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His mouth curls into a shark-like smile. “In about, oh, the next hour or so, I imagine you’ll start getting phone calls from, well, quite a number of people, really. I’m going to spoil the surprise just alittlefor you, and let you know that all of these people have one thing in common.”
I shiver as he effortlessly moves closer to me, sending a rippling of something foreboding teasing up my spine.
“They all run various companies, funds, and investment portfolios belonging to one Adele Roy.”
My mother.
He smiles. “Would you like to knowwhythey’ll be calling?”
I nod, my motions slow, as if I’m drowning in tar.
“I’ve beenshopping, Dahlia. You know how it is; allowance money burning a hole in your pocket.” He shakes his head ruefully.
Oh God.
“Now, the good news is, because your mother and her accountants were savvy enough to split her wealth across a diverse portfolio, it’s not all in one place for greedy little Gerard to plunder. Infurthergood news, out of the fourteen companies and funds that it’s spread across, I’ve now taken six of them out of this chess game with your stepfather. Which, incidentally, are collectively worth about three hundred million dollars.”
I stare at him, my mouth falling open. Deimos smiles that shark smile again.
“Please, ask.”
“How…”
“How did I manage to buy three hundred million dollars’ worth of your mother’s assets for, well, substantiallylessthan three hundred million dollars?”
I nod silently, my eyes wide and my heart thudding in my chest.
Deimos looks around the room nonchalantly, seemingly not caring that my world is crumbling around me.
Because if it wasn’t bad enough that mom and I are losing everything to a man we allowed ourselves to trust, now, another devil has joined in the plunder. And while Gerard is probably doing this purely for the money, I have a horrible, sick feeling that Deimos is doing it for no other reason than he can.
Because he finds it amusing to torment me, for some fucked up reason.
“Trickery. Bullshit. Lies. Bullying and blackmail. In any case, you’re welcome.”
I blink, staring at him.
“Excuse me?”
His eyes drag over me. “I said,you’re welcome.”
“For?!”
“For stopping step-daddy dearest in his tracks before he can take everything.”
“Sure, by scooping it up for yourself,” I snap coldly.
“I prefer to call itrescuing assets.”
“Them being stolen by you instead of him doesn’t make them any less stolen—”
“You’ll get them back.”
I tense. My heart skips as my pulse thuds in my ears as his very presence sucks the oxygen from my lungs.
“What?”
“I said you’ll get them back.”
