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There’s a woman sitting on my couch and two men standing behind her, trying their best to be discreet as they take in every detail of their surroundings. “That’s them,” he growls out after I take a step closer to him. “Those are the people who’ve been controlling my life like I was an expendable pawn in their fucked up games.”
My head whips around to study them with a new intensity. Ideas are already whirring in my mind of ways I want to kill them. None of which will be good enough to satiate my bloodlust, but I’ll settle for knowing I took their last breath. With one glance at Grayson, I know this will go smoother if he isn’t there with me. Not that we haven’t started watering the seed to his darkness, it’s that I know he won’t be able to hide his anger.
Running my hand down his arm, I’m able to pull his attention from the window. Once I have it, I pull him against the wall, so we won’t be seen if they decide to look this way. “I know you want to get your revenge on them right now, probably as much as I do, but we have our future to think of. We need to handle this with care so we can walk away from this without anyone being the wiser. I hate to even suggest it, but I think it’s best if you don’t confront them,” I whisper, making sure we aren’t overheard.
Indecision wars in his gaze as he battles to push back his desires over what’s best in this situation. After a moment the anger over me suggesting he walk away from them melts away. He pushes out a forced sigh before saying, “You’re right. I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself if I walk in there. The whole floor would probably hear me attacking them, and there’d be no escaping silently into the disguise of death.”
A small thread of pain enters his gaze as his eyes follow the lines of my face. “I don’t know what it is about having you in my life, but every fear of facing repercussions has disappeared. I know that I’ll come through on the other side of any battle safely having you by my side, and that’s a dangerous assumption to make.” He pauses to play with a piece of my hair. “I know whatever I face won’t be nearly as threatening with you at my back. Although, it could also be that I finally know the truth, and feel a rage unlike any I’ve experienced in my life.”
Grayson gives a shrug like he doesn’t care, but I know that’s not the truth. He cares more than he wants to express, and I’m incredibly thankful he’s able to admit the truth to himself of not being able to control himself. It would have made things more difficult. I cup his cheek and pull him into me for a sweet kiss. This man has ground down my rough edges and created a softness in me that I don’t want anyone else to see. But I can’t deny that I enjoy this new side of me when it comes to my men.
“I’ll take care of them and cover our tracks, I know just the way to go about it. Honestly, this will make our plans more believable.” I bite my lip, mentally running through my idea once more. “Go find Jasper and Cole. Tell them what’s going on, and that we have to get out of here. Hopefully, Cole is finished with the coding or hacking or whatever he was doing. Tell him he’ll also need to erase any footage of us leaving, oh, and text Vander to be ready with the car.”
As an afterthought, I pull the gun from my purse. I don’t want to leave it behind. “Keep this safe for me?” I ask with a sweet smile, handing him the weapon discreetly. Grayson automatically takes it from me with a slight nod.
I turn for my office, but his warm hand wraps around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. “What are you going to do?”
A smile spreads on my face, pulling at my eyes. “I’m going to finish getting vengeance for everything they did to you. I wasn’t kidding about ending anyone who fucked with what’s mine. Doesn’t matter that it happened before you came into my life.” I know that’s not what he was asking, he wanted to know exactly what my plan is, but fuck me, if that answer didn’t boil it down to the basis of what I’ll do.
With a sharp yank, he pulls me flush against his body and twists until he has me pressed against the wall. His lips are on me before I can even make a sound, devouring me and stealing my breath. The possessiveness of his hold lights me up and has me chasing his lips when he pulls away all too quickly. Goddamn. I really need to fuck him again so I can finally rid myself of the new found lust constantly riding me when I’m with him…
“Don’t do anything to threaten our future,” he commands me with a stern expression. A smile lights his eyes, and he kisses my swollen lips once more before returning to the elevator. I’m not sure how I allowed myself to become so consumed by the man, but he grounds me to the humanity I thought I lost long ago. He taught me how to feel for someone other than myself. The others have had a hand in it too, but he pulled most of the weight.
I strip myself of any sign of the happiness he brought me, and walk into my office. I’m not sure how they missed us standing there for so long, but I’m glad they did. I act like I don’t see them as I walk into the room. Laying my purse on the desk, I move to the window and quickly find Vander on the sidewalk next to our SUV. He’s still on the phone but notices me right away.
“Miss Halston,” one of the men calls out, demanding my attention. I turn without saying anything, crossing my arms and narrowing my gaze as I lean against the side of my desk. The silence draws out until the woman gets fed up with waiting. She tries to keep a pleasant smile on her face, but it doesn’t fool me. She’s clearly vexed with my show of disrespect.
