"I still do not understand your fascination with this man. He is just a kid."

"Then the boy must be precious to you, Darcy. You really don't want to give him up?" Anthony acted as if he was disappointed, but a wicked smile dominated his features. "Then I have another deal for you."

"Mr. Darcy, do you think that this could be a renegotiation of the terms of trade between the two of you among a few other issues?" I voiced, taking the reins in my hand again. "You must choose one of the options."

"I need to hear what I am going to be offering in both cases before I can make a decision on the matter... miss..." he trailed off, trying to goad me into telling him my name.

"I'm sure Nolan has been kind enough to mention my name in pa.s.sing conversations, sir. I don't think that my name is something we should waste time on." I kept the impatience as bay. He would not find even a single slip in my demeanour.

"Ah," he exclaimed before letting out a chortle. Yes, a chortle. He definitely sounded like a horse at that moment. "Tell me about my options."

"You either handover Nolan to us or you renegotiate your terms of business with Mr. Murray." The other side of the line went silent. Obviously, to make a choice without knowing the bargain was a reckless deed. But all of us knew that Nolan was precious enough to take any risk. As far as we had collected, the boy was Darcy's relative of sorts. He would never jeopardize the life of someone who shared the same blood as he did.

"I'll say that I am interested in negotiating," he replied rather predictably after a few minutes. Anthony nodded at me and then asked me to hand him the cell phone.

"Thank you for cooperating, sir. Mr. Murray will shortly confer with you." The cell phone was now placed in front of Anthony whose face was harder than stone as he explained the terms he was putting forward, in front of Luke Darcy.

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