Page 146 of The Price of Forever

“You’ll get my help. And the dance can wait. Just go sit on the bed and get comfortable.”

I drifted toward the bed, a bad feeling flowering in my gut. I glanced back at him a few times, watching him pour the wine. He angled his body suddenly, reaching for something else out of a cabinet. A few uninflated balloons tumbled out and to the floor, alongside whatever he’d been looking for. The drink preparation was taking too long. Something was off.

Just go along with it. Get the intel.

“Here we go.” He came toward the bed, his half-lidded gaze stuck on the cups. He held out the one in his left hand straight to me. “Drink up.”

“I’m not really thirsty right now,” I said, leaning to set the cup down.

“Come on,” he said sharply. “Let’s have a toast. To wonderful moments.” His smile was unsettling, laced with tension. I clinked my glass against his, and he watched me as I brought the drink to my lips.

Fake it. Just fake it.

“Come on, it’s your favorite wine,” he chided when I didn’t take a sip. “I bought it just for you.”

Fear trembled through me. If he’d put something in it, I had a small window of time before I passed out. Trojan was on data review, which meant he was listening live as I recorded. Surely he’d notice if something sounded amiss. At least, I prayed he would.

I did my best to take the tiniest sip possible. At the last second, he jostled into me, spilling my drink into my face. I gasped, getting way more of it down my throat than I’d intended.

“Sorry,” he said.

I grabbed a tissue from the nightstand and cleaned myself up. “Well, cheers to that.” I tried to sound lighthearted, but I could hear a ticking clock. If he’d laced it, I had limited time. But maybe it was fine. Maybe he was just already drunk and acting weird.

I knew better. I needed to act fast. This will be worth it if the information you get will save your brothers.

“Listen. This is about my guard. I need to do something.” My whole chest grew tight as I struggled to get back on track. “I can’t get rid of him. And I remembered what you told me about the…fuck, what was their name?”

“The Fairchilds,” he supplied for me.

“Yes. Those guys. What did you do again?”

“I fucked them in the ass so hard they won’t be able to walk again for the ten years they’re going to prison.” A Cheshire Cat smile stretched across his lips. “Is that what you’re trying to do to that guard out there?”

“I need him off my back,” I insisted, the weight of my clutch in my lap reminded me of the recorders inside.

“Why don’t you fire him?” Eli asked.

“I can’t,” I blurted, my mind whirring in overtime to concoct enough believable details on the fly. “I didn’t hire him to begin with. I’m in a conservatorship. It’s just…it’s so fucked up. My parents, they never trusted me, and they put me into a mental institution when I was sixteen, and somehow they got their hands on all this money I made from my acting career—”

“You used to act?” His smile went wider.

“Just in Disney shit,” I lied. “Anyway, I can’t get a judge to dissolve this stupid conservatorship, and, it’s just—” I wracked my brain for more details from the celebrity news outlets that I liked to read on occasion “—all I’m trying to say is, it’s not my choice. I can’t fire him. But someone like you? You could help me.”

“Well this explains why he’s aways been tagging around.” Eli leaned closer.

“Tell me again what you did to those brothers,” I whispered. “I love to hear this story.”

My pulse throbbed beneath my skin as he launched into his hero’s tale. Please let the recorder work perfectly. No issues. No hiccups. I need this recording. “It’s all about the connections, gorgeous. And I’ve got plenty of them. Nobody liked those assholes, so I had an insider do a little digging. Allan and I were motivated to get them out of our sight, so we used the intel, took it to a friend at the SEC, and the rest is history.”

“So can’t you do something like that for my guard?” I asked.

He laughed. “I don’t think my contacts in the SEC are going to be able to help with your bodyguard unless he owns an investment firm or has been doing insider trading. But I’m sure I could cook something else up.”

I wilted against him. “Oh, thank you Eli.”

“Anything for you, gorgeous.” His hand was at my back.

“I just want you to do something that could put him in jail,” I went on. “Get him away from me. Like you did to those brothers.”

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