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“I just need to get him alone,” Luka says.
I think he needs to do a lot more than that. Joel doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who will give up easily.
Suddenly, Luka tenses. His hands are like stone around my waist and his entire body is clenched and ready to either run or fight.
“What is it?” I whisper.
Even with his mask on, I can see that his face is pale. I follow his eyes and feel myself go stiff as well.
Rian Morrison is standing in the entryway.
She is wearing the same uniform of a pencil skirt and starched button-down shirt she had on the day she kidnapped me. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a severe ponytail. But unlike the scowling woman I met at her family’s mansion, she is smiling at Edgar as though they are old friends.
Luka picks me up off his lap, sits me back down in the chair, and moves to the minibar.
I don’t need to ask to understand what he is doing. We can’t be seen together. Luka is wearing a mask, but Rian isn’t an idiot. If we are cuddled up together on a chair, she’ll realize who he is. She’ll ruin our plan and have Luka killed.
I sit frozen as Rian walks into the lounge and takes a look around. Her eyes fall on me almost instantly, and her smile widens.
My stomach turns. I want to run and grab onto Luka, afraid Rian will drug me again and drag me somewhere else. But I can handle her on my own.
I have to.
She approaches with a cocky strut. “Eve,” she says, tipping her head to me. “Or, should I say, Number Seven? It looks like you are doing quite well on the bidding board. Congratulations.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask, not bothering to hide my disdain. Rian isn’t one of the bidders. She won’t affect whether Luka purchases me or not. Unless, of course, she finds out Luka is here at all.
Rian lifts her chin and shakes her ponytail out. “I was granted special access to the auction because I supply the Cartel with a fair amount of … inventory.”
“Isn’t this the kind of activity someone in your position is supposed to be cracking down on?”
She shrugs. “I’m still cleaning the streets of crime in a way. I offer up drug addicts and other criminals I come into contact with through my job as an agent. I pick women no one will notice and make a little profit along the way. Win-win.”
“For you,” I spit. “Not for the women you trade.”
“Well, we can’t all win,” she says. “I guess you are learning that the hard way.”
I sit tall and ball my fists, ready to fight. Rian simply takes a slow step back and shakes her head. “I hope you are behaving better for the guests. I have a reputation to maintain with the Cartel and offering up a troublemaker won’t help.”
I open my mouth to argue, but she holds up a finger to stop me. “May I remind you that a baby could sell for a lot of money on the black market?”
My heart lodges in my throat, blocking all air to my lungs and words from my lips.
Rian smiles. “That is what I thought.”
I clear my throat and swallow back the unshed tears. “If you let Milaya go home—give her to Luka’s parents—I won’t hold a grudge. I will tell Luka to let you live.”
Rian stares at me for a second and then scoffs. “You are something else. You are about to be sold as a slave and you still think you have any kind of control over me? Stupid woman.”
She walks away before I can say anything else, but I decide one thing in that moment:
When the time comes, I’ll kill her myself.
17
Luka
Ioverhear a very small portion of Rian and Eve’s conversation, but sticking too close is a risk I can’t afford. While they are talking, I grab a drink from the bar and move to the opposite side of the room, hoping if I stay low and avoid getting too close, Rian will be too distracted with Eve to pay any attention to me.
