Page 80 of Hunter's Revenge

“You’re going to follow up on what I said yesterday with the business opportunity. You can also tell Dru an investor took care of Conrad’s loan and you’re paying them back once you get everything set up.”

“And what is this business opportunity?” The whole idea sounds ridiculous.

“You’re the designer,Malyshka. Create something.” He emphasizes Malyshka, and I cringe inwardly. “You need to make them believe you’re going to be away for a while, and you’ll check in daily if you have to.”

I stare back at him and summon the strength to tell him once more that this is crazy.

“Somebody is going to suspect something somewhere along the line. It will most likely be Dru. She knows me too well. She knows I wouldn’t just up and leave to be away for any amount of time, and I would never get married without my best friend. If you let me go now, it should be fine. I can pay you back Conrad’s loan in a few months once my line has launched.”

He sits back and chuckles. “And how much do you think that loan is now that it’s in my hands?”

I glare at him. “It was a hundred and seventy-five thousand.”

“Unfortunately, it’s no longer that.”

My jaw drops. “You’re seriously going to put interest on it?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes, but men like me don’t always want money, because we have so much of it. We like to take payments in things like secrets and anything of value.”

He gives me a cold calculative stare that displays the wealth of darkness in him, and I’m almost afraid to look into his eyes.

“So, you want to take me?”

“I do want to take you, Gwen St. James. In more ways than one. This is just one way.”

I grip the edge of my chair and bite down hard on my back teeth. “This was never supposed to be my life. I want nothing to do with the Navarros.”

He flicks over his palms. “Not even for the billion-dollar fortune your father left you?”

Those words short-circuit my mind.Billion-dollar fortune, what the hell? “What are you talking about? I thought this was about taking over the cartel.”

“It is, but your father owned much more than just the cartel.”

“Like what?” I search my brain, but surely, I’d recall if my father had something worth so much. Grams would also have told me. If she knew. And if she was told to tell me. With so many secrets going around, there’s a chance she was told to keep it from me.

“Do you know the pharmaceutical company Astori?”

“Yes.” Everybody knows that company. They’re one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Surely, he couldn’t be saying that… “No way. Are you going to tell me my father owns Astori?”

“No.Youdo.”

My eyes pop wide, and I’m frozen to the chair. “Me?” My voice comes out in a hushed whisper.

“Yes. You.”

I shake my head. “How could I not know this?”

“The cartel is built on that company. It’s almost like a front for the real business, but both are empires. Astori produces legit drugs that have FDA approval, and the cartel combines it with other synthetic drugs to traffic worldwide without question.”

“Oh my God.”

“Your father never named you in his will, but the provision was for his daughter to take ownership of everything. To do so, you needed to get married and stay married for a minimum of six months.” He straightens and rests his hands on the table. “It is only through marriage that you would own the company and all his other assets, including the cartel, but in equal parts. That’s how it works. If after six months, the marriage didn’t work out, you would get to keep your share without the need to remarry. And obviously, if your husband died, you’d get his share, too. If your husband died before the six months, or wanted a divorce, you would be found a new one who would assume all the rights of the old one.”

I’m hanging on to every word like I have rope attached to them. I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and I’m even more confused now than I was before.

“I don’t know why he would do that and make such a big deal about hiding me. Why would he give me everything and never make a way for me to find out?”

“I think you were supposed to find out at some point, but for some reason, it never happened. The company was left to you in an irrevocable living trust, which would take effect the moment you turned twenty-one. So, I think it was important for him to keep you a secret until that time. It seems to me that he thought someone was going to kill you. Am I right?” He’s asking in a tone that suggests he already knows the answer but wants clarification.

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