Chapter 2 - “He’ll try to kill me,” she said, the realization hitting her. “Marcus or his father or his associates.”
“They will,” Vulov agreed, his face devoid of emotion. “They can’t afford a loose end like you. Julian is already having your apartment cleared out. You will not be going back there. You will, for all intents and purposes, cease to exist.”
The finality of it was terrifying.
“And if I say no?”
Vulov’s gaze hardened slightly.
“Then I will give you a new name, a new Social Security number, and a one-way first-class ticket to any city in the world that has no extradition treaty. I will consider my $100 million debt paid, and I will wish you luck. You’d be on your own.”
“On my own,” she repeated.
Hunted. Forever. Looking over her shoulder.
She looked back at his hand.
This was not a choice. It was the illusion of one. It was 1 cage for another.
But this new cage had a laboratory. It had power. And it had the 1 thing she had not had in years.
A purpose.
“I have a condition,” she said, shocked at her own audacity.
Vulov’s eyebrow rose.
“You’re in a poor position to negotiate.”
“I don’t care,” she said, finding a core of steel she did not know she still possessed. “I’ll make your product. I’ll make it perfect. But I want him. I want Aris Thorne.”
She saw the look in his eye and added quickly.
“I don’t want him hurt. I want him ruined the way he ruined me. I want my name cleared. I want the world to know he’s a fraud and that I’m the one who created that formula.”
Vulov was silent for a long moment. He studied her, his pale eyes searching for a crack, a weakness.
He found none.
He found only resolve.
Finally, he smiled. A true, thin, dangerous smile.
“Revenge,” he said. “A motive I understand completely. And far more reliable than money.”
He dropped his hand. The offer had been rescinded. This was a new deal.
“We will do it your way,” he said. “But first, we do it my way. You will prove your worth. You will make the product. Once the first shipment is complete, stable, and verified, I will personally hand you the matches to burn Aris Thorne’s world to the ground. Do we have an agreement, Dr. Sullivan?”
She met his gaze.
“We have an agreement, Mr. Vulov.”
“Good.”
He nodded. The business was concluded.
“Julian.”
His lieutenant, who had been standing silently by the elevator, stepped forward.
“Boss.”
“Dr. Sullivan will be staying in the secondary suite. She is our guest. She is to be afforded every courtesy. She is also not to leave this building without my express permission. Her new lab — is it ready?”
“Fulton Market warehouse is clean,” Julian said, his voice flat.
His dark eyes flickered to Clare, full of suspicion. He did not like this. He did not like her.
May you like
“The ventilation system was triple-filtered as requested. The new equipment from Germany arrives at 0600.”
“Excellent,” Vulov said. “You’ll have your lab by morning, Doctor. Tonight, you rest. You are no longer Clare the waitress. You are my new, very expensive, very secret head of research and development.”
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