I pick Saige up and this time she’s wearing a dress that’s so low in the back her tattoo is completely visible. It’s still just black ink, but even without the color, it’s beautiful. It looks so natural on her. As if it was always there and Crash just rubbed some skin away to reveal it.

“You’re going to be in so much trouble,” I say as she shows me.

“You think my mom is going to flip?”

“Probably. Are you trying to give her a heart attack?” She just laughs.

“Oh, she’ll get over it once I tell her that you’re officially my boyfriend.” I’m having misgivings about that particular bit of information coming out tonight.

“You’re trouble, Redhead,” I say, pulling her in for a kiss and stroking the bare skin of her back. This dress offers plenty of access to her creamy skin, which is a definite plus.

She laughs and goes to adjust her hair but then curses.

“My bracelet is stuck, can you help me?” I reach up and unwind her hair from where it’s gotten wrapped around the charm on her bracelet.

I see these types of bracelets everywhere. It reminds me of Lizzy’s, only this initial is an S.

“Thanks,” she says. “You’re my hero.”

“Hardly,” I say, telling her the truth. She shakes her head at me and locks the door behind her.

Saige’s parents notice the tattoo right away.

“Oh, Saige, what have you done?” Her mother holds her hands to her face in shock. Mr. Beaumont is less surprised. He seems to know more about his daughter than her mother does.

“It’s a tattoo,” she says, stating the obvious as she flashes her back. She’s clearly pleased with herself and the ruckus she’s causing. Her father shakes his head.

“I hope you went somewhere clean,” he says and gives her a kiss on the cheek before shaking my hand, a little more gently this time.

“What are you going to do when you get married?” Bridgette practically wails. “I want you to go to a doctor and get that lasered off. Right away.” I have to bite back a laugh. Getting tattoos removed is not that easy and it’s an extremely painful process. Most people who have tattoos they don’t want either live with them or get them covered up with another design.

“No way,” Saige says. “I love it and it’s not your body. It’s mine. I choose what I get to do with it.” She takes my arm and steps past her still-scandalized mother, into the room where we had drinks last time.

I have no choice but to follow her. This night is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Saige’s mom spends the next half hour trying to convince her to undo the tattoo that is already done. Mr. Beaumont tries to placate her, but it’s no use.

I’m surprised Saige doesn’t mention my tattoos in her own defense. But I’d rather not have her father know about that particular bit of me. It’s much easier to play the Quinn part that way.

Finally fed up with the lecturing, Saige lets the bomb drop that we’re officially dating. Her mother makes a sound I’ve never heard from a human before. It’s halfway between a scream and the kind of sound a bat makes. Her face goes red and I think she’s going to leap over the table and strangle me, but Saige puts her hand on my arm.

“My choices have nothing to do with you, Mom. I’m living my own life. You can’t control me anymore, or try to make me into something I’m not. We all know how well that worked out when I was a kid.” She rolls her eyes and looks at her father for a lifeline.

“Why don’t we all just calm down,” Beaumont says, but clearly Bridgette does not want to be calmed, so he takes her out of the room for a breather. This is my chance, so I tell Saige I’m going to use the bathroom. I hear Beaumont and Bridgette arguing in the den and it sounds like it’s not ending anytime soon.

As quickly as I can, I slip into his office. I’m going to have to work fast. I set up the recording devices for video and sound in each corner, under his desk and in a few other places. Every inch is covered. His laptop is out on the desk and turned on. It’s not even locked and I almost start laughing. This man must really trust everyone. In only a few moments I’ve installed the invisible tracking software and downloaded everything on the hard drive. I slip the thumb drive in my pocket and make sure everything is in its place and that I haven’t left anything behind.

Confident, I wipe my prints off anything I may have touched, including the doorknob and open the door cautiously. I close it, wipe the handle and then go into the bathroom. I run the water, send Cash an all systems go text and then come out again.

I nearly run into Beaumont on my way back to the dinner table. I keep my face calm as he snags my arm and pulls me aside.

“Is something wrong?” I say in a neutral tone.

“No, I just wanted to talk to you. It seems as if you and Saige have made things official.”

“Yes. I care for your daughter very much.” A truth. His eyes narrow, as if he’s trying to see if I’m pulling a fast one.

“This has nothing to do with you or with our financial relationship. I would have fallen for Saige regardless of who her parents were. She’s an amazing and wonderful girl and if you can’t see why I would love her, then you don’t see her clearly.” I definitely didn’t mean to say all that, but I feel like he’s attacking me and I need to defend myself.

He looks at me for several long seconds and then nods his head.

“She is special, and I’m glad you see that. You obviously have real feelings for her.”

“I do.” It’s so easy to tell him how much I care about her because none of it is a lie.

“Then I hope you understand that I will do anything in my power to protect her and keep her safe.”

“I do understand and I agree.” For now. For two more weeks.

“Good. I’m glad we got that straight and that we understand one another.” He gives me a smile and another handshake.

“Now that’s settled, we should probably get back to the girls. I think my wife has finally calmed down.” I doubt that, but we go back to the dinner anyway. I’m thrilled my plan worked so well and that we’re well on our way to getting this guy and ripping all the opulence out from under his feet. It’s a shame that he’s such a horrible person because he created a wonderful daughter.

I catch her watching me out of the corner of my eye and when we’re on the way back to her place I ask her about it.

“I just like looking at you. Is that a crime?”

“No. Not at all. You can look at me as much as you want.”

“What I’d really like to do is look at you without your clothes on. Do you think that can be arranged?”

I laugh.

“I definitely think that can be arranged.”

She gets a message on her phone as I help her out of the car and it makes her frown.

“What is it?” I ask as we walk up the steps to her building. She types something and then looks up at me with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Nothing. Just my mom being crazy again. I wish I had taken a picture of her face when she saw my tattoo. Her face was pretty priceless.” She laughs and we head up to her place.

“Can you do something for me?” I ask.

“Sure, what?” I go to my bag and pull out the little piercing she used to have that she’d given me for safekeeping.

“Will you put this in and let me fuck you while you’re wearing it?” That makes her throw back her head.

“You are an interesting man, Quinn Brand.” It takes her a little bit of fiddling, but she gets the horseshoe-shaped bit of metal through her septum and screws the balls on either end so it won’t come out.

“Fuck me, that’s hot,” I say as she models it for me. It gives her look a whole different dimension and with the visible tattoo on her back she looks like a redheaded goddess.