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I walked up to him. “Let’s get lunch.”
He stilled at the invitation, his eyes shifting back and forth quickly, as if he couldn’t believe what I’d just said. “Alright.”
We left the estate together and walked down one of the side streets until we found a café. It had paninis and pastries with espresso, so we ordered a couple things and took a seat.
Victor looked out of place, like he felt he didn’t belong there…or with me.
I took a drink of my espresso, getting the caffeine kick almost immediately. My heart didn’t race the way it had before when I’d come face-to-face with my father. I was still angry, angry enough to kill, but the rage was tempered as I began to lay out my plans.
“Are things good between you?”
Not even close. “He made his argument. Total bullshit.”
Victor didn’t touch his coffee or sandwich. He’d probably already eaten lunch but didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to see me one-on-one. “Then you’re going back to Paris.” His disappointment was palpable.
“Actually, no.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’m definitely staying. I’ve got work to do, and you’re going to help me.”
Victor’s confusion intensified, his handsome face becoming sterner. “Help you what?”
“Get my revenge.”
His muscles stiffened noticeably, and his confidence started to wane. “Laura—”
“This is what we’re going to do. He’s going to think we’ve gotten back together. We’ll have to take our time with this to make it believable.”
His eyebrows furrowed as he listened to me.
“You’re going to help me earn his trust. Let his guard down. Return to his inner circle.”
“Why—”
“Because I want him to hurt the way he hurt me. Because I want the emotional scar to be more painful than the physical one. Because I want him to feel as small as he made me feel when he shot me in the fucking arm.” I didn’t keep my voice down. Couldn’t care less if anyone overheard me. I was certain the locals weren’t oblivious to the Skull King and his illegal activities.
Victor’s eyes flew back and forth between mine. “When he finds out, he’ll kill me.”
“No, he won’t.”
“If he shot you in the arm, he’d have no problem shooting me between the eyes.”
“He won’t shoot you because he’ll be dead.”
Victor turned silent.
“By my hand.”
“Laura, I understand you’re upset—”
“Victor, I could have just pretended to want you and accomplish my goals that way, but I respect you too much to lie to you. You’re going to do this because you owe me—and you owe me big.”
His gaze relocated elsewhere, like he was trying to figure out how to get out of this.
“You should want him dead after what he did to me.”
“Who says I don’t?” His eyes came back to me. “But you don’t understand how powerful he is. You don’t understand how far he can reach. He’s been the Skull King for a long time, and he has a lot of men in the palm of his hand.”
