Page 136 of Reveal

Now to head home and wait for Ryker to tell me he’s back in town so we can celebrate all these things. And maybe I’ll be able to do a little explaining about what was going on that he didn’t know about.

That’s assuming I get the all clear from Special Agent Noah that everything I provided them with panned out.

Desperate to get out of this costume and wig for what might be the last time, I enter the elevator to head to my room, where my Vaughn clothes are.

Even now, even with immunity, I still feel the need to be cautious doing the change-in-the-hotel-room thing.

Old habits die hard, I guess.

Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, I keep my head down in the elevator and scan through the emails on my phone. Emails on an account I’ll no longer have to care about.

People exit floor by floor, ding after ding.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw you dressed like this, Vee. It’s truly stunning.”

I jump when Carter’s voice hits my ears and more so when his hand slides into the crook of my arm. I immediately try to yank it away, but his grip holds firm.

“Uh-uh-uh. Not so fast. You and I have a few things we need to discuss.”

The elevator car is empty. The panic coursing through me is almost debilitating.

“Go to hell.”

His chuckle is low and unforgiving, and I yelp out as he tightens his grip hard enough to leave bruises. “Don’t cause a scene, and I’ll play nice.”

He pushes me off the car when the door opens and steers me to my room. “Key,” he demands.

I stare at him and don’t obey.

I yelp as I’m slammed up against the hotel room’s door, my arm twisted against my back, my face pressed to the cool wood. My vision goes white for a beat from the pain as the heat of his breath hits my ear.

“Pretty please, Vaughn. Be difficult. Give me a reason to punish you more than I already want to. Your cry is my aphrodisiac.” He slides a hand over my ass, and I try to buck him off me, but he yanks my arm farther up my back in response. “The fucking key, Vaughn.”

My purse is ripped off my neck, the thin strap snapping without much force. His body is pressed against mine, but he manages to open the door with his free hand. I fall forward as it gives, and I land on my hands and knees on the floor.

I scramble up immediately but not before the door is slammed shut. “I warned you, Vaughn. I have eyes everywhere in this town. I know everything. I have a snitch in the courthouse. Immunity in exchange for goods on me? Really? You sold me out to the fucking feds? And I thought we were so much closer than that.”

My back is against the wall farthest from him. The moment is so very similar to the first time I faced him down in a hotel room, but this time the stakes seem so much higher. So much more damaging.

My eyes scan every damn thing in the room around us to see what I can use as a weapon.

“I wouldn’t even attempt it,” he warns as I see the phone on the nightstand, the lamp I could swing, anything and everything.

“What do you want?” My voice betrays me. Fear woven into false strength.

“Oh, you know what I want. We both know that. I’m over playing the games. You tried to hurt me today. Now it’s my turn to hurt you. And apparently time is of the essence, since someone will be knocking down my door to serve warrants soon.”

He smacks his hands and rubs them together before starting to undo his belt as he moves toward me.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Ryker

“Where are you?” Stuart’s voice comes through the speaker on my car.

“Stuck in this goddamn traffic. The Midtown nightmare on this goddamn island.” I slam on my horn, frustrated with my lack of movement and tired of driving. “It’s like the universe is—”

“The Chatwal. Now.”