Rush

did this to her.”
    “Jace, for God’s sake,” Gabe bit out. “Let me explain.”
    “Shut up. Just shut the fuck up! What the fuck is there to explain? Jesus Christ!
     How could you do this, Gabe? Is this what you want her thinking a relationship works
     like? Do you want her thinking that all your twisted desires are normal? What about
     when you get tired of her just like you get tired of every other woman? What then?
     You want her going to another man and seeking out something like this and have the
     asshole abuse her?”
    Guilt swamped Gabe and he couldn’t meet Jace’s gaze. Every word, every accusation
     was like a well-aimed dart into his verysoul. Weariness assailed him because so much of what Jace said was so very true. He
     had taken advantage of Mia. He’d pushed her. He’d taken over her life and he’d allowed
     her to endure unimaginable pain and humiliation. Not to mention the emotional stress
     of keeping something this huge from her only family.
    God, he didn’t deserve her. Didn’t deserve her sweetness. He didn’t deserve to bathe
     in her sunshine and have his entire world lit up by her precious smile.
    Everything having to do with her, he’d done wrong from the very start. That fucking
     contract. The secrecy. The way he’d treated Mia. And now he was responsible for a
     huge wedge between her and Jace, and Jace and himself. One that none of them may ever
     recover from.
    Was it any wonder that Jace had gone ballistic? He put himself in Jace’s and Ash’s
     shoes for a brief moment and pictured what they’d walked in on. Imagined how it must
     have looked to them. Jace’s baby sister tied and bound, helpless while Gabe was using
     a crop on her ass. There’d been red welts all over her behind.
    He cringed because there was no way for them to understand how it had really been.
     He recognized that he was damned in their eyes. He couldn’t even blame them. And he
     was ashamed that he’d put Mia in a position where anyone could ever think that she
     was being abused and ill-treated.
    She deserved so much more. Someone who would treat her like a fucking princess, like
     the treasure she was. Not some twisted, fucked-up, self-absorbed bastard like him.
    “How could you take advantage of her like this?” Jace raged. “You offer her a job
     and put her in a situation where she thinks she has to do whatever you want because
     you’re in a position of power over her? I could kill you for this. That you had no
     more respect for her, no more respect for our friendship. You aren’t the man I thought
     I knew, Gabe.”
    Gabe closed his eyes, feeling sick to his soul. Jace was twistingthe knife deeper, and the hell of it was that everything he said hit Gabe where he
     lived. He knew Jace was right. He had no defense. There was none.
    Gabe knew he hadn’t treated her right. Hadn’t given her the respect she deserved.
     God, what if she had felt like she had to agree to everything because she worked for
     him, because his obsession with her was so heavy and intense that he gave her little
     choice in the matter? He’d taken over her life, her body. He’d consumed her until
     there was nothing left.
    The very thing he’d been most afraid of—of him taking her until there was nothing
     left, and of him changing the very things about her that brought him the most pleasure—was
     happening.
    She’d been deeply upset and traumatized by what had happened in Paris. And it had
     all been Gabe’s fault. And she’d initially agreed to it instead of calling a halt
     to it because she’d signed that fucking contract giving up all her rights.
    She’d felt compelled to do it. She didn’t feel as though she had a choice. Yeah, he’d
     told her she could say no, but at what cost?
    How much else had he forced on her?
    “Swear to God, I’ll never forgive you for this,” Jace said hoarsely. “I’m getting
     her the hell out of here and then you stay the fuck away from her. Don’t you
ever
try to contact her again. You forget she even exists.”
    Ash finished untying Mia, and then he bundled her in his arms before she could do
     or say anything. He ushered her into the bedroom where he wrapped one of Gabe’s bedsheets
     around her.
    He fumbled through Gabe’s bathroom before finally coming out with a robe and then
     he secured it around her, tying the end in a double knot.
    “Jesus, Mia, are you all right?” Ash demanded.
    No, she wasn’t all right. It was a stupid question.