Page 5 of Isle of Seduction

I don’t spare him another glance and prowl to Giulia. The sweet scent of vanilla enters my nostrils and transmutes into decadent sensuality when I smell the undertone of sandalwood. It suits her, all sweet and spicy.

I take her hand in mine and brush my lips to her fingertips in the barest caress. I look deeper into her eyes, searching for anything more than the pain written across her face. The urge to take all her worries away is almost overwhelming, but that’s ridiculous. I’ve only just met her.

“Andrea, this is…” Pierce starts, but Giulia cuts him off.

“Giulia Moretti, Lana’s cousin and Intelligence Advisor.”

She doesn’t wait for my answer, just rips her hand off of mine and turns her back on me to sit on my well-worn cognac leather couch.

Rule number one in our world: do not turn your back on your enemy. The little She Devil knows exactly what she’s doing. She looks smug and exactly where she needs to be.

Decent opponents are hard to come by. Her defiance brings out the hunter in me, ready to play with my prey before eating it out alive.

“And this is Igor, Lana’s bodyguard and friend,” Pierce says.

Igor gives me a curt nod and I really am the asshole because I can’t resist goading him. “You really suck at your job, Mr. Petrov.”

Igor’s nostrils flare with rage, but he remains seated. At least, he’s trained not to be ruled by his emotions. Giulia, on the other hand, looks at me like she wants to crush my balls.

I take a seat in front of her without breaking eye contact, and she doesn’t back down, glowing warmth spreading to my limbs. It’s such a curious sensation, but I don’t have time to analyse it.

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Pierce cuts off. “You saw Barychev in the videos I sent. You obviously know who Igor is, so you know Misha Petrov is behind my wife’s kidnapping. The problem is that his business partner on British soil is our uncle Luc. Petrov specialises in the skin trade, so time is of the essence.”

“Mr. Capaldi…” Giulia continues, ready to negotiate like a general.

“Please call me Andrea.”

She continues as if I hadn’t spoken. Her defiance is such a fucking turn-on. No one ever defied me like she does. The novelty is thrilling. “Mr. Capaldi, Petrov has taken my cousin, the Heir to the Moretti Empire, and we’ll stop at nothing to get her back. We’re here because you said you’d help. Now, please do.” Her voice holds a tinge of aggravation and my lips tip up.

“What am I getting out of it, cousin?” The last word comes out as a sneer. This isn’t some friendly gathering between people who love each other. We might be family, but in name only. Even as a beggar, he thinks he’s better than me, than our world and our names.

He’ll give me whatever I want, I know it. Even if he doesn’t, I’ll rescue Alana Moretti. I might just hide her away to get what I want, but he doesn’t need to know that yet.

Desperation will make a man crawl on cut glass for what he craves, and Pierce craves seeing his fiancée safe and sound.

“How much do you want, Capaldi?” Giulia asks agitatedly. She’s getting angry and I revel in it.

“I don’t need money, sweetheart.”

Giulia looks at me like she’s about to pounce and kill me with her bare hands. Her nostrils flare with righteous anger and I want to coax all reactions from her. Another set of memorabilia I can hoard that has her name stamped on it.

“Stop playing around and tell us what you want, dammit! If Luc is coming after me and mine, there’s nothing that will stop him from coming for you next, and you know it! I’m his fucking heir and he doesn’t care. I already gave you my company, what more do you want?”

Pierce explodes out of his seat, his hands pulling at his roots. He paces back and forth, and I know he’s about to lose his shit. I can’t have that. If he becomes irrational, I won’t get what I want. And he’s not wrong. My uncle, Luc Pierce, is a threat to my ambitions; his name is a stain on my recovering image and I can’t have him rogue. He made his fucking bed.

I sober but focus on my prey. “I’ve heard about your skills, Miss Moretti.”

“I would hope so. I’m very good at what I do.” She shrugs.

I love confident women but assertiveness has never looked better. She doesn’t try to deny what she does. After all, she did introduce herself as Alana’s Intelligence Advisor. Collecting secrets and favours to be repaid when the Moretti need them, all without an ounce of bloodshed is ingenious and I’d bet the red-head in front of me was the instigator, strategist and executor. I need those skills for my campaign.

“I know. I’m impressed.”

I let silence stretch between us while looking intently into her eyes. Our gazes collide, none of us wanting to be the one to bow down.

Finally, she sighs and rises from her place on the sofa with the elegance of a queen doing a favour to one of her subjects. “Fine. I’ll be your collateral.”

I, too, get up and approach her slowly.

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