He got to his feet and grabbed his gun.He didn’t think Helena was anywhere close, but he still didn’t like any of this.“Helena.”
“So you remember me.I’m pleased.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.What do you want?”
“Just to say hello.I can’t call an old colleague to check in on him?”
“Cut the bullshit.”
Unfortunately for Vale, Cyril was home.He immediately realized something was going on, and his eyes were wide when he stepped into the living room.Vale wanted to tell him to leave, but he knew what Cyril would tell him if he tried that.
With a resigned sigh, he put the phone on speaker.He also pressed a finger to his lips so that Cyril understood that he needed to be silent.Vale wouldn’t be surprised if Helena knew she was on speaker, but he didn’t need her to turn her attention to Cyril.
She chuckled.“I thought you would’ve grown out of your impatience, but I see that I was wrong.You know what I want, Roux.”
“I’m not handing myself over.If you’re going to try to kill me, you’ll have to work for it.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything different from you, but see, I have a problem.I have other people to attend to, which means I need to be quick.It would be easier for everyone if you would just hand yourself over so I can kill you.”
Cyril bit on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, and Vale quickly squeezed his shoulder.As much as he didn’t want his boyfriend to freak out, he knew it was impossible.Hell,hewas freaking out, and this was his job.
“I’m afraid my answer is no.”
“Are you sure?Because I think that if you really love your boyfriend as much as you seem to, you’ll want to keep his mother safe.And what about his assistant?Sweet Robbie?We wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, would we?”
Cyril sucked in a breath, but he was still silent.He was also panicking, and there was nothing Vale could do to help.Helena knew what she was doing.
She always did.
She worked well.She was always prepared, and today wasn’t any different.She’d known that Vale wouldn’t hand himself over, so she’d looked into him.She’d found the names of people he cared about, and she was threatening them.
“Nothing has to happen to them.If you surrender, I’ll let them go,” she said sweetly.
Vale snorted.“I know you too well.What else do you want?”There was no way she only wanted him to surrender.She enjoyed the chase.She liked seeing the fear in people’s eyes.She liked hunting them.This wasn’t fun for her, which meant there was something else there that Vale needed to know.
“Well, I looked into your boyfriend.He’s an interesting man.He can come with you when you surrender and work for me.”
Of course she wanted Cyril.Vale should’ve known.“How about no?”
“Don’t you think Cyril would want to be asked?After all, this is the only way to keep the people he cares about safe.”
“As if you’re not going to kill me anyway.”
“Oh, I wasn’t talking about you.I was talking about his mother and Robbie.There’s nothing he can do to saveyou.”
“I don’t think his answer would be any different if he was here.He’s not going to surrender to you.He’s never going to work for you.”
Helena tsked.“That’s a pity.It would’ve made things much easier, but now, I’m going to have to do this the hard way.Think about that, all right?Maybe you can talk about it and decide together what would be best for everyone.Just know that by the time this is over, you’ll be dead and he’ll be working for me.I don’t care how many bodies I have to leave behind to make that happen.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Cyril suddenly snapped.
Vale turned wide eyes to his boyfriend.Cyril was pale, but there was a flush to his cheeks, and he looked angrier than Vale had ever seen him.
* * * *
CYRIL WAS ANGRY.HEwasn’t sure what had been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but he’d had enough.Helena could take her threats and shove them where the sun didn’t shine because he didn’t care about any of it.He needed her to get out of his life, and he needed her to do itnow.
There was a moment of silence.Cyril wasn’t sure what Vale was thinking, but when Helena spoke again, she sounded delighted.
