Tess looked between us, trying to unravel what we left unsaid.
“She knows she can call me. She and Angelique are getting rather close, too. It’s nice to see her making friends.”
“Oh, f**k me. My maid and your wife talking?” I couldn’t think of anything worse. I’d have to fire her.
Frederick laughed—a large timbre that drew a genuine smile from Tess. I wasn’t surprised; Frederick was a smooth son of a bitch. “You know she’s the most loyal staff member you’ll ever have. And she knows we would never do anything to hurt you. Leave her alone when you see her next.” He raised his eyebrow, hinting that he knew.
Knew about the wedding.
He’d been invited to a wedding that I had absolutely no idea about. Who else had she invited? Goddammit, I really better call her before she invited all of Paris.
Frederick clapped his hands together, reclining into the black couch. “So, as nice as it is to see you, Mercer, I’m taking this isn’t just a pop in. You want something.”
Tess looked to me, her eyes wide with curiosity.
I smiled loving the thrill of anticipation. I couldn’t wait for her reaction when I told her what we were here for.
“There’s a file in your cabinet under my personal record. Can you get it?” I asked, looking Frederick straight in the eye.
He frowned, trying to work it out. The funny thing was—he knew. He’d watched me write it.
Hauling himself upright, he traversed the office before unlocking one of the filing cabinets and pulling out my particular portfolio. It was empty but for one piece of paper. Everything of importance I kept on encrypted hard-drives and in a safe hidden at my chateau. But this—I needed a witness to make this legitimate.
Cracking open the file, his eyes flew to mine. Clearing his throat, he asked, “You sure about this?”
I locked my fingers together, focusing on the rush of blood rather than snapping at him. Ridiculous question. I wouldn’t deem it with an answer.
Frederick nodded slightly, grabbed a pen from his desk, and came to sit back down.
Tess scooted forward as Roux placed the file on the small table between us, spinning it around to face her. He smiled, holding out the pen. “You’re up. Have a read, and if you’re okay with it, sign away.”
I rolled my shoulders, dispelling some of the rapidly building tension in my spine. Tess vibrated with questions mixed with apprehension.
Frederick never took his gaze off her as she reached for the file. Asking me, he muttered, “Do you think it’s a good idea… after all, the current market is rather…volatile.”
Tess froze. Her eyes snapped up. “Volatile?” Looking to me, she added, “What’s going on? Do I even want to know what’s in here?”
Yes, you damn well do because then you can get over my wealth because it won’t just be mine anymore.
I glared at Roux, before glancing her way. “Yes. Frederick is only aware that if you sign it, you share equal risk. If the business crashed tomorrow you would be held accountable, same as me, for any debts payable. But I have no debts outweighing my assets, and it isn’t going to crash tomorrow, so there’s no f**king risk to worry about.” Grabbing the edge of the folder, I opened it. “Stop delaying and read the damn thing.”
Tess flat-out ignored me. Planting a hand over the writing on the page, she asked Roux, “Tell me. Did you mean that or something else? I think I have a right to know.”
Goddammit, why was everything so hard with her when it came to money?
I leaned back, seething in the chair. My arms crossed; I wished I’d gone with my other idea of forging her signature and never showing her the damn will. I’d been so close to doing it, but Frederick talked me out of it. Bastard.
Roux placed his hands on his thighs, thinking through his answer carefully. As he should. Because he was a bastard.
“Q’s right about the debt. But I’m not worried about Moineau Holdings going under. That won’t happen. It just can’t—not with the strength of the company. What I am—not so much concerned about but definitely interested in seeing future projections—is a new side of the company that is brand new last week.”
I rolled my eyes. This was the part where Roux made me sound like some Mother f**king Theresa and for Tess to fawn all over me. I didn’t mind the fawning, but it wasn’t like the newspapers portrayed. It wasn’t at all like they said.
I got my hands dirty. I put motherfuckers in the ground where they belonged not turned them into a law enforcement that was almost as corrupt as they were.
