Page 64 of Beautiful Liar

As I’m chewing, he reaches into his jacket and takes out a business card. Or what I imagine is a business card. It’s black with gold numbers on it, which he slides across the table to me.

“Do you have a phone?”

I hesitate. Technically, the phone in my possession is for a specific purpose, which I’m sure doesn’t include the scenario I’m mired in right now. So I should say no. “Yes.”

He waits.

I reach into my pocket and retrieve it.

He holds out his hand and I place the phone in it. A few taps later, a phone on his desk rings. He cancels the call and hands me back my phone along with the card.

I return them both to my pocket. The near silence of the whole thing fascinates and terrifies me.

Quinn’s lids descend as he arranges another perfect mouthful. “Prior to today, you owed me…something, didn’t you, Elly?”

“Yes.”

“So now, you owe me something plus two weeks.” It isn’t framed as a question. I owe Quinn Blackwood two weeks.

“I can’t give you two weeks. I have to be somewhere else.”

He raises the fork again, feeds me another mouthful. “For how long?”

“A couple of weeks. Maybe three. I can’t get out of it.”

“Then we’ll make a deal, Elly. You go do your thing that you can’t get out of. Maybe I’ll call you at some point, maybe I won’t. Either way, when you’re done with this thing, you come back here and give me two weeks.”

“You want me to come back and work for you?”

“That is to be decided. After all, I’ll have a couple of weeks, maybe three, to work out exactly what I want from you.”

“What if I don’t come back?”

He takes his time to feed me another mouthful, before cold blue eyes hook hard into mine. I have no doubt that the terrifying Mr. Blackwood is in residence. “If you don’t come back, Elly, every single one of the sixty-eight people working down in your precious basement will be fired.”

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