Page 141 of Wicked Refusal

“It’s not smart to testyou?” I’m practically doubled over. “You, who’ve never fought a single battle on your own? Who’s been hiding behind your daddy’s money your whole life?”

Brad starts fuming at the mention of his father. “That’s it,” he spits. “I was gonna show you mercy, but?—”

“Prizrak.”

Silence falls like a guillotine.

“What did you just say?”

I enjoy watching Brad’s face lose all color. “I think you know what I said.”

“You don’t know anything.” He looks like he’s trying to convince himself rather than me. “You don’t know?—”

“Oh, but I do know.” I take one step forward. “Prizrak. Desya Bogdanov. Need I go on?” I take Brad’s silence for an answer. “Wanna hear what I think?” Again, silence. “I think this all started with your dad.”

Again, the mention of his father is enough to twist Brad’s face into something animal. “You keep my father’s name out of your filthy mouth.”

I ignore him. “Daddy Baldwin always prized three things above all else: his money, his power, and his connections to dangerous people. More often than most, the latter was the reason he even had the other two. When he died, you inherited that part of his life, too.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Brad’s face takes a trip through all the colors of the rainbow. “My father was a great man. He made himself. He?—”

“He paid off the mob,” I cut in without sympathy. “Only, instead of having to go around pleasing all the powerful families in New York, he found the one organization who had them all under siege. A syndicate of cowards—just like him.”

“Don’t you dare.” Brad’s voice starts rising. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about him, you pathetic excuse for a bitch in heat!”

“And there it is.” I grin. “Your true colors. Nice of you to finally show everyone.”

His gaze darts to the side, panicked—and that’s when he realizes who’s there.

Kallie. Nikita. Mom. Dad.

And Ginny, too.

Her face is the most shocked of all. “Bradley…?”

He grits his teeth, but ignores her. “You don’t have shit,” he growls. “You wouldn’t be here if you did.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” I step closer again. The next time I speak, it’s with a whisper only we can hear. “Because, unlike you, I can show mercy.”

“Mercy?” he sneers. “You—you’dshow mercy tome?”

“Yes.” I keep my tone carefully even. “Because you’re still Eli’s father. And I’d rather you drop this quietly than have Yulian drop you to the bottom of the Hudson.”

“What’s your sugar daddy have to do with this?”

“Oh, my. You didn’t hear?” I lean in further. “Prizrak killed his family. Desya Bogdanov, too. What do you think is going to happen when I tell Yulian you’re in bed with the bastards he’s been hunting all his life? That your money is what paid for the bullets that took his parents and sister?”

Brad goes whiter. “No. That’s impossible.” He shakes his head. “My father would never. My father…”

Wow.He really didn’t know, did he?

I don’t feel bad for him for long. If he was in the dark about Baldwin Senior’s allies, it’s because he wanted to be. Because, when it comes to his father, Brad has a blind spot the size of Texas.

“You know he did.”

“Then you’d never tell him.” He’s sweating now, wiping his clammy palms on his pristine white suit pants. “He’d kill me, and you can’t have that. You swore an oath.”

“Maybe so,” I say coldly. “But you threatened my son. So I’ll swear a new one, here and now: Either you drop this suit, or I’ll give him the proof I stole from your laptop.”