They drove an hour and finally got back into the city.Dusan took them to a botanical garden.As they got out, she shared a look with Lance.His confusion matched hers.
Dusan charmed the woman at the front who waved them through.He led the way into a section of the garden that was being renovated.Tall plants in both burlap wrapping and pots waited for whatever was being done here.
“I love it in this place.”
Dusan’s voice was low and smooth.He crouched down and pushed his hand into the fertile soil and allowed a fistful to filter though his fingers.
All three of the men with them looked on edge.She didn’t work for the man so she wasn’t sure what was normal for him, but from their looks, this wasn’t it.
“You know why I love it here so much?”Dusan looked over each of them individually.
“Because when you kill someone, if you put an endangered plant over it they won’t be dug up.”The words just slipped from her mouth, and the second they had, she wished she could recall them.
Dusan smiled, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners.In that moment, she saw a handsome, charming businessman, not a ruthless cartel leader who ran a human trafficking ring asoneof his means of income.
“You and I, Jasmine, could do a lot together.”His gaze snapped to Lance.“Hold onto this one or she will be snatched up.”
“Don’t ever plan on letting her go.”Lance wrapped his arm around her again, tucking her into his side.
Dusan rose, brushing off his hands.“She is correct.Out here no one would know if you kill and bury a body.They are so worried about the beautification projects no one thinks to ask why the soil is so fertile.”
The lighter-haired one of the duo who typically guarded Michel got shifty feet and couldn’t hold still.There was something else in play here.
“You two,” the man began with a quick glance down to his hands before he looked back at them.“You are supposed to protect my son.”
They nodded.
Jasmine believed she knew where this was going to end and she didn’t want to be part of it.
“So explain to me how two of the guys closest to him turned out to be undercover cops.”He straightened his suit coat.“The knowledge that such a thing has happened, tells me he has been in danger this entire time.”His mouth thinned.“I don’t like the fact this was going on under your noses.”
Fidgety blond stabbed finger in her and Lance’s direction.“He’s a cop.”
Jasmine tipped her head to look up at Lance, whose expression couldn’t be read.
“That’s your response?”Dusan shook his head.“I come to you with concerns about the men you allow aroundmyson and you point at one ofmymen and call him a cop.Instead of shifting the blame, perhaps you should try to figure out a way to save your ass, because right now, this hole has your name all over it.”
The blond blanched.The darker-haired man beside him hadn’t moved a bit, his expression stone.
Dusan shook his head.“Kill him.”
Before she could figure out if that was to her or Lance, the dark-haired man pulled out his gun and put one right in the blond’s head, the silencer muffling the sound.Within seconds, the blond had been pushed into the hole and dirt was being slung over him.
When the four of them walked out there was a newly completed area with some plants that had just been planted.
Jasmine wanted to get out of this hell she’d jumped in.She’d had no feelings for the one who’d just been buried in front of her—for none of them from today—but she did care about Lance, far more than she should.Because of that she couldn’t just, well,wouldn’tjust, ghost on him and leave him to fend for himself.Especially since she knew Robert was here.Just being in the same city with the man who’d hung her out to dry meant sleep wasn’t going to come easy anymore.
One thing at a time.Let’s find a way to get away from the man who is everything you despise in a human.
Chapter Six
Sometimes you fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time.
“You’ll be there tonight.This is not a request.”
Dusan’s tone was cold and autocratic.He expected his order to be followed.Of course, the man always expected that.
“Black tie?”
