HOW BAD DO YOU WANT ME?

The billionaire had thirty seconds to convince Elena Cross not to publish his downfall.

He spent the first twenty-seven telling her she was wrong.

That was a mistake.

Elena clicked the stopwatch on her phone.

00:27.

Adrian Vale sat opposite her in the private dining room of the Meridian Hotel, perfectly composed in a charcoal suit that probably cost more than her car.

He hadn't touched his coffee.

Neither had she.

Outside the glass wall, Accra glittered beneath the evening sky. Traffic crawled along the road below, headlights sliding through the darkness like streams of molten gold.

Inside, there were only two people.

An investigative journalist.

And the man whose name dominated her investigation.

"Your article contains three factual errors," Adrian said.

Elena smiled.

"Four."

His eyebrow moved slightly.

She tapped the folder between them.

"The fourth is deliberate."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to see if you'd notice."

For the first time, something resembling amusement appeared in his eyes.

"You set a trap."

"I investigated you."

"There's a difference."

"Not when the subject keeps lying."

Adrian leaned back.

"You've been following me for eleven months."

"Ten."

"Eleven."

"Ten months and fourteen days."

His expression barely changed.

But Elena noticed.

He had remembered.

Interesting.

She opened the folder.

Inside were photographs, corporate documents, financial statements and copies of confidential contracts.

"The Meridian Foundation received twenty-eight million dollars from three companies that officially have no relationship with Vale Holdings."

Adrian glanced at the documents.

"Correct."

Elena blinked.

She hadn't expected agreement.

"And those companies all won government contracts within ninety days of making the donations."

"Also correct."

She leaned forward.

"You're not even going to deny it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you're asking the wrong question."

Elena's fingers tightened around her pen.

"Then enlighten me."

Adrian looked directly into her eyes.

"The question isn't why they paid."

He tapped the table once.

"The question is who forced them to."

Silence.

Elena stared at him.

That wasn't the answer she'd expected.

"Are you saying someone is blackmailing your competitors?"

"I'm saying your investigation is missing half the story."

"Convenient."

"Extremely."

He pushed one document toward her.

She looked down.

It was a bank transfer.

The receiving account belonged to one of the companies she had spent months investigating.

But the originating account...

was hers.

Elena's blood ran cold.

"No."

Adrian watched her.

"Check the account number."

She did.

It matched.

Not her personal account.

A professional account used by her media company.

Her pulse accelerated.

"That's impossible."

"Is it?"

She looked up.

"You're trying to frame me."

"If I wanted to frame you, Elena, you wouldn't be sitting here."

The casual certainty in his voice irritated her.

"You really enjoy threatening people."

"I haven't threatened you."

"You don't have to."

He held her gaze.

That was the problem.

Adrian Vale didn't need to raise his voice.

He didn't need bodyguards standing behind him.

His reputation entered a room before he did.

Elena had spent months studying him.

She knew the headlines.

VALE HOLDINGS CEO ACQUIRES COMPETING FIRM.

ADRIAN VALE NAMED AFRICA'S YOUNGEST BILLIONAIRE INDUSTRIALIST.

THE MAN WHO NEVER LOSES.

She had always assumed the stories exaggerated him.

Now she wasn't sure.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Thirty days."

She laughed.

"No."

"You haven't heard the offer."

"I know enough."

"Thirty days. You suspend publication of your investigation."

"Absolutely not."

"You investigate with me instead."

Her laughter disappeared.

"What?"

"You want the Covenant."

The name landed differently.

Elena hadn't published it.

She hadn't even written the word in her article.

Only three people knew what she had called the network in her private notes.

Her.

Her editor.

And her source.

She slowly closed the folder.

"How do you know that name?"

Adrian's expression changed.

For the first time that evening, his composure cracked.

Only slightly.

But enough.

"I know because my father created it."

Elena stared at him.

That sentence changed everything.

"Your father?"

"Yes."

"And you inherited it."

"Unfortunately."

She studied him.

"Then you're exactly what I thought you were."

"No."

Adrian's voice was quiet.

"I'm the man trying to destroy it."

Before Elena could answer, her phone vibrated.

Once.

Twice.

She looked at the screen.

A message from her source.

DON'T TRUST HIM.

Her heartbeat quickened.

Another message appeared.

THEY KNOW ABOUT YOU.

Then the phone went dead.

Elena immediately stood.

"I have to go."

Adrian didn't stop her.

Instead, he said:

"Your source is gone."

She froze.

"What?"

"I received the same message thirty minutes ago."

Her eyes narrowed.

"You're lying."

"I wish I were."

She grabbed her phone.

Nothing.

No signal.

No battery.

"How did you know?"

"Because the person who sent it to you wasn't your source."

Her stomach tightened.

"Then who was it?"

Adrian looked at her.

"The person who wanted you to come here."

Elena's mind raced.

"What are you saying?"

He stood.

The distance between them suddenly felt much smaller.

"I'm saying you weren't invited to this meeting because of your article."

A pause.

"You were brought here because someone wanted me to meet you."

Elena stared at him.

"Why?"

Adrian's eyes dropped briefly to the folder.

Then returned to hers.

"That's what we're going to find out."

She should have walked away.

Every instinct told her to.

Instead, she asked the one question that would change both their lives.

"What happens if I say no?"

Adrian's expression hardened.

"Then you publish your article tomorrow."

"And?"

"I'll spend the rest of my life proving you're wrong."

Elena smiled coldly.

"Sounds like a challenge."

"It is."

She picked up her folder.

Then stopped at the door.

"Thirty days?"

"Thirty days."

"No lies."

Adrian's eyes held hers.

"No promises."

"Then we have a deal."

She extended her hand.

He looked at it.

For one strange second, neither moved.

Then Adrian took her hand.

His grip was warm.

Firm.

Controlled.

But something passed between them that neither had expected.

A spark.

Immediate.

Unwelcome.

Dangerously real.

Elena withdrew first.

"Don't mistake this for trust."

Adrian's mouth curved slightly.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

She walked away.

Adrian watched her disappear through the doors.

Only then did his expression change.

Lucas Mercer stepped from the adjoining room.

"You shouldn't have made the deal."

Adrian looked toward the door.

"I know."

"Then why?"

Adrian's answer came quietly.

"Because she's already in danger."

Lucas frowned.

"You think the Covenant is after her?"

Adrian shook his head.

"No."

He looked at the empty chair where Elena had been sitting.

"I think someone wants her to find it."

Lucas went still.

"Why?"

Adrian picked up Elena's abandoned pen.

On its side, barely visible beneath the light, was a tiny engraved symbol.

A symbol Adrian hadn't seen in fifteen years.

His father's symbol.

The symbol of the Covenant.

And beneath it, two initials.

C.C.

Adrian's face hardened.

"Because Claire Cross isn't dead."