Page 83 of Mercenary Princess

“Go through it. See what he had on you,” he demanded; then he turned for the wet bar.

She felt the color drain from her cheeks at his words. Her eyes shot to the information. The thumbnails. Descriptions. Photos. Videos. So many of her. Her friends. Her bedroom. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of Jean Luc watching her sleep. What else had he seen? Her getting off to thoughts of Viktor? She wanted to be sick.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, clicking files on autopilot, the pit in her stomach growing deeper with each opened file. Even with the volume turned down, the sound rang harshly in her ears.

Jean Luc had been watching her. He’d been playing with her. He’d known they were coming after him because somehow he’d pieced together their marks from the ledger. There were pictures of the tome. He’d gotten his hands on more than that accounting book, though. He had video of her as a kid.

Shocked revulsion radiated through her. How? It was of her, Irina, and Riot by the lake, where there shouldn’t have been any cameras. Who’d done this? She could hear her childhood secrets filtering through the speakers and knew she’d gone even paler as she heard herself speak of her mother sanctioning her father’s death, telling them her father had been a monster. A ringing had started in her ears as she witnessed her own shame and felt it again as if she were back in time. She forced it away.

She didn’t look at Viktor. Her mind was buzzing with the implications. She couldn’t force any of it out of her dry lips.

Her entire body had gone rigid by the time he spoke in clipped words. “This ends now, Sophia.”

Her eyes went to the muscle still ticking at his jaw and the flexing of his fingers on the glass.

He knew everything. A sad part of her was overjoyed that her secrets were out, that it somehow meant they could be together. Another part of her died a little at his harsh demand.

Standing tall and commanding, he laid out his verdict. “Give that hard drive to your friends, but you are not involved anymore.”

Something broke inside her. She stood on shaking legs, facing off with the man she loved. “Or what? I told you I won’t be controlled.” She’d had twenty-four hours of true freedom, and she wasn’t ever going to give that up, not even for him. She couldn’t.

He only stared at her with that banked fury. He didn’t take the words back.

After everything with her family and seeing what Jean Luc had been putting into play… no. He wouldn’t tell her she couldn’t live her life. “What I do is important.”

“Let others do it. Not you.” He stalked to her. “I won’t have you in constant danger. You’re safe now, but what next? You have nothing to fucking atone for, Sophia.”

That felt like a slap to the face. He’d heard all her secrets, listened to every word she’d spoken on those videos. “I’m not a doll you can play with and sit in a corner when you’re done. I will never be that.” Not again. Not for anyone.

Her heart was breaking apart as it hammered in her chest.

“What do you want, Viktor?” She felt herself forcing the words out. Would he want something to keep the information quiet? That possibility killed another part of her.

The anger that flashed in his eyes suddenly turned to hard steel. “I want you.”

“At what price? You watched all of this?” She shot a hand at the laptop, betrayal a sour taste on her lips. “You took it to keep me safe, right? But how much of it did you watch?” The man loved his secrets.

At any moment, she was going to break down completely, but she couldn’t do it there. She already felt flayed wide open. She bent and grabbed the hard drive, practically tearing it free. He said to give it to her friends, and she had every intention of doing just that.

As she reached for the door handle, she felt his eyes on her, felt his intensity and his seething anger. She knew she needed to ask more questions, but she didn’t want his answers, couldn’t handle them at the moment.

“I won’t budge on this, Sophia.” His low tone followed her out the door.

She lifted her chin. “Neither can I.”

Jen stepped to her side as she stalked from the room then the house. As soon as they exited the gate, she felt her eyes blur with tears she couldn’t force back. The emotion clogging her throat seemed ready to suffocate her, but she stayed silent as the tears streamed down.

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