“So… this Darren got the unfair leverage and landed the contract?” Raven raised one brow, repeating what I had told her.“Yes,” I confirmed, refilling our glasses with wine. It was one of these rare evenings when she and I had a day off. We were sitting on one of the terraces in our residence, eating, drinking, and gossiping.Raven snatched her wine glass and continued, “Then he used a few sorry-ass arguments to justify his actions, the elevator stopped, and you almost had sex with him?”My lips twisted wryly. “The way you say it, you make it sound as if I've gone mad.”“I won't lie. Sending you to a specialist crossed my mind more than once,” she grunted, shaking her head.“I don't know what's wrong with me,” I admitted. “I should have learned my lesson from Kenneth. I should have been more immune to good-looking men. But every time I'm around Darren, I'm just drawn to him. I'm aware that he hates my family. I know how wicked and dangerous he is, and still…” I trailed off, instantly
I stared at the tall and slender woman standing in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a black fitted gown with gold accessories. Her honey-blond hair was tied up in a high ponytail, exposing all the ideally symmetrical details of her face. She certainly looked as if she had just returned from the catwalk. A few years ago, I would have felt stripped of all confidence in her presence, but now, not so much… “I'm afraid you'll have to wait,” I told her. Her brows rose. “And why is that?” I breathed out a chuckle. “Because I've come here to deal with a certain physiologic need.” Her lips twisted into an uncomfortable grimace. “Fine,” she muttered. “I'll wait for you on the balcony at the end of this corridor.” With a soft huff, she pivoted to the door and marched out of the ladies' room. I sighed. I had no idea what Mia Darroze wanted from me, but I could bet that it was about Darren. I had seen her eyes on him. It hadn't escaped my attention that she hadn't loo
The next day, I stayed in bed until ten o'clock, which meant that I got up four hours later than I usually did, even on the weekends. It was hard to drag myself from under a comforting blanket and stand on my own two feet. Father didn't try to shorten my rest, not after he had seen me once I had returned home from the gala. His eyes were filled with deep concern and fear. He asked me about what had happened, but I didn't have the strength to explain. I might have tossed something like, “I'll deal with it on my own,” before heading straight to bed.I took a cool shower and got dressed. My chest was still tightened as if I were wearing a mental corset, three sizes too small to accommodate my body. Processing what I had learned was nearly unbearable. Darren had known my true identity. He had tried to use me, manipulate me, trick me...I sucked in a sharp breath, air scratching my lungs like broken glass. I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if I hadn't read those letter
The silence that filled the room was heavy and devastating. I could feel my guts twisting as I carefully turned and analyzed every word my uncle had said. “Get rid of them… how?” I dared ask, although my voice was barely a whisper.Uncle stiffened, staying with his back to me. He remained motionless for almost a minute, a minute filled with unbearably long, suffocating seconds. Then his shoulders moved in a tense shrug. “We bribed some of them, forcing them to disappear on their own. Others needed… convincing.”Air escaped me in a violent blow. A second later, my eyes filled with tears. “How brutal was this ‘convincing’?” I could barely push those words through my throat as the bile rose there, threatening to block everything, my windpipes included.“No one died,” was all he said before walking to the smaller room adjoining his office. He stopped at the threshold and glanced over his shoulder. “Don't tell your father I've told you.” Then he stepped further and closed the door behind h
Felicia walked out of the kitchen carrying a steaming teapot. Then she carefully placed it on the table and slumped in the armchair opposite the sofa where Raven and I sat. She looked tired after walking a few steps between the kitchen and her living room, as if for her, boiling water had become as exhausting as running a marathon.I could see that Raven watched her closely, most likely catching all of the symptoms of… whatever kind of sickness drained her body. I shuddered at the thought of what must have been done to her to cause such a condition.“I studied to become a nurse, you know?” Felicia smiled wryly as her trembling hand reached for the teapot.“Let me,” I said, hurriedly grabbing the teapot and pouring the tea into our cups.“Thank you,” she muttered and pulled a strand of her dull hair behind her ear. “I met Alistair during my practice at the hospital. I didn't know who he was, and he even pretended to be a doctor just to trick me into giving him my number.” Her lips twit
My heart stumbled as I stared at the two, rage filling my veins. I had met Alistair Pearson once or twice when I had still been one of Doctor Rogers's patients. He hadn't changed since then. He was wearing an impeccable, well-tailored suit, charcoal this time. His reddish hair was, as always, kept short, emphasizing all the sharp lines of his handsome face. Even the smirk remained the same. Only his green eyes now betrayed more than before. Or perhaps it was my eyes that could see more of his true, despicable nature.Seeing Darren standing beside someone like Alistair chilled me to the bone, releasing all kinds of questions. How well had they known each other? Was I right in assuming that Darren was Alistair's friend? And... was Darren the friend whom Alistair called the night Felicia almost died?I released my breath and blinked, realizing that I should move before one of them noticed me staring. Engaging with either of them would have been far more stupid than my clubbing date with
DARRENIt was after midnight, but I was still in the office in Le Chevalier Noir. I sat by my wooden desk and stared at the laptop screen. I preferred this place over my fancy office at Eques Gold Corporation. The club was more quiet on weekdays, and I was desperate for quiet. It was the only thing that helped me contain the storm inside me.Grinding my teeth, I raised my head above the screen, looking at my friend-slash-partner. “I want a full report on Pearson, and I want it ASAP.” I tried to keep my voice even, but I could feel the claws of rage scratching their way out through my skin.Lucien gave me a meaningful look as he sprawled on the sofa. Still, he grabbed his phone and made a quick call, ordering his men to do what I told him to. The bastard found my anger amusing, and he had been acting this way from the moment he'd learned about my brief encounter with Ms. Hayes at the restaurant.“Don't make me wipe the smirk off your face with my fist,” I warned him.He straightened up
“Dylan Morgan was the last one we knew of, and he is now dead,” I told Lucien the next day as we sat in my other—more formal and elegant—office on the top floor of the Eques Gold Building.Lucien muttered a curse or two, his fists clenching. He was as engaged in the plan to send Hayes to jail as I was, and I knew that for him, another failure tasted just as bitter as the bitterness currently filling my mouth. He'd had an older half-brother who had been my father's assistant. He'd been on board that plane, sitting beside my father when it had blown up.“So that's it? Our final witness is gone, and there's no way to prove William Hayes's guilt?” He gritted his teeth as he stared at me.I exhaled sharply. “I'm running out of ideas. Dylan Morgan was the fourth one. Now all of those who claimed they saw Hayes at the airport are dead, and we have nothing.” Admitting it tensed every muscle in my body.A dry chuckle left him. “Not only did he kill your father and my bro but four other people,