“How…how is that a choice?”

“It is. You’ll always have a choice with me, Aurora. Be smart. After what you did to Maxim, I expect that of you.”

“I told you not to say his name,” I snap.

He watches me peculiarly for a second. I expect him to invade my space again and confiscate my oxygen, but he turns around and leaves with the same savage power he walked in with.

Air whooshes back into my lungs and I fall on the chair, my heels scraping against the ground. It’s like he stole my thought process, and I can now have it back.

Or not really.

Now the air is thick with his indecent proposal that’s hanging over my head like a guillotine. I’m not an idiot. I know Jonathan wouldn’t pay so much money for pussy. I mean, he’s the Jonathan King. He can have whomever he wishes.

So why me? What the hell does he want from me?

The door opens and Layla rushes inside holding two cups of iced coffee. “That bastard had a smile on his face as he left. That’s not good, is it?”

“We’re screwed, Lay.”

We sit across from each other as I tell her all about Jonathan’s proposal and the price he demands I pay.

“That piece of S!” She jumps to her feet, pacing the length of the office and slurping from her coffee cup. “You can sue him for sexual harassment.”

“He didn’t force me. If anything, he wants me to be one hundred per cent willing.”

“D. I. C. K,” she spells out.

“There’s something else, Lay.”

“What? What is it?” She crouches in front of me, her mouth releasing the straw with a gentle pop and dread forming a crease on her forehead.

“I don’t think I’m his endgame. There’s something else I can’t put my finger on.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm. I must say, it makes sense. He’s Jonathan King, right? He wouldn’t pay so much for a mistress.”

My nose scrunches at that word. I can’t believe the bastard actually suggested that he gets…me. Out of all things, it had to be that.

“Is it because of your sister?”

“What?”

“You’re a carbon copy of her, even Ethan noticed that. Surely Jonathan noticed it, too. Maybe he wants you to be her replacement.”

“That’s…sick.”

“I know, but this is Jonathan. He’s kind of sick. You can tell that underneath all the silver fox appearance, there’s a Satan’s spawn. You can’t eliminate any possibility.”

“You know, I always hated him because Alicia had acute depression and he made it worse. I could feel it even when I was a little girl. And remember those articles that speculated she didn’t die because of an accident but from committing suicide? I believe them, Lay. I believe he’s the major reason my sister could’ve made that decision. And now, I have to relive her fate?”

“Oh, come here.” Layla wraps an arm around my shoulder. “You won’t, okay? We’ll start from scratch. Just the two of us, like when we were fresh out of uni and clueless. Remember those times we stayed up all night? You have the talent and I have the brains. We can totally do this again, mate. Jonathan King can suck our Ds.”

I laugh despite myself. “How about our employees?”

“We can keep some and help others search for work. Many small businesses do that.” There’s a sadness in her voice as she speaks.

I shake my head. I can’t do that to her and to them. Layla and I spent too many sleepless nights to stop now or to allow Jonathan to bring us down.

Besides, I doubt he’d leave us alone. If we choose to walk away, there’s nothing that would keep him from coming after me again. Knowing him and his ruthless ways, he might even let us prosper for a while just so he could swoop back in and announce ownership of our new company like he did today.

I won’t spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder because of Jonathan King.

I’m already doing that because of another devil. I’ll never let it repeat.

Jonathan wants to have me?

Fine.

But he’ll regret every second of it.

10

Jonathan

Contrary to popular belief, the key to being a mastermind isn’t your ability to plot. It’s, in fact, your ability to predict your opponent’s moves before they make them.

To win, you can’t be taken by surprise or driven out of your element. It should be the other way around.

That’s how I conquer.

How I win.

How I drag everyone down so I’m the only one who rules over them.

Aurora is nothing but the latest addition to my collection. I have no doubt she’ll come tonight. It’s not speculation. It’s a fact.

According to the information Harris gathered about her, she started H&H with her black belt friend as soon as they were out of university. They even began planning and submitting requests before graduation. She poured more than six years of sweat and sleepless nights into that company. And according to their numbers, they were doing well.

If it weren’t for their accountant’s embezzlement, I wouldn’t have gotten in that easily. It still wouldn’t have been impossible, even if they were stable. However, it would’ve taken more time than I had to spare.

Time is the crown no one can acquire, and if I’d missed this chance, Ethan would’ve won.

Which is out of the question.

I had to lose a few favours in order to win over the bank director and Lucien Vincent. The first was easy to appease with a subsidiary that brings in five times more net profit than H&H. It’s Lucien that was a bit of a problem. Sebastian Queens, the prime minister and one of my biggest allies, doesn’t like him due to some idiotic jealous episode over his wife.

Lucien’s condition to let go of those shares was partnering up with King Enterprises for import and export between the United Kingdom and his main factories in France.

Since I needed to get my hands on his H&H shares, I agreed. Sebastian will probably complain if he finds out, but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

His reason for hating Lucien is foolish in the first place, and absolute blasphemy in the business world. If he didn’t want his wife to fall in Lucien’s hands, he shouldn’t have divorced her.

But I digress, slightly.

Now that the core pieces have fallen into place, all I have to do is sit and wait until Aurora shows up.

Harris is with me in my home office, going through data for the joint project Ethan and I have been working on for the Rhodes Conglomerate.

Sooner or later, I’ll buy him out of it. Or, more accurately, kick him out.

The problem with Ethan is that he’s too tenacious and doesn’t give up.

We’ll meet again.

His words to Aurora today play on a loop at the back of my head.

I tighten my grip around the glass of cognac, then place it on the table.

There will be no seeing her again. Ethan’s fucking nerves know no limit. How dare he get close to Aurora after everything that happened with Alicia?

Sooner or later, he’ll pay for driving her to her death, and no, the years he spent in coma don’t count. But before that, he and Aurora will remain continents apart.