Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“Enough with that word. We both pay good money for pussy, so it’s not a bad thing. It’s a lazy insult.”
His eyebrows furrowed.
“I think we can both agree that pussy is life.”
His gaze remained hard.
“I fucked up, Silas. I’m not going to justify my mistake. I’m not going to pretend it’s okay. I regret what happened, and I wish it had been different. But I’ve led us to countless victories this last decade. The Chasseurs were just a concept before I took over. I’ve turned our hustle into a billion-euro enterprise. I can confidently say I’m the only one who could pull that off. So let’s accept this loss as a wash and move on.”
“You’re the one who said a lifetime of loyalty doesn’t justify a single betrayal.”
“It wasn’t a betrayal.”
“That’s not how we see it.”
We? “An innocent woman would have died—”
“So?” he snapped. “You should have let her die.”
Even if I could go back and do it all again, the outcome would have been exactly the same.
“We should be in Italy right now, guns blazing.”
“I told you we can’t do that—”
“And that’s why you’re going to end up in an oil drum.”
My expression hadn’t changed, but everything in my body contracted with enough tension to launch me onto the roof. My own men had never threatened me, but now the promise of violence was laid out on the table.
He waited for a reaction, but he got nothing out of me. “You can’t kill me, Bartholomew. Because if you do, you know what will happen.”
The men would turn on me. Right now, the atmosphere was mostly civil. People were slowly forgetting what happened in Florence and moving on. But if I killed Silas…one of my own…they wouldn’t trust me. It didn’t matter that he threatened to kill me, not when I deserved it. “Don’t fuck with me, Silas.”
He grinned at me. “You know what? A month ago, I would have taken a bullet for you. I would have gone to any lengths to serve the enigmatic and powerful Bartholomew. But now…I don’t respect you. You have no business leading us. You forfeited that right the second you refused to get your hands dirty. Stepping down would be the honorable thing to do…but you aren’t honorable.”
“Dinner is ready, sir.”
I walked straight past my butler like he wasn’t there.
“Would you like to take it in the dining room—”
A large vase was on one of the entryway tables, decorative crap that the designer had picked out when I bought the place. I grabbed the table and pushed it over, sending everything to the floor, where it crashed into a million pieces.
Then I kept going.
He didn’t ask me about dinner again.
I made my way upstairs to my bedroom, stripped off my jacket and tossed it on the floor, and then headed straight to my private bar. I finished my drink before I threw the glass against the wall.
It shattered like the vase.
My phone vibrated with a call from Bleu.
I ignored it.
I took a shower, skipped the shave, and then stepped into the bedroom with just a towel around my waist.
My phone lit up, and I had four missed calls from Bleu.
Must be important. Silas probably rallied the guys together to chop off my head or run me out of Paris.
I finally answered. “What is it, Bleu?”
“I just got a report from the guys in Florence. Thought you’d want to know.”
I couldn’t believe I still worried for her—after she fucked me over like this. “Is she okay?” I hated asking the question. I hated caring.
“She’s fine. Visited the family estate.”
“Is she staying?”
“She rented an apartment, so I’d say yes.”
So, she was going through with her idiotic plan.
“But there’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“She’s spending extensive time with Victor.”
I stilled when I heard that fucker’s name.
“They’ve had dinner together a couple times.”
My jaw was clenched so tightly I was about to grind my teeth into dust.
“Do you have any orders?”
Shoot him in the back of the head—and make her watch. “No.”
“How did it go with Silas?”
“He threatened to stuff me in an oil drum.”
Bleu said nothing.
“So, it was a good day…”
I walked into the Underground and headed straight for the office in the rear.
Jerome barely had the chance to turn and look at me before I dropped the wad of bills on his desk. “Brunette with big tits. Now.”
Jerome couldn’t take his eyes off the cash for several seconds. That was the kind of payment for an entire month of entertainment, but I’d just dropped it for a single night, for a woman with the kind of magical pussy that would make me stop thinking about someone else. “Give me a couple minutes.”
I waited in the bar, sitting there alone as I waited for what I paid for.
Thirty minutes later, he presented a woman who fit my description, with brightly colored eyes and an enthusiasm that seemed genuine. She looked me over like she couldn’t believe she got paid a fortune to screw a man she’d probably fuck for free. “I’m Serenity.”