Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
The guy stepped out first and motioned for me to follow him.
We passed the hostess desk and turned toward the main room, a large window against the back wall that showed Paris below. Dozens of tables were covered in white tablecloths, but only one table was in use.
Bastien sat at a table for four, surrounded by three other men while they smoked and drank, the only people inside the restaurant. Bastien’s back was to me, so he didn’t see me enter the dining room. “London is a fucking joke. After Brian lost his head, it’s been pandemonium over there, and I’m too fucking busy to dabble into that shit. If you want to take it, so be it. But the tariff still applies.”
I didn’t belong here.
The man who had escorted me into the tower guided me to the other side of the room, where a table for two was positioned against the window. He was gone the second I sat down. A waitress appeared a moment later, bringing me a glass of water along with a bottle of wine. She uncorked it and filled my glass before she left it on the table and disappeared.
The guys kept talking on the other side of the room, the specifics of the deal unclear to me because of the distance between the tables. But it was obvious that Bastien was the one running the show, and the guys took his lead.
A couple minutes later, the meeting seemed to have finished because all the men rose to their feet, shook hands, and they departed, while Bastien remained behind. He put out his cigar in the ashtray before he turned to me and crossed the room, his eyes lit up and playful at the sight of me.
When he reached the table, he leaned down to kiss me before he took the seat across from me. “I’m fucking hungry.”
“How come no one else is here?”
“Because I booked the whole place.” He looked at the menu the waitress had brought earlier. He turned over his shoulder and called toward the kitchen, “Let’s get this going.” He faced me again and poured himself a glass of wine. “How’d today go?”
I was still overwhelmed by everything that had just happened, that I was dining in Jules Verne, one of the most iconic restaurants in Paris, because the man I was seeing had booked it for a meeting. The divorce hearing felt like a week ago. “You didn’t have to get me a lawyer.”
“You should never represent yourself in a trial.”
“It’s not like I’m on trial for murder.”
“It’s still a legal matter.”
“But he was under the impression that I wanted half of the estate when I don’t want anything. So, he must have gotten that information from you.”
He absorbed that accusation with no reaction. “Out of principle, you should take it. Just because he earned the money doesn’t mean it’s not half yours. But more importantly, this divorce will be over much quicker if you just accept it.”
My eyes narrowed. “So you know Adrien wants me to take it.”
“Antony told me it was in the paperwork he filed. It’s obvious he’s trying to drag this out.”
Bastien hadn’t even been in the courtroom, and he’d figured it out. He didn’t even know my husband, but he knew his endgame.
“You don’t need his money, not when you’ve got a much richer man to take care of you. But you should bleed him dry as payback for what he did to you. He obviously cares more about money than you.”
“But I cared more about him than I ever cared about money—and that’s the point.”
“You would rather be righteous than vindictive?”
“Yes. Wouldn’t you?”
He stared at me for a while before a smile formed on his lips. “Piss me off, and I’m the most vindictive motherfucker you’ll ever meet. If it were me, I’d take him for everything. If it were me, I would wait until he got serious with someone new before I told her what a lying, cheating sack of shit he is. And then I would do it with the next girl…and the next girl…until he dies alone.”
He didn’t threaten me at all, but the tension in my arms made me feel like he had. He said it all with a smile, but that made his words more terrifying. Adrien warned me Bastien was dangerous, and I was witnessing a hint of that firsthand. “What will you do to me if I piss you off?”
His smile was wiped clean off his face as his eyebrows furrowed at the question. “You’re immune to my wrath. All women are.”
“But what if I cheated on you? You would do that?” Taking half of what was mine was one thing, but to sabotage Adrien’s future happiness was ruthless.
“I’d kill the guy who touched you, but I would do nothing to you.”