“Thank you.” I look at Jeff. “Next time, it’ll be a bullet.”
Smartly, he keeps his mouth shut. I was so hoping he wouldn’t.
Zade and I stand when car doors slam shut, the green ball dropping from his hand and rolling off into the distance, replaced by a gun. My own weapon is in my hand, my heart pounding heavily as we wait for Claire to enter.
Several nerve-racking moments later, the huge doors open, an entourage entering first, guns raised. Of course, when they spot us, they freeze, awaiting orders from the red-headed devil in the back, slowly breaking through her guards.
“Just as expected, Jeffrey. Did you really think you were convincing?” Claire’s musical voice rings out, finally making her way out of the group. They crowd around her, uncomfortable with her being exposed in any capacity.
Just like she apparently wasn’t stupid enough to believe Jeff actually captured us, she also wouldn’t believe that we don’t have the place surrounded by our own men.
It’ll be a battle of whose bullet flies the quickest. Or whose aim is the truest.
My shoulders are tight with tension as I look over the evil bitch who’s responsible for so many lost and broken souls. Her bright red hair is perfectly curled around her head, with matching lipstick and black liner smeared over her lids. She dons an all-white pantsuit, which is a message in itself. She expects to walk out of this building with her clothing just as pristine as when she walked in. No blood to be shed—at least not hers.
As fucking if.
A murderous rage arises—not because she had me kidnapped and nearly sold off to a wicked man, but because she went after my mother.
I guess I should thank her for the free therapy for my mommy issues. I’m not sure where we stand right now, but what I do know is there is a desire to fix our relationship that wasn’t there before Claire turned my world over and fucked it sideways.
“Lovely to see you both again,” she remarks, her tone posh, as if we’re going on a stroll in a garden, holding our little teacups and biscuits.
Pious bitch. There’s nothing classy about her nor the way she does business.
“Why did you come if you knew it was a trap?” I ask.
“This isn’t going to end in bloodshed, my dear. I think it’s time we settle this. Z has proven to be resourceful, as have I. Instead of… fighting each other, I think we can come to an agreement instead.”
I train my gaze on Zade, who has his brow arched, but an otherwise blank expression.
Facing Claire again, I wonder if this is an attempt to get a target from one of the world’s most dangerous men off her back. She’s right—she is resourceful. The hag has an entire government at her disposal. But she is as weak as the shield she hides behind. Forced to use others to protect herself because she’s incapable of doing it herself.
She only has the brains behind the operation, but not the strength. Whereas Zade… Zade has both brawn and brains.
Claire knows she can’t hide on that island forever, not any longer than she can evade Zade’s wrath. She’s backed into a corner and knows that Zade would be hard to kill. She’s met her match, and the only way out is with a bargain.
“Let’s sit, shall we?”
“Let’s,” Zade murmurs, turning his back to grab the back of the chair Jeff is sitting in, literally dump him out of it, and motion for me to sit in it as if he’s pulling out my seat in a fine-dining restaurant. Claire takes the one across from me, Jeffrey’s bound body between us.
His face has turned a concerning shade of purple from both anger and embarrassment. Claire hardly glances his way, flicking her eyes to one of her men and ordering, “Dispose of him.”
Seconds later, a bullet is sluicing through Jeff’s brain and out the other side. He’s dead before his head hits the floor.
Mine and Zade’s gazes clash, an amused glint in his mismatched eyes as he grabs the third chair, twists it, and straddles it backwards, turning his intense gaze to Claire.
Her pulse thrums in her neck, and she works to swallow. I snort softly. If I didn’t know any better, it seems that her lady bits are no more impervious to Zade than any other red-blooded woman. Given the chance, she would gladly fuck Zade before she put a knife in his throat.
“Before we start, how about we establish a mutual trust? All of my men are tucked away out of sight, not a single barrel down your throat, so how about you send your cronies to the door? They can stay if they must and will have a perfect shot at me, but they need to back the fuck off, yeah?”