Page 56 of Beautiful Villain
He escalated like men always do when they think they’re untouchable.If I undercut him, he hit back harder.If I raised the bid, he doubled it with numbers so obscene they felt like a joke.We leapfrogged each other until the seller stopped answering calls altogether—probably to rethink every decision that led them to us.
We were deadlocked.A stalemate so tense it had its own atmosphere.
And somewhere along the way, it stopped being about territory.
It became about balance.
It was absurd.Exhausting.And, against my better judgment, exhilarating.
Because as much as I hated him—and I did—Archie was sharp.Ruthless.Always one step ahead.He pushed where others folded.Anticipated moves I hadn’t even made yet.
We understood each other in a way I didn’t enjoy admitting.
This wasn’t a rivalry anymore.
It was a reckoning.
Archie believed the world bent for him.That men like me would either fall in line or step aside.That pressure always worked.
He was wrong.
I didn’t know what twisted force put Mikayla Gregory in my path, but I owed it a thank-you note.
Because she was—objectively—the most effective leverage I could use against Archie Popovich.
That was the ugly truth.
He didn’t want Provence for money alone.He wanted control.And Mikayla was the one thing he’d never fully secured, no matter how hard he pretended otherwise.The woman he’d claimed, displayed, almost caged—and lost.
Which made her valuable.
It was supposed to stay simple.
I kept my distance on purpose.Drew hard lines.Told myself she was strategy, not sentiment.Protection.Pressure.A means to an end.
I told myself I could make the trade if it came to that.That it would be unpleasant, but necessary.That Provence was worth it.
Then yesterday happened.
I slept with her.
Held her afterward.Stayed when I should’ve walked away.Let emotion blur lines I’d drawn for a reason.
And now I was paying for it.
I might have handled the meeting without this gnawing weight in my chest if I hadn’t let a certain appendage derail my common sense.That much I could admit.But excuses didn’t change the reality: once I’d crossed that line, there was no going back.
I put her on the table anyway.
Not because I wanted to—but because Archie needed to believe I would.
I watched his posture change when he understood the offer.Watched him calculate.Consider it.
And that was when everything inside me locked tight.
Because if he’d said yes, I wouldn’t have known what came next.
There was no version of this where I handed her back.No scenario where I sent her to a man I knew was unstable and cruel.I wasn’t heartless enough for that.
