Page 13 of Devious Madness

He grabs the phone from me and reads the confirmation email.

“She hasn’t gotten it.” He hands it back. “She wasn’t able to make the last payment for you, and Marco’s been sniffing around. Alexander has it handled. But you need to come home.”

I blow out a harsh breath. “What? You’re not making any sense.”

“She’ll explain everything. But we need to go.” He grabs my bag from the floor where I dropped it and reaches for my arm.

I’m quicker this time and jump away from his grasp before he can get a grip on me.

“No.” I point at him. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ll call Megan and figure out what’s going on. If I really need to go home, she’ll let me know. And then I’ll get there on my own.” The last part is important.

The last thing I need is getting involved with another man who claims he can help. So far it hasn’t worked out for me.

He stands straighter, which makes him bigger as he drops his hand to his side with a heavy sigh. Like I’m disappointing him with every breath I take.

“You’re making things harder on yourself, Mira.” His voice is steady, as though he’s talking to a small child who refuses to eat their vegetables.

“You need to leave.” I jerk my head toward the door behind him.

Suddenly, I’m very aware of the fact there is no other way out of this apartment. No fire escape or back door that leads down to the laundromat downstairs. Nothing.

If I want to get out of here, I’ll have to jump out the window. Which would probably break a few bones, making it hard to escape, anyway.

I’m going to need some cooperation from him on this.

“Not happening.” He takes a threatening step toward me. “I’m not chasing you anymore, Mira. If you make me, you’re not going to like what happens next. Now get your ass over here and let’s go.”

I stare at him, my heart playing the congas so loud in my ears I can barely hear myself think.

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth? You could be working for Marco, and you’ve come here to take me to him…or worse.” I swallow past the lump forming when I think of what ‘worse’ might be.

He stares at me a long moment. Beneath his pinched together lips, his tongue runs over his teeth. I’m not sure if I’ve made my point or if I’ve pissed him off more.

“Try to call your friend.” He gestures to my hand gripping the phone. “Call her.”

“Fine.” I take a few more steps back and punch in Megan’s phone number.

I’m going to have to get a new phone after this. I can’t be certain her phone isn’t being tapped by the detective. It’s the reason I haven’t called her in all these months. No matter what phone I use, if they’re tapping her cellphone, they’d know it’s me.

But since I obviously can’t stay here anyway, my location being found out isn’t going to be the worst part of tonight.

It rings.

And rings.

And rings.

Her voicemail never picks up.

“You call Alexander.” I point to him as I end my call. “If he’s helping her, she might be with him.”

He tilts his head to the side, like he’s not thrilled by my giving him directions.

After a heavy sigh, he pulls his phone out of his back pocket and hits a button. When I reach for it, he pulls it out of reach. He’s put it on speakerphone so I can hear the call ringing.

And ringing

But his call goes to voicemail.

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