Page 12 of Reclaim (Deadly Hearts 3)

“What do you think?” he asks with a smirk. “They have an exclusive club in every major city in the UK and the rest of the world, so I hear. I want in. Don’t you?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it, if I’m being honest.”

“Think now,” he says. “We could rule the world.”

“You think of us as a ‘we’? You barely know me.”

“I know enough. I’ve been studying you for a while now. It’s interesting that our paths have crossed and that you are the one to initiate that. It’s kismet. Our interests are aligned, and you did say that you think we’d be a force together.”

“Hmm. I did,” I murmur.

“In that case, Ruby Bellingham, let’s strike a deal. I’ll give you whatever part of this city you want, if you help me get into Solitaire. Of course, you will benefit from that as well, so…we both get what we want out of this. The rest…” He gives me a smoldering look. “Well, that’s just icing.”

“Deal,” I say straight away, knowing that there is no other answer to this. Although how he thinks I can help him get into the world’s most exclusive club is a mystery. But then the penny drops. It’s not me. It’s my parents. Or my mom specifically. If he has done his homework on me, which he says he has, he knows exactly where I come from. Great.

Time to ask Mommy for a favor just so I can stay the fuck out of jail. This day is going from bad to worse. I try not to sigh out loud, so instead I clench my fists in my lap, my sharp nails digging into my palms as he slides his hand onto my leg, just above my knee, but wedging it in between my thighs. I smile, my most seductive and sexy smile. It hasn’t escaped my notice that this has gone all too easily. Where’s the other shoe? It has to drop at some point. It always does.

We remain contemplatively silent for the rest of the short drive, where, to my surprise, he pulls up into the driveway of a huge mansion that is more on the traditional side than I expected. The team of four Range Rovers pull up behind us on the wide driveway. I climb out of the Hummer, looking around at the country estate house and huge gardens, when a woman comes running out of the house.

“Baby!” she cries, flinging herself into Adam’s arms. “You’re back. I missed you.”

He reluctantly wraps his arms around her to give her a quick squeeze, but then lets her go and she turns her jealous, icy gaze to me.

My stomach drops as I take in the very woman I’m supposed to be rescuing.

For fuck’s sake.

She wants to be here.

This just made my mission fall somewhere in between a whole shit load more difficult, to damn near impossible.

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