Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Callum’s gaze slid over me in a slow scan, lingering on my tits. I fought off a shudder and rolled my shoulders back, lifting my chin. Not exactly flirting, but just enough to keep him distracted. Ugh. There was no contest between this man and Forrest Powell. There never had been and never would be. Forrest’s promise of twenty-five percent was good even without the contract we’d written up. I trusted him.
Callum Leary, on the other hand, would lie to me in a heartbeat if he thought it would get him what he wanted. My life was only worth something as long as we hadn’t found Alan Buckley’s fortune. The second we did, I wouldn’t have anything to negotiate with anymore. There wasn’t the slightest chance in hell I was going anywhere with Callum Leary, ever.
Still, I stayed where I was, several feet away from Forrest, my arms crossed over my chest. It was bad enough that I was in their sights. I had to keep their attention off Forrest. I shifted, giving Forrest the back of one shoulder, almost fully facing Callum.
“Look, I know the South is great in the summer.” I rolled my eyes. “And you just can’t stay away. But you’re wasting your time. I don’t have a clue about the next cipher. It’s a dead end all the way.”
“Then what were you doing in the cellar?” Callum asked, lifting his chin in the direction of the heavy wooden door they’d opened.
“We don’t know,” Forrest said, “but we’re pretty sure it had nothing to do with my father’s scavenger hunt.”
I cut in. “Someone sent us on a wild-goose chase.”
“Someone? You don’t know who?” Callum raised an eyebrow, his lips tightening at the shake of my head. “If we hadn’t come for you, you two could have died. You know that, right?”
His eyes drifted back to the dark hole in the ground, and I shivered. Partly because I was still frozen by the cellar and partly because of the rapidly dropping temperature as the sun slowly set. We were still in the mountains. As much as I joked about southern summers, it didn’t get that hot up here. The root cellar had been cold and was only getting colder. “Believe me, I know.” I didn’t want to look back at the open root cellar and remember the slide bolt scraping across the wood, sealing our fate.
“This was no wild-goose chase,” Callum went on as if it wasn’t obvious. “They wanted to do more than mess with you.”
“Maybe,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. I wasn’t completely sure about that. I hadn’t thought about the cold until we’d been locked in the cellar for a while. And whoever had locked us in left us food and water. They could have been pulling a prank and not realized how deadly the cold could be over time.
“I’d advise you to find safer company,” Callum said. “Or join my team and let us keep you safe.”
I almost answered with a grin and a wink out of habit. But suddenly, teasing and cute didn’t seem like the way to go. This was no game, and Callum Leary was only putting up with my attitude because he still thought he could use me. Slowly, I shook my head, keeping my back to Forrest. “I’m not joining up with anyone. I’ll keep myself safe.”
Callum grunted and fixed his eyes on Forrest. I had no clue what he was thinking, but I knew I wouldn’t like it.
“You’re not going to tell me how you tracked us here?” I asked, drawing his attention back to me.
Callum gave me a swift grin and shook his head. “I think I’ll let your security chief figure it out.” He lifted his fingers in a salute. “We’ll be around.” Callum and his two goons turned and walked down the gravel drive into the deepening gloom.
I looked at Forrest, standing a few feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, glowering at me. “Ready to get out of here?”
He gave me a short nod.
“Fine,” I said. I turned and began the short walk to where we’d hidden the car. The evening air was humid, carrying traces of the day’s warmth, so much better than the cold, dank, musty root cellar.
I plugged my phone in and waited to say anything until we pulled out on the state road, Forrest driving, Callum Leary’s sedan falling in behind us. “Is he guarding us or threatening us?” I asked, leaning to look in the side mirror.
“Both,” Forrest said, his voice tight, the muscles in his jaw hard.
I reached across the center console and took his free hand in mine. “Hey, don’t be pissed,” I said.
“I’m not pissed,” he countered in a voice that said anything but.
“I could tell you didn’t like that whole scene back there,” I said, pushing to get him to talk to me. I knew Forrest too well to think he’d liked staying in the background while I talked to Callum Leary. It would have gone against every instinct he had. I loved him for doing it anyway because he trusted me.