But if he doesn’t, if he keeps up the pressure campaign, if he keeps on smearing her name online, her entire existence will be hell.
And Magnus loves it. He loves the game.
I didn’t know that about him. I thought this was a business decision, like so many of my decisions are, but this is about more than that.
This is about pleasure for him almost in the same way that it’s about feelings for me.
Which makes it so much more dangerous.
The bastard thinks it’s fun to ruin Marie.
“You want her to recant everything she said to Bella Baby. You want her to go back on her word. You want her to apologize to William and publicly humiliate herself. You want her to prostrate herself at your feet and beg. Isn’t that it?”
“That would be nice,” he admits, sitting back with an amused smile. “But that’s not what I want.”
My eyebrows raise. “Then what?”
The waitress returns. She takes the plate of mussels and replaces it with several small plates of pasta, each with a different sauce, like a sampling, plus two empty plates in front of each of us. Magnus gestures and digs in without answering and I’m left staring at him, not touching the food, waiting for him to go on.
He strings me along, eating for a few minutes, before he finally sighs and swirls his drink.
“I want her to suffer. It isn’t enough for her to apologize. It isn’t enough for her to do damage control. I want her to hurt the way she hurt my family’s reputation.”
“This is about petty revenge?”
“In essence, yes.” He jabs a fork at me. “Eat, Ansell. Enjoy it while you can.”
He goes back to feeding himself. I stare at my empty plate, trying to reason through this. If it’s about hurting Marie and nothing more with this man, then our chances of getting her out of this without some collateral damage are slim to none. Magnus will do whatever he can to ruin her, and that means he’ll come after me just as hard.
Which is why he’s saying, enjoy it while you can.
“This is a waste of my time.” I push back from the table.
“Is it? The food is good and I’m paying. Since when did you turn down a free meal?”
“Since it became clear that you’re not interested in making a deal.”
I turn to go but he calls out my name. “I have an offer.”
I hesitate, thinking I should just walk. This man isn’t serious, and if I linger and play his game, he’ll find some advantage over me. But I gesture for him to continue anyway.
He smiles and says, “I know you’ve been in the market for new movie theaters. I happen to own the two oldest theaters in the city and I’m willing to sell them to you for a wonderful deal. In exchange, all I ask is that you stop protecting the girl. You don’t have to actively hand her over, but don’t get in my way. This is a benefit to us both, Ansell. I know you’re a smart man. Think about it.”
I face him for a few seconds as he watches me, sipping his wine, leaning back like a content ape. I lean forward, hands on the back of my chair, and look him dead in the eye so he understands that I am not joking nor am I only saying this.
“I will never give you the girl. She is mine now, and if you want her, you’ll have to come through me. I took this meeting in the hopes that we might strike a bargain we can both agree with, but I don’t think that’s an option anymore.”
“There’s no world where this girl walks away without consequences.”
“Do you really think there are no consequences? She blew up her life.”
He slams a fist down on the table. His little outburst is meant to shock me, but I barely react at all. There are some benefits to being the Ice King.
“I don’t give a damn about her petty little existence. My family’s name has been dragged through the mud and that’s on her. You will give me the girl, Ansell. You will do it soon.”
“Goodbye, Magnus. Reconsider your position and maybe we can do business.”
I turn my back and walk away. He’s an old, spiteful man, and that makes him so much more dangerous. I assumed I was dealing with a clever and ruthless patriarch, but now I see Magnus for what he is: small-minded and obsessed with image. He doesn’t see that we could help each other.
Instead, he wants silly revenge and I won’t allow it. He will not hurt Marie, not while I’m around to stop him.
I step out onto the street. It’s dark now, fully night. There’s nobody else around. The streetlights on this block are all out, and only one flickers over toward the stop sign where Baptist is parked. I turn, intent on heading in that direction—