Page 19 of The Russian's Revenge Bride
Zara leaned forward, her eyes blazing with the kind of protective fury that made smart men reconsider their choices. “So whatever you’re planning, whatever sick game you think you’re playing, it won’t work. William Beaumont doesn’tnegotiate for family. He doesn’t even acknowledge family unless it serves his purposes.”
She stood up, smoothing down her blazer with sharp, precise movements. “You want William? Go after William. Leave Eleanor out of it.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“Then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”
The door closed behind her with a soft click that somehow managed to sound like a gunshot. I stared at the flash drive for a long moment, turning her words over in my mind.
I’d known William was cold. The kind of man who climbed over bodies to reach the top and never looked back to see the damage. But I’d assumed he had limits. Everyone had limits.
Maybe I’d been wrong.
I opened my laptop and slid the drive into the USB port. The video file loaded quickly, showing multiple camera angles of the street outside Eleanor’s building. There I was, grabbing her from behind. Lev in the getaway car. Professional, efficient, and completely fucking incriminating.
Zara Delgado wasn’t bluffing. She had everything she needed to destroy me.
My phone buzzed. Text from one of my contacts in the media. Three words that made my blood run cold: “Check the news.”
I pulled up the Chicago Tribune website. The headline hit me like a physical blow.
CONSTRUCTION MOGUL DISOWNS DAUGHTER AFTER KIDNAPPING
The article was brief but brutal. William Beaumont, speaking through his legal team, had issued a statement claiming no knowledge of Eleanor’s whereabouts andspecifically stating that any debts or obligations incurred by his “estranged daughter” were not his responsibility.
Estranged daughter. The words tasted like acid.
He’d thrown her to the wolves without hesitation. Publicly, completely, and with the kind of calculated cruelty that took real fucking talent.
I closed the laptop and leaned back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. The plan had been simple. Grab the daughter, use her as leverage, force William into a position where he had to choose between his reputation and his family.
Instead, the bastard had chosen option three: cut her loose and let the world know she meant nothing to him.
Fuck.
FUCK.
My office door opened again. This time it was Lev, carrying coffee and wearing the kind of grin that usually meant he was about to say something that would piss me off.
“Saw the news,” he said, settling into the chair Zara had vacated. “Your boy William just fucked you six ways from Sunday.”
“I noticed.”
“So what’s the play now? Kill the girl and cut our losses?”
The words hit me wrong, sparking something violent in my chest. “No.”
“No?” Lev raised an eyebrow. “Maxim, she’s useless now. Worse than useless. She’s a liability. Every hour we keep her is another hour for the feds to track us down.”
“I said no.”
“Then what? We’re just going to keep her as a pet?”
I stood up, needing to move, needing to think. The plan was fucked. Completely, totally fucked. But walking away wasn’t an option. Not when I’d invested this much, come this far.
“There’s another way,” he said slowly, gears spinning as he spoke. “Marriage.”
I almost choked on air. “What?”
