The closer we get to the diner, the more my nerves fire at me. By the time we reach the door, I’m a certifiable mess, and I need to get my shit together. I work hard to pull a mask over my features. To slip into the role of Sloane Clark, but it’s challenging. Perhaps it’s just as well I didn’t get to finish my studies. I’m not sure I have what it takes to be an actress.
“Do you want me to come in or wait outside?” he asks, and I dither over how to respond.
Sloane Barton wants him to come in and protect me, but would Sloane Clark ask a bodyguard to come inside when she’s on a date? I worry my lower lip between my teeth before making my decision. “If you could stay out here, please.” I’m trusting he’ll still keep a watchful eye from outside.
“No problem.”
“Thanks,” I whisper before I pull my big-girl panties on and open the door.
Once inside, I scan the room for the two assholes, but they aren’t here yet. A waitress seats me in a booth facing the window upon my request. Being able to see John Angelo gives me a small modicum of relief. I order a chai and a muffin and try to steady my nerves as I wait for them to show up.
I’m on edge as the waitress carries my order to my table. Where the fuck are they? I want to get this over with. I sip my tea and force a few mouthfuls of muffin down, but it tastes like sandpaper, and my stomach churns unpleasantly as the seconds tick by.
My heart jumps into my mouth a couple of minutes later when my phone vibrates with a new message. I open it under the table, nearly spewing the contents of my stomach when I read the command to go to the bathroom.
My legs almost go out from under me when I slide out of the booth, but I force one foot in front of the other and make my way to the bathroom, feeling John Angelo’s eyes on me from outside. Opening the door, I encounter a long, narrow hallway with four doors. I’m heading toward the female restroom when an arm reaches out from the wheelchair-accessible bathroom, and I’m yanked inside.
A hand clamps over my mouth to smother my startled cry. The lock clicks as Diego circles the front of my body. His hard eyes warn me not to shout. Alvaro’s arm wraps around me from behind, tugging my back to his chest. I’m trembling all over and incapable of stopping my body’s natural reaction.
“El Rey isn’t happy with you,” Diego supplies, tilting my chin up with the tip of his gun.
“We have her,” Alvaro says, keeping his arm around me while he thrusts his free arm out, showcasing that sick fuck on the screen of his cell.
“Who is the man following you?” Pablo grits out, glaring at me from the phone.
“One of Cristian’s men. He’s my personal bodyguard. I tried to get him to stay behind, but Cristian is insistent I take him whenever I go out alone.”
The two goons chuckle, and I hate them with the intensity of a thousand suns.
“Cristian, huh?” Pablo arches a brow.
“It’s what he told me to call him.”
Pablo purses his lips for a moment. “What is this shit you sent me?”
Diego keeps the gun pressed into my chin, and a cold sweat breaks out over my body. “It’s all I could get, but it must be important because it was classified, and I had to steam the envelope open to get at the contents.”
“Who are these women?”
“I don’t know, but they must be important.” Please forgive me. I send the thought out to the universe, praying someone keeps those women safe.
“You have disappointed me, my little American Barbie.” Pablo’s glacial tone spears through me like an actual dagger. “Where were you this weekend?”
“At their friends’ house out of town. I had to wear a blindfold the entire journey, so I don’t know where it was, only that it took over six hours to get there.” I lie on purpose, hoping to thwart any efforts they may make to find the property.
“Why was your cell not on you?” he snaps.
“Cristian warned me security would be tight and I would be searched upon arrival. I had no choice but to leave the phone behind. If I’d taken it, they would have it in their hands, and the game would be up. I didn’t have any time to consult with you, and I had to act fast, so I made the only decision I could. Please don’t punish my mother for it. I had no choice, Pablo, please.”
“You don’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation.”
“I do!” I blurt. “I understand, but you’ve got to give me more time. It’s only been a week. Cristian is smart. If I make a move too soon, he’ll figure it out.” I’m not telling him I crashed and burned already. “Please, Pablo, I’ll get you what you want, but it will take time.”
Pablo stares at me for so long I wonder if he’s even breathing. “Okay,” he says after an indeterminable time, shocking me. He usually goes out of his way to disagree with me, purely for an additional reason to punish my mother. “You have one month, but no longer. That is enough time to seduce the prick and get me what I need. In the meantime, you will install the cameras Diego gives you.”
“I can’t. He has cameras all over his house. They are really sophisticated and completely hidden, but he told me they are everywhere, and they have audio and visual functionality. If I try to plant anything, I will be caught.”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?” Pablo leans into the camera, his menacing sneer filling the screen.
