Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
She looked at the door behind me, trying to plan her escape. “You give me your word?”
“Yes.”
She finally turned away from the door and dropped onto the couch.
This conversation had been approaching on the horizon, the colors growing brighter the closer they came. I’d been ready for it, and I’d been ready for her to piece together the puzzle on her own. My woman wasn’t just a smokeshow—she was smart too.
I grabbed a decanter of scotch and two glasses and set them on the coffee table between us.
She didn’t look at me as I filled both glasses.
“When I walked into that shop, I had an agenda. To use you to get what I wanted from your father.”
Her eyes flicked back to me.
“I abandoned that plan the second I had you. Everything between us—it’s been real. Not once have I asked you for information about your father. Not once have I used you to further my plans. Our relationship has been completely separate from my ambitions.”
“And you just assumed I would be okay with you trying to ruin my father and take his business?”
“You’ve made it very clear you don’t like him. I didn’t think it was an issue.”
“Didn’t think it was an issue…” She gave a slight nod, repeating the words I just spoke. “Right…”
“Separation of church and state.”
“Again, you just assumed I would be okay with this. That’s ludicrous.”
“You’ve made it very clear that this relationship will be short-lived. We’re just living in the moment, knowing at some point, we’ll go our separate ways with our separate lives. Therefore, I didn’t think we needed to discuss this.”
“So, when I told you I was raped—”
“Yes, I already knew.”
“You already knew everything about me…and just pretended you didn’t?” she asked in disbelief. “And then you insist that we were real?”
“Because we were. We still are. I walked into your office to figure out what I could get out of you, but the second you got on your knees to measure my inseam, that was the furthest thing from my mind. All I wanted to do was fuck you. And then after I fucked you, I wanted to fuck you again…and again.”
She looked away.
“I want to fuck you right now.” If she walked out of my life forever once this conversation was over, I wasn’t sure how I would recover. We hadn’t spoken for those five days, and in that time, I’d behaved like a complete lunatic. She was the sedative I needed to tranquilize my rage, and she was the stimulant that made my heart race.
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I wasn’t. You’re my personal life—and this conquest is business. You left this life because you wanted nothing to do with it, so I honestly believed none of it would matter to you. Your uncle’s death was shitty timing. If you’d never returned to Florence, you probably wouldn’t have figured out what happened for a very long time—and you would never know I had anything to do with it.”
“Again…how could you be with me and do this behind my back?”
My answer was cruel, but it was honest. “Because I don’t owe you anything. You’re a woman I’m sleeping with—that’s it.”
Her eyes flashed like my words carved into her skin.
“And you don’t owe me anything either.”
“So, if I told my father all of this while pretending to play dumb with you, you wouldn’t take it personally?” she asked, eyebrow raised. “Because it’s just business?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes flashed again.
“If you tell him everything the second you leave this apartment, I wouldn’t take that personally either. Nor would I care—because I already have his balls in my hand. His fate is sealed in a stone tomb at this point.”
She continued to breathe hard, overwhelmed by everything that had just happened. “Why are you doing this?”
“I’ve expanded my business to Croatia. I want to do the same here.”
“And those two places aren’t enough for you?” she asked incredulously.
She had rich clients who made their millions and billions running skyscrapers and stashing their wealth in offshore accounts. They were ambitious in their suits and ties and grand boardrooms. But none were nearly as ambitious as me. “Nothing will ever be enough, Laura.”
Her hard stare slowly softened, slowly sank into a form of pity.
“I don’t intend to kill your father. Just make him work for me.”
“That will never happen.”
“He’ll have no other choice.”
“There’s always another choice.” Her eyes searched mine.
“If he prefers death to subjugation, then that’s his business.”
“You would let my father die?” She looked strained with her anger.
“You haven’t spoken to him in seven years—”
“He’s still my father—”
“And he doesn’t give a shit about you.”
She stilled at the insult, breathed as the pain dug into her skin.
“He doesn’t give a shit about your sister. He didn’t give a shit about your mom. Power is the only thing that matters to him.”