Пенелопа Скай (Penelope Sky)
THE SKULL KING
SKULL #1
PENELOPE SKY
Hartwick Publishing
The Skull King
Copyright © 2019 by Penelope Sky
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
PROLOGUE
BALTO
Two Years Ago
The Mediterranean style mansion was several miles outside of Florence. Tucked away behind lush landscaping and a limestone wall, it was carefully hidden in plain sight. The iron gates with his family seal integrated into the metal were left wide open.
Tensions ran high.
This was the deal of the century.
Lucian was getting what he wanted.
As was I.
But we were exchanging two extremely valuable things, commodities men would sacrifice anything to get their hands on. Neither one of us wanted to give up what we had, but we also needed what the other offered.
Instead of meeting in a neutral, third-party location, I agreed to meet him at his estate. He might assume he had the upper hand, but I never went into a meeting without being prepared for battle.
Lucian sat across from me, a man nearly ten years older than me, with greasy black hair, sparse eyebrows of the same color, and lips so thin they looked like pencil marks. It made him appear constantly displeased. A gold cross hung around his neck, visible in the V neck of the shirt he wore. It was a hot summer day, humid as fuck, and it was no time to wear a suit.
I didn’t even own a suit.
Fuck that shit. I didn’t need a designer suit worth thousands to prove my worth. I could be buck naked, and people would know exactly who I was.
They would know exactly what I was capable of.
He took one more drag of his cigar then put it out in the ashtray. “You first.”
I’d already agreed to have the meeting on his property, but that was because I was fearless, not cooperative. His limestone wall and armed men would be helpless if I decided to turn on him. I had every single man on this property targeted by a sniper, not to mention the man I’d brought with me to this rendezvous. I always came prepared—and I outsmarted my opponent before he even realized his lack of cleverness.