Page 47 of Her Cruel Bodyguard

“Burner phone,” I say thoughtfully, knowing full well we don’t have it.

“Here,” she dips her hand into the pocket of her pajama jacket and pulls something out. She smiles mischievously, stretching the burner phone Salvatore had given me, which is supposed to be in my father’s custody.

“You…” I shake my head slowly and smile. “You are a witch, too,” I laugh softly, unable to come up with the right adjective for her smart ass.

“That I am,” she smiles. “I figured we would need it, especially with your show of selflessness, wanting to deliver yourself to Salvatore,” she snickers. “Smart move, very smart,” she mocks.

“I know that was dumb, but what could I have done?”

“Shut up for a start,” she swings the phone at me, and I roll my eyes as I take it.

“You should stop insulting me,” I click my tongue. “I am mostly smart, not street smart, but I am smart.”

“Eva, you said something stupid, but that is okay because that is what love makes us do,” she smiles. “I would already be on my way to Salvatore if I were in your position.”

I nod, finding comfort in her words, “Love makes us do stupid things.”

She nods once. “Yes, exactly. But I would have been on my way to Salvatore with an AK-47,” she struts back to the stool as my mouth drops heavy on the floor.

Comforting indeed.

“Yeah,” I gulp and busy myself with pulling up Nina’s number.

“Do you have a pen and paper, let me scribble out the address of our meeting?” It’s a rhetorical question because she is already going to my desk to help herself with a pen and notepad. “And tell the witch to come alone.”

“Are we going alone?”

“That is left to be seen,” she smirks.

Vittoria’s language for Hell no.

CHAPTER TWENTY

EVA

“They are busy,” Vittoria announces as she slips out of the study, then intentionally leaves the door slightly open.

“We should let them be,” I announce even louder, then press my ear to the small opening to do what we had set out to do when we returned to the study.

She hurtles to stand behind me and stretches on her heels to get her ear close to the door.

We both wait.

Nina is on board.

It was a little too easy to get her to agree to meet with us. And it was not in the something is fishy kind of easy way. It was more like I will do whatever it takes to get Salvatore off my back kind of easy.

Our plan is pretty simple. Even though Nina said we should come alone, Vittoria planned to have Marcus, one of my father’s men, drive behind us but out of sight. She didn’t tell him our plans, and she didn’t have to.

“You think that will work?” My father’s voice echoes, and I flip a stare at Vittoria.

“It should work,” Fabio answers.

Their voices are a little muffledbut we canstill hear what they are talking about. To determine how long we will need to carry out our plans, we want to know how long whatever they are up to will take.

It's been a few hours since we called Nina. Vittoria changed into a red leather coat, and I'm dressed in same-colored boots, a black crop top,and loose denim pants.

“But what will we offer him?” My father chirps. “We have to make the deal robust, something he would consider enticing.”

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