Striding past me, his scent and the cloying aroma of marijuana trailed after him as he unlocked the railing that revealed the ladder.
His ass didn’t have an inch of fat, firm and tight, graced with the rest of the dragon’s tail on his left cheek.
I expected him to turn to face me and climb down the ladder like a rational person from such a height.
He bared his teeth over his shoulder. “If you have any balls left, girl. Come join me.”
His arms spread, his legs bunched, he threw himself off the side.
I rushed over, just in time to see him somersault and dive into the black crystal below.
FUCK YES.
The minute the cold slap of water splashed over my head, the tension of the past few days dissolved. The awful memory of hard asphalt and dirt receded as my body once again remembered the beat and rhythm of the sea.
Letting the depths cradle me, I held my breath until my lungs screeched for oxygen. Not for the first time, I wished I could dive and dive and never come back up. To somehow find a way to exist in the inky blackness and start a new world where no one knew what I’d done and no family disowned me.
My business on Monaco ought to have been, if not fun, then marginally enjoyable. But that was before I’d arrived to find a boat carver had died thanks to a slash to his neck with a rasp.
If the murder of one of my staff was retribution for my past, I wouldn’t rest until I’d killed or been killed.
My manager, Charlton, had been the one to find the corpse. He hadn’t informed the police or anyone but me. He’d done well. And I’d be the one to create another corpse in response to the crime.
The first day was spent with the dead man’s family, enquiring about grudges and enemies. The second was spent stalking a certain newcomer who was friends with the man’s son. He’d been caught stealing the dead man’s grocery money the week before.
It was a simple matter after that of giving the young murderer enough rope to hang himself.
I didn’t know if I was grateful it was a simple greed attack or pissed off that it wasn’t in relation to me. I’d been waiting fucking years for this farce to be over and face them.
After an interrogation that started off cruel and ended in brutal, I learned that this minor disagreement was the cause of a spineless coward who thought he could take things that didn’t belong to him, including a life. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done this before. But now I’d found him and he would never do it again.
I killed him.
The same way he killed my master boat builder.
I ignored the similarities over him taking what he wanted and me taking Pim. I never said I was a saint, but at least I’d cleaned up my business before it became messy.
Once I’d washed the blood from my hands and ensured my factory ran like clockwork, I boarded my helicopter and came home.
To her.
DECIDE, PIM.
Right here, right now.
Elder had given me a choice as he plummeted into the abyss. He’d laid down a challenge that until a few days ago, I would never have risen to.
But now…now, I was more Tasmin than Pimlico. More daring than afraid.
It’s time for me to start believing in myself again.
My hands shook as I tore off the unwanted dress. My head fell back as freedom kissed my skin. And panic washed over my healing tongue and down my throat as I moved to the edge of the yacht.
Right here, right now.
Decide.
My toes inched over the edge of the deck.
I took a deep breath.
And leapt.
A SPLASH WRENCHED me from the deep.
Kicking hard, I broke the surface, earning a face full of sea froth as something landed beside me.
What the—
Moonlight and stars were a sorry excuse for lights, but the ghostly glow of the yacht gave just enough illumination as Pimlico erupted from the ocean, her dark hair now black, her skin white, and fading bruises marble and slate in the night.
My mouth opened, pouring uninvited salt into my lungs.
Holy fuck.
She jumped.
She’d had the guts even from such a height.
This girl who battled me silently and somehow unravelled my level of control yet again surprised me.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she spat out a mouthful of ocean and spread her arms to stay afloat.
After everything she’d been through, she was still one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. Her very injuries were what made her fucking stunning.
The delicate starkness of her collarbone. The arch of her chin and resolute distrust and unfailing strength in her blue gaze.
In the three days I’d left her, she’d eaten and rested. Her skin had taken on a porcelain glow, no longer sallow or unwell. She was healing—accepting my care, even if she did continuously search for what I would expect in return.
“You jumped.” My voice was thicker than I’d intended as my gaze travelled to her mottled chest where that fucking bastard had hurt her.
The dark water hid everything else, but my mind remembered how willowy she was when naked, even while on her knees or hunched for a reprimand. When she was nude, Pim was no longer a recovering slave but a goddess slowly learning to live again.
It fucking hurt that the obsession inside wanted to take that life and bend it to my will—to use her strength for my benefit. To master her power for my own.
I’d hoped the joint I smoked would’ve taken the edge off tonight. Having yet more blood on my hands and the intolerable urge to rip Pimlico apart to learn her secrets drove me insane.