Areston thinks he can shield me from his past, but what he doesn't realize is I'm already part of it.
The darkness that haunts him? It's the same one that's been chasing me for years.
I've given him everything-my body, my heart, my soul-and still...
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Mama has a golden rule. One she abides by unfailingly: it's no fun defeating your competition outright. Make it slow. Make them feel the excruciating pain of loss with every step they inch closer to tasting the defeat. Savor the sweet feeling of watching them squirm. That's when you'll truly enjoy the win. Well, that's her. The most ruthless Rothschild offspring since perhaps my great grandfather.
But me? Never. I love defeating my enemies just as much as she does. It's just that I do not have her patience and sadistic need for delayed gratification from the long game. Immediate, raw confrontation is more of my thing. The open warfare is what thrills me. Facing them head-on, seeing the fear in their eyes as I wreck their world and they're too powerless to put a halt to the destruction. They struggle, they fight, but in the end, they know they've just been witnesses to their own downfall. Their helplessness to fight my unrelenting force is what I love.
I love the job that was thrusted upon me before I was even born. I was born to rule this empire my ancestors built. Our methods to rule are different. Mine has been the softest approach compared to their ruthlessness because I believe I do not need muscle power where my mind is enough to make my competitors bend their knees and kneel in front of me in surrender. I don't have enemies. Even the people I kind of start on an aggressive note with, turn out to become my ally, like Allemande. His son was a glitch.
However, the moment I saw one person, I knew she was going to end up becoming my worst enemy. Darina Ivanov. She had every potential to become one. Not just because I was jealous of her closeness with Areston, but also how she tried to show it off, making me feel like I am someone who'd be tossed away soon and she's the one who'd remain a permanent one in his life. I can never forgive her for what she put my husband through and I will make her regret every second that she lives for the rest of her life. I did not go through all that torture in the rehab to save Areston only to have him suffer at the hands of that whore.
"We'll see you around, Ms. Rothschild."
"Of course." I smile warmly and shake hands, watching with satisfaction as the board members of Ivanov Corporation file out of my office after having signed their agreement on my proposition. "I am grateful for all the cooperation. I understand it wasn't an easy decision, but you made the right one and I'll ensure you don't regret it."
As the final of the eight agreeable members leaves, I nod to Shukura in a silent gesture to close the door. My attention returns to the four remaining ones who sit stiffly around the conference table, their unease and fury palpable. I lean back in my chair, my fingers steepled around my coffee cup. One of them is Lianna who is shooting daggers at me. If looks could kill, I'd be dead by now. Of course she doesn't want to sign me the rights to sell her mother's favorite trophy property which I have promised to Sergei as a gratitude for having helped my husband and to ruffle Darina's feathers by shaking her pride.
"We are never going to agree to your proposition, Juliette," she sneers. "It doesn't make sense that you're making us wait. We have all made it quite clear that we're not in favor of your proposition."
