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FOURTEEN
SEBASTIEN
“Can we talk?” I askedBecca, standing in the doorway to Giovanni’s office, noticing how small she looked in it. A symbol for the world she’d put on her slender shoulders.
The deal between Giovanni and Anthony Sr. wasn’t entirely dead. Anthony Sr., who was very much around, had the power put pressure Rebecca to carry out her father’s wishes.
Rebecca eyed me cautiously. “About what?”
I sent a warning look to her guards, who’d followed me. After she nodded, they left and closed the door.
“You’re very brave,” I said.
“You guys won’t hurt me.”
“You may have tipped Anthony over the edge.” I walked to the window, pushing away the thrill that I could one day work from this office.
“I’m not afraid of him.” Rebecca’s white dress in the reflection glowed off her olive skin.
No. Anthony Sr. didn’t have the power to mandate shit, did he? Rebecca was now her own woman. But I’d walked away from her without a fight. She wouldn’t just take me back.
Or would she?
Facing her, I said, “What do you want, Becca?”
“What do you mean?”
“In exchange for letting this go.” Slowly, I moved toward her as she backed up against the closed office door. “What do you want? Name your price.”
She folded her arms. “You think I want money?”
I quirked a smile. “No, you never cared about money. Although, growing up with a billionaire father, you never really understood what it’s like to be without money.”
We did. My family was poor until my father got a loan and opened his first pool hall that took illegal sports bets. Basement gambling halls and bookie rings grew from there.
“What are you suggesting?” Becca asked me, her voice softening because she knew she didn’t have to pretend with me.
My heart pounded as I pushed my body against hers. She thought I dumped her because I didn’t love her anymore. I dumped her because I knew she’d never be mine. My family wasn’t as powerful as the Messinas. Her father would never let me marry her.
To her, I was the asshole who’d hurt her. Perhaps that gave me a different kind of power over her.
“Tell me what you want,” I whispered, hovering close to her.
Her breathing turned ragged and her eyes searched mine. As well as I knew her, she knew me all the same. Knew I was playing her.
With a taut jaw, she bit out, “Get the fuck off me, Bastien.”
I stepped back, her perfume making me crazy. “Seriously. There’s got to be one thing on this planet you want more than to take us down?”
“I don’t want to take you down. I want that drug deal to be torn apart. Stand up to your father. I stood up to mine.”
I shook my head. “What in the world did you have on your father that made him run off with his tail between his legs?”
“A son who told him to fuck off. And a fear of prison. I’ll admit so much of that evidence,” she glanced at the desk, “is against my father. But you’re right there with him, Bastien. Tangling up those businesses has your fingerprints all over it. All those joint ventures to throw the banks off. All those lopsided subsidiaries.”
“I had no idea what I was moving around,” I said, anger taking over my tone.
“I don’t think this can be fixed overnight. Regardless of what my father thought of Nate, he wanted my brother to take over. To be the kind of flawless prince you are.”
“You think I’m flawless?” I said in a shocked tone.
“Yes. And no matter how good of a job I did around here...” She brushed away a loose hair, a shiny raven wave that fell out of a clip on the back of her head. “My father was never handing the business over to me.”
“What are you saying?”
“Stand up to your father. Tell him to stop this. You’re making plenty of money.”
“Sure. Now,” I stressed, even though she had no idea what I really meant.
“You won’t even consider speaking to your dad? I know the man. He’s not a monster.”
My father wasn’t the man she knew growing up. At his command, his goons and I did the kind of dirty work that would make Becca’s skin crawl. “I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do. But I’m not talking to him just yet. If I tell him you got your hands on that report and have been talking to the FBI, you may find yourself at the bottom of the East River by sundown.” I got close to her again. “You’re right, Anthony won’t kill you. Neither will I. Or Giancarlo. But someone else might.”
She stepped back and opened her door. As if on cue, Vale and Gil strutted in and took up positions right behind her. I’d laid down a threat. It made sense she wanted safety.
Vale gave me a scathing look. Anyone else, I would pummel for even making eye contact. But Vale had been Becca’s protection forever. He stood guard at her bedroom door when I took her virginity. And all the other nights I snuck into her house while we were students at St. Mary’s Prep.
And then at Yale in her dorm when I’d flown down to see her from Harvard. She’d gone there just to annoy me. She’d been accepted to Harvard too. No, Harvard was too bourgeois for her. My little free spirit wanted to go to Yale.
I’d been accepted there too. I was just as stubborn. I’d grown up poor. Never did I imagine I’d go to Harvard.
“Nice talking to you, Rebecca.” I let myself out and marched to the elevator.
My heart ached because there was no way this was staying a secret between us. Someone would find out she had all that evidence. And then kill her.
Kill the only woman I ever loved. Could love.
Well...shit.
