Page 57 of Sublime Target

It was obvious to her what had happened. Garner had never intended to meet the Kordolians. He’d sent her down to distract them while he contacted Gage and arranged for a mercenary unit to attend the scene.

Did he really think it was a good idea to antagonize Jerik and his people?

And in the process, he’d sent her down here as cannon fodder?

That asshole. He really doesn’t give a shit, does he?

But Garner could never have predicted that all this time, the formidable alien ex-commander had a thing for her. It was strange. No matter what happened, Clarissa felt certain that Jerik would never let any harm come to her.

He was as solid as a rock.

And there was a certain power in knowing that.

He’d asked her to trust him to deal with this.

“I’m not going anywhere until I have my man,” Jerik countered, his voice deceptively calm. Too calm. His entire stance had become relaxed, his hands hanging loosely by his sides. She saw a tiny flicker of movement—his finger twitching.

“He will be returned intact once you and your crew have left the building.”

“Since when were humans so inhospitable… and deceptive? A meeting was agreed to. On whose orders do you engage in such dishonorable conduct?”

“I’m not paid enough to get into the semantics over terms of your arrangement with Garner,” the woman snapped, her blue eyes hard. “You and your kind deal in threats to get your way, so consider this as us speaking in your language. If you remove your presence from the building immediately, nothing will happen to your man. Once we have complete confirmation that you’ve left the building—including a visual on the departure of your cloaked ship—we’ll let him walk.”

Clarissa almost fainted. Were these people insane?

Even she understood that playing this game with Kordolians could end very badly. She had no doubt the Gage mercs had gotten their directives from Garner, who was used to getting his way.

Maybe that’s why he was having so much trouble grasping reality.

The trillionaire had never been seriously challenged in his life, and when confronted with someone who could actually destroy him, he couldn’t handle it.

She’d been able to smooth over Garner’s relationships with other stakeholders in the past, but this was different.

This was far bigger and more dangerous than any other business dealing they’d been involved with.

Why couldn’t her boss just recognize that?

“Jerik…” she said softly, instinctively feeling like she should do something…

And why was she so confident that she would have any influence on him at all?

But she did feel like a word or a look from her would have some effect on him. She didn’t understand how this was possible.

She just felt it, somehow.

To her surprise, he turned to look at her, ignoring the threatening mercenaries.

To her surprise, there was a twinkle in his crimson eyes. He chuckled softly, flashing the sharp points of his fangs. “Don’t worry about a thing, Clarissa.”

There was a tenderness in his voice that she hadn’t expected at all.

He turned back to the mercs. “We’ll accede to your demands.” He held up a finger. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“I will speak with Cooper Garner now.”

“G-Garner? We can’t just—”

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