Page 120 of Desperate Crimes
The crack.
The hesitation.
She doesn’t say anything—but that silence? It carves a canyon into the center of me.
Adrik clears his throat, dragging my gaze back to his.
He narrows his eyes.
“I think the ladies should retire while we discuss the terms, gentlemen. Then we’ll see what kind of man you really are, Junior.”
And I brace myself—because what happens next might just split the ground open beneath us.
Behind me?
The woman I love is too quiet.
Too still.
I’ll fix it later.
I have to.
Because if she starts to believe she was part of a strategy, I’ll lose her.
And I’d rather burn this whole goddamn empire down than let that happen.
Chapter Thirty-One-Leanna
I hear his voice, but it sounds far away.
Like it’s coming through layers of glass and velvet and smoke.
A merger.
An empire.
A proposal built behind my back, but maybe not for me this time.
The words come at me like smoke and silk.
Rare-earth commodities, ports, legitimate.
So clean. So calculated.
And Nico, my husband? He is the one delivering it.
The Viper with an ivy-league law degree and a silver forked-tongue.
I don’t even recognize him.
He’s speaking with the same mouth he used to whisper filth into my ear just nights ago.
Gesturing with the same hands that cradle my face so tenderly in the dark, like I’m something holy.
And yet here he is now—poised, impenetrable, brilliant—dropping the crown jewel of international strategy on my father’s lap like it’s a bouquet of flowers and not a bomb.
A gift. Or maybe a bride price.
