Chapter 538
Chapter 538:
“He’s trying to use your port,” Skye continued, pressing her advantage. “The contract he wants you to sign? It likely has a clause for priority logistics access. He needs to move product, illegal product, to generate quick cash to pay off his loans before the audit next month p>
“If you sign with him,” Skye looked him dead in the eye, “you’re not getting a partner. You’re getting an anchor. When the feds hit him, and they will, they’ll take you down too as an accomplice p>
Lucian released her chin. He stood up and walked to the window. He looked out at the bleak landscape of the industrial park where they were hiding.
“Why tell me this?” he asked, his back to her. “You hate me. You want me dead p>
“I do,” Skye admitted. “But I’m a pragmatist. Right now, I’m your prisoner. Again. If Dominic takes over, or if you go down and his creditors come for your assets… I get sold to the highest bidder. Or I end up in a ditch p>
She swung her legs over the side of the bed. The floor was cold.
“I’m in the same boat as you, Lucian. Like it or not. You sink, I drown p>
Lucian turned around. A slow, terrifying smile spread across his face. It wasn’t a smile of warmth; it was the expression of a man who had just found a new weapon in his arsenal.
“You are a dangerous woman, Skye Sterling,” he murmured. “Smart. Too smart for Liam. Too smart for Alistair p>
He walked back to her, looming over her small frame. “You say Dominic is broke. Prove it. Find me the money p>
“What p>
“You destroyed my database. You cost me my leverage,” Lucian said coldly. “So you replace it. You have three days. Find me thirty billion dollars in liquid capital, or a deal that equals it. Do that, and maybe… just maybe… I won’t let Vargo have his fun with you p>
It was a test. A reprieve. And a trap.
Skye looked at his outstretched hand. She didn’t take it.
“Three days,” she said. “But I need access. A laptop. Secure connection. And coffee p>
𝘚u𝘱рor𝘵 𝘵𝘩e au𝘵𝗁𝗼𝗋 b𝗒 𝘳еа𝗱𝗶𝘯𝗀 𝗼𝗻 𝘣𝖾𝘭ո𝗼𝘷𝖾𝗹𝘴.сom
Lucian laughed. “Done p>
He walked to the door. Before he left, he looked back.
“Don’t try to run, Skye. Dominic is watching the perimeter. And he really, really doesn’t like you right now p>
The door clicked shut.
Skye let out a breath she felt she’d been holding for hours. She slumped back against the pillows.
She had bought herself time. But time was a currency that devalued quickly in hell.
The coffee was black, oily, and steaming with a menace that matched the room.
Skye stood by the mahogany bookshelf in Lucian’s makeshift office, her hands clasped in front of her like a dutiful secretary. It was humiliating. But humiliation was a coat she had learned to wear without letting it touch her skin.
Lucian sat behind the desk, shredding the contract Dominic had left behind. The sound of the paper tearing—zzzt, zzzt—was the only noise in the room.
“Garbage,” Lucian muttered, feeding the last page into the machine. “You were right. My contacts in New York confirmed it. Dominic is leveraging everything on a ghost shipment p>
He looked up at Skye. “You saved me a headache p>
“I saved your empire,” Skye corrected, her voice flat.