The Villain, page 1
The Villain
Gentlemen Rogues
Book 5
Nana Malone
Contents
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Chapter 1
Daphne
Chapter 2
Drake
Chapter 3
Drake
Chapter 4
Daphne
Chapter 5
Drake
Chapter 6
Daphne
Chapter 7
Drake
Chapter 8
Daphne
Chapter 9
Daphne
Chapter 10
Daphne
Chapter 11
Drake
Chapter 12
Daphne
Chapter 13
Drake
Chapter 14
Daphne
Chapter 15
Drake
Chapter 16
Daphne
Chapter 17
Daphne
Chapter 18
Daphne
Chapter 19
Daphne
Chapter 20
Drake
Chapter 21
Daphne
Chapter 22
Drake
Chapter 23
Daphne
Chapter 24
Drake
Chapter 25
Daphne
Chapter 26
Drake
Chapter 27
Daphne
Chapter 28
Daphne
Chapter 29
Drake
Chapter 30
Drake
Chapter 31
Drake
Chapter 32
Daphne
Chapter 33
Daphne
Chapter 34
Daphne
Chapter 35
Daphne
Chapter 36
Drake
Chapter 37
Drake
Chapter 38
Drake
Chapter 39
Daphne
Chapter 40
Drake
Chapter 41
Drake
Chapter 42
Daphne
Chapter 43
Daphne
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Drake
Chapter 46
Drake
Epilogue
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1
Daphne
You can't do this. You're too sick. You need me to take care of you.
I shook the thoughts out of my head. My mother had no place here. I wasn't that same scared, too-sick-to-do-anything girl. I was a badass. And I was jumping off bloody Tower Bridge today.
Except when I peered over the ledge, I started to rethink my decisions. As I stared down at the mile-long drop, my heart thudded against my ribs. Okay, sure, I had some second thoughts. Who in their right mind thought this was a good idea to bungee jump over the Thames River?
I was a moron. I had choices here. I could get down. I could walk away from this.
Yes, walk away. You know how you get grand ideas, but you can't do any of them. You need to be taken care of.
Again, I shut my mother's voice out of my head with a slam of a steel door.
"Shit or get off the pot, Daphne. We don't have all day."
I chewed my lip, sliding a glance at my boyfriend, Christopher. "You know it's harder than it looks. Doing my best here."
Christopher was handsome. Sandy blond hair, decent jawline, and he was in shape. And boy, did he love his clothes and the trappings of his job. His killer smile was legendary.
However that smile was nowhere to be seen now. Right now he just looked annoyed. He shifted restlessly on his feet. "If you're not going to do this, come down. This is ridiculous."
I kept staring down over the ledge at the creek below. When I had suggested bungee jumping, I thought it would be fun, something for Christopher and me to do together outside of business hours.
Christopher and I worked at Baines Data. I was one of the account managers. Any data that needed to be securely encrypted in the CRM, I handled. We had been dating for nearly a year. But most of our dates consisted of places that we already went to for lunch with the team. Nothing exciting ever happened. It was like we’d gone straight into comfortable bored married phase. I would kill for a little excitement. Some effort from him.
Hell, I’d been the one to plan today’s date.
He never wanted to come to my place. All because he'd run into my sister Willow one time and she’d asked him a slew of probing questions. He was very uncomfortable about that.
If we did anything outside of work, it was always with his friends, never with mine. And it was always the same two friends, Chad and Mark. Occasionally one of them would have a girlfriend along, and their girlfriends were always scarily too young. Like barely approaching twenty or just out of uni. And come to think of it, they didn't seem like girlfriends. They seemed like hookups or casual things because they never brought the same girl twice.
I’m sure the company he kept said a lot about him.
And me dating him said a lot about me.
My therapist had suggested some time ago that I start doing things that scared me, things that meant I was really living, so I thought something like this would be a great idea. Because if I was being honest, I hadn't really branched out. Hadn't made new friends or done a lot to prove that I was really living my life.
And wasn't that the whole point of moving away from home and starting over? Burying my past. I got to be a whole new person in London. But funny enough, I was still terrified to do anything.
But standing here on the ledge, all harnessed up, I felt like this was a joke. That I was a fraud. When my vision swam, I stepped back away from the edge.
River, the bloke who was in charge of adventure jumps, sighed. I got the impression from his face that I wasn't the first person who’d chickened out. He didn't seem to be looking at me with condemnation, just resignation. I glanced back at Christopher as I stepped down. "Okay, maybe this was dumb."
