Page 91 of Lady of Darkness
My lips pull to the side. “I mean, you could’ve been nicer about it, I guess.”
Theo laughs. “Oh yeah? How? Waltz into your bedroom and sing you a song?”
I smile. “No. I don’t regret how it happened. You obviously won.”
Taking the bar of soap, I walk over to Sterling, lathering his chest as I gaze into his eyes.
His hand comes around my wrist, and I drop the soap on the ground. There’s such intensity burning in green eyes as they stare into mine that my pulse speeds up.
“We always win, little monster.”
EPILOGUE, PART ONE
Alaric
Four Years Later
I steeplemy hands in front of me on the table. The guys are seated on my side of the large conference table, and Harlow across from us. Her eyes narrow into a withering gaze as she leans back and crosses her legs, her black heels tapping against one of the legs of the table. London crawls with people below us, and the floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the river Thames. Tucking her hair behind one ear, she clasps her hands together and makes eye contact with all of us before flicking her dark blue eyes back to me.
“Is there a reason you’ve called me into this room?” she asks, her tone sardonic and annoyed all at once.
Theo lets out a whoosh of air as he leans back. “I think you know exactly why we’re here, little monster.”
He slides a piece of paper across the table. She leans forward, and her eyes scan the drafted contract he came up with months ago in anticipation of this day. Her expression goes from slightly irritated toreally fucking aggravatedin about two seconds flat, and her golden skin pales before turning pink. We’ve provoked her, but we knew exactly what we were doing by bringing her here. She clears her throat and crosses her arms as her eyes bore into Theo’s. I see her jaw tick as she cocks her head and waits for him to continue.
“Did you have a chance to read over the terms?” he asks, rolling his tongue around the inside of his cheek.
“I did. And I don’t agree with them.”
Theo’s eyes narrow as he glances over at me. I am pressing my lips together to keep from smiling.
“Which part?” he asks smoothly.
She scoffs. “Please. This is so ridiculous. I can’t believe you hired out an entire penthouse conference room for this bullshit pomp and circumstance. I also can’t believe yourememberone dumb thing I said four years ago–”
“Dumb?” I ask quietly, my voice nearly a whisper. “You think the continuation of the Lords of Darkness is dumb, Harlow?”
She rolls her eyes.There she is.“Of course it’s dumb! You brought me here, to London, and now you want me to sign some crazy contract about surrogates and sperm donors,” she hisses. Her eyes flick to the paper again. “Oh, sorry, I read that part wrong. I’m to agree to thatafterwe produce an heir not intended for Lordship? Am I reading that right?”
“You are,” Theo retorts, one side of his lips quirking up.
She slides the paper back to him. “I’m not interested in the proposal you’ve outlined here.” Her gaze is hard and cold as she assesses Theo, and I press my fingers together a bit harder to distract myself from smiling.
God, she’s fucking sexy when she’s negotiating.
There’s a reason every single crime syndicate out there fears the Lady. She’s ruthless, and she’s carved herself quite the reputation in our world.
We trained her to be as good as us.
But she ended up being better at everything.
Even Theo’s computer skills, which disturbs him to no end.
She places her palm flat on the table and drums her nails along the shiny mahogany. Her posture remains rigid and composed—she doesn’t falter once.
We’ve trained her well, but she was the one who took it one step beyond and became a legend in her own right.
“This is not a choice,” Theo murmurs, his voice low and rough.
