“Looks can be very deceiving.”
Nash was taken aback by this surprising comment. “You’re not ill, are you?” he said.
“My illness does not come from within me. It comes from without.” She lifted her glass higher. “So if you would honor me by becoming someone who has my best interests at heart, who is loyal for the right reasons, who is my. . .friend, I would be in your eternal debt.”
But even as she said the words, Nash couldn’t help but think of the box in the basement with his daughter’s belongings. He didn’t want to be loyal or have Steers’s best interests at heart. Or be her friend. He wanted to make her feel the same pain that his daughter had. The pain that he was still suffering. But Steers was, like Rhett Temple before her, giving him the perfect opportunity to place himself exactly where he wanted to be: in her inner circle.
I could kill her and let the rest of her empire go on hurting countless people. Or I can bring it and her down at the same time, if I just let this go on a little longer.
He raised his glass. “To a new understanding of loyalty.”
And they drank together.
CHAPTER
40
THEIR MEALS WERE SERVED ANDmost of it was seafood, some of the best Nash had ever had. A bottle of rice wine helped wash it all down. When Nash chose not to have dessert, Steers said, “A little treat will not ruin your intimidating physique.”
She flicked a finger at something behind Nash, and he was startled when a waiter appeared carrying a small cake with a single candle in it. He placed it in front of Nash, lit the candle, and retreated to the kitchen after giving Steers a fearful look.
“What is this for?” asked Nash.
“Today is your birthday.”
ItwasNash’s birthday. He had wished himself a happy one that morning, but he believed no one else knew.
“How did you know?”
“Your passport gives the date.”
Nash smiled. “Of course.”
But then he thought that it was a mistake to give Dillon Hope the same birthday on his alternate passport.If that had made her suspect . . .
“Now, I think it customary in your culture to make a wish and blow out the candle.”
He did so.
“Did you wish?”
“I did.”
“I will not ask for what. That is yours and yours alone.”
“Thank you. The dinner and the cake were very kind.” He handed her a fork. “Will you do me the honor of joining me?”
They ate the cake together, talking about matters unconnected to anything of importance.
They left the restaurant as her protection detail converged around them. The cars had already been brought around and were lined up in front of the restaurant entrance with their engines running.
Nash did not like how the security detail was clustering, because the men had given up their point and surveillance positions by looking inward instead of outward. He had seen arrogance and complacency in these men before now. Even the driver of their Maybach was out of the car and looking at Nash and Steers.
But at this moment he was seeing something else: the glint of a knife blade held by Hao, one of her men, as he seized Steers by the arm and slashed at her neck.
Nash had seen Hao work out in the basement gym numerous times. He was the most powerful and, to Nash’s mind, the most arrogant of the crew. But he had one weakness in that when striking out at a combatant, he tended to let his knee edge out over his foot too far, creating a slight imbalance.
Using this knowledge, Nash gripped the man’s knife hand and jerked, pulling Hao further off balance and away from Steers. Using his grip strength to keep the knife locked in Hao’s hand, he shifted his weight and ripped Hao’s hand up, and the blade bit deeply into the center of Hao’s chest, once and then twice. Then Nash let go of Hao and watched the dying man fall to the pavement.