Page 5 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

I turned around and met her eyes. She didn’t look afraid, more pensive.

“Okay… sir.”

Fuck.

If she was going to insist on saying it when her voice dripped with sarcasm, she was going to find herself in deep shit. I wasn’t the type to grant mercy, not when it came to my pets.

“Do we have an agreement?”

“I don’t really have any other choice.”

“Life is full of choices. You can still go home to your father, and I will forget this little interlude ever happened. Or you can stay. It’s up to you. I’m not forcing you.”

She chewed on her bottom lip.

I would never forget the sight of her covered in blood in my office, but she didn’t need to know that. Better she thought she could walk away now without any repercussions from me. I might not be a good man, but I wasn’t a monster either.

“If I stay, I become what? Your…”

“You becomemine.”

“And what if I want to leave when everything between my father and McGovern is over? Can I do that?”

My lips curved up.

“If I feel your debt to me is paid, yes.”

I couldn’t always be called fair, but I was a man of my word. It’s why I was careful with them.

“If… you say that like it will never happen.”

“Please me and do as I say, Arianna, and I will set you free when you wish to leave.”

The unspoken words hung in the air between us.

Displease me and you will face the consequences of your actions.

“Okay. Fine. I agree. Now, will you help me?”

I dug my phone out of my pocket.

“Where is your uncle’s body?”

She rattled off an address as I put the phone to my ear.

“All right, Z?” came Penn’s voice as he answered.

“I need you to get rid of a problem.”

I wasn’t in the mood for his shit tonight. Penn could be in one of two moods. Either he was flirting with anything with a pulse, or he was in full-blown psychotic ‘I will kill anything that moves’ mode. I preferred the former. That Penn was less problematic.

“What kind of problem we talking this time?”

Penn was the only Fixer I used in London because the psycho was good at what he did. The best. If it wasn’t for that, I would have nipped his little stalking of one of my employees in the bud. Remi hadn’t come to me, and I was inclined to let her deal with it on her own. I had a soft spot for her, but not in some weird fucked up sexual way. She was more like a little sister I wanted to keep safe. If she needed me to handle Penn, I would, but she didn’t.

“A dead problem.”

“Text me the address and I’ll see to it.”

---