Degrade by Elizabeth Knox

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She wasn’t mine to take, but I’ve never been the type of man to ever give a damn. If someone’s expecting me to ask for permission, well, they’re shit out of luck.
I run the streets of New Orleans and if I have my way with it, I always will.
That is, until a new dog comes into town. He’s slick, cocky and arrogant as hell. Everything that leads me to believe I’ll crush him at our meeting this evening. He isn’t the first who’s tried to take what belongs to my family, and he certainly won’t be the last.
But unlike the rest of them, he brought a bargaining chip with him.
A woman by the name of Madelaine Rosseau.
Her name isn’t important to most, but to me she’s worth nearly a million dollars.
Her father’s been avoiding me for almost a year. He owes my family quite the debt. A debt that grew out of control, but gambling debts will do that to you, especially when the odds are against you.
He hasn’t paid us back and I doubt he will.
I’d assumed the only way we were going to get payment would be through blood, but now we have it in flesh.
Madelaine Rosseau no longer belongs to her father–she belongs to me.