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His back was turned, yet I didn’t mistake the mirth in his tone. I knew he was entertained by my bite. As much as a lion might’ve been by a kitten. But there was a warning there. He would only tolerate so much.
“Maybe you should find women to be your most trusted and ruthless soldiers,” I suggested.
“I am not unwise enough to make that decision,” he chuckled again, ice clinking. “Men are much more manageable than women.”
“As you have demonstrated,” he added quietly as he sat back down.
“I am not manageable at all,” I nodded. “And I will no longer be working for you, as I said last year. I thought it best to come here since, like most men, you don’t understand that no means no.”
His smile dimmed, and his posture stiffened as I scraped past the amiable exterior to the cold, revolting, evil man underneath.
“You are smart enough to understand, Calliope, that you don’t say no to me.” He swirled his drink. “Not now. I decide when you are done. You do not. Besides, what would you do with yourself? Spend more time babysitting … who was it? Ava? Mabel? June? The new one, Henry?”
My blood went ice-cold at those names coming out of his mouth, at his knowledge of them. I’d known the threat was coming, thought I was prepared for it. But how could you be prepared for such a thing?
Leaning forward, anger replaced my frigid fear. “I understand that you think that threatening children makes you powerful. But it makes you powerless. And worse, predictable.”
I reached into my purse then tossed a folder at him.
He didn’t react, didn’t reach forward to open it. I knew he wouldn’t. That would betray weakness.
“You cover your tracks well,” I told him. “Shell companies, aliases, tax havens, foreign officials paid off, various scapegoats.” I sipped my drink lazily, practically seeing sweat bead on his brow. “But you know the whole schtick about a woman scorned.” I put down my glass. “Now, I may not have ever lost enough self-respect to let you fuck me, but you scorned me, nonetheless. And many other women across the globe. And the scorned were the lucky ones.”
“Careful, Calliope.” He was becoming pissed off. But not worried. We were in his building, packed to the gills with men he paid to keep him safe and who ensured that people exited on his whim. He believed I was smart enough to understand that threatening him would mean I would never leave this building alive.
He was an old misogynist at the end of the day, so he underestimated my intelligence. And my balls.
“Careful?” I pressed my palm to my chest. “Me? Never.” I nodded to the folder again. “Since you so predictably threatened some of the most precious things in my world, turnabout's fair play. You’re too much of a cretin to hold things like family sacred, so I’ll hit you where it hurts. Every dollar you own is now in a holding account in my name. This took over a year of careful chess moves, calling in every favor I had and a lot of feminine rage.” I showed him my teeth. “And evidence that has you convicted ten times over in every country in this world, same with the politicians and law enforcement officials you’ve bribed or threatened to ensure that you’ll never see the inside of a jail cell.”
He was sitting straight now, his cheeks turning red, nostrils flaring in fury. But even better, in fear.
“You know you’ll never walk out of this building alive,” he scoffed, feigning power, confidence. “One press of a button, and I’ll have men in here to kill you. Maybe, I’ll make them strip youdown, get my cock in there so it’s the last thing you feel before you die.”
“There it is.” I crossed my legs, leaning back in my chair. “The mask of civility is off, and you’re proving you’re just like every other small-dicked, insecure asshole. Death and rape. If it ain’t broke, right? Good enough for dictators, presidents and every asshole who came before you.” I narrowed my eyes in challenge. “Press the button.”
I knew about his button. He had various devices in the room to safeguard his survival, even in his fortress in the middle of the city. He was a paranoid fucker. Which was why he’d stayed on top and alive for so long.
Until then.
He flipped open a latch on his chair, pressing the button. I knew that because his eyes swung expectantly to the set of doors I’d entered.
No one came.
Panic flared in his eyes as he reached to the hidden compartment in the chair that held a revolver. He didn’t carry arms on his person. He thought it was gaudy.
He thought he was untouchable.
A shadow moved from behind him, soundlessly. He didn’t even know he was there until he had a syringe in his neck and poison injected directly into his bloodstream. Gregory slapped his hand upward, but it was too late. His body flailed as he tumbled off the sofa.
I stood, marveling at how quickly the poison worked. I’d elected it because it was the quietest, least messy and served our purposes to create the cleanest death possible. Cause of death could be a heart attack. I didn’t need a splashy murder, didn’t want to take any credit, didn’t want the attention.
Poison was a woman’s weapon, but I’d paid a man to do my dirty work.
“You were right to fear having a woman in your inner circle,” I told Gregory’s twitching body.
He spasmed one last time, then his body went still. My heart rate remained steady as I watched possibly one of the most prolific killers in the entire world take his last breath.
I looked up at Knox Rhodes. His ice-blue eyes were glacial and made me uneasy even though I knew he was one of the good guys. Or one of the bad guys on my team.