Page 83 of Beguiled

Why did it feel like with his smile I’d passed some test? “Go on.”

While I wasn’t certain where he was headed with this, since I’d been gifted the opportunity to fully convey my thoughts, why not provide him with a detailed description of what I believed and how I knew I could assist?

I sat forward, folding my hands together as I allowed my conviction to take over. Doing so wasn’t about this moment, but more about my observations over the last few months, theinnate comprehension about what the company required. “In your world, no longer can you or your family members rely on contracts of basic common decency to keep a partnership going in the direction you require or as noted in the passages provided.”

I watched as he polished off his drink, the last swallow half the glass. There was no anger in his actions as he placed the tumbler on the edge of the desk, just careful calculation, which I’d come to expect from the man.

“Alright. I’m following you.” He steepled his hands, pressing the tips of his two index fingers against his lips.

Lips I’d kissed. If he was trying to distract me, it wasn’t going to work. I took my time sipping the liquid until my nerves got the better of me and I placed the glass on the opposite corner from his.

“However, every business opportunity is nothing more than an episode ofSurvivororTheHunger Games.Someone must be the supreme leader. Push and pull leads to hard feelings then ultimately betrayal opportunities. In mastering your second world, you’ve managed to capture the perfect element of how to keep people in line, disciplining them if they falter. Brilliant but dangerous.”

“Why dangerous?”

“Because people are much more inventive than they are credited for. Billionaires have all the money they need to hire people to fill the cracks in their inadequacies. Without getting their hands dirty. No longer are crime syndicates considered top dogs of the black market or any blackmail scheme. Anyone can play at thatgame for the right price. What I can tell you about the Chertov Corporation is that you’re not shifting quickly enough.”

My comment caused him to raise an eyebrow. With his hands blocking his face and his eyes liquid pools of darkness, I wasn’t certain if he was furious or impressed. Or neither. “And how do you suggest we shift more quickly, Ms. Mitchell?”

This was about as far as I’d gone with my mental exercises on the fly since discovering the blackmail material. But now was where my salesperson abilities had to come in. “Even great criminals have one thing that allows law enforcement to hunt them down, one weakness that they can’t flee. They can’t break free. They drag that weakness around just waiting for someone to catch them. And ninety-nine percent of the time, that’s exactly what happens.”

“You’re suggesting I have a weakness.”

“Yes, I am. Whatever happened at the club involved you and your regime whether you like it or not. I don’t know the particulars of why you fight in an Irish club, but I don’t need to know. Those men knew you were there and grasped the opportunity to try and destroy a portion of your empire.”

He openly chuckled as if he’d caught me going down the wrong path. “So you’re suggesting my weakness is being an MMA fighter.”

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. “While I don’t believe you’re utilizing your abilities in the way that could either eliminate or convey warnings to your enemies, that’s not a weakness.”

“Then what is?”

Oh, boy. I was about to enter a territory with no turning back and no forgiveness. What the hell? I might as well throw out the last card I was holding. “That would be me.”

Stash didn’t react right away, his expression and body language remaining the same. In fact, I wasn’t entirely certain he’d heard me at all. Now I was sweating bullets.

“I’m curious, Ms. Mitchell. Did you learn all this from your brother?”

There it was. The background check complete. “My brother is a straight arrow. I am not, as evidenced by working with you.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t give me that, Stash. I mean Mr. Chertov. I felt it perfectly acceptable to break into your office to obtain enough information to knock you off your feet with my presentation. I don’t think I’ll earn a good girl badge any time soon.”

He seemed to enjoy my state of being flustered.

“What are you suggesting?” His voice remained deep and husky, his eyes never blinking. I’d never been so nervous in my life.

“You protected me because deep inside, you’re a good man. I’ve heard the other rumors. That you were raised by your mother and only accepted your full identity a few years ago. You are not the same as your brothers.”

His laugh sent a chill down my spine. “I assure you that I am every bit as dangerous as my brothers.”

“That’s not what I’m suggesting. I’m telling you that you have a conscience, which in your world is a weakness within itself. Use me as an attribute. My skills. My presence as a woman.Still, after all these years of boys playing with guns and thinking they are superior, every time a battle was won, a woman stood behind the man. Usually, she directed him often or at minimum provided him with advice that when taken led to the conquest.”

I was really winging it now, spouting off words that came to me without forethought of consequences. He knew it as well as I did.

“You do understand what certain enemies do with weaknesses if they are captured. Do you not? Surely, your brother since he’d recently made detective could tell you that.”

Fuck. I knew he’d toss that in my face.