But if I were to stick around, I wasn’t sure that I could resist Reeve. Even if he continued to love us both, as I suspected he would. It would torment me and shatter me to pieces, and I knew myself well enough to know that I’d very likely end up falling back into his bed or his barn or his porch swing. And when Amber found out – because she would – the discovery wouldn’t help repair our friendship or her sense of worthlessness or lessen her vulnerability.
The only chance to save her was to leave. And wasn’t that what all of this had been about anyway? Saving her?
“I just need to go home,” I said, reinforcing my decision.
Joe nodded. “I want to go back to Chicago.”
“You want to keep investigating Vilanakis.”
“I do.” He took a bite of his steak.
I tried not to be disappointed. Joe wasn’t my only option to get home. He was just the easiest.
“But I need to go back to LA first. Take care of a few things before I head anywhere else. Wanna ride?”
“Really? Even if I might draw attention from the man you’re after?”
“Sure. Why not?” He was a smart man. He knew what kind of burden I’d be. “When could you leave?”
Though I knew that it was the right thing to go, I still let myself search for reasons to stay, even one day longer.
I couldn’t find any. “As soon as you like.”
“Tomorrow?”
“I’ll start packing as soon as we get back.”
While Joe settled the bill, I told him I’d meet him in the lobby and excused myself to go to the restroom.
On my way out, my head was down and so I didn’t notice the figure in front of me until I bumped into him. “Oh, excuse me.” I stepped to the side to get out of his way, but he stepped with me. I laughed awkwardly and stood in place, gesturing for him to pass.
He didn’t.
He stood solidly in front of me, like a barricade.
I raised my eyes to look at him. He wore a black suit. His hair and complexion were dark and the lack of wrinkles on his face suggested he was younger than I was. And though I was certain we’d never met, there was something familiar about him. Something I couldn’t quite place.
“Ms. Wayborn,” he said with a trace of an accent, the same Mediterranean accent that was present in many of Reeve’s employees. So he’d sent a bodyguard after all.
“You’re one of Reeve’s men, aren’t you? I’m here with Joe, and he can take care of me just fine, thank you very much. So you can go back and report to your boss, or don’t, whichever you want. Just leave me be.”
He took a step closer. “Are you entirely certain that Joe can take care of you? I don’t see him around. In fact,” he scanned the empty hallway, “I don’t see anyone right now. Do you?”
My palms went clammy and my throat, dry. We were utterly alone, I realized, and he was standing close. So close that I wasn’t sure I could get a scream out before he managed to clamp a hand over my mouth. And, besides, as the stranger unbuttoned the coat of his jacket, I could see the butt of a handgun at his waist.
I had no choice but to cooperate.
With my heart thudding in my chest, I stood up straighter, hoping to seem braver than I felt. “What do you want from me?”
My skin itched as his eyes swept crudely down my body. “How kind of you to ask.” His cruel smile made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “Unfortunately, it’s not what I want that’s important. It’s what my father wants. And, at the moment, he’d like to talk to you.”
“Who’s your father?” I asked, studying his features. His expression was so familiar, that all of a sudden it clicked. I had seen him before, once. In the middle of the night. During an online poker game Reeve had been playing with his cousins.
So, though my heart skipped a beat and I suddenly felt drenched with sweat, I wasn’t surprised when the man delivered his father’s name. “Michelis Vilanakis.”
CHAPTER 14
With the stranger’s hand gripped tightly around my upper arm, he led me farther down the hall to a service elevator. There, he let me go to swipe a card across the access reader then punched the call button.
I studied him as we waited for the doors to open. “You’re Reeve’s cousin. Petros, right? Online poker.”
“Good memory. Tell him he owes me a chance to win my money back sometime soon. He’s been too busy as of late to join any of our games.” His cordial temperament was both impressive and chilling. It was a trait that reminded me of the stereotypical mob men I’d seen on television. But there were things that were not at all what I’d have expected from a man with Mafia ties. For one thing, his scruffy face and coiffed hair made him look like an art student or grunge model rather than a hoodlum. And his boyish mannerisms made him seem innocent, and with Vilanakis as a father, I was sure he was anything but.
“I’ll give him the memo.” I laced my hands together in an attempt to stop their shaking while I tried to assess the level of danger I was in. With his tough guy demeanor and steely confidence, Petros would have been formidable even without a gun. But he interacted regularly with Reeve online, and he knew we were in a relationship. Surely he wouldn’t hurt me. Out of respect, like Reeve had said.
Of course, that had been before someone – possibly even Petros – had snuck onto the ranch and killed a dog in order to leave a very pointed message.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked when the elevator doors opened and Petros gestured for me to go inside.