Chapter 35 You, Me, and a Ransom #2
I’d have to give Ruth another raise. What that woman could discover within her network of spies across the city was worth my entire company in gold.
“I think you’re a dumbfuck clown who doesn’t know shit about real estate.” I tucked the phone back in my pocket and stood. “I also think you couldn’t pull off a ransom to save your fuckin’ life, and if your father finds out about this, you’re cooked.”
Ezra blanched.
Bingo.
“Y-you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I crouched down again, enjoying the way he cowered this time as I leaned closer. “Don’t I? Tell me, how do you think Bas is going to react to finding out his son lost nearly two and a half billion dollars on bad real estate?”
“Fuck you. Fuck you and the piece of trash you’re taking to the altar.”
This time, pinning him to the ground by his throat only took me one second.
“The—fuck—Black Prince,” he gasped. “There he is.”
I only tightened my grip. To hell with control.
“Listen to me, you cocksucking douchebag fuckwad,” I growled. “You think I like wasting my valuable time with fuckers like you? You think I’m interested in your feeble insults or limp-dick attempts at negotiation?”
He hacked under my hand but couldn’t get any real words out.
“I’m here for one reason only. So this is what’s going to happen: I’m going to give you double the money Selena Bishop owes you, plus a little bit of interest to make you go the fuck away.
And in return, Ezra, you are going to go away.
Because if you don’t, you know very well that Blackguard has its fair share of monsters, but the worst will be your father when he finds out what you’ve done with his money. ”
At that, I released him and stood. He thumped against the floor, gasping, though that expression quickly morphed into fury.
“You’ll pay for that,” he croaked.
“With what? You want to tell your dad on me too?”
He seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he tipped his head. “I want the farm back.”
I glared. “What fuckin’ farm? Did I not make myself clear? This isn’t a negotiation, you slimy fuck. You’re gonna take what I give you, and you’re gonna fuckin’ like it.”
“‘What fuckin’ farm?’” he mimicked my accent poorly and almost earned himself another lost tooth. “What farm do you think? The Bishop farm. Dandelion Farm. You removed it from the contracts, and it’s right in the center of the plans.”
I frowned. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
He laughed. “You didn’t know? It was the key to the whole thing.
We weren’t shorting the market, you asshole.
I’m developing the whole valley, just the way your brother wanted to, but with way more shit.
Fuck luxury getaways. We’re turning Vermont into the suburbs, and that dairy is the perfect site for a regional airport.
You want the girl? Give me the farm. Otherwise, I don’t fucking care what you do. I’ll be dead anyway without it.”
I stared at him for a long time.
Long enough to know he wasn’t lying.
That’s the thing about logic. If you do it right, you come to the same conclusion that any bit of rhetoric would have brought you to in the first place.
I was always going to have to give him the one thing he wanted if I wanted the one thing I wanted.
I swallowed painfully. And tried to imagine what Simone would want me to do.
It was an impossible choice.
Her family’s farm or her niece’s life.
I prayed I made the right one.
“Done.” I took out my phone and punched out a message to Liam. “You have three minutes.”
Ezra spat at me as he pushed up from the floor, though it didn’t even reach my shoes.
I shook my head. “Two, then. The contracts are being drawn up now.”
With a hiss like a caged cat, he yanked his phone out again and called the same person as before. “Bring up the girl. Now.”
A few minutes later, the elevator doors at the far end of the floor opened, and a tiny blond girl leaped out, followed by a hulking bodyguard. She raced into the middle of the empty construction zone before coming to a stop as soon as she saw me standing over Ezra’s prostrate form.
I strode over to meet her, then crouched onto my heels so that we were eye to eye. “Heya, sweetheart,” I said quietly, like I was talking to a caged animal.
She had blue eyes just like her mother’s. Like Simone’s.
Like my kid might if we ever had a baby.
What the fuck? Why was I thinking about that now?
“I know you,” she said. “Mommy and I saw you on TV. With Aunt Simone.”
“That’s right, honey. And you’re Kylie, right?”
She nodded, causing her matted blond curls to bounce. She needed a brush and a bath. Yeah, Ezra Huntington was gonna pay for this.
“Your aunt and your mom sent me here to get you,” I told her. “Will you come with me? They’re at my house, waiting for you.”
She examined me with the kind of doubt I could only be proud of. “I’m not supposed to go anywhere with strangers. But I don’t wanna stay with that guy either.”
She cast a very dirty look toward Ezra, now sitting up behind me, who only held his hands up and rolled his eyes. “Hey, she came to me, man. No kidnapping involved, right, kiddo?”
She glared a bit more, then turned back to me. “Can we go now?”
I nodded, then stood and took her hand and walked her back to the elevator. Before we stepped inside, I turned back to Ezra. “My assistant will message the contracts over today. But if I see you again, it’s off.”
He nodded, looking more than satisfied. “Pleasure doing business with you, Black.”
I let the doors close without responding, then pulled out my phone for another call. “Ronan.”
“What’s up, fuckstick? You wanna tell me why you’re waking me up at the ass crack of dawn? I just got to sleep an hour ago.” My brother’s voice was tired but alert. He always managed that, even if he was three sheets to the wind.
“I got the girl. Huntington’s on the move. He does anything other than go home, do what I asked.”
There was a long sigh. More fatigue, though when was my brother not tired? Ronan acted the fool, but he had, in some ways, had it harder than the rest of us.
But that was also why Dad had always known he could be trusted with the worst parts of the business.
Why I could trust him now.
“Got it,” he said.
The line went dead. And I turned back to the little girl watching me on the other side of the elevator car.
“Are you a bad man?” Kylie asked.
I blinked. “I don’t know. Do I look like a bad man?”
“No, but neither did that other guy, and he was, right?”
She had a cute voice. The kind that pronounced r’s like w’s. And she was surprisingly shrewd for someone who came to just past my knee.
Did all kids have the ability to see through the bullshit?
Would mine?
Fuck, I needed to stop thinking like that.
“He is a bad man,” I agreed. “I don’t know if I’m bad or not, but I’m trying to be good right now. Does that count?”
She examined me a little more and clutched her doll to her chest. “Does Aunt Simone think you’re a bad man?”
I swallowed. “I don’t think so.” Even if maybe she should.
Or maybe she shouldn’t.
Wasn’t I trying…for her?
“If you’re good enough for her, you’re good enough for me.” The kid brightened as another idea seemed to pop into her head. “Hey, we should go get some ice cream and bring it home. Mommy and Aunt Simone love ice cream. Then they’ll know you’re a good man.”
“Easy crowd.” I’d take whatever I could get. I still wasn’t sure I’d done the right thing with Huntington, but what other choice did I have? “Ice cream it is.”