Chapter 52
Chapter
Fifty-Two
Chez Jouer was just as beautiful as she’d remembered it, with its clean architectural details and graceful décor.
She had been here once before, on a date with a guy who seemed to have chosen the best restaurant in town just so he could show off how much he knew, sneering and dismissing everything.
She couldn’t remember his name. She only remembered that it was a real pity that such a wonderful experience in such a wonderful place was being ruined because of the guy she was with.
She glanced over at Thomas, who looked gorgeous and sexy and sophisticated.
Déjà vu, all over again, she thought. Only this time, her “date” was trying to get her killed.
And, unfortunately, vice versa.
“Thanks for taking me out to dinner,” Kate said, after a long, silent minute. Her heart was pounding too hard. She forced herself to take a sip of water.
“Thanks for letting me,” Thomas said, smiling. The smile didn’t reach his eyes, she noticed. It seemed like she’d been studying his face long enough to know when he was being genuine, and when he was just selling something.
As far as she knew, all he was doing was selling her out.
“This is weird, isn’t it?” he asked, surprising her. “This was what you were afraid of, when I asked you here.”
“What? Well, yes.” She took another sip, glancing around. She wondered how Cyril was planning to grab him. Also, she frantically considered how she was going to protect herself. Despite Cyril’s assurances, she wasn’t born yesterday.
She imagined he fully intended for her to be a victim of friendly fire. It wasn’t like she served any other purpose.
“Don’t worry,” Thomas said, interrupting her dark thoughts. “There aren’t any reporters. I made sure of it.”
“That’s good.” She hadn’t even thought about reporters.
She’d been too intent on finding out the security company that Yagi used in the main database, using Ginny’s password.
The woman had access to a lot of things, surprisingly.
She wasn’t sure if it was because Ginny was that devious, or because Thomas just kept relenting and giving in to her demands.
It was like giving a toddler a set of car keys…
theoretically important, but ultimately useless, since he knew Ginny couldn’t actively harm anything.
Boy, is he going to regret that decision.
They ate in silence. He was having a fall roasted root vegetable medley with braised lamb, she was having a grilled duck breast with kumquats and star anise. She might as well have been eating pinecones and sand. She felt the tension between them drawing out like a sword from its sheathe.
“Dessert?” Thomas asked after the server took away their barely touched plates with a look of concern.
“No.” She cleared her throat when she realized how curt she sounded. “Thank you.”
Where was Cyril, anyway? The anticipation was making her sick to her stomach.
She glanced at the clock on her phone. Eight o’clock.
No calls or texts—no warnings or anything, she realized, scrolling through the call log.
The only calls out were the one she’d made to Cyril…
and the next one, her long voice-mail message to Prue.
Prue might not be talking to her, but she prayed that Prue would at least listen to it, just in case this whole thing went south.
Thomas reached over and took her hand, surprising her. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
She blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“You know why we’re here,” he said, and his blue eyes were almost incandescent in their intensity. “I know how smart you are. You have to have figured it out.”
“You mean, I figured out the whole use-Kate-as-psycho-bait thing you concocted?”
He winced visibly. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re doing what you have to do,” she said, even though it came out with an edge. “You’re looking out for yourself.”
And so am I. She pulled her hand away.
“I’m trying to look out for both of us.” He glanced around, dropping his voice. “Listen, if I don’t get my soul back, you’re going right along to Hell with me. You realize that.”
“And if I die before you, you just absorb my soul, or something,” she hissed back. “Which means if you get your soul back, goody for you. I’m still screwed, and probably in Hell.”
“It’s a dick move. I’m not going to pretend it isn’t,” he said. “But at this point, I can’t just play nice. Just trust that even with all this, I’m doing everything to keep you safe, even though I’m not supposed to!”
“Don’t you think that ought to be my decision?” she snapped. “Or at least, maybe you ought to, I don’t know, loop me in on it?”
The waiter cleared his throat, interrupting them with wide eyes. “We’ve got some lovely dessert specials…”
“She’ll take whatever’s chocolate,” Thomas said. “I’ll have coffee and a brandy.”
“Don’t order for me,” she snarled.
The waiter looked at her expectantly. She realized she hadn’t even glanced at the menu, and while she didn’t want to eat anything, let’s face it. If any situation called for it, it was now.
“Yeah, whatever’s chocolate,” she admitted, glaring at Thomas when his eyes flashed for a second with amusement. The waiter looked startled but quickly scurried away with their orders.
“Kate, what am I supposed to do?” He looked both stern yet anguished. “Sit around and wait for my contract to vest, so he can use my empire and my very soul to unleash the worst horrors the world has ever seen? Just let that bastard go ahead and control me? After all he’s done?”
Unleash the worst horrors…
She couldn’t think about that right now, so she went on the counter act. “Do you really think that you trying to control me is better?”
He went silent.
She leaned forward. “I don’t see this as a ‘fighting fire with fire’ thing.
