Page 155 of Serving the Mogul

“Taking offense and setting a fire—there’s a big difference between those two things. Then to add kidnapping in?” I thought of the self-absorbed prick I’d met. I wouldn’t have pegged him for trying either—the arsonorthe kidnapping. At least not on his own.

“What about Simone Eastman?”

The question came from Beth Creedy. Slanting her a look, I took a deep breath, let it out. “She could be…clingy.”

“Clingy as in, she was high maintenance?” Beth’s brows arched. “Or clingy as in she might go stalker on you…or a girlfriend?”

“I think the answer’s obvious.” My stomach churned. “A few days ago, I wouldn’t have thought she’d go this route, but I was wrong.”

Fuck, if she got hurt…

Gianni came over and rested a hand on my shoulder, squeezed gently. I covered her hand and squeezed back as I stared into space.

If Tina got hurt…

Fifty-Six

Tina

The dull throbat the base of my skull woke me.

I groaned, trying to shift around, thoughts clouded by both heavy exhaustion and pain. The fog cleared fast when I realized I couldn’t move and a nearby voice made me freeze, every instinct screaming to be quiet, be still.

“…heardher, okay?”

“I’m sick and tired of how every guy I know goes running around every time she bleats,” a female voice snapped, the tone shrill with petty bitchiness.

Was she talking aboutme?Bleating?

“See?” The woman’s voice was closer now. “I told you. She’s still asleep.”

“That’s the problem,” the other person said. He sounded familiar. “You hit her so fucking hard with that gun, I’m worried she might have a brain bleed or whatever the fuck happens when somebody gets hit in the head—hard. With a fucking gun.”

“Awww…is Cecil feeling sorry for his girlfriend?”

Cecil…

Shit.

“Simone, shut the fuck up,” he said.

I opened my eyes a slit as a shadow fell over my lap. Quickly, I closed them again, feigning unconsciousness as he grabbed my head by the hair and pulled back. I had the urge to kick up, hard. But I didn’t have a chance of getting free right now—and he’d mentioned a gun. I needed to know where that was before I tried to get loose.

I also needed to know what the hell was going on.

“Tina?”

It wasn’t hard to fake a weak groan.

He tapped my cheek. When I didn’t respond, he slapped my face lightly. It was harder to ignore that, but he let go when I didn’t respond. “I would have thoughtthatwould get her attention considering what you’ve told me about this Maximus prick.”

“You’re a pig.” She sniffed, sounding irate that he’d insulted James.

If the entire scenario wasn’t so insane—and if there were no gun mentioned, I would have laughed.

The sharp clatter of heels on the floor alerted me that Simone was coming my way.

Heels.

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