He tried to imagine what Uncle Gaston would do if he ever found out; he was such an unpredictable man that it was impossible to even hazard a guess. It was obvious that Ginny meant nothing to him except for satisfying his ruttish needs, yet, by the same token, Antoine assumed that he watched, or had her watched closely, just as he had with all the mistresses before her. They were his property; he appraised them, bought them, owned them, and when he was through with them they were discarded. Factually, Antoine had no idea what ever became of the many lovely young women he had seen come and go before Ginny, but he truly doubted that they were forced into the cordon of prostitutes who were obliged to share a large portion of their earnings with the czar of the Canadian underworld, as Ginny had tried to make him believe.

Antoine had never blinded himself to Gaston Larreau's sources of wealth, his criminal liaisons, or especially his syndicate connections, but nothing could ever make him believe that the man he called uncle would ever allow anything to happen to him. There was no question in his mind that if Galaxy was in serious trouble, he could rely on Uncle Gaston to protect him. Ginny was very much in error on that point, too.

She was acrimoniously bitter and he could understand that, the way the powerful little man abused her, but he was not about to let her vindictiveness cause him to lose his own head. After all, his allegiance… if he possessed such a thing… was primarily to his own… to Uncle Gaston and to Madeleine… but damn, he was going to fuck that breathtaking blonde beauty if it was the last thing he ever did… and he was going to hate himself for doing it… but there would be plenty of time for remorse… after.