“What new part?”
Frederick grinned. “Well, ever since Q tore off his mask and flew out of his birdcage—get it?” He waved his hand, chuckling at his own joke. “People know what hobbies Mercer is into. They’re aware of some, not all, of the details of what he did to get you back.” His eyes flickered to mine. I wanted to clamp a hand over his mouth, but I looked away, effectively giving him permission to continue. “Q’s contact at the local police force spoke to the press.”
I growled at that. I’d sworn him to secrecy for over ten years, and now he’d fed me to the paparazzi.
Frederick pointed a finger in my direction. “You know he had no choice. He stood up for you when people were painting false accusations.” Looking to Tess, he finished, “Anyway, the company has undergone some changes, and we’re still not sure where those changes will lead us.”
Tess breathed hard, tucking a riot of curls behind her ears with a rapid twitch. “What changes?”
Roux met my eyes. “Care to jump in and explain, Mercer? After all, it’s your fledging.”
I scowled. I didn’t want to hear what I already knew, and I had no desire to talk about it either—even though I was secretly pleased and rather honoured how the news had gone down with the world.
You want her to inherit everything. It’s only fair she knows exactly what she’s accepting.
I sighed, unlocking my arms to sit forward. “You’re doing such a good job. Finish it.”
Frederick nodded. “Fine. Well, the bad news is, the company lost its backing from over forty-eight percent of its regular investors. Overnight they cut association with all subsidiaries of Moineau when they heard the news Q accepted sex slaves as bribes to finalize developments. There was an uproar when they heard he not only accepted them as bribes, but kept them in his home.”
Tess gasped, a hand flying to cover her mouth. “Oh, my God.”
Frederick sighed, enjoying the theatrics of telling a sordid tale. “I know. Terrible. Death threats were sent, a few properties were defaced, and we prepared for the end of Mercer’s empire.”
I rolled my eyes. He made it sound like the apocalypse. None of that mattered. It was superficial at worst. Even disgusting rumours couldn’t hurt us in the long run.
Tess wrapped her arms around her waist, leaning forward. “This is awful. Can’t someone explain?”
Roux held up his hand, his blue eyes grave and bleak. “Then the rumours started flying that Mercer used them for his pleasure. That he killed them once he’d finished—seeing as no one ever saw a harem of women running around his estate. And believe me. They searched.
“Local villagers spread filthy lies about Q inheriting more than just Moineau Holdings but also his father’s side business as well.”
At that my stomach knotted into a trillion pains. Fucking people saying I was like him. It didn’t matter they were lies. It still tarred me with the same brush. Still made me seem like the monster I never wanted to be.
“But that’s not true!” Tess cried.
Frederick pursed his lips. “International law enforcement got involved; they seized most of our files—not that they’ll find any wrongdoings there. We’re pristine in every area of the business.”
I snorted. Yes, everywhere apart from my red binder full of sadistic sons of a bitches, bribes, dates, and names of the girls I’d taken as payment for buildings constructed on their behalf. I’d broken the law by dealing with criminals, but in a business point of view, we’d done nothing wrong. I delivered a service for a transaction rendered. It didn’t matter I used a barter system of women rather than capital.
Tess twisted her fingers. “Someone has to sue them for slander, surely. How can they say such a thing?”
Frederick held up his hand, a smile tugging his mouth. “But then other villagers stepped forward claiming Q was nothing like his predecessor, and they had it all wrong. Local doctors broke their Hippocratic Oath to stand up for Q, explaining his outstanding care of the women who’d been broken by bastards. And that’s when the local police chief came forward and spilled the truth.
“No names but an approximate tally of all the women Q saved along with a guestimate on dollar value of what he’d spent repairing what others had broken.”
Tess swivelled to face me, her eyes glowing with unshed tears. She looked at me as if I were some celebrity or even worse…a god. I wasn’t. She knew that. Shit, I’d f**ked her like a beast possessed only a few hours ago. She knew me better than anyone at how close to home those first rumours were.
