Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“Not this one.”
Hector was like a child. The more Cauldron said no, the more he wanted me. “You want me to give you a number? Give me her first.”
Cauldron didn’t flinch. “No.”
“You really want to lose this sale over a whore?”
Cauldron met his stare. “I don’t need your money, Hector. If you don’t want to lose these diamonds, you better get your shit together. Or leave—doesn’t make a difference to me. And she’s not my whore. She’s my lover.”
That was the wrong thing to say because Hector reached behind him and pulled out a gun.
I gasped.
Cauldron moved in front of me, the gun aimed at his chest. Fearlessly, he looked at the man who held him at gunpoint. “Your stupidity just cost you an additional five million dollars. Push me, and it’ll go up to ten.”
He had a gun pointed at him, and he was negotiating.
“I know how much you want these diamonds, Hector. Your wife’s birthday is coming up.”
Another pig…of course.
Hector lowered the gun and returned it to the back of his pants.
Cauldron moved quicker than I could see, throwing a punch and sending Hector to the floor.
I gasped again, not expecting it.
Hector blacked out for a second, and that was enough time for Cauldron to remove the gun and point it at his face.
Hector opened his eyes, staring straight down the barrel.
“Don’t fuck with me.” Cauldron pointed the gun at his shoulder and pulled the trigger.
Hector let out a howl and gripped his arm, clenching his jaw tight in agony.
Cauldron righted himself and returned to his seat, the gun still in his hand.
I watched the blood drip all over the deck. When Hector sat up, he got it on the white cushions. He continued to put pressure on the wound, but it was gushing everywhere.
Cauldron made no move to help him.
He winced as he sat down, his palm flat against the gushing wound. “Fucking asshole…”
“You want the diamonds or not?”
He was seething in pain, breathing hard and breaking out in a noticeable sweat. Now he didn’t stare at me at all.
How do you like that, bitch?
After a couple breaths, he gave a nod.
“Good.” Cauldron waved his men over.
The laptop was placed in front of him, and after he typed in some information, the laptop was turned to Hector.
He took much longer to enter the information, getting blood all over the keys in the process. One of the guys presented gauze and wrapped up his wound underneath his shirt to reduce the loss of blood.
When Cauldron took the laptop back, he entered in some kind of passcode and read the information on the screen. “Funds have been transferred. Congratulations, Hector.” The men boxed up the diamonds and escorted Hector back to his helicopter.
Cauldron didn’t turn to watch him leave. He refilled his glass and took another drink, unaffected by all the blood that had spilled across his immaculate white cushions.
I was still disturbed by the whole thing. A gun had been pointed at me momentarily. “Is that how your business deals usually go down?”
“He’s just an idiot.”
“Why didn’t you have a gun?”
“I’ve never needed one. No one has ever been that stupid.” He dropped a few ice cubes into his glass, shook it, and then took a drink.
As if the meeting had never taken place, he looked exactly the same as before Hector arrived. “I was surprised you stood in front of me like that.”
“Why?”
“Uh, because he had a gun?”
“Hector would never shoot me. But he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot you.” He took a drink. “If he can’t have you, then he’ll kill you so no one else can.”
“Real mature.”
“You’ll never have to see him again. Our business relationship is finished.”
“You still sold him the diamonds.”
“Because they’re tainted now.”
“Tainted?”
“Diamonds absorb light and reflect it as prisms. According to African legend, they absorb other things too. Blood. Evil. Bad energy…all kinds of things. Wouldn’t want to sell them to someone else at this point.”
He was such a callused man it seemed unlikely he would believe in bedtime stories. “And you believe that?”
“So what if I do?” He set the glass down and turned to me.
I gave a minuscule flinch when he looked at me head on, unprepared for the intensity of his gaze. Hector’s creepy stare was easy to combat, but this look…it made me feel weaker than I ever had.
“So what if I do?” he repeated, challenging me.
The stare was too difficult to hold, so I looked away. “Why did you tell him that?”
I heard the ice cubes tap against the glass as he took a drink. Heard the way they clinked against the sides when he gave it a swirl. “Tell him what?”
“That I’m not your whore.”
“You told me never to call you that.”
I lifted my chin and looked at him, surprised he would honor that request when he owed me nothing.