Rush

pulse started pounding at
     his temple when he saw that the bruises very much resembled fingerprints. As if someone
     had roughly grabbed her and held on. Large fingers and hands. A man’s hands.
    A tear trickled down her cheek and she hastily tried to wipe it away with her free
     hand. Fear seized him by the balls. What had happened to her? A knot formed in his
     stomach as dread foamed through his gut.
    “Who did this to you?”
    His voice was low and menacing and he was barely holding on to control. He wanted
     to find the son of a bitch who’d put his hands on Mia and kill the bastard.
    “Charles Willis,” she said, barely above a whisper.
    “
What?”
    She flinched from the explosion of his voice. Then she lifted her hand to put on his
     chest. He was vibrating with fury and she knew it. Her tear-filled gaze met his and
     there was pleading in her eyes.
    “Yesterday when I went to get lunch, he stopped me on the street. On my way back,
     not far from the entrance to our building. He said he wanted me to give him information
     on the bids you’ve received on the project in Paris. He said his only chance was to
     undercut his competitors by enough that you’d be forced to go with him despite any
     misgivings on your part.”
    A sense of foreboding crept up Gabe’s spine. “Did you give him this information?”
     he asked. Was this why she was so upset and convinced that he was going to be angry
     with her?
    “No!” Mia said, her vehemence unmistakable. She looked devastated that he’d even ask
     such a question.
    “Is that why he put those bruises on you?” Gabe demanded. “I’ll kill him for this.”
    “There’s more,” she choked out.
    She turned away, her shoulders shaking as she wrapped her arms protectively around
     herself.
    “Oh God, Gabe. He made threats. He showed me…
pictures
.”
    “Pictures of what?”
    She turned back around, her face a mask of anguish. “Of
us
,” she choked out. “From that night. Of me tied and kneeling with you…in my mouth.”
    She shook from head to toe. Her hands were trembling so badly that she looked as though
     she might collapse.
    “And then there was a picture of me on the coffee table with him where he was trying
     to thrust into my m-mouth.”
    “Son of a bitch!”
    His response was angry and explosive. She flinched and took a step back, her arms
     crowding around herself once more.
    “H-he s-said that if I didn’t g-give him the information he w-wanted that he’d go
     public with the photos. That he’d tell Jace. That he’d ruin you.”
    Gabe was stunned. He couldn’t even form a response, though dozens crowded his lips.
     He was so angry that he couldn’t even think straight. He lifted a hand and pushed
     it through his hair and then over his face as he tried to process the threat.
    Mia pushed forward then, her expression pleading and earnest. “I had to tell you,
     Gabe. I had to come to you with this. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—betray you. But he has pictures—God,
     the pictures he has! He’s angry and desperate. He gave me until the end of this week
     to call him and give him what he wanted.”
    Gabe’s hand fell as he stared at her in utter bewilderment. She hadn’t betrayed him.
     She’d come to him, her eyes begging him to fix this. God, she trusted him, even after
     what he’d done to her in Paris. He was at fault here. It was
his
fault that this asshole had illicit, damning photographs of her in a position Gabe
     should have never put her in.
    His heart was about to beat right out of his chest. Any other person wouldn’t have
     thought twice about betraying him. Hell, he couldn’t have blamed her if she’d turned
     over the information in an effort to protect herself. But she hadn’t done that. She’d
     come to him, had told him everything—at great risk to herself.
    He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He stood there staring at her, unable to breathe,
     unable to process the enormity of her decision.
    She’d chosen him. Him over dishonor, humiliation. She’d chosen him over
Jace
.
    God, she’d forgiven the unforgivable, and instead of being hurt and angry when faced
     with photos that showed, in graphic detail, what Gabe had allowed to happen to her,
     she’d chosen not to betray him. Instead she’d come to him, trusting him to take care
     of the matter. Trusting him to protect her!
    Such faith baffled him. He was used to people betraying him. Hell, he expected it
     from most. He wouldn’t have