Happy Hump Day! Let’s celebrate it with another wonderful Mid Week Tease, courtesy of the lovely and talented Sandra Bunino. This week, I’ll be sharing a rather tense teaser from Behind the Iron Cross, my historical MMF romance set in 1923 Berlin. In this snippet, Friedrich is attending a masked ball/orgy at a church-themed nightclub with Kat and Sam and spots General Gerhard Hauptmann, the man who recruited him to spy on them. What he learns next will shock him.

Enjoy, and make sure to hit the list after the teaser to see other great Mid Week Teases!

In the aftermath of World War I, Berlin has become a hotspot of decadent pleasures, and American millionairess Kat Tracy is determined to enjoy each and every one of them with Sam Hellman, her late brother’s lover and her convenient “fiancé.” But when the two of them meet Friedrich von Bader, a former German Army officer turned reluctant prostitute, their wicked games take on a new meaning.

Friedrich glanced into the grotto as they passed, then did a double-take. Inside, dressed in a Roman toga that Caesar himself would envy, was Hauptmann, sitting next to the American businessman. They laughed over drinks, all the while caressing what he could only assume were three whores dressed in flimsy tunics and vaguely Roman hairstyles, all piled curls and wrapped ribbons.

“Come on.” He felt Sam’s hand on his arm, and let himself be tugged away, back to their grotto. Something gnawed at him, something that had first raised its head during that horrible dream about Hauptmann and the Somme.

Sam plopped down next to Kat, managing not to spill a drop of their drinks. “Guess who’s here tonight?”

“Darling, half of Berlin is here tonight,” she said lazily. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific.”

“You’re right. Guess who’s here tonight whose head you’d really like to see on a pike?”

Her expression dimmed, going cold. “Brayburn?”

“The one and only. Looks like he’s entertaining, too. Some big blond with one of those military mustaches.”

Kat put down her drink. “Going grey at the temples? With a small scar on his right cheek?”

Friedrich went cold at her description of the general. “Yes, that’s the man,” Sam said, puzzled. “You know him?”

“Arthur warned me about him. His name is Gerhard Hauptmann. He was a German army general until he got cashiered for almost beating a corporal to death. According to Arthur, he’s become quite the eminence grise for the Black Arrow. Taught them military tactics for fighting the other gangs, how to rig an ambush, things like that.”

The sensation in Friedrich’s stomach grew, turning into a spiked ball of guilt and recognition. The Black Arrow, the gang that Oskar had worked for. The one that had raped Lilli, that had almost killed Rudi. “How long has he worked for the Black Arrow,” he blurted.

Kat glanced at him, brows coming down. “For well over a year, now, according to Arthur. Brayburn supposedly hired him as a sort of local guide, but Arthur thinks Hauptmann’s been using his gang connections to bully various executives into signing their companies over to Brayburn.”

Friedrich clutched the edge of the tiny table, knuckles white. It took him a moment before he registered the Fräulein’s warm hand covering one of his. “Colonel, what’s wrong? Do you know this man?”

Oskar’s death, Lilli’s assault and his own guilt tangled together on his tongue, colored now with a rising film of purest rage. He nodded once, sucking in a deep breath. “I — I’ll be right back.”

He stood up and lurched out of the grotto, ignoring their questions. Guilt and fury pounded in his head, coloring everything red. He needed to find Hauptmann, strangle the traitorous bastard with his own hands, rip his throat out for what he’d done to Oskar and Lilli, what he’d persuaded Friedrich to do.

Oh, you stupid bastard. You believed him, and you gave him everything he wanted.

As he approached the Brayburn grotto, he could only see the American businessman and his whores lounging on the purple couches there. He turned, pushing through the heaving throng, scanning for his prey. Ahead, he saw a familiar head disappear into a door labeled HERREN.

He followed.

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