“You need to let this one go. You speak of risk then let a man like him this close to the business,” he accuses, back to Cantonese. I point a finger up at him, and his nostrils flare, hating when I do that.
“I haven’t fucked up, not like that, not once. So why don’t you stop worrying about what I do, eh?”
“Haven’t fucked up? What about the Fatso? Smokie?”
My teeth grind together as I lift my chin to level him with a stare. He should know better than to use that time in my life against me. I was no more than a fucking child at sixteen when those pieces of shit took me. One of the few mistakes I’ve ever made.
It took Kris more than a year to save me from that place, and this is the first time he’s tried to use it against me.
In the last few months, ever since we started the process of changing the direction of CASH-ULTY, he’s been acting strange. Since Sin’s arrival, even more so.
That he’s bringing up our history, using it against me like that, says volumes about his state of mind.
His eyes flash with anger, but he doesn’t respond, letting me know he realizes his stupidity in bringing that up. I purse my lips before making my way back around my desk and sitting.
“Krystof, we are about to make the biggest deal in CASH-ULTY history,so what the fuckis going on? You never make mistakes, yet you’ve now made two in the last few weeks. I can’t have this.”
He watches me closely but says nothing. I notice how tight his shoulders are at hearing his real name.
“Now why don’t you tell me exactly how we’re going to make sure this shit doesn’t happen again.”
* * *
It’sanother two hours before I finally get Kris the fuck out of my office. I can tell he’s pissed, but fuck him, he screwed up. I have to resist the immediate urge to grab a bottle out of my desk. Instead, I pull out a cigarette, a rare vice of mine. Putting my feet on the desk, I light it and inhale, letting smoke lazily drift out of my mouth.
I’m anything but calm, hoping the nicotine helps my mind slow so it can match up with my body.
Only eight more days.
If I can pull it off, all this bullshit will get easier.
Hopefully.
“Don’t suppose you want to give me one?” a ragged voice interrupts my thoughts. I look over toward Sin, his bag facing toward me. I look down at the cigarette in my hand then back toward him.
“No,” I reply succinctly, closing my eyes and bringing it back to my mouth.
“What if I told you I could help you get to Jansen’s wife?”
I freeze with my hand in midair, my eyes shooting open and looking toward him. My eyes narrow, and I bring my feet down to the floor, putting the smoke out in my empty coffee. My pulse quickens as I walk across the room, yanking the bag from his head. His eyes squint, watering almost instantly at the light.
“What the fuck game are you playing?” I practically snarl at him. “You tell me this now?”
Despite his leaking eyes, he smiles up at me, and I can’t help but let out a built-up shout of frustration. A low, rumbling chuckle comes from his chest, and I feel something inside me snap.
I let a sneer cross my face.
I think it’s time to get some real answers fromSin.
“It’s time to play my way.”
Chapter 17
Sin
Twisted as it may be,when she turns to me with that devilish fucking look and says she wants to play, I instantly get rock hard. I don’t know how my dick think’s it’s going to get any action, but fuck if he doesn’t want to play with her, too.
I watch as she makes her way over to the desk, an evil, little smile playing on her face while she reaches into a drawer. My interest piques when she pulls out a knife, large and old. Some kind of hunting knife. She looks at it almost lovingly, running a finger along the edge.