Frederick muttered low, purely for my ears. “Thanks to them they saved your business, but no thanks to them they’ve taken—”
“Enough, Roux.” My eyes narrowed, warning. Tess didn’t need to know the other rumours. The ones whispering in the dark alleys of misery. They’re coming. And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Tess went white. “So…what happened?”
Roux fell silent, waiting for me to answer. None of this was interesting. It was a waste of time. A waste of precious f**king time where I could be kidnapping her somewhere else.
Time.
The traitorous bitch was once again working against me. In more ways than one.
My heart hammered. “Nothing until someone”—and if I ever found out whom, I’d shoot them—“told a tale of how a woman I’d saved from traffickers in Mexico fell in love with me. They spun a ridiculous love story of a man berserk with terror when those same bastards came back for her to teach him a lesson.”
The tears in Tess’s eyes broke the confines of her lashes, trickling down her cheeks. My heart physically hurt at the love beaming from her—it was tangible, heating, hugging me.
“Online tabloids and international magazines spread the story like wildfire—embellishing, editing, but ultimately getting it surprisingly right. And when the news got out I’d found you but you were almost irreparable—well, that’s when the phones started ringing for an entirely different reason.”
Tess didn’t say a word, blinking in shock. My headache grew as stress layered my system. I didn’t want to talk about this. I’d deliberately kept it from her—I refused to let myself think about it as it made me feel…I didn’t f**king know. Humbled. Honoured. Amazed. I felt loved by more people than I’d ever met, and after a lifetime of never being cared for, I had no idea how to deal with it.
“So what happened?” Tess prompted.
I laughed softly, unable to believe what the future of my company—my father’s company—faced. “Being heralded as a saviour didn’t exactly ruin my image. It didn’t matter people were calling me sick and so entrenched in the underworld they couldn’t believe a word of truth.
“There were more people who believed in the good than the bad, and it’s been used to my advantage.” Taking her hand, I pulled her toward me. My muscles shuddered as her warm weight rested along mine. Her hair tussled over her shoulders; smudges of sleeplessness marked under her eyes. “You’re going to be the face of the new Moineau, Tess. Be prepared.”
Her lips parted. “Wait…how?”
Frederick jumped in. “The forty-eight percent of investors we’d lost were rapidly replaced with smaller donations, lesser scale projects, and a lot of interest to join Q’s crusade against trafficking.”
Tess turned in my arms, annoyance shining on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“That’s not all,” Frederick continued. “His good deeds will be recognised by the prime minister himself. Q’s business no longer deals with the filth of the world in order to save the innocent. Rather, he is now supported by organisations who will fight against that filth by pooling resources and authorities Q didn’t have on his own.”
My heart thudded, sending heated blood through my veins at the thought of all the extra women I’d be able to save but never see. All the sorrow I could fix; all the families I could reunite.
My company had branched out. Property and slaves. Who knew there would ever be a correlation.
Frederick beamed, his blue eyes practically blazing like daytime stars with happiness. “Moineau Holdings is no longer just a property empire. In fact, half of the company’s equity has been channelled into a new venture under the Moineau umbrella.”
Tess froze beside me, holding her breath.
“The latest enterprise is called Feathers of Hope, and we’ve donated exactly half of all Moineau’s proceeds to fund the worthy cause.”
Tess looked between the two of us, the file on her lap completely forgotten. “What does it do?”
Roux answered, “Feathers of Hope provides homes, rehabilitation, and therapy for all the women involved in the sex slave industry. It also backs private law enforcement along with larger firms in order to shut down slavery rings and prosecute men responsible.”
Tess started to quake. I cinched her harder against me, hating the onset of shock. Fuck, it hadn’t been my intention to make her panic. This was why I wanted to keep it simple and not drag her into everything. She’d probably have a heart attack to know how many people wanted to meet her. Interviews were turned down every day for her exclusive story of survival.