 by Alta Hensley.jpg)
Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89331 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Until you meet me, that is.
My venom is far more toxic than the four men who have declared me their enemy.
They seek vengeance and launch a twisted game of give and take.
I’ll play in their dark world, because it’s where I thrive.
I’ll dance with their debauchery, for I surely know the steps.
But then I discover just how wrong I am. Their four, not only matches, but beats, my one.
With each wicked move they make, they become my obsession.
I crave them until they consume all thought.
The temptation to give them everything they desire becomes too much.
I’m entering their world, and there is no light to guide my way. My blindness full of lust will be my defeat.
Yes… they are the vipers and are forbidden.
And they are the end of my beginning.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter
One
Athena
I’ve never asked to be liked. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.
Cold. Heartless. Bitch. I’ve heard them all, and don’t consider one to be an insult. On the contrary, if you were to call me sweet, nice, or endearing, I’d be livid because it would mean one thing.
You’d be underestimating me.
I quite enjoy being the villainess in the story.
“Look, I know you prefer to deal with my father, and you expected to be working with my brother, Apollo, but you aren’t. You’re dealing with me.” I pause for a moment to draw a deep breath and not throw the phone across the room. I’m over tip toeing around this asshole’s thinly veiled misogyny. “Let me explain how we are different. If you cannot hold up your end of this contract, my father would have burned your stadium to the ground. My brother, well he’s a little more hot headed. Apollo has yet to mellow with age, like my father. He would burn your stadium to the ground with several workers still inside.”
“Look, little girl,” the current owner of The Titans says. “Before I sell one of the top NHL hockey teams to your family company, I need some reassurance that you actually know something about the sport. The people of Seattle need—”
“The only thing you need from me is money. My job is not to reassure you. And before you call me little girl again, I’d think twice.” I close my eyes and take a calming breath. “Like my father and my brother, I’d burn down the stadium, too. But then I wouldn’t stop there. I’d also burn down your house. And I’d have to report to your insurance company that my female intuition told me it was arson, and they should investigate. I’d let them know exactly where to find the evidence. What evidence, you ask? I’ll fabricate, then plant plenty of evidence showing you burning down your own house, and I will have you arrested for arson and insurance fraud. Like a bitch with a bone, I wouldn’t even dream of stopping there. Not until your other businesses were all ashes, your reputation in tatters, your family destitute, and you are sitting behind bars, so I know exactly where to find you in case I wanted to fuck you harder.”
I don’t know when I rise, with my hands on either side of the phone, as I bend over the desk to talk into the speaker. With another deep breath, I take my seat, leaning back into the plush leather chair as my nerves settle.
The other side of the line is almost silent. The only thing coming from the phone is his shallow breaths. I honestly hope he pisses himself, and he should.
My bite is deadly, and he had better fucking learn that.
“Don’t ever call me little girl again. Do I make myself clear?” My voice is much calmer and more pleasant now. I even put on a smile so he can hear it over the phone.
“This is not the way business is done.” His voice is shaking.
Good.
“No, this is not the way business was done, but it is how it will be from now on. I suggest you make your peace with that and—”
“I swear I will—”
“You will what?” Venom drips from my words. “Tell my daddy? What are you going to say? That his daughter is being mean to you? That you tried to fuck him and Medusa Enterprises over, and I wouldn’t roll over and take it? How do you think that is going to play out?”
“I—”
“I’m done letting you waste my time. Here is what is going to happen. You are going to deliver the signed documents on time. And just so you don’t piss me off, you are going to take ten percent off the top of your cost, or I will burn everything you have ever loved… with a smile on my face as I do.”
With a quick tap on my phone, I disconnect the call. He’ll come through. If he doesn’t, I mean every single word. I’ll ignite an inferno.
Staring at the Medusa Enterprises family logo on the massive sign outside my office through the large glass windows, I settle my temper. The one thing I pride myself on is not losing my cool. I’m far more lethal if I am always calm and collected.
Godwins don’t show rage.
We may feel it. We never show it.
A knock sounds on my door, and Toria Lancaster peeks her head through the partially open door. “You asked to see me?”
I motion for her to come all the way in. “We are acquiring The Seattle Titans by the end of the day. I want you to oversee the deal.”
“The hockey team?”
I don’t answer, but rather look up from my stack of papers and make eye contact with her.