll just keep doing it. And you buy one woman, but what about all the others?”
My eyes narrowed. “I told you I wasn’t a good man, Muse.” Sometimes it bothered me that I did nothing, and those women were sent to their deaths. Sometimes it ruined my sleep. But other times, I didn’t care at all. “Even if I eradicated their organization, someone else would just take over the business. People think crime can be snuffed out, but it can’t. You take down one villain, but another villain always replaces them. That’s just how it is.”
Muse watched me from across the table without judgment in her eyes. Her features didn’t show any particular feeling. She just sat there, her fingers resting on the stem of her glass.
“You think less of me.” I shouldn’t care about her opinion, but I did. It meant more to me than it should.
“No.”
“Then what do you think?”
She released her glass and brought her hands to her lap. “I think there are a lot of shitty people in the world. They do horrific things. And the kind of evil they show is so intense that it makes your crimes pale in comparison. So, no, I don’t think less of you, Conway. I wouldn’t make love to you every night if I felt otherwise.”
Make love. She made love to me.
I wanted to say we were just fucking, but I wouldn’t always be on top if that were the case. My favorite position was having a woman on all fours, her ass in my face. I didn’t want to look into her eyes. I didn’t care about a deeper connection. All I cared about was a good fuck, getting my dick inside her at the perfect angle. But with Muse, I loved feeling her ankles lock together against my back. I loved feeling her heels dig into my ass. I loved looking into her eyes, watching her enjoy me, and I loved kissing her as I rocked into her slowly.
She was right. It wasn’t fucking.
I slept with her every night. I had dinner with her every evening. She was such a large component of my life that it was hard to imagine not having her around. Without even realizing it, I’d become intensely attached to this woman.
The waiter brought our entrees, and we started to eat. Once our utensils were in our hands, we didn’t spend time talking, but we returned to comfortable silence with the exchange of looks across the table.
I watched her enjoy her meal and sip her wine. I watched the way her hands handled her silverware. With perfectly straight posture and graceful movements, she was every bit the supermodel I’d trained her to be.
But I’d also trained her to be the perfect woman.
When Muse stepped out of the bathroom, she was dressed in a white ensemble I’d created just for her. In a push-up bra lined with diamonds and a white thong that complemented her tanned skin perfectly, she was gorgeous.
I sat against the headboard and watched her enter the bedroom. With an hourglass figure and long legs, she was gorgeous from head to toe. My cock was hard the second she walked into the bathroom with the racy pieces in hand. I didn’t need to see her to know she would look stunning.
My memory was good enough.
She sauntered into the room, her eyes locked on me. This time, she wore heels, silver pumps that matched her diamonds. She stood at the foot of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair.