I read over the letter twice, not believing what I’m seeing. My mind tries to make sense of it. I slowly raise my gaze to him. “Now I see why this letter was not given to me.”
Pierce leans back in his chair. “Fate wants you, for whatever reason, and I take that very seriously. And…I think you are perfect for this. I always have a hunch. “My hunches”—he pauses with a pointed look—“are rarely wrong.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind. How did you find out about Tony? You have five minutes to tell me how you know about that night.”
I whisper the threat, my vision wanting to tunnel.
The letter also says that Tony did not blame me for what happened.
That crosses the line.
“Jensen,” Pierce leans forward. “Did you read the part about being an agent for us?”
“To find true love? And compete against other men?!” I yell, also leaning forward, smiling. “Traveling to a different world? Do I look like a fucking moron?”
This man is more insane than me.
“Well, to be clear, I know the aspect of love will not interest you. You’re not required to fall in love, Jensen,” Pierce says, his gaze steady and confident.
“But, for whatever reason, Fate wants you. Reality is stranger than fiction, and you’re about to get a crash course in it.”
I swallow. My training says the man is not lying. But that’s impossible.
Pierce continues. “My offer is this.” He takes out a device, and immediately a virtual image is projected into the air. My pulse jumps to life, never having seen technology like it.
Something Russian, perhaps?
“Do you recognize this?” Pierce asks, eyeing me, his face like a sly fox.
My heart is pounding as I look at the image. Then I frown.
“That’s my…” I pause, trying to get my thoughts in order. “That’s my vault at the Golden Lion.” I glare at Pierce, knowing this is blackmail. “Tell me what the fuck is going on!”
Pierce waves his hand, and a different image is displayed. My heart rate goes from zero to a hundred. A group of people, in all black, are lowering down from the ceiling of the vault.
“What the fuck?!”
“They are robbing you, Jensen. Five hundred million, in fact,” Pierce says carefully. “And they will get away with it.”
I look at him, seeing red, breathing hard. “You’re blackmailing me?!”
He sighs. “Never. Just motivating you.”
“These are your men? You son of a bitch!”
I reach for my gun, but Pierce chuckles and dusts something off his sleeve, calm as ever.
“Definitely not,” he says. “Earthly money does nothing for me where I’m from. This is not my doing—more you having some ambitious enemies.”
At a boiling point, I stand slowly. “I will kill you.”
“Jensen,” Pierce says calmly, looking up at me. “You work for me for three months, and I will ring the alarm right now and save your millions.”
I see four really short people in black SWAT outfits that say FGI on their chests.
I look at Pierce, studying him, not sure what to say or to think. For once, I’m shocked.
“This is not real,” I whisper, watching the men in the virtual display trying to crack the combination with lots of equipment.
Then my eyes widen, recognizing one of them with her long, blond hair coming out of her ski mask. On her neck is a tattoo of a butterfly, and I fucking know.
Jenna.
No fucking way.
The girl I have been loosely dating for six months.
Pierce winks at me. “I don’t make it a habit to prank dangerous men. I have better and more fun things to do than to anger the famed Jensen King.”
I level a hard stare at him. I can’t believe Jenna has been playing me for six months—with her loser cousin, no doubt.
I knew the problem. I was too uninterested to pay her close attention, not caring enough to see the leech right in front of me.
Bruna would be very disappointed.
Then a smile spreads over my face. “Prove it.” I take a calming breath. “How do I know you’re not playing me too?”
Pierce takes a pen out of his suit jacket. “Sign the contract, and I will do more than that. I will change your life.”
I frown, wondering how this man will prove it.
But I’d be lying if I say I’m not insanely curious, because he is not giving off the vibes of a lying little thief.
I look down at the letter. “Three months?”
I want to laugh at how absurd his proposition is. I could just kill him and burn the contact if it turned out to be some sick swindle. But I honestly want to see what this loony will do.
“Make the call first.”
“You sign first.”
He’s confident. So intriguing—most people show signs of apprehension when disagreeing with me.
I look down at the glowing letter and back up at Pierce, then at the fuckers robbing me on the virtual display. “I will gut you if you try anything.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he says, and I hear the amusement laced through the cool tones in his voice.
I’m too curious now. I sign the contract, knowing I will end up burning it anyway.
But an odd flash of nerves crashes over me as I look back up at Pierce, at the man who has gotten me to do something I would never do normally.
Five hundred million dollars is motivating, I’ll give him that.
Pierce smiles and touches his ear, making me frown. “Ring the alarm, Chad. And tell Steven he didn’t have to knock out the crew in the van that hard.”
Pierce turns toward me and whispers, “My team has more of your enemies in the black SUVs three blocks from the casino.”
“They will be high for days, making it hard for the police to interrogate them. Just—I know, just tell Steven it’s a warning. Right. Tell Dion we are ready for extraction. Our last player is ready.”
Pierce winks at me.
“The fuck?” I stand, pulling out my gun. “You were bugged?!”
My men searched him!
Pierce nods to the virtual screen. “Your friends are not going to be happy here in a second.”
I see those short little people climb on top of one another like it’s a damn circus, then kick one of the alarms, making the entire security system go off. Then, like magic, they disappear.
My heart pounds as I watch Jenna’s men freak out, wondering who pulled the alarm, trying to abort their heist.
Everyone for themselves.
I look at Pierce. “You weren’t lying…” I trail off, feeling my skin start to tingle. “How did you know they were going to do this?”
This…this can’t be happening.
The letter…
“Take a deep breath, Jensen,” Pierce says as I look at him with wide eyes, my pulse hammering at the new sensations in my body.
“What’s happening?” I get out before my vision starts to blacken.
“Welcome to Fairy Godmother Inc.”
It was the last thing I heard.
