Page 244 of Enthrall Shadows
Turning, I was surprised to see Jake Carrington.
He sat on the barstool next to mine.
The great de Sade himself was offering to keep me company.
“You’re having far too much fun,” he said sarcastically.
“How did you get a ticket?”
“I donate a hefty amount to the Cole Foundation each year.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m friends with Cameron. What do you mean why?”
“You’re the bad boy of Chrysalis.”
That made him grin. “We need to spend more time together. You’ll really see my dark side.”
“What sort of things do you do with Cameron?”
“Fence.”
“Does he win?”
“Every fucking time.”
“Who is your silent partner?” I pointed at his chest. “I can’t work for an enemy of Cameron. And you shouldn’t either.”
“You’re going to have to trust me on that one.” He reached for the neck of the champagne bottle and read the label. “May I?”
“Of course.”
He quirked a brow. “This is a Louis Roederer Cristal Rose.”
I raised my glass for him to refill it. “It’s yum.”
“It should be. This is a two-thousand-dollar bottle.”
I felt a wave of panic. “I didn’t order it.”
He winked. “You have expensive taste.”
Glancing over at Shay, I threw daggers at him for ordering it.
Henry saw me and he raised his glass in a toast. He’d bought that expensive bottle for me.
Feeling better from our brief interaction, I raised my glass to thank him. Then remembered we weren’t supposed to know each other.
I refocused on de Sade. “I thought you were breaking away from Chrysalis?”
“You make it sound like I’m committing a heinous act.”
“It’s Pendulum.”
“We’re going to turn it around. That’s why we invited you to run the place. We want the best for the submissives. It will take a while for the current VIPs to get used to our way of doing things. We’re fine with that. Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that.”
“True.”
