Page 29 of Revenge & Ruin

Across from me, one of the other IT technicians gives me a thumbs-up, a phone pressed to his ear.

Good. Backup has been notified.

On the screen, Teo smirks to himself. “Did you want something, Isabella?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I’m a very rich man, Natali. Can’t blame me for finally wanting to blow off a bit of steam at a casino.”

I don’t let him hear my laugh. “Usually, our patrons don’t find themselves wandering through the basement.”

“Perhaps I’m feeling a little lost.”

I hum thoughtfully. “Well, maybe I could show you around sometime.”

“I suppose it’s the least you could do. I saved your life, after all.”

I don’t miss the way the other men in the room glance back at Teo in confusion. I realize one of them is Dante. The man that caught me at the wedding. Interesting…

“I think you’ll find that my life debt has already been paid,” I correct him.

A glance at the screen tells me I have three more minutes.

“First I’m hearing of it.”

“Leon was about to start a war to get me back,” I explain, taking my time not to rush my words. “You’re lucky I was there to calm him down. Otherwise, your head would probably be on a spike right now.”

“Why, Isabella. I didn’t know you cared.”

I watch as he starts to spin oh-so-casually in his chair. My eyes narrow.

It has to be something to do with infiltrating the system. If there was a device or a cloning system hacking into us right now, someone in this room should have picked it up right now.

The fact that none of the alarms are going off is worrying. I’ll have to reset the firewall immediately.

“You’re stalling me. Why?” I demand.

Teo’s grin only gets wider. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Perhaps I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Or you’re waiting for reinforcements to arrive and surround us.”

Shit.

I grind my teeth together before responding. “You don’t seem particularly put out by the possibility.”

I watch as he shrugs. “I figure you need something from me.”

“I figure you think too highly of yourself.”

On my screen, Dante approaches the door and glances out into the hallway before stepping back in. He approaches Teo, whispering something too low for the cameras to pick up.

Teo simply nods in response. “You have the upper hand here,belle.You may as well ask your questions.”

The IT tech waves for my attention and gives me a nod of confirmation.

“It’s not exciting now that you’ve taken all the fun out of it,” I reply childishly as I check the other monitors. Twenty or so men have now pulled up to the Princes’ Hand and are waiting for my signal.

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