Rush

stone of the building. She was still several feet away from the entrance.
     Her gaze automatically took in her surroundings as she pondered the best way to escape
     Charles’s grasp.
    “Don’t touch me,” she bit out. “Gabe will kill you for this.”
    Charles’s face twisted into a snarl. “Thanks to your overreaction, Gabe went off his
     hinges. He’s trying to cut me out of the deal entirely. He won’t do business with
     me, and that’s going tohurt my ability to do business with others. I need this deal, and you fucked it up
     for me.”
    “I fucked it up for you?” she yelled. “You stupid fuck wad. You assaulted me! And
     I fucked it up for you? You’re a dick!”
    “Shut the fuck up!” he hissed, pressing in closer, his grip tightening on her arms.
    “Back off,” she warned. “Get the hell away from me.”
    His grasp was tight and cruel, and she knew it would leave marks. She only wanted
     to get the hell away from this asshole and return to Gabe. Where it was safe. Where
     he’d never allow anything to happen to her.
    Rain sluiced down her face, and she blinked to clear her vision. It was cold and only
     growing colder as wetness permeated her clothing and hair.
    “You and I have something to discuss,” he snapped. “I want inside information on the
     bids. I know you have access to it. My only shot is to be able to come in substantially
     lower than my competitors so that HCM doesn’t have a choice but to go with me. I may
     lose money in this deal, but it sets me up nicely for the future. I need this deal
     to happen, Mia, and you’re going to get it for me.”
    “You’re out of your mind! I’m not telling you jack. Gabe would kill me and so would
     my brother. I won’t betray either one of them, especially not for a dickhead like
     you. Now get out of my space or I’ll start screaming the block down.”
    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said in a low voice.
    He shoved his phone at her, the display screen jumping before she could bring it into
     focus. She gasped, horrified by what was on the screen. This wasn’t happening. It
     could not be happening!
    “Oh my God,” she whispered.
    Nausea was a vicious knot in her stomach. She was utterly sickened by what she saw.
     It was
her
. Tied and on her knees withGabe’s cock shoved into her mouth. Her cheeks were bulging as she took his length.
    Charles pushed a button and the next picture was of her bound to the coffee table,
     her eyes tightly shut, her mouth clamped just as tightly shut as Charles stood above
     her, his hand on her head, other hand grasping his cock as he attempted to shove it
     into her mouth. Which meant one of the others had taken the photos. What kind of sick
     bastard did this kind of thing?
    It took every bit of strength she had not to gag and vomit there on the street.
    “You sick bastard!” she hissed.
    There was no need to ask him how he’d gotten the pictures. They’d been taken in the
     hotel room in Paris. The idea that someone had these photos, that they
looked
at them, horrified her.
    “Now here’s the deal, Mia,” Charles said. His grasp on her arm tightened as if he
     knew just how badly she wanted to get away. “You’re going to get me the information
     I want or I go public with these photos. How do you think your brother will like seeing
     pictures of his baby sister all over the Internet? You’ll be famous but not in a way
     either of you will like.”
    Cold settled into her bones. So deep that her entire body was a block of ice. She
     stared numbly back at Charles as devastation crashed over her.
    The asshole would do it too. She saw the resolve and desperation in his eyes.
    “You son of a bitch!” she said hoarsely. “You did that to me! And you’re going to
     threaten me with pictures of you
assaulting
me?”
    “Think about it,” he said grimly. “I’ll expect your call before this weekend. If you
     fail to deliver, I’ll ensure everyone in the world sees these photos.”
    He released her arm and strode away, disappearing intothe sea of umbrellas and pedestrians hurrying to get out of the rain.
    She stood there a long moment, still in shock over the illicit photos he’d produced.
     Rain pelted her face, soaking into her clothing, but she was numb to the cold. Numb
     to everything else but the fact that she was in an untenable position.
    If she betrayed Gabe, she’d lose him forever. He’d cut her from his life without thought
     or regret. If she didn’t