Aurora had been forced to run for her life, utterly humiliated—so why should Ste
get off scot-free?
He wanted nothing more than to terrify Ste, to send her running in panic, her
her life.
But Ste’s reaction had caught himpletely off guard.
She was tougher than most men he’d ever met.
Even with a gun pointed at her, Ste remained far calmer than any man would
have managed.
Sellers’ voice yanked him out of his thoughts.
“What, nothing? Don’t tell me she just fainted from sheer terror like some helpless
damsel?”
Sellers had witnessed Leonard’s methods before and knew just how ruthless he
could be. A woman like Ste wouldn’tst five minutes in Leonard’s hands.
But Leonard was nothing like him.
He’d grown up in the Burton family, and under Mr. Burton’s influence, they rarely
resorted to truly vicious tactics.
Leonard, on the other hand, was a different breed entirely.
To secure his ce as head of the family, Leonard had done unspeakable things
—his reputation for cruelty was so fierce that even Sellers was wary of crossing
him.
Leonard was no paragon of virtue.
A woman who’d managed to earn Leonard’s hatred was doomed to a miserable
fate—no one doubted that.
Because of Mr. Burton, Sellers couldn’t get involved directly. Letting Leonard
handle Ste would be a perfect way to both rid himself of this irritation and satisfy
his own grudge.
The only exnation for Ste not falling apart at Leonard’s intimidation, Sellers
thought, was that she’d simply fainted.
He scoffed, “And here I thought she was something special. Turns out, she’s
nothing at all. She dreams of recing Aurora? She should take a hard look at
herself first...”
He trailed off, cut short by Leonard’s interruption.
“That woman has a lot more cunning than I expected. No wonder Aurora suffered
such a blow at her hands.”
Sellers blinked in surprise. “What are you saying?”
Leonard’s voice was cool and measured. “When I pointed a gun at her, she didn’t
panic—she didn’t even beg for mercy. In fact, she had the nerve to taunt me.”
Sellers could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You sure you didn’t misread
her? You know, sometimes you mistake pleas for mercy as insults.”
Leonard, of course, caught what Sellers was implying.
He replied coldly, “I might have my ws, but being an idiot isn’t one of them.”
Sellers changed tack. “So, you’re telling me Ste didn’t plead for forgiveness,
didn’t even admit to what she did?”
Leonard’s voice dropped even lower. “I called her cunning for a reason. She
actually managed to get Haynes to take the me for her.”
He recounted everything Haynes had said during their confrontation.
Sellers listened, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
“If the William’s family actually buys
Haynes’ story, things could get
Ste wasn’t popr, as long as she
carried the Williams name, they’d
have to be careful for Aurora’s
sake—they couldn’t simply get rid of
Ste.
Leonard’s tone was t. “We might
not be able to destroy her, but we
can still teach her a lesson. And let’s
be honest, even if Haynes is
stretching the truth, there’s no way
Ste could have pulled all this off
so quickly without his help. She’s the
mastermind, but Haynes is just as
guilty. If we want to deal with Ste,
we first have to cut off her
wings—starting with Haynes.”
Sellers’ eyes narrowed. “Leonard,
you’re not seriously thinking of going
after Haynes, are you? This is
Novaris. Even if it weren’t, Haynes
isn’t exactly an easy target.”
Haynes was every bit as shrewd, capable, and calcting as Sellers himself.
Taking him down wouldn’t be easy.
Leonard just smiled thinly. “Doesn’t he have a child?”
Sellers hesitated, then finally replied, “I’ve already looked into the child’s
whereabouts.”