Page 40 of Beautiful Vengeance

“To kill you.”

He smothered a laugh. A single woman against him and his security team? He didn’t care if she was a Valkyrie. “She’s welcome to try.” The idea made all kinds of fantasies spin in his head. Her naked, on her knees in front of him.

He pulled in a calming breath, willing his heart rate to slow down. His security was the best in the business and he paid them well. They were loyal, motivated, and skilled. She would never get past them.

“I’ll get her.” His groin tightened at the thought. He had a vast network of contacts and other resources to help him locate and capture her. “If she comes anywhere near Damascus, I’ll know.”And then she’ll be mine.

“My original terms still stand. And may I remind you, she was to be delivered to me undamaged. The way you treated her the last time you had her was untenable.”

She’d used that word before, so he’d looked it up. It meant indefensible, not to be tolerated. Well, fuck her.

“She’s not for sale this time.” The words burst out of him in a low growl. The Architect had never told him why she wanted Kiyomi in the first place, but that had beenbefore, and there was a reason she wasn’t going after Kiyomi herself. Was she under surveillance and couldn’t risk detection?

He didn’t give a shit. Kiyomi washis, and when he got her, he would do whatever he wanted with her.

“No?” The sly, almost bored edge to her tone sent a sliver of warning through him as she continued. “Did you wonder how I knew about the raid on the camp last night? Or that you were heading there? Because I know everything about you, Fayez. Including your exact location right now.”

He paled when she recited the exact coordinates and address of the safehouse he was in right now. The slippery bitch was watching him via satellite or drone, it was the only way she could know where he was.

“But as long as you give me what I want, I’m no threat to you,” she went on. “I’ll even up the price on her from three million to four. Wired to your offshore account the moment I have her safely in my possession.Withoutany further damage this time.”

A hot rush of anger and outrage blasted through him. He reined it back with effort. She was forcing his hand. He’d killed people for less. He had no choice but to capitulate, since she currently held the upper hand in their negotiations. “I’ll sell her to you, but she won’t be untouched. Not after what she did to me.”

“You maim her, you get zero money. I’ll take her from you and then kill you myself.”

The threat would have made him scoff until ten seconds ago when she’d told him where he was standing in the safehouse. Who the hell was this woman, and how did she have access to that sort of technology? Why did she need him to capture Kiyomi?

Because she knows Kiyomi will come to you. And when she does, the Architect will be waiting to take her.

Fury exploded in his gut. The Architect would no doubt have a team on the way. They might already be here. He needed to move again, but not until he had Kiyomi.No onewas taking her from him.

“Five million,” he finally snapped, “and I’ll try not to disfigure her.” Much.

A few seconds of silence passed. “Done.”

Yes. They were. “I’ll be in touch when I have her. Unless you plan to…architectsomething else?” He said it just to piss her off, because he wasn’t supposed to use her moniker in any communications that could be monitored. Tough shit. She had as much at stake here as he did.

“Oh, don’t worry. If you find her, I’ll know long before you call.”

He disconnected and shoved the phone back into his pocket, his entire body amped up with restless energy and frustration. After all this time, Kiyomi was finally close, and might be coming right to him.

Unbidden, an image of her in that ruby-red gown filled his mind. The first time he’d ever laid eyes on her, in that hotel lobby. Their eyes had met across the room and in that instant he’d felt something shift inside him.

That old cliché about the world falling away was true, because he’d experienced it that night. He’d abandoned his security and the man he was making a multi-million-dollar business deal with just to go over and introduce himself.

She’d been arresting. Alluring. Intelligent. Demure and submissive. And her lack of inhibitions in bed still left him hard and aching whenever he remembered it.

No. Stop it. It was all a lie.

She’d deceived him. Betrayed him. Now she would finally pay.

He turned for the door, wrenched it open and began barking orders to his men. It had been months since he’d had her. Months since he’d first learned of the level of betrayal she’d dealt him.

She’d purposely made him fall in love with her, manipulating him all the while and playing him for a fool. He’d treated her like a queen, had been prepared to share his life with her, even give her his heart and unswerving loyalty.

Until he’d found out she was nothing but a lying whore who’d used him for her own personal agenda. Leaving him heartbroken and humiliated.

The rage expanded in his chest, spreading down into his gut.Noone made a fool out of him.Noone used him and got away with it. Not even the Architect.

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