Tycoon's Temptress Red Flowers Chase

ntin

e luxury vill

indows overlooking Baghdad's skyline-but fr

h electricity. He would be dazzling, dashing e

r. His suit, all black Armani, wrapped his lean form l

tare withou

fering," he said finally wi

. "You're asking

No expectations beyond public appearances, o

row. "You wa

No heirs, no inheritance. And I don't intend to lose

ning contemplation. "A

You're discreet. Educated. Attractive. Not ent

elieve in love,"

on dressed as devotion. I've seen what

olish father dry left a bitter taste in

m a dying relationship that ended cruelly with my mother'

ytime Camilla made sure to insert herself bet

ll for it ev

was Italian, like mine, but hard

r who buy

Raffaele Ricchezza. Your stepmother

rily eclipsing fear. "What d

er the rim of his glass. "Camilla gambles. Badly

to myself, to the roo

set down his glass. "You were

urned. "What

ion of certain artifacts." His eyes never left mine.

didn't even try to cover up h

in circles. The quest for Gilgames

erything. "It's not a quest. It's l

father killed." His wo

r father's will and your mothers wealth. If you're presum

I marr

ecome... interesting." A c

very much alive and now connected to s

You want to marry me for-what?

arry me for info

lgamesh artifacts, the orichalcum-I've been tracking them fo

ng extraordinary. I have the reso

in re

ection, legitimacy, and the

finding only cold determinat

alive and get my own benefits." Hi

ntentions, Miss Valentina Bianchi. Men who would have used

stepmother, had once waved an Iraqi polic

g for the Baghdad Museum, had been on the verge of exposing an ancient

lic, would have crippled

the U.S. invasion, when looters ransacked the

cchezza Oil. His name? Buri

cenaries silenced him

hezza Oil-a man named Tariq Al-Mansour-and detailed

influence and hush mone

cross from

n't just di

ut about the money, drugged me with spiked champagne at a brunch I never wanted to attend-jus

intain her lavish lifestyle a

've know

ed me directly to the man whose empire

r this. Finance degree. Law tr

devil, then burn down his kingdo

I said, exte

, then shook it

greement. Prenup. Clause of conduc

nything else I

ering above me. "Betray

ly. "Likewise,

eave the villa,

't che

een drugged, sold, and humiliated and dragged to hi

deepened my hatred for him and his family. A man wh

re if he sa

Ricchezza empire from the inside out-b

rt leaped at my throat. I

llio near the books

se qui

The monster from M

or with my heart pounding. I

rom T

lower hidden in my

naire whose eyes had lin

inside, I

n't just

was

father had died for and get my revenge before anyone coul

wn Camilla with

om, no matter the cost. I just ha