AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the public learned that influential billionaire movie and TV producer Ross Duffy was not only a rapist who had killed one of his victims but was also involved in a plot to set explosives off around the country to destabilize the government they would go crazy.
That was when she would step in.
She already had a new presidential candidate waiting in the wings, and with her husband branded a pedophile, a psychopath, and a traitor, she would step in as the new First Lady. Kristoff had financially backed the man, who was already playing his role to perfection. With Ross out of the way, she could pretend to fall in love with the man who wanted to make their country a safer place.
While in theory, she would have no real control, she had enough blackmail material on the next president that she would be the puppet master. Kristoff had taught her you didn’t need to be the face of something to be the one with all the power. He hadn’t been the face of the Mikhailov Bratva, yet he had been the one in control. The two of them would have run the entire country from behind the scenes, she would play the dutiful wife, but she would belong to her lover always.
Zara had learned many things from her lover, another of which was to always have a backup plan for your plan, and a backup plan for your backup plan. Being prepared when you were playing such a high-stakes game was only good sense.
When they reached one of their hidden vehicles, Aleksei tossed Liliana in the trunk and opened the back door for her. Once she was buckled in, he climbed into the driver’s seat and took them toward another property in the area she had rented under her husband’s name.
She hummed to herself as they drove through the quiet, winding roads. That pressure between her legs was growing.
Maybe instead of being turned on by Kristoff, she was now turned on by the pain and suffering of others.
Knowing Liliana was terrified and in pain in the trunk of the car, accepting her fate and knowing there would be no last-minute reprieve had her squirming in her seat.
When she had first begun to plan this whole thing out with Kristoff, he had been the one to want the control. She’d wanted the money and prestige that would come with it. Perhaps she was becoming more like her lover since he was murdered because now she just didn’t want the money and prestige, she wanted the power and control as well.
Got off on knowing that she could play others like the puppets they were.
By the time they reached their destination, it was starting to get dark. Perfect. It wouldn’t be long to wait until she could make the call.
“Bring her inside, Aleksei,” she ordered as he opened her door for her and she slid out.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Always so polite.” Zara smiled in admiration. A bodyguard who knew his place was everything. So many people didn’t know their place. How many servants had she had who thought they could talk to her however they pleased or try to rebuke her or control her in some way?
Too many to count.
But not Aleksei. He was submissive and loyal, the two attributes that had not only earned his place as Kristoff’s personal protection, but also the job as hers. He would be rewarded for his loyalty.
After her lover’s murder, Zara had this place built. It was a replica of the building on the Mikhailov property where those who had been disloyal received their punishment. Where Kristoff’s life had ended. It had seemed only fitting that this be where they died as well.
“String her up.” Zara waved a hand at the ropes in the middle of the room. This was where she had intended to kill off each of the Alpha Team member’s women, making them watch from where they would be chained to the metal tables spread throughout the room. Once they had watched their loved ones die, as she’d had to do, they would be killed slowly, painfully.
Now she was going to have to go with fast.
She needed these men dead. They were too focused on her, too determined to try to stop her. There was no choice but to eliminate them.
“What are you going to do to me?” Liliana asked as Aleksei secured metal cuffs around her wrists.
“So full of questions,” Zara said, amused.
“I deserve to know how I’m going to die.”
Liliana’s words sent a bolt of anger through her. “You deserve nothing.” Stalking closer, she backhanded the woman. “Do you think you matter? You are nothing but an insignificant pest. One whose only purpose is to bring in the men I must see pay for what they did.”
“Is that all you can think of?” Liliana demanded. Aleksei was crouched by her feet, fitting metal cuffs to her ankles, and as the loyal guard he was, he tightened the one around her bad ankle at the woman’s disrespectful tone, causing Liliana to cry out.
“Thank you, dear,” she said, patting Aleksei’s head.
Blue eyes glared at her defiantly. “You were insignificant too, weren’t you, Zara? Always every director’s second choice for the role, always in the shadows, not as good as the other girls. Not as good as me. How many times did I beat you for a part? How many times have you come in second for an award?”
Anger seethed inside Zara.
She wasn’t second.
