AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wow. They’re actually considering my inquiry.
“Sergey’s gallery… takes care of large amounts of cash for us. Unfortunately for him, he’s been helping himself to more than his share of it,” he says.
My mind races with more questions than I can spit out. But I do have one big one.
“Why don’t you just put the money in the bank? You know, protect it? Then you don’t have to depend on someone like Sergey.”
There. Solved it.
Or not. The room gets so quiet, you can hear a pin drop. All eyes are on me.
And looking at me like I’m a complete freaking idiot. I clearly missed the memo on something.
Valentin takes a deep breath, like I’m trying his last ounce of patience. This may be the last of my nosy questions. “Lily, when you have the kind of businesses we do, which generate large amounts of cash—and I meanreallylarge—putting the money in the bank attracts… unwanted attention.”
“I don’t understand,” I say before I grasp that I really need to shut the hell up. “I work with a lot of cash businesses like caterers, florists, and lighting companies through the party planning company. They don’t do that.”
Valentin considers my question. “I get that, but I’m talking about large sums of money. Like more money than these businesses ever see in their lifetimes.”
He reaches across the table to top off my wine without noticing I’d only taken a few sips of it anyway.
“Wh… what sort of business generates that much cash?” I ask in a small voice.
God I need to shut up.
He stares at me.
And the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
“Our lovely guest sure has a lot of questions, doesn’t she?” Artem says, smiling. “Look, Lily. The cash flows through Sergey’s gallery—well, it was flowing through his gallery until we realized he was skimming—and he makes up fake bills of sale for obscenely expensive paintings.” He sits back in his seat. “Everyone’s happy.”
I swallow. “And he would be after me because I saw him try to kill you guys?”
He nodded slowly, satisfied I was finally getting it.
“Do you… do you think he knows who I am? What my name is?” I ask in a shaking voice. This is not good. In fact, it’s very bad. And I don’t mean just for myself. What about my sisters Charleigh and Evie? Do I need to be concerned about them? Or will they be okay because they’re clear across the country?
And then there’s my father. But I’m not really worried about him.
He nods again. “Probably. I mean, he hired your company for the party, right? He can find out exactly who you are.”
Now it’s my turn to nod. “Yeah. But I’m a nobody. I don’t know why he would care about me.”
Valentin scoots his chair over and throws an arm around my shoulder. “We will be neutralizing him soon. Don’t worry, baby. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Neutralize. Oh god.
“What about my job? I have to get back to work. How long will I be here? How long will this… neutralizing take?”
I look around. This ‘safe house’ is sweet, no doubt, and my bedroom is fit for a movie star. But it wasn’t exactly my idea to come here. I have my own place, for which I pay an exorbitant amount of rent. Therefore, this girl needs to work.
“Don’t know,” he says with a shrug. “But we’ll be contacting your boss to let her know you’ll be out for a while.”
What?
Oh, hell no. They don’t know my boss. She’s a grade-A bitch, and regardless of how hard I’ve worked for her, she won’t think twice about firing me. It’s one thing that I am being kept in this place against my will, but another that my job should be jeopardized. Unless the guys plan on never letting me go…
My stomach drops.
