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“I’m glad you’re devoting your total attention to my legal matters,” he said, ignoring my admonishment. “I’m sure that a brilliant woman like you would do quite well handling the case.” He took a slow drag of his cigarette, as if he had all the time in the world. “However, there has been an… aggravating complication to our business arrangement, bella.”
“Stop calling me that,” I said, my tone taking on a hard edge. “And what the hell are you talking about?”
“There is a man here in Boston, a man who goes by the name of Connor O’Leary.”
My heart skipped a beat at the mention of Connor.
“What about him?”
Jose took another drag of his cigarette.
“I want to know the exact nature of your relationship with him.”
I was still confused, fear growing more and more by the moment.
“What business is that of yours?” I asked.
“Because Connor, depending on, ah, certain decisions he might make, is on the verge of becoming an enemy, or a subordinate. Either way, I want to know if my legal council is… associating with someone so close to my business.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You don’t need to know any of that. What I do in my personal life and who I do it with is none of your business.”
Jose’s eyes flashed, and I could sense that he was the sort of man who wasn’t used to being spoken to that way.
“Answer the question,” he spoke in a harsh tone. “Tell me what your relationship with him is. Are you fucking him?”
I sat mute, shocked at his words.
“You know what?” he asked. “I’m not in the mood for any lies.” He took out his phone, the smell of cigarette smoke thick in the air. He turned it on, swiped a few times, and then turned the phone screen to me.
I gasped at what I saw. It was a photo of me entering Connor’s apartment. He swiped again, showing shots of Connor and my argument in the park, the two of us yelling at one another before getting in a taxi to go to his place.
“It’s no secret that I’m sweet on you, bella,” he said. “And I do believe that you could fall for me, given the chance. But not with Connor around; not with you under his influence.”
“What are you saying?” I glanced up at the security cameras, hoping the crew on the other side of them was watching.
He smiled, sitting back. “You want to know how little money it takes to convince a security team to turn off their cameras and abandon their posts for an hour? You’d be very surprised, perhaps.”
Fear ran through me, my blood turning into ice water.
Jose wasn’t done. He opened his suit jacket, showing me a silver pistol tucked into a holster on his chest.
“You and I are going for a ride, bella. And let me give you one warning, and one warning only—if you scream, you die.”
Chapter 33
Claire
“Don’t be stupid, Claire,” Jose said. “Come with me now.”
I was scared but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let a prick like Jose see me sweat.
“No. No way.”
He swept his hand toward the office. “There is no one here to help you, no one watching the cameras. And while we’ve been speaking, my men have taken position near the elevators. You’re not going anywhere.”
“You’re going to have to kill me, then. Not a chance I’m leaving with you.”
“I could very easily kill you, you know.” To make his point, he slipped his pistol out of the holster and slowly raised it. “One shot through the head. That is all it would take, bella.”