He shrugged. "I told you. You look ridiculous. I swear you have more failures than wins. I’m going to make you a wall of shame for the office so we can all keep track." His glance shifted to River. "Remove all that gear from her."
He was always rude. Never said please. Never said thank you. He was rude to waiters and waitresses and busboys and valets. He talked to everyone like they worked for him. To make up for some of his rudeness, I always felt obligated to be twice as nice.
"You don't have to be mean, Christopher. Jesus."
Christopher shrugged. The embarrassment that always accompanied an outing crept up my spine and swirled around my shoulders. I’d chickened out…again. It wasn’t even a surprise.
It was kind of the joke between my friends. I’d get some hairbrained idea, be really up for it…then chicken out. But my own boyfriend didn’t need to make fun of me.
Christopher shifted on his feet as he glowered at me. "While River gets you out of there, I need to tell you something."
I frowned. "I get it. I failed. You don’t need to drive the point home anymore."
"I think we should break up."
River chose that exact moment to come back with the clamp that would release me from the straps.
"W-what?" I whispered.
"You heard me. Besides, it’s embarrassing for me to be with you."
"I don't understand. You pursued me."
"Let's face it, you were available. And it was easy."
Heat suffused my face, and a wave of dizziness crashed into me, leaving me unsteady on my feet. River immediately reached for me and steadied my elbow. "Why are you doing this, Christopher?"
"I've met someone else, so I'm trying to let you down gently."
I looked around and could feel the hysteria bubbling up inside me. "You call that gentle? You wait until I'm about to jump off a bridge and then tell me you're breaking up with me because you've met someone else?"
"I've known her for a long time. Kali Klausman."
My stomach roiled. She was one of our best paying clients. "That time I came into the office and you two were so close…"
He shrugged. "Accidents happen."
I stared at him. That incident was over a month ago. I'd walked in and felt the electric charge in the air. The way she had looked at him.
"So you've been cheating on me for over a month? I just want to make sure I’ve got that right."
He pressed his lips tightly together. "There's no need for drama. And it never seemed like the right time to tell you, but I'm telling you now."
My palms started to sweat and my heart squeezed in my chest. “What did I ever do to you?” I swiped at the tears that were rolling down my face with the back of my hand.
He took a weary step back. "Other than be pathetic? Isn’t that enough? Just so we have an understanding. Try and stay professional.”
A light buzzing sound started somewhere deep inside. Somewhere between standing over the edge of the creek, staring down, and then looking into his pale gray eyes and wondering what on earth I ever saw in him. Around quavering lips, I muttered, “I’m always professional."
Despite him wanting to stay quiet about our relationship, I was a rule follower. I’d disclosed to HR. S
But he could make my life miserable.
His eyes narrowed as he flattened his lips. “That remains to be seen.”
A cold shiver ran up my back. Forget miserable, he was going to try to make me quit. Fury sparked somewhere deep inside, but the ignition switch wouldn’t turn on. I wanted to tell him I’d fight him. I wanted to rip him a new arsehole. But I didn’t.
I just took it.
Because you’re weak.
Christopher double checked his line and safety rig. He nodded at his jump instructor and stepped up to the platform.
With the boulder sitting in my stomach, all I could do was watch as he prepared to jump.
“Alright?” River asked. The concern was etched into his face, the crease of his brow, and the fine lines around his mouth. He was worried that I was having a panic attack.
I nodded even as I furiously blinked back tears. The team unhooked me from the line and all the safety equipment while I silently wiped away the salty liquid streaming down my face. And just as the last piece of safety equipment fell away, I watched Christopher swan dive off the platform.
I might not have been brave enough to jump, but I had enough self-respect to hurry away so that I could let the tears fall freely without anyone seeing them.
As I walked into the main office, I caught a shadow in the park opposite and frowned. A man was leaning against a tree, and I couldn't explain it, but I could feel his eyes on me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, suddenly making me more afraid than I had been standing on the platform. What the hell was that?
I had no bloody idea. But it forced me to hurry up and get my things. My souvenir photo which consisted of me smiling on the platform giving the camera a thumbs up, my keys, and my sweater. When I rushed back outside, the man was gone.
See, chasing shadows again. No one is there.
But as I got into the car, the feeling of being watched stayed with me. I was checking the rearview mirror when my phone rang.
My sister.
There was no avoiding her call. She was checking to see how I’d done. “Hey, Willow.”
“How’d it go? Are you now a professional bungee jumper?”
I winced. I was supposed to be the older braver sister. “Not quite.”
