AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Did she even hear the yet? The yet was the most important part of my sentence. It was the opening of our negotiation. “We’ll let them decide that. I don’t imagine they have enough to make anything stick—yet.”
Meaning once we dig into her background, we’ll find what we need. If she’s a scammer, there’s something.
She looks worried. “I have to pick up my sister.”
I frown. “Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you decided to defraud a vulnerable old woman.”
“I didn’t defraud—”
“It’s just us here, jelly bean, so you can stop with the pretense.” She starts to protest but I roll right over her. “The good news is that I’m prepared to hand over a cashier’s check this afternoon to get clear of all this. Malcolmb and his team will draw up papers and you’ll sign over the ownership. You can probably get more cash out eventually, yeah, but it would take years, and I think we both know the risks.”
She’s peering at me uncertainly.
I grab a pencil off the table and flip over a sheet of paper. You always write the big numbers for people to see. You always add the decimal point and the extra zeroes, too. The zeros have power. I write it out: $4,500,000.00.
She stares at the number, as though stunned. It’s a lowball, yes.
Brett drifts over. “It’s a good deal, and we walk away,” he says. Like he’s offering a helpful reminder. “This is a good deal. Let’s resolve it now.”
She turns to me, clutching my mother’s stupid dog. “Four point five million?” she says incredulously.
The dog licks her chin.
I wait. Where is the counteroffer?
Where?
I tighten my jaw. Is it so low to her she’s not even bothering? Was she thinking in terms of billions? Is this an organized thing after all? Is there a team behind her?
Brett’s gotta be thinking it, too. I don’t look at him. How’d I peg her so wrong?
There might be a team behind her, but she’s alone now.
I step up the pressure. “Here’s the thing, Ms. Nelson,” I say. “It’s the four point five million, plus we don’t use the very considerable resources we have to destroy your life and quite possibly ensure that you end up rotting in a prison cell.”
Her eyes shine. They’re the warm brown of a beer bottle, fringed with dark lashes. I wish I could read her thoughts, her emotions—I can see she’s having them. I tend to be good at reading women.
Why can’t I read her?
“I don’t know if you’re working with people, but if you are, they can’t protect you. And they won’t go down for this. You know who goes down for this? You. You go down, and you go down very hard. Very publicly. Very painfully.” I lean in. “And you will stay down.”
She watches me with growing disbelief. The wronged and totally innocent woman, shocked at this entire thing.
I smile. “What, did they get you from central casting? Don’t bother staying in character on my account.”
The dewy skin on her throat goes pink as she straightens her spine. “I’m not acting.” It’s a good delivery. Vulnerable and fierce at the same time. Raw, even.
“Of course you’re not. My advice is you take the money I’m offering in the next ten minutes. Because ten minutes is about how long you have, given rush hour traffic for our good friends on the police force to get here.”
She frowns back down at the number but she doesn’t come back with another. Why not?
I watch her, curious. Her neck pinkens more, as if heat and emotion roil right below the surface.
I don’t need her to make sense; I need her away from the company I love. The company I’d sell my soul to protect.
“Everyone has a price,” I say. “Especially you.”
Her face flares full red—her tell for high emotions, I’m thinking. “I told you I’m not a scammer.”
