Page 25 of Vengeance

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about—”

Whatever Nadia said I don’t hear as a man comes into my line of vision. An older but clearly fit man with white hair and beard in an expensive tailored suit, standing next to a white-faced Bella and for all appearances seeming friendly and welcoming. But I know that’s anything but…

“Addy. Did you hear me? I said Stephen Pray—”

I pull the phone from my ear and end the call as Bella walks over with fucking Stephen Pray. Of all people. How the fuck is he here and how the fuck do he get into my fucking city without—

Suddenly I wish I hadn’t hung up on Nadia. The Russians. The Russians let him in.

“Addy, my dear.”

I put my phone away and say, “Mr. Pray. I didn’t know that you’d be able to make it. My people never received your RSVP.”

There wasn’t one to send, of course. He’d never been invited. Even if he had, there was never any reason to believe he’d come to New York City. A place full of many of his enemies. I try to meet Eileen’s eyes out my peripheral, but she’s no longer there. Hopefully calling Viper. Because there’s no way he could have known about this. Hopefully, he knows about it now.

“Well, I couldn’t miss such a big milestone in our business. To think. Only a few short years ago, you were just opening an online luxury hair line and now… Now all of this.”

That is to say, a few years ago he’d never have considered that I was a threat to him except for Viper’s fixation with me. Now? He knows better than that.

“It actually reminds me of myself,” he says. “My business started as a small family run operation and now… now it’s a global empire. Seeing that you remind me so much of myself I couldn’t just not be here.”

Translation, he thinks this has gotten out of hand and hasn’t been able to stop me from a distance so is coming to stop me himself. It’s both a heartening and terrifying prospect. Heartening because it means he sees me as more of a threat and more powerful than I may give myself credit for. Terrifying because I know what he did to the last group of people he saw as a threat to his business. The people I’m a survivor of, though, he’s unaware.

Eileen comes back, putting a hand on my back and whispering to me so that Pray can’t hear, “He’s on his way. But you’re going to have to stall Pray. Whatever his plans are.”

That’s to say, keep him here. Terrifying as it is to have the man near me, the best place to keep him is in my sights. Keep your enemies closer, as they say. As long as he’s here and all eyes are on us, he can’t make a move.

Eyes on us.

That’s it.

I direct Eileen to get our workers to get the attention of the crowd and get all eyes on us.

When the room is quiet, I begin, “I’m not going to keep you long. This is a night of celebration, and I wanted to have it with you. But I just wanted to stop and introduce some of you to the man who helped to make this possible. Who saw my vision and didn’t doubt it even when I was unsure if it would work. Mr. Stephen Pray.”

The crowd cheers and laughs and holds up their drinks on toast.

“I’m honored to have him here with us, and he’s personally agreed to unveil my new makeup line to you all tonight at midnight, at which point it will be available for sale to the public,” I say.

Pray smiles and pretends to be bashful, but I see through the act. He’s enraged. But he’s not going to do anything. He’s not going to risk contradicting and ruining the generous and gracious persona that he’s cultivated over the years to hide the ruthless, evil man he actually is.

With all eyes on him, it buys me time. It buys Viper time. Hopefully, it’s enough.

11

Dele

Over the next two hours, Pray and I watch each other like predators circling the same prey and waiting for the other to make a move. The problem is that I’m not exactly sure what Pray is waiting on.

There are only two things that Pray risks losing in all this. Himself and his empire. He’s secure in knowing (or at least thinking) that his empire can never be taken from him, and that if he’s killed there will be no empire to take because only he could have ever kept it together. But even so, he’s confident no one is powerful enough to take those things from him. And that makes him even more dangerous. Because it’ll make him take risks others aren’t willing to take. Risks people like me aren’t willing to take.

I have a lot more to lose than Pray. Not just an empire. Not just my life. But my children’s lives. Particularly the one in my womb and whose life is tied to mine right now. That significantly limits what I can do at the moment. One wrong move and Pray no doubt makes a move on my house where my children are and where he no doubt have men waiting. Or he decides to kill me and be done with it.

But no. He’s not going to do that. Not after the launch. There’s too much visibility. And for the amount of hubris that he has, Pray likes to do things quietly. Make things explode in a way where he’s as far from the radius of the mushroom cloud as possible and doesn’t cause too many eyebrows to raise and too much investigation. Hence why Viper always has to behave anytime he… gets out of hand with one of his killings

“Cheers to a successful launch, Miss Bianchi,” Pray says when it’s all over. His smile, while wide and bright to the average onlooker, is clearly feigned.

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