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His sudden anger should have bothered her—after all, he was over two hundred pounds of heavily muscled vampire, and he could break her in half with his bare hands if he wanted to. “I’m not giving you an ultimatum,” she said. “I’m suggesting that in order to get this job done, we each may have to do things neither of us wants to do.”
“We’re already doing that because I sure as hell don’t want to be bound to you like this.” He reached down, put his hand on her arm, and leaned close. “Listen, Lily, I can get us both out of this. I know a couple of very powerful vampires who work with blood-chains. They’ll know what to do, to get these off without either of us dying. And I can make it worth your while, whatever Kiernan or Daniel is paying you. I’m a wealthy man. Would five million dollars get the job done?”
She just looked at him and sudden images of burying her husband and daughter, of attending several memorials for her good friends and neighbors, rolled through her mind like a dark storm.
Josh’s smiling face came next. She felt cold as she said, “Have you got fifty million?”
Adrien’s nostrils flared. “No.”
Fifty wouldn’t have made the smallest difference, either, but she didn’t tell him that. All she said was, “This mission is what I want, what I need to do.”
He stood up suddenly. “I guess that’s a real f**k you, isn’t it?”
She looked up at him, way up. The vampire was tall, especially since she still sat on the floor. “I guess it is.”
“I can’t believe you’d turn down five million.” He glared at her for a long moment, then his expression filled with disgust. “Typical human, out for what you can get, never mind who gets hurt.”
She snickered. “That’s rich: who gets hurt. And you a vampire. But let me make myself clear to you one last time: You can’t even begin to fathom what I’ll be given in exchange for the weapon, and it’ll be worth every ounce of sweat or knife-like headache, trust me on that.”
She didn’t blame him for his anger. Right now she was his enemy, she had control of him, and she could say yes or no to any of his requests or demands.
He stood up and paced the length of the closets, fuming.
At least the pain in her head had finally dissipated, her nose had stopped bleeding, and she no longer felt dizzy. “Where do I put these?” She held the washcloth and tissues for him to see.
He gestured with his hand to a door to his right, beyond a long dresser. “That’s the privy.”
The bathroom wasn’t far at all, but once inside, the chains tugged at her. “Could you come a little closer? I want to shut the door.”
Though she couldn’t see him, he must have moved because the tension on the chain eased. She discarded the tissues and rinsed the washcloth out.
She glanced around and realized she was staring at black marble, on the walls, the sink, the massive shower, even the toilet. The fixtures were an antique silver. The elegance seemed juxtaposed with the fierce vampire who challenged almost every word she spoke.
At the far end was a second door that probably led to a hall and the rest of the apartment.
As she finished up and washed her hands and even rinsed her face, she met her gaze in the mirror. Josh had her eyes, the same hazel color and roundish shape, which was the reason everyone said he looked like her. But the truth was, he had his father’s mouth and nose, even his strong jawline.
Josh. Her heart sank into her stomach all over again. Josh alive. Her son. She had to get him back. The drive was as powerful as the orbit of the earth around the sun.
She released a sigh, needing to get on with things. The sooner she got her hands on the weapon, the sooner she’d get her son back.
When her phone rang, she drew it from the pocket of her jeans then opened the door but was startled to find Adrien standing there. He leaned against the doorjamb, and she was surprised all over again by how big he was. She also knew that his vampire genetics gave him great physical strength, incredible strength. He really could break her in half if he wanted to.
The phone rang again, but all she could do was look at Adrien.
His brows pulled together as he stared back at her. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
She nodded and touched the surface of her iPhone. “Yes, Mr. Kiernan.”
“Do you have him in hand?” Kiernan’s voice had a slight rasp, which always made her want to clear her throat. Maybe he was a smoker.
She glanced up at Adrien again. Did she have him in hand? Was that even possible? “I have the vampire with me, yes.”
“Good, because I have bad news.”
Her heart dropped. Was Josh okay?
“We’ve had reports that an element in Daniel’s world has gotten wind of our plans and they don’t like it. You need to tell Adrien to expect assassins. Fanatics. He’ll understand. Now work with the vampire to get your tracker skills functioning as best you can, then have him seek out the latest rumors about the weapon and get on it.”
Before Lily could ask even a single question, like how exactly her mysterious tracking ability was supposed to work, Kiernan hung up.
She met Adrien’s gaze and was ready to repeat the conversation, but he pushed away from the door frame and lifted a hand to silence her. “I heard him. Damn fanatics. And Kiernan can eat shit and die, as far as I’m concerned. How you could ever align yourself with a lowlife like that, well, f**k.”
Lily wanted to tell him that it wasn’t by choice, but she didn’t see the point of trying to argue her case with him. Still, given that he was a vampire, a vampire, it chapped her hide to see his disapproval of anything she did.
She huffed a sigh. “He said you’d understand, so who exactly are these fanatics?”
Adrien narrowed his eyes at her. “You do know that you’re being used by two of the worst men in either species and that there’s a good chance you’re going to die because of it? What do you think of that?”
Lily shrugged and held his gaze. “Then I’ll die.”
He shook his head. “You don’t care if you die?”
“Oh, I care. Believe me, I do care and I intend to stay alive. But this is what I’ve chosen to do.”
“Is it really worth the money?”
“My reasons for doing anything are none of your goddamn business.” She lifted her chin, letting all her hostility toward his kind flow through her. She wanted him to feel her opposition to his vampire world whether Kiernan was an evil human or not, or whether she was doing Daniel’s bidding or not.
