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“Thank you.”
“You want an escort outside?”
I grin. “Nah, I’m fine.”
I’m not fine.
I keep smiling at them as I duck back into the backroom, and then down the little hallway past the office and walk-in fridge to the back door. I’m trembling all over, my ears ringing with panic as I stumble out into the back alley, gasping for air.
I whirl, heart racing as I scan the little hollowed space in the brick wall behind the drain spout.
Miles’s cigarettes are still stashed there. So is the lighter.
I almost sob at the promise of release. The sweet escape of pain and heat against my skin as I rush to snatch them up.
“Well, well, well, Ella Ashford.”
I choke, the words in the dark alley scaring the hell out of me. I gasp, whirling with my heart in my throat to find myself staring at Leo Argyros.
The jangle of nerves becomes a bombing raid siren.
He grins. “Or should I say,Mrs. Ransom.”
I pale. Leo’s grin turns lethal.
“You know, there I was, thinking about hitting up your batty old aunt for the cash you owe me. But then, you go and marry Noel bloody Ransom, Mr. Moneybags himself!”
His lips curl.
“I want my money.”
“You’regettingyour money—”
“Well, Ella, I’m afraid our terms are changing.”
I stare at him in horror, my heart sinking.
“You… you can’t do—”
“Of course I can.”
My pulse thuds.
“No, we had a deal—”
“And I amalteringthat deal,” he snaps. “Because the very basis of it has changed.”
My mouth opens and closes, my breath choking in my throat as my pulse hammers in my ears.
“I—I don’t understand—”
“The debt is now three million quid, sweetheart.”
I’m going to throw up.
“And I want that in full by next month.”
I dry heave involuntarily, the very walls of the alley spinning as I stumble, clawing at them for support.