“I’m Mrs. Sinclare, the head of Black Out PR Solutions. I was hoping to have a moment of your time,” she declares after clearing her throat.
“Typically one would call to make an appointment if they want a meeting,” I reply icily.
She flinches, unprepared for my less than warm welcome. “Perhaps you haven’t heard of me before, but I offer a specialized skill set to my clients.” She tries to recover, but a haughty arrogance enters her tone. As if she’s above any set of corporate etiquette. To really seal in the bitchiness, she adds, “A skill set I’m sure you’ll want to take advantage of since you’re fixing to marry the town’s most notorious playboy. Surely you don’t expect him to be faithful to you.”
The idea that one of my men wouldn’t be faithful to me is hilarious, and the laughter bursting out of me seems to put the woman on edge, not expecting such a response. “Grayson is nothing but loyal to me. Your services won’t be needed.”
Her eyes narrow, forming tiny wrinkles at the corners. “Actually he won’t be. Your future husband has desires that one woman simply can’t keep up with. I can guarantee you, he’ll be in every bed he sets his sights on. And before you try to argue with me, I know this will be the case with one hundred percent certainty.”
What a cunt. She has no idea that I know exactly what the truth is behind her threats. That she would be the person forcing Grayson to be unfaithful to me, and it would have nothing to do with him. I can’t help but wonder how many times she’s been the driving force behind the scandals she’s been paid to cover up.
My teeth grind together while I try to force myself to remain calm. I thought Grayson would be the only one who had an issue with controlling his cool. But this woman is pushing all my buttons. I want to rip into her, to tell her I know exactly what she’s done and how I’ll make her pay for it. I can’t though. The moment I let on to what I know, she’ll walk right out of my office.
Instead, I offer her my best resting bitch face and sit behind my desk. Pulling a sheet of paper toward me, I write a single word on it, nevermore, and then I fold it over a few times. “I’m not sure why you think you know my Grayson so well, but I’d be more than happy to go grab him so he can tell you himself. I’m sure he’s been held up while getting us some coffee.”
The arrogant smirk she gives infuriates me even more, but I remind myself of what I’ll lose if this doesn’t go perfectly. Ravenmaster’s smooth voice whispers in my mind. Telling me to not blow it, to remember the very basis of what he’s been trying to teach me, which is to not get caught. It’s not things he’s actually ever said to me, but now that I’ve heard his voice, I’ll never not hear it when I’m thinking of something he might say.
I’m actually a little surprised he hasn’t texted me having guessed that I’m up to something. So surprised in fact, I search around blindly with my hand in my purse feeling around for my phone. Sure enough, there’s no new notifications. Dropping the phone on my desk, slightly disgruntled at the lack of hearing from my stalker, I lift from my seat and reach across the desk for a small box that has buttons and switches on it. Its appearance is designed after a puzzle box or a fidget cube.
In other words, it’s been designed to inspire someone to pick it up. As I walk toward my victims, I discreetly activate the box and place it on a coffee table sitting in front of them, placing the folded paper underneath. I have no idea if any of them will actually open the paper and see the word before the box activates, but I’ll still know it was there.
“I’ll only be a few minutes while I get him. Please, don’t make yourselves comfortable.” Okay, maybe I can’t keep all of my hatred hidden. At least it’s not enough to drive them away.
Before I walk out the door, I discreetly slip my smart watch free and drop it next to the cunt’s chair. I already made sure to note that she hasn’t brought her own purse, and isn’t wearing a watch. Perfect, we won’t have to make sure evidence of her belongings disappear in the wreckage. I’ll still have Cole keep an eye out for anything that may come up, although if this bomb works the way it’s supposed to then there really won’t be much left behind in this room. Only ash in the shape of bodies that will crumble away the moment it’s touched.
Have I mentioned before how much I love having access to high-tech weapons that aren’t available to the public?
Striding from the room, I keep my steps even until they won’t be able to see me out the windows of my office. Once I’m past them, my stride quickens as much as I dare. Wouldn’t want to draw any unwanted attention. Reaching the stairwell at the end of the hall, I kick off my heels, scoop them up, and run down the stairs.
Since I left my phone in the office, I need to make it to my guys before the bomb goes off. I can’t be certain how long they will wait to handle the device. But once they do, it will detonate one minute later. Long enough for them to hopefully also open the paper and read nevermore written across it.
