Killing Time: The Bonus Collection by Elle Chardou Page B

ballerina. She loved modern dance too with acts of gymnastics and ballet involved. She was a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil and they never missed a show when he took her on trips to Vegas.
    He owned Vogue Hotel, Spa and Casino, therefore it was quite a mind fuck to find out Aurélie had worked for him and he had no idea what so ever. The Casino had been built when he was only twenty-two years old with money his parents’ had given Severin and him just to get them out of the country. They were tired of their two wayward sons who caused them nothing but trouble and payouts due to their wild lifestyles and thought they would be happier in America where they would blend in and find people who were like them but happened to not move in their parents’ tight-knit circle of friends in the Munich area.
    No matter how much he tried to convince himself he was not trying to replace Trésor, he could not deny he did need someone in his life and at his age, he’d grown too jaded just to have anyone. He had specific requirements and unbeknownst to Aurélie, she ticked all the boxes he looked for in a woman.
    He didn’t need a mindless airhead who would do everything he said to his exact specifications because he’d been there and done that. Like his brother, the power to have complete control over another person was intoxicating at one time but it soon became too taxing on his system.
    When a grown human being of full mental functioning capacity allowed themselves to be reduced lower than a dog due to fear or the need for another person to control every aspect of their lives, they weren’t beautiful or wanton creatures of pleasure anymore but pathetic shells he didn’t lust after but merely despised with a passion.
    Hence the reason why he did not believe in a master/slave relationship and would never enter one again. His conscience was far from clear and he had to live with himself knowing he had caused someone’s death during his short lifetime. He’d spoken the words though another woman had committed the actions but it was his turn of phrase: “You’re so pathetic, you don’t deserve to breathe the same air I do and you would do me and the world a favor if you were dead. You’d be better off dead you stupid, worthless slut!”
    He’d left because her pleading eyes, begging for a way to please him, always made him see red. Causing her pain couldn’t even satisfy his sadistic tendencies any longer.
    When he arrived home and found his slave dead, he’d panicked and called Severin.
    Although identical twins, Seven was two hours and forty-five minutes older than Rory and he trusted his brother implicitly no matter what happened or what his sexual predilections were.
    Severin had held him as he sobbed openly and told him in hurried German what had happened to the young woman. He chastised him before he sent him to Las Vegas. He never asked Severin what happened to the body and his brother never offered any insight into what he’d done but he owed him his life and his freedom.
    Rory knew what his brother was capable of but despite it all, he could not bring himself to believe he would have hurt Trésor. He knew she was the closest his brother had ever felt to love and therefore would have not hurt a hair on her head.
    It was important for him to convince himself of this because it had been Severin and not Rory who had dealt out Trésor’s punishment five days before her untimely death. His brother had recorded the incident and sent it to him while he was still in Germany. He had gone so far to actually fly to Germany just to give Rory an alibi of having flown when he said he had and turning right back around at the airport before flying home. Severin had been home in Los Angeles for less than twelve hours before he’d made the trip back to New York.
    Rory hadn’t been in Manhattan at the time. His manservant, cook and housekeeper all attested to this. No one had been there except Astrid Schmidt and she had only come by