Page 34 of Dirty Little Vow

I ignore his hand and lock him in a direct stare. “I’m not big on the façade of a handshake nor am I my father. I have zero interest in the games apparently you and he enjoyed.”

His hand lowers. “Understood and respected. I do believe it was my father that sparred quite readily with Hawk Senior.”

“If I remember the file correctly, and I have a very good memory, your father died two years ago, and you are, in fact, in charge. Which makes you the man playing games.”

“I’m getting your attention,” he replies dryly. “It’s not a game. It’s a matter of survival of the fittest.”

My jaw tics. “You took Bella to get my attention,” I say flatly, but I don’t give him time to answer. “You turned a man who could be an ally into an enemy. I’m questioning how that’s a win for you.”

“Your father—”

“Is not me.”

“How would I know that?”

“Ask,” I bite out. “And the very fact that you didn’t think of that speaks to your character and defines mine with you.”

His eyes glint. “You’re digging around in my business.”

“My father threatened to release a case file that would ruin you and me. He also liked to play the games you’ve proven you play as well. I can’t find the file, and my memory of the trial is vague at best. All I’m trying to do is figure out if the damn file is even real.”

He turns my own question back on me. “Why not ask?”

“Your name is not trustworthy,” I reply instantly.

“Neither is yours, based on your connection to your father.”

“Not a reason to take Bella.”

“I never said I did.”

“Bullshit me and treat me like a fool, and I swear to God, I will walk out of the door, and go straight to the FBI. Is she okay?”

He doesn’t immediately respond, the lines of his face sharp, his jaw clenched, which tells me he’s trying to read me, and if he can’t, he’s a fool. I’m an open book of fucked-up and anger, which mixes together in what he should call poison. “Yes,” he says, no hesitation, “she’s safe. I mean no harm to Bella.”

“Then let her go.”

“She’s in a hotel room,untouched.I’ll give you a key when we’re done.”

“Hotel room?” My tone is an acid whip and I want to throttle him and throw him against the wall. “Why is my future wife in a hotel room? Who’s with her? Because he doesn’t have much longer to live if he touched her and neither do you.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Tyler

“Then it’s true,” Knox observes. “Youdolove her.”

“Who’s with her?” I repeat, and my impatience is not his friend. He’ll find that out soon, perhaps not soon enough

“No one,” he replied. “She’s tied up.”

“You bastard,” I snap, and with the idea of her suffering, ropes on her arms and legs, I’m barely holding my fist by my side instead of planting it in his face. “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“She’s untouched. Nothing, and no one, has harmed her.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Shehasbeen harmed, and if you think I will forget that ever in this lifetime, you’re wrong. You think the fact that I love someone makes me easier to manipulate? My father tried to find something to entertain him, and obviously your family did. This isn’t about entertainment to me. It’s about life to me, and she is my life. I will blow your world up, and mine along with it, to protect her and avenge her, so I suggest you start talking and make this right.”

He stares at me again, and while he might read as stone to anyone else, I can feel his unease, his certainty he’s made a wrong judgment. “Let’s sit.”

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