Page 65 of Vicious Kingdom

It was hard to believe someone like Hertz could outmatch me on the field of business. That’d been a costly mistake, one I was remedying right now.

“I have it in my power to destroy your business.” I set my briefcase on the desk in front of the men.

The tension thickened across the room.

“Then why haven’t you done it?” Alfred countered, bracing his hands on the desk.

“He wants something,” Jon murmured, watching me with wide eyes.

“Or he’s bluffing,” Alfred mused.

Snapping the buckles of the case, I opened the lid. The first folder of documents fell between the men. Alfred didn’t move, but his brother flicked open the file. His sharp inhale cut through the room.

“How did you find these?” Jon gasped.

“Does it matter?” Alfred kept his attention focused on me. “He clearly has connections.”

I did. Although I didn’t have the first clue who they were. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Of course you do,” Alfred spat. “And what do you want in exchange for your silence?”

Oh, I’m not giving you my silence.I would play nice, bide my time to strike. But first, I was taking the one thing I shouldn’t want and was determined to have.

The media mogul pinned me with a calculating look. He was willing to pay, but he was also determined to fight me.

Taking a deep breath, I laid my offer down. “I want Annaliese—as my wife.”

Jon blinked. “You’ve got to be joking!”

But Alfred only watched me. Surely, he knew the animosity between his daughter and me. After ourdatethe other night, any good father would wave a shotgun in my face, not sit there and consider giving his child to such a monster.

Yet he didn’t flinch. “Done.”

“Alfred!” Jon gasped. “How can you say such a horrid thing?”

The man lifted a shoulder. The hairs of his goatee twitched with his sly smile. “This gives him an excuse not to strike. She’s the reason he never owned a controlling share. Her little stunt of rebellion tipped us off, gave us time to shore up our business, and prevent him—and any other sharks—from stealing what has been in our family for generations.”

What he didn’t know was that I intended to take his company apart, brick by brick. This blackmail allowed me to have Annaliese, however, and I was going to play every angle.

“This isn’t the olden days. We can’t do this!” Jon protested.

“We can,” I insisted.

“He’s right. And it will be fitting to seal her in the fate she once thought she so desperately wanted,” Alfred laughed humorlessly. There was a definite flare of triumph in his eyes, a bitter, terrible gleam that soured my gut.

As cruel as the bargain was, it was a devil’s deal. The sweetest ambrosia laced with poison. It was as fine as strategy got, andif he hadn’t made it so personal, I would have admired the cunning. A trickle of dread pooled in my stomach, because this wasn’t just a business maneuver.

Lust, ambition, power—it all drove me. But the bastard was counting on more than that. He was counting on one fatal flaw to save his own skin.

He hedged his bet on the belief that I wanted her.

I do want her.

The admission hit me like an uppercut to the chest. The air huffed from my lungs. Hertz gave me a quizzical look, but before he could comment, I glared at him.

“Let me get this straight, you want to marry my niece instead of taking our business?” Jon repeated, stalling and buying time.

My blood warmed. Marry Annaliese. It sounded surreal. “I do.”