Page 165 of Serving the Mogul

I spread my fingers out across the glass as if I could reach through and bridge the distance between us. I closed my eyes.

I’d find her.

The night would end, the bank would open, Cecil would call and we’d make the exchange. And Tina would be safe.

She had to be because I couldn’t bear to think about the other options.

Sixty

Tina

Half the waterin the bottle spilled down the front of my shirt, giving me little relief despite how hot I was. It felt like I was dying of thirst, the tepid water Cecil had offered, sweet as ambrosia.

He pulled it away before I’d gotten enough, but my belly lurched, so it was probably best I didn’t drink more.

Blinking the sweat out of my eyes, I watched as he recapped the bottle and headed to the doorway, turning back to me with a snide smile. “It’s too bad you had to be such a bitch to me, baby.”

In the other room, Simone’s voice rose to an ear-shattering pitch. “…fix it!”

“Yeah, I’m a bitch.” I said, curling my lip in disgust. “I can see why that would push you into being with a psycho who’s talking about killing me.”

He waved a hand, clearly not disturbed by the idea. “She’s high strung and can’t make up her mind. Don’t worry, I’ll talk her out of this.”

He waggled the bottle once more. “Want more?”

Huffing out a breath, I looked away.

“See, there’s that bitchiness being a problem again.” Cecil made atskingsound under his breath.

“Cecil!”

I winced. “She must be part banshee.”

Simone appeared in the doorway, her eyes zooming straight to the bottle Cecil held. “Are you kidding me? Cecil, get out here and stop talking to her.”

With an expansive sigh and roll of his eyes, he started for the door.

“At least I never tried to make youmybitch,” I said, smirking at him. “I’ll give Simone credit, Cecil. She didn’t waste time to get you hopping to the beat of her drum.”

A red flush washed over his cheeks. He paused, eyes still on me.

“Woof, woof.”

“Cecil!”

He spun on her with a furious snarl. “Would you shut up, you stupid bitch?”

She recoiled in shock, eyes wide.

“Here we go,” I muttered.

Both of them swung around to glare at me, but Cecil caught her arm when Simone tried to push past him.

“Let it go,” he said, voice hard. “We have to go through everything for the exchange and we’re running out of time.”

Once they were gone, I blew out a breath and told my heart to start beating again.

Cecil and Simone weren’t the only ones making plans.

---