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“Are you sure?” she demanded tightly, getting down to the heart of the matter. “I distinctly remember you wanted to sleep with me, and I told you I wasn’t the sleeping around type. So you suggested we get married.”
“What the hell are you trying to say? For chrissakes, just spit it out.”
“That it was more about the sex for you than anything else, Nick. Certainly not love. You want me to spit it out? Well, here it is. Tell me straight. Do you love me?”
His quick intake of breath made her insides clench hard. She watched his expression transform until his features hardened.
“Love is a four-letter word tossed around far too often and for too carelessly for it to mean anything. You want to know what’s more important? If I hadn’t wanted a wife, I wouldn’t have asked you to marry me. I certainly wouldn’t have spent six fucking months with my heart in my throat, wondering every day if today would be the day I received divorce papers. And I would certainly not have spent every single minute of those six months wanting to strangle you for what you were putting us through. But I think what’s more important here is whether or notyouregret this marriage. Whether you’re willing to walk away again based on the absence of a four-letter word.”
CHAPTER 9
“Well?” Nick demanded.
He moved from the window and stood in front of Belle, invading her space. His ice-cold stare bore into her expectantly. Numbed shock had invaded her entire being at his diatribe against love. Before she could even formulate a thought, the phone on his desk buzzed.
He snatched it up. “Yes?” He listened, then frowned and moved closer to his desk. After tapping a few keys on his computer, he picked up the small remote and aimed it at the video conferencing screen on the far wall.
The screen flashed up to show Spiros Theodakis, Nick’s assistant, seated at a desk with a security guard standing behind him.
“When did the package arrive?” Nick put the phone down and addressed his employees.
“It came by courier half an hour ago.” His assistant looked nervous, as any man would with a burly security guy hovering over him like a dark shadow.
“It’s been checked for incendiary devices, sir. It’s clean,” the security guard said.
Nick nodded. “Open it.”
The first item that fell out made his blood boil hot and thunderous in his veins. Standing beside him, Belle gasped as the security guard picked up the ten-by-twelve picture and held it held it up to the screen. The picture was of her.
He turned to her. “Where was that taken?” he asked.
“At the marketplace in Nawaka, I think on my second week.”
“Christos,” he said under his breath. Inhaling sharply, he turned back to the screen and asked, “What else is there?”
Spiros peered into the padded enveloped then reached in. “A flash drive. We need to make sure it’s malware-free before we open it. I’ll get IT?—”
“It won’t be.”
Spiros frowned. “Sir? Do you know who sent it?”
“I have a good idea. This isn’t about corporate espionage, Spiros. This is personal. It’s a message for me. But just to be on a safe side, use a laptop not connected to the company server.”
“Sure,” Spiros jumped up. “I have a spare one in my office. I’ll just go and get it.”
He went off screen. Nick pressed a button on the remote, and the screen went blank. He turned to her. “Are you all right?”
Belle found the strength to nod despite the fear suddenly coursing through her. “He’s sending us a message, isn’t he?”
Nick’s nostrils flared with barely repressed rage. “Looks like
it.”
“What if it’s…not good?” she asked, knowing that it wouldn’t be.
“Then I’ll make sure I deliver my own message in a way that makes him wish he’d died in that cave with his men.”
She shivered at the menace in his voice. When he pulled her close and kissed her temple, she closed her eyes and burrowed into his strength.