Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 144628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
He was also halfway good in bed. Oh, not like Kyle had been. Kyle had been transcendent, but then that was the way it was between soul mates.
Too bad hers had decided to kill her.
“You did a good job,” she murmured, her eyes on that door because he wouldn’t be far behind MaeBe. He never was. “I don’t think they even understand that Vanessa Hale wasn’t the target.”
“I could’ve killed her and gotten her out of the way,” John offered. “I know you don’t like her.”
She actively hated the woman, but that wasn’t the point. “A good predator never simply deals the killing blow. A good predator likes to play with her food. The terror makes the meat taste better.”
There he was. She wished he wasn’t so gorgeous. Six foot three, with eyes as green as a forest and a body she couldn’t forget. He jogged down the steps, his head swiveling as though looking for threats. He stopped when he got to the ground, and for a moment she thought he would look her way.
For a moment she prayed he would because it would mean he still felt the connection between them, the one not even his betrayal could sever.
You were going to kill hundreds of people, Julia. How could you?
She’d thought he’d understood the nature of her job. She was a goddess, and she’d tried to make him a god. The little people didn’t matter. They were chess pieces, and a few of them had to be sacrificed for the good of the game.
His bourgeoisie morality had been their downfall.
“Sometimes you scare me,” John said quietly. “Is that him?”
John had been helping her on their corporate rounds, ensuring the tycoons of the world kept their places and everyone made cash. The world needed to keep a certain balance, and she ensured that the right people got ahead. And the wrong people died or found themselves in bad situations where they needed to sell their shares in an all-important new invention to the right ones. Or at least that’s the way her last assignment had gone.
Fucking with Kyle was merely a hobby. Her favorite hobby.
“Yes.” All John knew was she’d had a relationship with Kyle that had gone wrong, and she wanted some revenge.
He didn’t know that she had a very comfy cage ready for Kyle. She could change his mind. All she needed was a little time.
But first she was going to show him how awful the world could be without her around to make things nice for him.
“Remind me not to piss you off,” John said. “You’ve made that dude’s life hard the last year.”
It was the little things. That’s what she’d learned. Oh, she could announce herself and start their war, or she could play some fun games with him. Games he didn’t even realize they were playing.
She’d watched him for a while and realized that fucking with his family could be so much fun. After all, he’d chosen them over her. He’d chosen all the fairytale crap they’d crammed into his head about fairness and the sanctity of life over her real-world views.
Over her love for him.
So she’d studied them all and started small. Calling in the health inspector on his stepfather’s restaurant. Catfishing his little sister and outing the fact that she had two boyfriends to everyone at her high school. Paying someone to fuck with little brother’s sports equipment so oops, he broke a leg.
All in all, it had been a hard year for the Taggarts.
Now the poor man couldn’t even buy his own car.
And she’d been merciful with that bitch of his. She wanted to see how far he would go to protect her.
He wasn’t sleeping with MaeBe. That was why she was still alive, why Julia had ordered John to miss her vital organs.
“I wouldn’t play with you.” She kept her eyes on Kyle. He’d joined MaeBe and the other one, walking toward MaeBe’s car.
Wouldn’t it be sad if someone stole it?
“That’s good to know,” John said. “I like you, too, Jules.”
She couldn’t leave the poor boy with a misconception. “I would kill you quickly.”
“Okay.” John huffed.
He would still put out. She could insult the man and two hours later, he was in her bed. And she would close her eyes and think about Kyle.
The new job she was on had one of those odd connections to Kyle’s company, one that might force them back together.
And then it would be time to show Kyle exactly how she felt.
Epilogue
Six weeks later
Vanessa Jones laughed at something her future brother-in-law said and took a sip of champagne. Oh, JT wasn’t exactly her formal future inlaw, but she’d caught sight of a small Tiffany blue box in Michael’s boxer drawer, and she’d overheard him talking about how he would “do it" during their trip to Paris next week.