“Oh honey. I’m sorry. I should have come.”
“No. It’s better you didn’t. Long story. I’ll tell you about it later. You okay?”
“Yep, fine. Wedding stress of course, one of the bridesmaids suggested she wear white too. Can you believe that. She’s a stropping cow that one. But before I say anything else, are you sitting down?”
Shit.
“What’s the matter?” With Willow it could be anything from losing their venue, to Travis irritated her that day, to they lost their deposit somewhere.
My sister hesitated and I could only twist in the wind as I wondered what on earth could be so bad.
“Well, it’s two somethings. The check for Gran’s care. It’s nearly a thousand quid higher for next month. The other is about the wedding.”
Shit. How the hell was I going to be able to cover that? I had a small savings account, but it was nearly gone. But this was Gran. She took me in when I had no one.
“Okay. I’ll figure it out for Gran. What’s the problem with the wedding?” Willow would be marrying Travis O’Connell in four weeks. The two of them were great together. I could always see how much he loved her.
“The thing is… Mum will be coming.”
Oh fuck.
2
Drake
One month Ago…
* * *
All those years working to bring down The Syndicate, and I’d been betrayed.
Trusting the wrong person will do that.
Now I was on the fucking outside. I needed back in. Home Office might think I might heel like some kind of trained dog. After I’d been bailed out, they’d sent me to Spain to stay out of sight until they knew what to do with me.
But the mission wasn’t over until my target was dead or I was.
Too bad for me, I’d run into a brick wall, so now I needed access. Access burned spies didn’t usually have. Except I had an ace in the hole who was still on the inside.
"Liam, tell me something good."
His reticence was palpable even over the phone. "You shouldn't be calling."
He was right. I shouldn’t. But I didn’t give a fuck. Liam Rhodes was one of the best MI5 analysts I'd ever come across. If anyone could find what I needed to get back in from the cold, it would be him.
Or you could have gone to Rogues.
The Rogues Division was a black box secret spy operation that British Intelligence liked to “consult” with from time to time. Home Office would love to own and control them, but the Rogues were bloody independent.
Gabriel Webb, who ran the division, had been a mate back in the day. We’d come up in a special MI5 training program together. Hell, it had been Gabe that had pulled me out of that hellhole six months ago. His sister, Saffron, was set to run Rogues one day. Unfortunately for me, she still held a grudge from an undercover mission I’d been part of where her parents died. She knew I didn't murder them, but I supposed part of her still felt betrayed by me for the things that I did while I was undercover.
And she didn't know the truth about my undercover status, so she was pretty much a shoot-on-sight person when it came to me.
So going to Rogues for help was a non-starter.
"Liam, did you really think I wouldn't try to come back?"
"I should have known better. Well, you'll be glad you called me. Just so you know, you owe me a bottle of Scotch."
"Whatever you want. My firstborn is yours."
He sighed and I could almost see his slight shoulders hunch. "You know Reina won't let you come back. Things are still too hot."
My handler Reina Torres couldn’t keep me out for long. "I know that's what she’ll say, but I haven't done anything wrong. I want my life back."
"She knows that, but you have to lay low until we can at least find something to plug the hole. You know what the protocol is."
Liam had been in the program just like Gabe and me. His specialty was technology, and he was damn good at it. And well, he was used to doing the occasional favor for me.
"I do know the protocol. But I still need you, mate."
"Fine. But you're not going to like this."
"Give me something."
"All right, the Syndicate is thriving in your absence."
I’d known that, but it still stung to hear. "Ah, fucking brilliant."
"And what's worse, Massimo Igno is working his way up. He's taking out lieutenants left and right, making deals. He's building up power. He doesn't just want a seat at the table. He wants the whole fucking enchilada.”
I whistled softly. Massimo Igno was the son of a major Syndicate player, Antonio. With the help of Rogues, we’d taken him off the playing board last year. Massimo was a minor player though. "He was a sniveling piece of shit the last time I saw him. What's made him so bold?"
"I don't know. Syndicate leadership is meeting at Isola Bella off the coast of Italy in two months.”
I perked up then. “Are you serious? Are they all going?”
“From the chatter we’ve picked up, yes. There is an auction for the final piece of the ledgers.”
“Fucking hell, has he got it?”
“Not as far as we can tell. But there’s something else."
Nothing about this call was good news. "What?"
"A woman. She lives in London. Her name is Daphne Winslow. She's fit too. Looks like that actress, Naomi something-or-other. The Jamaican one."
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