Chapter Seven

The door to Lucy Woods’ dressing room opens and everybody’s eyes turn to Gray Langdon as they leave. The plump woman, who he guesses is Lucy’s publicist, is the last to come out and she gestures for him to go in. He couldn’t help but smile. The Black Witch wants privacy, huh?

His entire body is tingling with anticipation when he steps inside the cozy room. Lucy Woods is sitting in a swivel chair with her arms crossed over her chest. The small lights from the vanity mirror make her skin look creamy smooth. She’s still wearing the pencil dress she wore during the interview. Her bangs slightly cover her eyes, the gaze so fierce despite the smug look on her pale face.

“No one demands my presence, dickhead.” Her voice is unusually very feminine.

“Someone does now,” Gray answers acidly. He’s startled to find that she is scrutinizing him intently.

“Sorry to tell you, but you don’t pass my standards.” She tilts her head to one side and feigns a curious look.

“Really? Wow. I hate to break the news to you, but you don’t really pass mine, too.” Gray feels an immense satisfaction when Lucy breaks from her smug look. Obviously, he’s getting to her nerves. Her perfectly arched eyebrows rise in indignation and her eyes—a striking green color—regards him antagonistically.

“You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?” she asks. Is this woman really serious? She has even managed to imitate Jack Sparrow’s drunken pirate drawl. Geline’s right. Lucy Woods has a streak of the devil in her system. Gray soon breaks into a grin, a wolfish kind of grin. This is going to be so interesting.

“No.” Gray pauses momentarily and then brings up a photo of his sister. “But maybe you remember threatening her.”

Recognition flits across Lucy’s face and instead of being surprised, she smirks and shakes her head. “Oh, her. What are you, her butler?”

“I’m her brother,” Gray says curtly. There is an uncomfortable silence as she fixes him with a glare. He could see that Lucy isn’t used to having someone talk back at her. That information makes this game so much better.

“You’ve come for revenge, I reckon,” she scoffs and shakes her head. “What’s your name?”

“Gray Langdon.” Let that name sink to her. Let her know that she just committed a mistake. Let her feel the chill slowly creeping up her spine. Let her wallow in fear…

His little anticipation is cut short when Lucy’s expression becomes blank. “I’m sorry, am I supposed to know that name?”

Gray could feel his jaw drop open. An inexplicable rage erupts inside him and he takes a step forward, ready to rip her to pieces, but he reminds himself to put a restraint on his temper.

“I’ve come here to tell you that your tyranny is over. You might mess with everyone’s head but not me. You’ll pay for what you did to my sister.”

“Oh, is that so? You think you can scare me, Langdon? I’m good with mind games, you know. And once I get in your head, I control the game.” Lucy stands up, takes a step, and meets him halfway. Gray could see that she’s fairly beautiful but her personality is as dark as her raven hair.

“Don’t call me Langdon, Luce.”

“Don’t call me Luce, Langdon.”

“What did you say, Luce? I like calling you Luce.” Gray laughs mirthlessly, his voice reverberating across the empty room. Her face darkens several shades and her thin lips press into a hard line. Damn, he hit home run. “Cat got your tongue, Luce?” Gray prompts when the woman doesn’t answer. With a condescending smirk, he turns around to open the door. “I believe we’re done here.”

“Now wait a minute, Gray Langdon,” Lucy suddenly speaks up. Her face has lost all the dark expression and the smug look has returned. “I’m a very hospitable woman. Since you are either very brave or very stupid to come and provoke me, I prepared something really special. You annoyed the hell out of me and I will never forgive that. Shit is about to go down, Langdon. Real shit’s coming down.”

Gray only shrugs this off and opens the door to step out. To his surprise, several people shuffle back as far as they can. He turns around, clueless, before he realizes what is about to happen.

A loud creak roars above and a bucket full of brown viscous liquid comes pouring down on him. It’s warm and smelly—fucking gross. Gray could feel it slithering through his scalp and underneath his shirt. He feels alarmed, assuming that the murky liquid is what he thinks it is, but he’s strangely relieved when he realizes that it’s nothing more than mud. If it’s beyond that, he’s going to murder Lucy Woods in front of everyone.

“I told you shit’s coming down, Langdon. Always mark my words. This is what you get for challenging me.” She cocks her head to one side. Cameras click and flash at him and Gray realizes that he may have been put live on every television in New York. He wipes the mud from his eyes furiously. “Oh, I almost forgot the cliché I always say: welcome to hell, Gray Langdon.”

“You don’t know the real meaning of hell, Lucy Woods. While I’m here, I’ll make you regret doing this. You don’t know anything about me, my crew, and what we’re capable of. I’m going to bring you down and everyone’s going to look at me and say: this is Gray Langdon, the one who ended the tyranny of Lucy Woods.”

“Really? From where I stand, you’re just a sore loser. Man the fuck up and accept your defeat.” With that, Lucy slams the door on him.

Fuck that bitch! Gray swears exasperatedly in his mind. You are so dead, Lucy Woods. I will make you pay, and I will make you pay hard.