Page 35 of Darkness Tempt Me (Bloody Desires #7)

Chapter thirty-one

Mavik

A s soon as Hunter leaves the room, following after Peyton, Daniel peers over at me.

The man has me on high alert today. He’s up to something.

He doesn’t even glance at the contract before he pushes it aside.

“You know, my son had a thing for blonds, and that pretty assistant of yours is just his type.”

I grit my teeth. The caveman inside of me is angry at whatever the hell Daniel is implying. I remind myself that Drake is dead. I also don’t miss Daniel’s use of the past tense.

“Well, then,” I chuckle. “I’m glad I was able to lock Peyton down. I don’t think I’m much competition compared to Drake,” I lie.

Feeling unnerved by the old man’s stare, I tug the contract back toward me and start reciting what I’m offering.

It’s just a distraction, but I need Hunter to hurry up and clone Daniel’s phone.

I have a bad feeling about this whole meeting.

Five minutes later, Hunter quietly slips in, placing the phone on the other end of the table.

“Sorry about that, you two. I have an emergency across town. Did either of you have any questions?”

Daniel stands. “No questions, but I’m going to take this contract home with me for my lawyer to look at. Would that be okay, Mavik?”

“Sure, but please reach out to me within forty-eight hours. Until then, I’ll look forward to hearing from you.” I hold my hand out to Daniel, and he shakes it.

As soon as the asshole is gone, I turn toward Hunter. He holds up a finger and pulls out a device, needing to do a sweep for any recording devices. After a few minutes, everything comes out clear.

“Fuck,” Hunter says. “That man gives me the fucking creeps. I’m glad he never laid a hand on me when I was younger. I’m not sure I would have survived.”

Just then, a security alert pings on my phone, alerting me to a break-in. I pull up the camera feed. Daniel Sinclair is in my penthouse.

“Well, well, well. You aren’t where you were supposed to be,” Hunter says as he peers over my shoulder.

“Do me a favor, Hunt. Check the cloned device and scan its texts and emails. I wanna make sure there’s no paper trail saying he’s at my place.”

Hunter nods, pulling out his laptop. “Already on it. You gonna go up there and take care of the situation?”

I nod, already feeling the telltale thrum of excitement coursing through my veins. He’s the last one on my list. I’m this fucking close. “Once I get the all clear from you, I’ll stop him before he leaves. But I want to see what he’s looking for first.”

“He’s probably looking for his son, to be honest.”

I shake my head. “He’s not going to find anything. I’m going to take my time with this one. I might even keep him alive for an extra day or two.”

Hunter grins. “Sounds like fun. Want some company?”

I grin back. “Sure.”

Ten minutes later, Hunter and I walk into my penthouse together. Daniel doesn’t even hear us until I laugh. “Well, now, Mr. Sinclair. I’m going to have to say, breaking and entering automatically voids my proposal.”

Hunter ducks out of sight before Daniel whips around. Daniel pulls out a gun and aims it my way. “Where the fuck is my son, asshole?”

I hold up my hands so he can see I’m unarmed. Fuck, I didn’t expect Danny boy to have a weapon on him. I’m glad I texted Peyton, telling him not to come into the penthouse until the coast is clear. It would kill me knowing I’d placed him in harm’s way.

I make a wide circle around him, and I’m kind of surprised the old geezer doesn’t tell me to stop moving. Once Daniel is fully turned around, I start talking, giving Hunter the signal to move in.

“I know where you can find your son,” I say, my hands still in the air.

Hunter quietly sneaks up on Daniel, effectively disarming the old man before he even realizes what’s going on. One moment, Daniel thinks he’s in control, and the next, Hunter is aiming the gun at Daniel’s head.

I grin. “Oh, Daniel. Now I know why you never wanted to meet up with me all these years. That was too damn easy.”

“Fuck you,” Daniel spits. “Where’s my son?”

I shove him forward, silently leading him toward my playroom. “Oh, Drakey-Pooh? I bet all those greedy little fish have already devoured his remains.”

Daniel halts. “I don’t believe you.” Hunter shoves him forward as I open the door.

“I can show you the video,” I taunt. “I bet you’ll love the part where I removed his filthy eyes from his head.”

Daniel sways, looking like he’s going to be sick. Then he glances around the room we entered. “What the fuck is this place?” He asks.

Hunter laughs. “Don’t you know a playroom when you see one?”

Daniel’s eyes pop wide, and of course, that’s when he tries to run. I backhand him across the face, and he crumples to the ground. Dear lord, he’s killing my buzz. The man is too old to play with.

“Why are you doing this?” Daniel asks. “I had nothing to do with your pops. Your father was my best friend. I’d never hurt him.”

I burst into laughter. “You think this is about my old man? I killed him myself.”

Daniel pales. “Then why?”

“You really have to ask me that? This is about my mother,”—I tug the gun from Hunter’s grasp and slam the metal handle against his face—“and all the awful things you did to her.”

Daniel looks momentarily dazed before he chuckles.

“I always wondered who was picking us off one at a time.” He laughs again, spitting blood my way.

“Never would’ve guessed it was Baby Blackwood with some mommy issues.

” As soon as he finishes his sentence, which was, quite honestly, a good line, he starts coughing uncontrollably. The man is clearly falling apart.

I roll my eyes as he continues to cough.

Fuck . Daniel Sinclair is going to kill himself with old age before I can have any real fun with him.

I fish out my phone and frown when I don’t have any new texts from Pey.

The last text in the thread was sent from me, telling him not to come to the penthouse.

The text before that was from him with some random address.

I glance at Hunter, who’s currently leaning against the wall, looking bored. “Do you know what happened to Pey after you two cloned this vampire’s phone?”

Hunter chuckles at my joke. “Yeah, he wanted me to tell you he had to go help his brother pack or something like that.”

My blood runs cold. “What the fuck, Hunter? I didn’t want Peyton going to that abusive prick’s house without me.”

Hunter’s eyes widen with shock. “Abusive prick?”

Fuck. I check my phone again. This isn’t good.

Peyton always texts back within a couple of minutes.

He would have known I wanted him to check in.

I forward the address to Hunter. “Do a quick search for anyone named Connor at this location. I’m going to figure out what to do with Sinclair over here. ”

Daniel is wheezing now. Out of all my victims, none of them has ever been this…pathetic.

Hunter’s phone pings, indicating his search is done. “I got his socials. Here’s a photo of this Connor douche.” He flips the phone around so I can see. A fear like nothing I’ve ever experienced before ripples through me.

I always thought I’d spend hours taking Daniel Sinclair apart piece by filthy piece, but then again, plans have a way of changing on you when life happens.

Right now, my life revolves around my pretty little assistant.

Without a second thought, I raise Daniel Sinclair’s pistol and shoot him in the head.

Hunter’s mouth drops open. “Clean him up and meet me at this address. I’m going to go get my husband.”