Page 87 of Deadly Designs

He shrugged nonchalantly. “In a way. You were at myresidence when you were not supposed to be there.”

“That’s not true,” she argued. “I had an appointmentwith your wife.”

“One I didn’t know about. Besides, it was for hoursearlier.”

“I was unfortunately delayed.”

He waved a hand. “It’s neither here nor there now,”he parroted Johnny Cash’s earlier words. “I regret to inform youthat your tardiness will result in your demise.”

She couldn’t believe she was having this conversationwith a man who had been named one of the most influential people onthe planet last month. He’d even made the Sexiest Man Alive listonce or twice, though Aja Blue couldn’t see it. His eyes were coldand aloof, and an aura of malice surrounded him. To her, he wasugly.

“My wife is a big fan of your work. That’s the onlyreason you didn’t suffer a bullet to the brain. Well, that, and Ineed to know who you’ve told.”

Had she fallen down the rabbit hole? This had to be adream. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Your friend said the same thing at first. We brokehim.”

A sliver of dread snaked down her spine. “Whatfriend?”

Sinclair glanced at Johnny. “What was his name?”

“Guitterez,” Johnny supplied.

“That’s right. Mr. Guitterez. Thames, you can waitoutside now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Aja Blue felt the blood drain from her face at themention of Jay. “You killed him?”

“Of course not,” he scoffed. “I have people whohandle those things for me, like Thames. He doesn’t mind gettinghis hands dirty. Do you, Thames?”

“No, sir.”

“Leave now.”

“Yes, sir.”

The door closed behind Johnny, or Thames, or whateverhis name was. She couldn’t care less.

Sinclair opened a drawer and withdrew a shiny blackpistol. “Like I said, I usually have people take care of the nastywork. This time, however, I’m going to make an exception.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Christian was currentlyweaponless, but he couldn’t wait for Kayne and Presley to arrive.Scratch that. He now had a steak knife courtesy of the unassumingbartender who’d left one by a perfectly sliced lime. It wasn’tlarge, but he could gut a human with it if needed.

He hadn’t worn a comm unit, so he wouldn’t know whenhis coworkers arrived until they called him. He did have on aKevlar vest, but Aja Blue didn’t since she couldn’t hide onebeneath her gown. Christian didn’t have a tracker on her since hethought she’d have her phone. Monumental mistake on his part.

A thought struck. He recalled Aja Blue mentioningthat Jay had been with her when she’d visited the Sinclair mansion.Both of their homes had been ransacked. Jay had ended up murdered.Heathcliff Sinclair was eliminating witnesses to his clandestinemeeting with a notorious despot.

Not on Christian’s watch.

His phone buzzed, and he glanced at a text fromTyler. He clicked on the image. It was a diagram ofThe OriginalSin. He hadn’t even asked for it. Either Tyler was a mindreader on top of being a genius, or Kayne or Presley had thought ofrequesting it from him. He was betting on his coworkers.

“Buy you a drink?”

He lifted his head from studying the blueprints tosee a gorgeous brunette in a plunging red gown smiling at him.Strands of diamonds hung from her ears, and her lips were painted adeep crimson.

“I’m pretty sure they’re free.”

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