I see this as a ‘using me to get what you need’ thing.
Maybe if you’d asked me, I’d feel differently.
Maybe if you’d seen me as anything other than a pawn to achieve your objectives.
And after…” She paused, choking on the words.
“After the other night, I just thought maybe I deserved more consideration than ‘why don’t you come out to dinner—so I can tell the man who mangled you he’s got another shot at it. ’”
Thomas sighed. “Guess I’ve been CEO for too long,” he said, but he sounded more tired than offended. “I’m used to making executive decisions.”
“Yeah, and I’m just an assistant,” she fired back. “I’m used to shit rolling downhill.”
He studied her for a long moment. Then he let out a long breath, nodding like he’d decided on something.
“You’re right,” he said, softly. “There has to be another way. I’m not going to let him harm you.”
She stared for a long moment. This wasn’t his “selling” voice. He sounded like he really meant it.
Slowly, she sat back down. “You either believe that,” she said slowly, “or you’re an even better actor than I realized.”
He sighed, falling silent as the waiter served her dessert and the coffee. “You’ve been screwed over a lot in your life, haven’t you?”
She shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m not the best judge of character. I tend to trust people who have a talent for finding trouble and dragging me along.”
“That’s not going to be me,” he said. And again, that ring of truth resonated in her like a church bell. “I’m going to swear, here and now. I will die if I have to, to protect you.”
She bit her lip, guilt gnawing at her.
Was she really going to be able to go through with this?
You’re sending him to his death.
She swallowed hard, grabbing her purse. “We have to go.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “We’re safe, for now. Yagi’s probably losing his mind, but his security team is fierce. They’d warn me if—”
“No, Thomas. We have to go now.” She took a deep breath. “I set you up, understand? We need to get you out of here immediately.”
Now she had his full attention. “What do you mean?”
“Cyril Roman approached me,” she said, and saw his face slowly turn into a frozen mask of fury. “He told me he’d kill you and free me from my contract. If I sold you out, I’d get my soul back.”
“He lied,” Thomas hissed. He got to his feet, grabbing her arm. She fought the urge to tug away as he rushed them toward the exit.
“Yeah, well, you lied, too, pal,” she said, but still felt like a little kid, being defensive.
“No, I mean he lied about killing me. He doesn’t want me dead.
He wants my soul, and if I die before the vesting period, he gets nothing,” Thomas said, his words low and choppy.
With his other hand, he was texting furiously, probably letting Yagi know about her betrayal.
“Besides, you can’t get your soul back if he or anyone else kills me. ”
“What?” She felt her stomach roil.
“You can only get your soul back if you kill me.” His blue-eyed glare was glacial. “Damn it, Kate. Do you even know the magnitude of what you’ve done?”
Her jaw dropped. “The fucking audacity,” she growled. “You would’ve hung me out to dry. You didn’t talk to me. I was protecting myself, and this is somehow my fault?”
She started to walk out the door, then growled at him when he yanked her back.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I warned you just now,” she hissed. “I didn’t have to. Yes, I betrayed you, but at least I admitted it before he got here, which is more than I can say for you. So get off your high horse and let go of my goddamned arm, before I do figure out a way to kill you.”
His face was stern. “You’re not going anywhere until we talk this out,” he snapped, as the town car pulled up. “Come on. Get in.”
“Fine.” He wanted to talk? She’d give him an earful.
He followed her into the vehicle, slamming the door behind him. “The Havens,” he said, then turned to Kate. “You should have told me the minute Cyril approached you. From now on you—”
“From now on?” she interrupted, laughing.
“What makes you think I’m still working for you, boss?
I told you about it because I felt guilty and, despite what you might think, I’m a fuck up, not an evil bitch.
I didn’t want you to die. And don’t feed me that line that you’d throw yourself in front of a bullet to save me, because that is total and complete bullshit. ”
“Oh, really?” He was yelling now—and he never yelled, from what she could tell. His eyes blazed like blow torches. “How do you know that, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Because if you really wanted to put my needs before yours, you’d let me kill you!”
“Are you shitting me?” He threw his hands in the air, high enough to hit the car roof. “That is the stupidest argument I have ever heard!”
The opaque privacy screen between the driver and the backseat lowered. “Now, now, kids,” a voice purred. “Let’s use our inside voices.”
Kate turned to yell at the driver, only to notice he wasn’t one of the usual ones. Still, she recognized him.
The driver, she realized with a chill, was Victor Klauss.
There were two short, sharp sounds. Pfft! Pfft! Kate looked to see a feathered dart sticking out of Thomas’s chest, right through his white shirt. She saw a similar dart, stuck in her chest.
Then she looked at the woman who had shot the tranquilizer gun and was currently putting it back in her purse. Kate’s eyes narrowed.
Then the woman pulled out a cherry red phone. “It’s done,” she said into it, sounding smug.
“I knew it,” Kate slurred. “Knew you weren’t dead. Ginny.”