Page 116 of Goldsin

I will tell him eventually ... Well, maybe. What will it get me in return? It’s not like he can go against his own boss. Or maybe he would, but the thought of Lucian killing another person I care about is too dark for me to entertain.

“Victoria is next on the list. I’ll invite her out to a secluded location and then strike.”

He hums, his eyebrows meeting in the middle, but he doesn’t stop walking.

I read his confusion and clarify, “Her mother played a part in her death.” I pause, weighing up my next words. “She used her as a living ashtray, Valentine. Made her crawl naked in a room full of people. She used and degraded her.”

“And her daughter will pay for her sins ...”

I sit up straighter. “She’s a member of the Inferno Consortium. Don’t insult me by trying to get me to believe she didn’t do fucked-up things.”

His lack of an answer is an answer in itself.

He knows what vile things those people do. His job involves preventing the things they do from leaving their circle. Cleaning up any traceable evidence.

“Don’t forget, there’s more at stake here than just vengeance. Victoria’s family is currently very valuable to the Harrows. Killing her could leave their business in serious trouble. Are you sure you want to do that to Julian?”

I want to do that to Lucian.I’m so very fucking sure.

“He knows what her family did to my mom. I’m sure he’ll want to give me a hand.”

He wants nothing more than to kill his father. At the very least, to make Lucian’s life a living hell. He won’t mind leaving me to have my fun with Victoria.

“All right, let’s discuss the plan.” He rolls a map of Seattle out on my lap, making a scene of pressing down the wrinkles on the paper.

“You know digital maps have been invented, right?”

He levels me with his gaze. “You’ll need to choose asecluded spot to lure Victoria to. But not so off-the-grid that it won’t be as easy to pin the crime on someone else.” He taps on an area in Downtown Seattle. “Something like this place.”

A wooded area near the outskirts of the city, with a few stores here and there.

“I have a better idea.” I can’t just invite her to an unfamiliar location like that. I need her to think she’s the one in control. “Do you still have that guy’s contact? The one who edited me out of the CCTV footage of Sulawesi Spice?”

“What do you have in mind?”

Picking up my phone, I scroll through our chat until I find Victoria’s phone number. “Can he erase any trace of text messages?”

“Of course he can. He gets paid for it—he can do anything I want him to.”

“Peeerfect.” I smile as I hit send.

He peeks at the screen. “What did you do?”

“I just invited her out for drinks.”

“And you think that will work?”

The phone pings, and I smirk at the screen.

Victoria:Ah, the golden girl ... Meet me tomorrow night atthe Cascade Grand Hotel. I have some things to take care of before then, but the rest of my night is free.

Another message arrives.

Victoria:I still have unfinished business with you after the way you disappeared from Lavish Eden.

I glance up at Valentine, basking in the way his eyebrows rise in disbelief. “She deserves to die with that stupidity.”

He shakes his head, rolling the map back into its original form and leaving the onion with me. “Remember, you have to be convincing.”

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