AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vicky pouted and slid an arm around his waist, nuzzling his beard. It was obvious she didn’t like the way he was looking at me. The two exchanged a hot, torrid kiss before the man returned his attention to me.
“You must be the boyfriend,” I guessed.
“Protector,” Vicky corrected. Her voice had turned sweet and a vulnerable air surrounded her as she leaned against the man. “Victor’s been my number one protector from the very start.”
Vicky and Victor. How apt. While she sounded like a damsel in distress, she looked ready to bite my head off, even more so than when I taunted her about Sebastian and Rupert. Could it work in my favor?
“A little bird told me that she had a hand in tampering with Rupert Garth’s business,” I said, ignoring her and addressing Victor.
His chest puffed out. Vicky hissed until it deflated, and she began to caress his stomach until a telltale bulge became prominent in his pants. Horrified, I looked away.
“She had an idea, but the hand was all mine,” Victor said proudly. “That’s what you get for messing with what’s mine.”
I frowned. “Are you aware that she made it all up and pretended to be the victim to gain your gang’s sympathy? She’s the one who played them, not the other way around.”
“You bitch—”
I braced myself for the slap, but we were all shocked when Victor grabbed her wrist and held it back. Vicky was the most shocked, her eyes flaring. But Victor knew how to handle her, it seemed, as he drew her closer and kissed her again until she calmed down. Something in the exchange ticked at my senses until it clicked.
“You knew,” I deduced. “You knew she wasn’t the victim all this time.”
A subtle glance at the two other men confirmed that as they didn’t look surprised in the least. Victor gave me a look of approval.
“You’re not that dumb for a Huntsmen chick.”
“And your gang just went with it? Aretheydumb?”
“Watch your mouth,” he warned. This time, I shrank a little bit at the quiet ice in his voice. “You’re talking to that gang’s sub-leader and I won’t tolerate insults.”
“I see.” A pause. “If you had a hand with the tampering, then you must have had a hand in some of the other stuff.”
Vicky hissed. “Are you trying to imply that I’m incompetent and he’s doing everything?”
“Baby, that’s not at all what she’s saying,” Victor crooned, but I could tell he was flattered by my words. His smug gaze met mine. “And you’re wrong. It’s not justsome.”
My body stilled. “You had a hand in everything? The egg pranks?”
“Those were child’s play, but yes. I had to start somewhere. It’s with those rats that we got very creative.” He smirked. “But it was the business where we started to get serious.”
Suspicion rose, and I suddenly began to get a full picture of the truth. But I needed to get it out of his lips.
“Your leader must trust you a lot to let you handle these things.” There was a heavy pause, in which I let him believe that I was just processing things. I gasped. “Your leader…”
“Doesn’t have to know everything,” he confirmed. “He has bigger things on his plate than this.”
Jackpot,my brain screamed at me. I wanted to crow at Jean and tell her we got what we wanted. Instead, I followed her example of keeping cool despite the subtle trembling of her shoulders. I gave Victor a skeptical look.
“Surely you can’t pull off so many grand schemes by yourself. Even withherhelp, it’s impossible.”
Vicky scoffed, ready to lay it on me again. But Victor held up a hand, puffed out his chest once more, and cleared his throat.
“Well, then, let me tell you the ways of just how possible it is.”
I couldn’t believe I was listening to him brag about everything he had done in detail, and every information that came out had my heart pumping until it felt like it was going to explode. When I still looked skeptical, he and Vicky then bragged about the gang members involved, a number that was fewer than I expected.
“So, only your small crew is responsible? The others aren’t involved at all? That’s…”
“Brilliant,” Victor finished.
