“But I don’t want to vanish! Please!”
“Yes, well, I don’t want my girlfriend being murdered, either,” Ryan snarled. Which brought them to his new plan. “Take out your phone,” he ordered the waiter. “Slowly.”
Fumbling, Edward yanked out his phone. Not slowly. Awkwardly. With panic-stricken movements.
“You’re going to make a phone call right now. You’re going to call the man who sent you the orders for Simone’s hit.”
Edward nearly dropped his phone.
“You’ll tell him that you failed. You’ll tell him that I am incredibly pissed off. And you will tell him that if Frederick wants to save his business—and his own damn life—he will come to this hotel, personally, and he will talk to me.” Low, angry words. Rage swirled in Ryan’s gut. This prick wanted to kill Simone. Shoot her or stab her. Take her from me.
Edward had not called anyone on his phone. Fear flashed on his face. “H-he’s not gonna want to?—”
Ryan was on him. He pressed the tip of the knife to Edward’s throat. “You wanted to kill her.” His rage flared hotter. Harder. A rage that he’d tried to keep banked.
He saw Edward’s eyes go wide.
Even Charlotte tensed.
“She belongs to me, and you wanted to take her.” A slow, negative shake of Ryan’s head. “That will not happen. You tell your boss that no one will be taking her. If something happens to Simone, I will burn down the world. Frederick will beg for mercy. Tell him that. He will beg. And then I’ll destroy everything that Frederick values. Everything.”
Edward’s jaw dropped.
“Make the fucking call,” Ryan barked.
“Y-you sure you don’t want to tell him yourself?”
“Dial. Now.”
Edward’s shaking fingers flew across the face of his phone.
Charlotte and Jamar shared a very telling look.
Yeah, so he sounded a bit unhinged. That was the way he was playing the scene. The unhinged, super protective lover. And maybe the role felt way too real when he thought of anyone hurting Simone. Maybe he felt unhinged. Super protective.
“Hot,” Simone whispered.
His head jerked her way.
“I don’t care what anyone else tells you, but it is seriously hot when you threaten to destroy a person’s world for me. That’s the kind of sweet talk that a woman loves to hear. Or, at least, it’s the kind I like to hear. Full disclosure, I’ll burn down the world for you, too. Would not even hesitate.”
He could not get a handle on her. He was also pretty sure that Simone might drive him to the very edge of his sanity. Then beyond.
But the phone was ringing and he had a job to do.
“Hello?” A British voice. Male. Familiar. Not Frederick, though.
“It’s…ah…it’s Edward…”
“I fucking know. I have called ID.” The voice turned sharper. “Is the job done already?”
Edward had put the call on speaker. “N-not exactly, Hugo, ah, sir.”
Right. Ryan had already recognized Hugo’s voice.
“How hard is it to put a bullet in a woman’s brain?” Hugo demanded.
Simone cleared her throat. “A lot harder than one might imagine. Also, it’s a super dick move.”
