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“I don’t care. They will come for me,” I try again, doing my best to silence the pounding in my chest.
Cartwright chuckles darkly. “Who? Ulianov? I doubt he even knows where to begin looking for you.”
“How did you find me?” I demand, my voice wavering slightly despite my attempts to sound strong. I’m still trying to piece everything together.
“Simple,” He leans in close, his breath hot against my ear. “All it took is some connections and bribing one of the security guards at your boyfriend’s place. It wasn’t that hard, really.”
Shit.
Jogging was definitely a bad idea.
“I should have known.” Even to my own ears, my voice sounds defeated.
“Indeed,” Cartwright agrees, his cruel smile never leaving his face. “You almost made it too easy, really.”
“Screw you, Cartwright,” I say through gritted teeth. “Anton won’t rest until he finds me, and when he does—”
“Exactly,” Cartwright interrupts, pulling out a gun and pressing it against my temple. “Which is why I’m going to be done with you by the time your loverboy figures out where you are. Now tell me what I want to know!”
My breath catches in my throat, but I force myself to remain calm. Panic won’t help me now.
“The stone. You can have it,” I say quickly, hoping to buy some more time.
Victor laughs, an ugly sound that makes me recoil. “You really think it’s that simple? Don’t act like you’re stupid, Miss Jones. This is not about the stone anymore. This is fucking personal, and you know it.” he snarls, pushing the gun harder against my temple.
I gulp. Of course, it’s personal. More than personal. I watched him kill that poor woman with his bare hands and he knows it. Me and my team stand between him and his reputation. He’s never going to let that go.
“Then what do you want?” I ask, still stalling.
“The billion-dollar question,” Cartwright shrugs. “I want your life.”
“What about my team?” I challenge, trying my luck once again. “I told them what I saw. And they weren’t exactly secretive about it either. The information is out there, Cartwright. You’ll only bring more trouble upon yourself by killing me too.”
I silently congratulate myself for my reasoning, because his confidence seems to falter for a millisecond.
“You think I believe you?” Cartwright’s eyes narrow, considering my words. The tension in the room thickens once again. I try to control my breathing, suppressing the panic that keeps threatening to take over.
“Look,” I continue, trying my best to stay somewhat calm. “Let me get the stone for you. Then you’ll never hear from me and my team again. You have my word.”
“And why would your word mean anything to me?”
It’s working, Scarlett!
Just keep doing what you’re doing!
“Think about it, Cartwright. It’s not like I’m going to go running to the cops, right? They’d lock me up before they even listen to a word I have to tell them about you,” I say. “Just let me bring you the stone, and we’ll put this all behind us. No harm, no foul.”
“Oh, Scarlett,” he sighs, shaking his head. “You don’t understand, do you? I don’t need you to get the stone. My men will find it anyway.”
“No, they won’t,” I scoff. “It’s with Anton Ulianov, remember? Are you sure you want to go up against him?” The fool has no clue what he’s getting into. “Let me get it for you and we can all move on. It’ll be a win-win.” I try to keep my tone convincing. “There’s no way you have the kind of men to help you go up against the Bratva.”
“I won’t need to, as long as I can keep Ulianov under my control.”
Keep him under his control?
What the fuck does that mean?
“What do you mean?” I frown at him, echoing my thoughts.
