Read Online Three Wishes by Jenny Schwartz - Free Book Online Page B

emails and overnight business. A far-flung business required constant attendance.
    “So now you send a woman to convince me to leave,” Miriam had shouted at him.
    It unsettled him, never knowing what to expect. But when she described the woman and he recognized the djinni, his heart froze.
    Miriam was his one weakness. He should have ordered her to leave. Not that she’d have listened. But he could have arranged her removal. He regretted his weakness now, his inability to treat Miriam as just another woman, a person to be used or ignored.
    Now the djinni had recognized his Achilles’ heel and—
    He shook his head, abruptly ashamed of the panic that clouded his thinking. Emotions were dangerous. He knew that.
    If the woman had told Miriam to leave, she couldn’t be the djinni. Unless the djinni was clearing away innocent bystanders?
    David understood the limitation of collateral damage. Let the djinni concentrate on destroying him. He’d fight her.
    “It’s good advice, Miri. You need to leave. Go back to your own life.”
    She folded her arms. “You gave me that life. Once and for all, David, I’m not leaving till your honor is restored. Until I’m sure your father would be proud of you.” Her severe expression relaxed. “You want me gone? Show me the good in you.”
    He frowned. There was no good in him, only ruthlessness and satisfied ambition. He was powerful and wealthy.
    But if he couldn’t show Miriam the good in him, he could scare her away with the worst of him and his work. She had to be brought to accept his damnation.
    “I believe in you, David,” she said softly.
    “Then you’re a fool.”
    He strode out of the room and took the steps to his room two at a time. He retrieved the djinni bottle from his private safe and took out the stopper.
    “Djinni. Bringer of Death,” he called.
    “My name’s Cali.” She wore jeans and a casual shirt with her long hair tied back. She could have posed as a model in any high-class magazine. Despite her casual clothes, she brought a sense of swirling fabric and impetuous sensuality. Neither impressed him much, as he was intent on practical, committed Miriam.
    “You spoke with Miriam this morning.”
    “Yes, o master, I did.”
    His mouth tightened at her mockery. “She said you wanted her to leave. So do I. What’s between us—why ever it is you want to kill me—I don’t hide behind human shields.”
    “Do you wish for me to remove her?”
    “I could arrange for that myself.” He looked away from Cali, out the window at the sea. “I want Miriam to choose to leave herself. Then she won’t return.”
    “So why summon me?”
    “I have security experts visiting tomorrow. I was going to put them off while Miriam’s here, but now I’ve decided she needs to see my work.”
    “I think Miriam’s seen more than enough death and destruction,” Cali said. “She is a doctor.”
    “I’m not talking about death, just the capacity for destruction that I deal in. I want Miri to see it tomorrow. I want you to set up a weapons fair. Make the demonstrations brutal.”
    She looked at him oddly. “I tried to kill you a few days ago. Now you’re ordering me to play with weapons. Aren’t you scared?”
    “Everything in life is a risk.” He felt as dismissive and detached as the words implied. He glanced at the djinni. “Would you rather I cowered in a corner and begged for mercy?”
    She smiled, startling him with her beauty.
    “I take it that’s a yes.” Despite himself, he wanted to return her smile. An honest enemy was perhaps more to be trusted than a friend. “Why should I be scared? You said I have a guardian angel.”
    Her smile died. Her gaze flickered beyond him to the window looking out to the castle.
    “Is he that scary?” This time David did smile.
    Cali didn’t smile back.
    “He’s terrifying,” she said flatly and vanished. A moment later she reappeared. “I’ll start the weapons show at eleven o’clock. Have everyone