Page 61 of Bitter Heat

He said nothing; he just watched her. She was looking at a complete stranger.

“What are you going to do with Hennessy & Co?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Liar.”

“Your sisters are big girls. They can handle whatever I throw at them.”

Her heart sank. “Is that your plan? To humiliate them?”

“Worried, princess?”

Her hand balled at her side. “Don’t call me that.”

He rose and walked toward her. Her muscles locked against the impulse to run. When he stopped a foot from her, she could smell his cologne. No man as evil as him should smell so appealing. He was the devil incarnate. He should smell of blood and sweat.

“Lyle and Rami will fight you,” she said.

He cocked his head to the side. “They haven’t been told yet?”

Fuck. He picked up on every detail like a damn bloodhound.

“They told you but not their husbands? What did they think you could do?”

Her eyes pricked with furious tears. “You won’t get away with this.”

“Maximus gave me seven years of survival training. I can handle whatever your family decides to throw at me.” He reached out and fingered the ends of her hair.

“Fuck you, Roth.”

She slapped his hand and turned away. She wasn’t going to play his game. Just as she reached for the door handle, he spoke.

“How much are you willing to sacrifice, Jasmine?”

Her fingers twitched, itching to close around the shiny metal doorknob and get the hell out of here, but her sisters’ faces flashed through her mind. She turned to face him. Why did she feel as if she was being herded into an invisible cage?

“You proved your worth in Colorado. Our time at the cabin reminded me what it’s like to have a whore who likes what you’re giving her,” he said.

She felt the blood drain from her face.

“If you want to save your family’s legacy, I may be willing to negotiate if you give me what I want.”

She didn’t wait to hear what else he had to say. She left his office on legs that felt wooden. The security guard stood at the end of the hall near the reception area, but the walk from Roth’s office felt like the length of a football field. The guard rode the elevator to the lobby with her and unlocked the front doors of the building. As she stepped onto the sidewalk, the first drops of rain fell. Her guard came forward with an umbrella, which she waved away. She climbed in and stared straight ahead.

“Tuxedo Park,” she said and covered her mouth as she fought the urge to be sick. It was okay for a man to be sexual, but the moment a woman reacted just as passionately, she became a whore. Fuck him. She would never let him touch her again.

Her pocket flashed from her phone. She pulled it out and saw Colette’s text.

Collette:Did you get in touch with him?

Her trembling fingers hovered over the screen. This was the first time they asked her for something, and she failed. She blinked away tears so she could type.

Me:I have a meeting with him tomorrow.

Hopefully, the white lie would give Colette at least one good night of sleep before she broke the news to her. Dread coated her insides. Lyle and Rami would have to be told. They might fight Roth, but Colette was right. Her brothers-in-law were more likely to tell them to bow out of the company. It wasn’t like they needed the money and with both of her sisters having young children, they would want them at home. Hennessy & Co would be no more. She moaned and pressed her face against the back of the passenger seat.

The way Roth looked at her as if she was a thing and not even a person… She swallowed bile and ran her hands down her clammy face. Because of her mother, she had always felt the need to downplay her sexuality and femininity. Roth was the first man who had encouraged her to embrace her needs… only to throw it in her face years later. If his aim was to make her feel dirty, he succeeded.

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