Page 92 of Beautiful Villain
Gianni cursed under his breath, lowered the gun just enough to glance at the caller ID, then turned away from me as he answered.
“You have impeccable timing,” he said.
I lay there bleeding on the gravel, staring up at the stars, and let out a shaky laugh.
Because if I survived this, I was absolutely telling everyone I’d been saved by a ringtone.
Fate, it seemed, also had a sense of humour.
And like Gianni Cavalho—it was an absolute bastard.
38
Gianni
Fate, it would seem, was a pretty big bastard.
I had the gun raised.Steady.Close enough that Archie could see his own reflection in the barrel if he wanted to be poetic about it.He was bleeding out on the gravel, defiant even on his back, knees ruined, pride hanging on by a thread.
This was supposed to be the clean part.
The End.
My phone rang.
For a split second, I considered ignoring it and letting it ring out.I wanted the world to wait while I finished what I’d started.But instinct—older than anger, older than vengeance—made my thumb twitch.
It was Atlas.
I swore under my breath and stepped back, lowering the gun just enough to answer.
“You have impeccable timing,” I said flatly.
“If you haven’t killed him yet, don’t pull the trigger,” Atlas replied.Straight to the point, as always.
I closed my eyes.Just for a second.Then cursed under my breath.
“Give me one reason,” I said.
There was a pause on the line.
“The Russians are furious,” Atlas said.“Some fuckwit on our end rerouted a shipment without clearance.Weapons meant for Novosibirsk ended up in Trieste.The Bratva sees it as a deliberate insult.”
I opened my eyes and stared down at Archie, who was watching me with far too much interest for a man bleeding through his trousers.
“And?”I asked.
“And they’ve frozen every channel we have,” Atlas continued.“Ports.Banking.Logistics.We’re one bad move away from open retaliation.”
That got my attention.
“You’re telling me this now,” I said slowly, “because?—”
“Because Popovich has history with them,” Atlas cut in.“He’s the only one who can open that door without bloodshed.”
I looked at Archie again.
He grinned.The smug bastard actually grinned.
