Page 125 of Dangerous Beginnings

The agent leading the charge steps forward cautiously, and for a moment, the sight of him sends a jolt through me.

Nick.

Of all the people I might have expected, it had to be him. My jaw tightens, but I force my expression to remain unreadable. How the fuck is he standing here? And how does he know my hideout? The radars in my head turn and turn.

He should be dead. Yet here he is, standing in the downpour,greyer hair than before, and with a jagged burn scar snaking up the side of his neck—a grotesque reminder of a night that should have ended differently.

He is entangled in the web of rats.

The shock fades quickly, buried under the cold calculation I’ve mastered, but the weight of his presence lingers, pressing against me like a ghost clawing its way back into the living. He’s alive, and somehow, that feels more dangerous than if he weren’t.

“Aslanov,” he says, his voice measured, “You’re surrounded. You can’t win this.”

I meet his gaze, my smirk cold and calculated. I don’t show a fraction of emotion even though this bastard knows my name, and that can’t be good. “That depends on your definition of winning.”

He narrows his eyes. “You can’t save her. She’s complicit in your crimes. She knows everything.”

I let out a low, humorless laugh. “Complicit? You don’t understand a thing about her.”

Nick hesitates, the rain dripping off his helmet as he studies me.

“I offer you a trade,” I say, my tone clipped and commanding. “You take me. Quietly. No resistance. But she walks away, free.”

Nick’s brow furrows. “You’d give yourself up for her?”

My smirk sharpens, but my voice is ice. “She’s nothing to me,” I lie, my tone biting, cruel. I see her flinch out of the corner of my eye, her shoulders stiffening, but I press on the next sentence comes out as a mere whisper, “But if you so much as touch her again, I’ll burn this clearing to the ground. Your choice, Nick.”

Nick’s brow furrows deeper, the weight of the offer hanging heavily in the rain-soaked air. The man is calculating, his sharp eyes scanning me, weighing the risk, but there’s hesitation in the set of his jaw. He’s doubting—considering—and I can’t afford tolet him.

I step forward, ignoring the tightening grip of my men behind me, the weapons still aimed at my chest. My voice drops, low and venomous, cutting through the patter of the rain.

“Tick-tock, Nick,” I say, my smirk fading into something darker. “This hesitation of yours—it’s dangerous.”

Nick’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t speak.

I tilt my head, the faintest flicker of a smile curving my lips, though it holds no warmth. “You think this is about her? About me?” My voice is steel wrapped in smoke. “No, this is aboutyou.”

His hand flexes on the grip of his weapon, but he doesn’t lower it. “What are you trying to say, sick fuck?”

“I’m saying,” I continue, my tone sharp enough to draw blood, “you don’t understand the depths of what I can do. You stand there, playing the righteous soldier, but we both know the truth.” I lean in slightly, the rain slicking down my face, my gaze locked onto his like a predator scenting weakness.

“You have a wife, don’t you?” The words are slow, deliberate, and I savor the flicker of discomfort that crosses his face. “A daughter, perhaps?”

Nick’s expression hardens, but I see the flash of anger—of fear—in his eyes.

“Ah,” I murmur, my smirk growing. “I see it now. You do. A little girl, yes? How old is she, Nick? Five? Six? Does she have your eyes?”

“Shut your mouth,” Nick snaps, his voice tight with fury, but he doesn’t move.

I chuckle darkly, the sound low and menacing. “I could find her, you know. So easily. And if you think the men I have here are loyal, imagine the reach of the ones you don’t see.” I glance at the agents flanking him, my tone growing sharper. “You think this standoff ends with me? No, Nick. I don’t need to lift a fingerfor your entire world to come crumbling down.”

“Enough,” Nick growls, stepping closer now, his weapon raised higher.

I straighten, my smirk gone, replaced by cold, brutal certainty. My voice drops, laced with venom and something darker—a promise. “You think I won’t burn everything to the ground if you force my hand? You think I won’t make you regret every single moment you wasted here tonight?”

I take a step closer, my gaze piercing through the rain as it streams down my face. “You remember that night, don’t you, Nick? The flames, the screams, the chaos. I burned that place to ash and walked away without a second thought. But this time—” I pause, letting the weight of my words sink in, my tone turning into a low growl, intimate and deadly, “—this time, I’ll make sure you burn with it. I’ll watch the fire take everything you hold dear until there’s nothing left but smoke and silence.”

The rain intensifies, hammering down like a storm sent to drown us all.

---