Page 42 of Unleash You

“You said it was urgent. I’m here to help.” Her tone changed to a cool one.

“We should’ve waited downstairs.” Wesley leaned on the threshold, looking crazy hot in a dark suit. His gaze roamed around the suite, but he didn’t make an effort to come inside. “The congressman will be here soon. Do we have a plan that doesn’t include Anabelle as bait?”

“We do.” Rebecca dug into the pocket of her black tuxedo jumpsuit and pulled out a small bottle. “A little tea will do the trick. I made it myself.”

I stared at her with my mouth slightly open. “Are we drugging him?” I turned to look at Wesley and then Zack, who had the same stunned look on their faces.

“Do you have a better idea?” She licked her glossy lips.

Thinking about her background and all she had to do to survive while working for the Maracaibo cartel, I would say out of all of us, Rebecca was the only one who knew what she was doing. I had to trust her. “Nope. How do we do this?”

“Seriously?” Zack glared at Rebecca for a beat before he turned to me. “He’s a government official. This has got to be illegal.”

“The congressman is no saint.” Wesley stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Now that we were in full-conspiracy mode, he didn’t care if he was in my room or not. “He has the visas we need. I’m pretty sure he’s here to get sex in exchange for them. So yeah, I’m okay with this.”

“It’s still illegal.” Zack crossed his arms over his chest. “Have you used this before?” he asked Rebecca.

“Yes.” Her brown eyes had a tinge of defiance in them, as if daring Zack to ask her when or why she’d used the tea before.

“How does it work?” I asked to defuse the tension between the two.

“You make him tea.” She shrugged. “He’ll fall asleep. After that, we can put him in a car and send him home.”

“Maybe we can put it in one of Lilly’s teas?” I really did feel bad to have to do this to him. “Maybe Josh just wants to hang out and all this won’t be necessary.”

Rebecca snorted a laugh. “If things worked that way, the world would be a very different place.”

Wesley came to stand next to me. His warm arm around me strengthened my resolve on what needed to be done tonight.

I let out a breath. “Okay. How about this? We make the tea and only offer it if he shows signs that, you know, he wants to trade for the visas.”

“Also, make sure he has the papers with him first.” Rebecca sat on the sofa and crossed her legs. “He’s a politician. He’s not required to do what he promised to do.”

Zack sat across from Rebecca. “So we just drug him.”

“Zack, she’s only trying to help.” Wesley’s stern tone of voice made Zack shift his whole body to look at Wesley.

“We should go downstairs.” Rebecca stood and strolled over to me. “You decide, Anabelle. Let me know when the congressman is ready for his tea.”

I didn’t have time to think it over. This was the only plan we had. “Okay.”

She placed her arm around my waist and ushered me out the door. “Let’s go. He’ll be here any minute.”

Downstairs, everyone waited in the great hall while I went into the kitchen to check on Tullie. I felt bad to give her only a few hours’ notice, but she didn’t seem to care. “This prime rib smells amazing, but this isn’t what we agreed on. I can’t believe you got all this ready so fast.”

“Well, it would’ve all gone to waste otherwise.” Lilly shut the pantry door and hugged me. “We had it ready for tonight’s dinner. But with Valentina gone.” Her eyes watered.

“Derek will get her back. Thank you for helping us out. Josh kind of invited himself,” I whispered conspiratorially.

She patted my hand. “He told his mom he was taken by you.”

“I’m only being polite, Lilly.”

“I know. I know.” She smiled. “I just want you to be happy. This is such a big house.”

“I am happy.” I wanted to tell her so badly, but the good news could wait for a little bit.

“That’s the door. Go on in.” Tullie nudged us out of the kitchen.

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