Chapter 8 - THE BOOKKEEPER IN A ROOM FULL OF WOLVES
Thirty-seven people turned toward me.
I recognized some from newspapers.
Others from photographs Adrian had shown me.
Developers.
Hotel owners.
Union negotiators.
Security executives.
People whose legitimate businesses were worth hundreds of millions.
And people whose darker reputations were worth even more.
Vincent approached.
“Where’s Adrian?”
“I don’t know.”
Lie.
He was beneath the house with Sofia.
Vincent smiled.
“Of course you do.”
A blonde woman near the fireplace laughed.
“This is the woman Crowe is afraid of?”
I pushed my glasses higher.
Apparently that was hilarious.
“She looks like a librarian.”
“Bookkeeper,” somebody corrected.
The blonde woman looked at my body with obvious contempt.
“Pathetic little bookkeeper.”
I smiled.
“Senior logistics auditor, actually.”
Several people laughed.
Not with me.
At me.
Perfect.
Vincent guided me toward the center of the room.
“Where’s the recording?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
He leaned closer.
“You’re not good at lying.”
“That’s strange.”
I looked around the room.
“I’ve been lying to Vanessa Crowe for eighteen months.”
That changed the atmosphere.
The blonde woman stopped smiling.
Vincent’s expression tightened.
I continued.
“I found forty-three false manifests, eleven shell companies, six bribed port officials, and approximately twenty-two million dollars in transfers.”
Silence.
“You memorized that?” someone asked.
“I memorize everything.”
Then I looked directly at Vincent.
“Including payments authorized under V.H.”
His face changed.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But I saw it.
So did several others.
“Interesting initials,” I said.
Vincent stepped toward me.
“You should be careful.”
“No.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“She shouldn’t.”
Adrian.
Every person in the room straightened.
He walked inside as if the house belonged to him.
Which, technically, it did.
Sofia and four trusted men entered behind him.
Vincent’s face hardened.
“Where’s Ethan?”
Adrian asked.
“Safe.”
“Wrong answer.”
Vincent raised one hand.
Three men near the windows shifted toward hidden weapons.
Adrian’s people moved too.
The entire room balanced on the edge of disaster.
Then the blonde woman spoke.
“Adrian, this is ridiculous. You’re risking thirty years of alliances for a woman who counts containers.”
Adrian looked at me.
Then at everyone else.
He crossed the room.
Stopped in front of me.
And said:
“You’re sleeping beside me tonight.”
My mouth opened.
Thirty-seven people stared.
Three hands moved toward weapons.
The blonde woman looked furious.
And before I could ask what game Adrian was playing, he pulled me against him and kissed me.
Not politely.
Not strategically.
Like everyone else in the room had disappeared.
When he finally released me, I forgot my own name.
Adrian looked at Vincent.
“Anyone who touches Claire answers to me.”
That was when I realized the kiss had accomplished exactly what he wanted.
Everyone was watching us.
May you like
Nobody was watching Ethan step silently onto the balcony above them.
And in his hand was Vincent Hale’s private phone.
