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Montague is a traitorous liar. So who would I believe?
I push through again. “Because you threatened to end her pregnancy.”
He laughs. “I didn’t even know she was pregnant when we asked her to betray you.”
My head swims with the lies, and I’m unsure of where even to begin to sort them out. Cosette didn’t betray us, I know that for a fact.
I wonder why he hasn’t killed me yet. I doubt it’s just to punish me for whatever crime he thinks I’ve committed.
No. He wants me for something.
Then why does he have me here?
What’s his endgame?
My heart beats faster at the knowledge that they know where Cosette is, when I realize if he’s lying about everything else, he’s lying about that too. It’s a bluff. I was careful about moving her, careful who I hired. I made sure they were untraceable and completely off the grid. There’s no way they actually know where she is. I wouldn’t have moved her from Le Marquise otherwise.
I imagine her, resilient as hell and strong, but compromised, focused on carrying our baby to term. I have to get to her. “You killed Rousseau.”
His eyes go hard. “Of course I did. She betrayed us. She was a danger to every citizen of Paris.”
The bastard. The fuckingbastard.
I clench my jaw.
“What do you want from me?”
“It’s very simple, Mr. Gerard. I want to be reelected. I’ve promised to rid the city of the likes of you. All you need to do is move out. Re-root somewhere else.” A small smile makes him look almost reptilian.
No. That isn’t it.
“I want to let you go, you see. But I can’t unless I have some assurances. In short, Mr. Gerard, I want you to make a choice. Cosette or your family.” He begins tapping the little table beside him with broad, blunt fingers, but his eyes remain on me. “You’re an assassin, so this will be an easy one for you. Kill Cosette, and life goes back to the way it was before. I’ll come up with a story for the press and drop all charges and investigations involving your family. However, know that if you choose her, and your family remains in the city, Iwillkill all of you.” He scowls. “Starting with my sorry excuse for a daughter.”
Hot, visceral hatred bubbles inside me like lava.
He wants me to choose between Cosette and my family?
“It’s a very simple choice.”
“Very easy,” I say to him. “Because the answer is no.”
The electrical current sears through my skull, rattles my nerves, and brings pain the likes of which I’ve never known. I scream until my voice is hoarse, and when it finally stops, I’m dripping in sweat and my vision is hazy.
“Not an option, Mr. Gerard. You’ll do what I say, or I’ll fry you until you can’t remember your own name. And then, if you still refuse to do what I’ve asked of you, I’ll be sure you watch as I kill her, before I take your life.”
I won’t hurt her.I can’t. The only reason I rejected her and sent her away was for her own safety. I love Cosette. There’s no goddamn way I’ll allow anyone to hurt her, or our unborn baby.
But I need to find out more information. I need to bide my time and find a way out of here.
“So, wait,” I say, even though speaking makes me want to vomit. “One of your men went to Le Luxe. He was the one who Fabien killed. You set it up so I’d be kidnapped and held for ransom so you could get what you wanted.”
The slow, wicked smile that spreads across his face makes me sick.
“Then you sent men to Le Luxe so you could destroy us from within. You found Cosette. Used her to get to us. You were working with the Chaberts all along.”
His eyelid twitches as he scowls at me, and he doesn’t respond. But his silence tells me everything I need to know. He’s been pitting every rival mafia group in Paris against one another for his own gain. And it’s worked.
Until now.
