Page 56 of Cruel Master

Five years had not hurt Jacquelina Price at all. In fact, it seemed that time only agreed with her. Her dark hair was tied up into a professional and elegant chignon at the back of her head, and her equally dark lashes were painted blacker and stretched up to her brows. Her lips were a bold red, curving into a smug smile as she moved down the stairs toward me. Her long black sheath dress was held tight to her curves and I was sure to any other man, she would be a feast for the eyes. In mine, it was merely like looking at a snake masquerading as a person.

“Jackie,” I said, "it’s been a long time.”

She laughed, the sound smoky and purposefully thick with seduction. “Yes, it has. What brings you here?”

The man in front of me pulls a gun from my chest holster and sets it on the front table next to him. My scowl deepens as he moves around me and pulls the one from the small of my back and adds it to the quickly piling collection of weapons from both Matteo and myself.

“I’m sure you can anticipate what I’m here for, Jackie,” I snapped.

“Have you finally come to your senses?” she asked, stopping at the end of the stairs. “Are you finally willing to admit that you want me?”

Disgust rolled through me. I level her with a bland look. “No.”

She sighed. “Oh, well, then no, I have no clue what you’re here for, Gaven.”

“I’m here about your sister.”

Jackie stepped down from the last stair and glided past Matteo and me, not even sparing the man who her father had known and respected for most of his life with a single glance. For Matteo’s part, he kept his own expression unbothered.

“What about her?” Jackie asked in a bored tone. I didn’t trust it. I narrowed my gaze on her. Did she truly have no clue of Angel’s whereabouts? Did she even know that Angel was back in the States? It didn’t matter either way. So long as Jackie lived, then Angel would still run. She would still be threatened. I had to eliminate that threat. Only then could I have everything I’d ever wanted.

“She’s back.”

Jackie paused in the doorway to the next room and turned back, cocking her head at me. Her eyes roved down my chest and paused at my groin before finishing at my feet and then flashing back up to my face.

“I admit,” she began, “I didn’t expect you to come to me if you ever found her.” She stepped towards me as her man finished divesting me of my weapons. If that made her feel safer, then so be it. If she thought I needed a gun to kill, she was dead wrong. I could snap her neck easily enough with just my hands. Then again, she was dead either way—she just didn’t realize it yet.

As Jackie drew closer, her long fingers came out to stroke up my chest. Thick, nauseating perfume invaded my nostrils. “I’m not going to lie,” she continued. “I thought you would try to capture her and hide her from me—I thought that perhaps you would try to use her against me—my father’s murderer.” The lie slid off her tongue so easily. “So, for you to come to me with this information is quite … promising.”

Jackie walked her fingers up the line of my chest, only stopping when I snatched her hand and held it away. I arched a brow down at her as she fluttered her long lashes up at me. I examined her face, seeking some sign of surprise—but what little there was seemed to be reserved only for me.

She knew. Deep down, in my gut, I knew it was true. I swore internally. She had already known that Angel was back in the States. And if she already knew, then Angel was in dangernow.

My hand on Jackie’s tightened as I circled her wrist, creating a manacle with my fingers. She didn’t seem frightened. In fact, she leaned further into me, raising her face to mine.

“I should have you taken out back and shot for all you’ve done to me, Gaven,” she said, her tone light despite her words.

I arched my brow. “Oh? Why is that?”

She laughed again, her eyes slanting towards Matteo and then back to me. “Well, on top of stealing some of my best men, I know that you’ve been keeping secrets from me. Your new drug being one of them.”

“What I do with my own business isn’t your concern, Jackie.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” she said, twisting her arm to break my hold. I let her go. “We’re family. We’d be a whole lot more, too, if you’d let us.” I watched her move back towards the doorway, pause, and pivot to face me. One hand found the frame as she leaned into it. “I could give you everything you ever wanted, Gaven. I’ve offered it to you, and you know I’m not used to being refused.”

No, she wasn’t. A woman like Jacquelina Price had damn near everything she wanted. She felt powerful. In charge. That made her cocky. She was a woman in a man’s world, trying to take it over the same way a man did—through murder and deceit. I couldn’t say I didn’t at least admire that conniving piece of her, but not when it came at the expense of my own goals.

“While I usually don’t mind games, Jackie. I usually get to choose the partners I play with."

Her red lips curved wider. “Soplay with me.” The innuendo didn’t go unnoticed.

“You tell me what I want to know, and perhaps I’ll consider it.” At my side, I felt Matteo tense. We were surrounded by Jackie’s men. Their gazes were locked on us as they awaited a command from their Mistress. That was one thing about Jackie that I knew wouldn’t suit me. She wasn’t a woman who could give up control. She wanted to maintain her power over each and every person. She wanted to be the only one at the top, and she didn’t care whose throat she had to slit on her way up.

Jackie tilted her head to the side as she stared back at me. She was analyzing me as much as I was her. We were locked in a silent battle of wills, and I wouldn’t be able to make a move until I knew what she was going to do. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she sighed and shook her head.

“No, I don’t think I will,” she said. Despite my outward appearance, which I knew from experience, didn’t reveal a damn flicker of emotion, my heart hammered against my chest. She flicked her hands to the guns laid out on the table. “You’ll leave those on your way out,” she stated.

A low growl rumbled up my throat and I stepped forward, only to pull up short as one of her silent men stepped in front of me, halting my momentum. I glared at the man as Jackie clicked her tongue.

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