Page 76 of Vas

Her stiffened spine relaxed a little. Not a hospital but at least it was something.

He spoke cryptically into the phone. “ID number—83537, authorization—serpent, GSW—through and through to the lower left side, Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, room 1623."

After he hung up, he set his phone down on the table.

She waited a full minute for him to start explaining, watching him fiddle with his damn computer. When she couldn’t take the silence a minute longer, she said, “You need to explain why you can’t go to the hospital.”

He turned toward her, pain flickering across his features before he settled back against the table, using it for support. “Gunshot wounds, no matter how minor, have to be reported to the police.”

“Hang on a minute. You were mugged and shot and youdidn’tcall the police?”

“No.”

“Why?” If he wanted to play the one-word game, she could too.

“The guy got away. It would be pointless.”

As his words echoed between them, she remembered that had been the same excuse he’d used when she’d been attacked. She’d believed it then, she wasn’t so sure she believed it now. In fact, quite a few things were beginning to feel unbelievable.

“Let me see if I’ve got this right. You were shot during a mugging and the guy got away?”

“Yes.”

“How?”And how long could they keep up this act before all her pent up hurt, worry, and frustration turned into sheer rage.

His brows rose as if he hadn’t been expecting her to question him. “What do you mean, how?”

“I want to know exactly what happened.” She couldn’t picture anyone daring to mug him, let alone getting away afterward.

“I was walking out to my car and this guy—”

“Where?” she interrupted. “Where were you when you were walking out to your car?”

“I was at the Palms Hotel. I’d just finished a meeting.”

She eyed the black, heavy-cotton cargo pants he was wearing. Not really business attire, but she’d save that discrepancy for later, not wanting to get off topic. “So you were leaving the Palms, then what?”

He looked at her quizzically. If he was trying to guess what she was thinking, Anna wished him luck. Even she wasn’t sure where she was headed, but her brain was ticking off every oddity she’d observed since their meeting, and she was realizing there were way more than there should be.

She tuned back in to what he was saying. “Then this guy came up to me, pulled out a gun, and demanded my wallet.”

“And then what did you do?”

“I gave him my wallet.” He shrugged very slightly and the motion must’ve pained him because he winced.

She ignored the urge to mother hen him and tell him to sit his ass down, instead questioning, “Just like that? You handed over your wallet then for some unknown reason he decided to shoot you?”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.” Anna didn’t know much about muggings but she knew a lot about Vas and that entire scenario stunk of lies. Besides that, how many muggers would want to extend their prison time by shooting their victimafterthey’d gotten the goods.

“Pardon?” he asked, as though he couldn't believe she doubted him.

Agitated by his caginess and bordering on supremely pissed off, Anna stood and started pacing back and forth in between the couch and the coffee table, her brain working double timeto connect dots she'd been willfully ignoring. Small things about Vas and his actions that didn't quite make sense. Things, that on their own, didn’t seem like much but when lumped all together painted an entirely different picture of the man she’d fallen in love with.

“I’m not sure which part of that tall tale was a lie.” She stopped pacing and pierced him with a sharp look. “Most likely all of it. But there’s one thing I know to be true. There’s no way in hell amuggerwaltzed up to you and you calmly handed him your wallet.”

No,there's no way a mugger got the drop on him. Vas watched too closely, saw too much. He'd grown up poor and in a rough neighborhood, those instincts didn’t disappear. Besides, she'd seen him in action enough to know the truth. Something else had happened that day. And whatever that something was, he was desperate for her not to know, or else why lie?

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