Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Vienna glanced at Raine’s face because she stopped speaking and was looking at Vienna with sympathy. The tightness in her chest increased. The pounding of her heart accelerated. This definitely had something to do with her. Elliot Blom. She didn’t know that name. The connection couldn’t be through that name. She flicked another quick look at Zale. His dark eyes focused on her intently.
This was going to be bad. Very bad. She heard Avril’s voice. They can’t be trusted. They lie to you. They’ll say anything they think you want to hear in order to get their way. Elliot Blom. A special ops soldier choosing his career. She pressed a hand to her stomach. She had a psychic gift. Daniel Wallin had gone so far as to have the doctor take her blood. Why? Not to see the alcohol content in case she tried to sue him but for DNA purposes. Had she been invited to the casino because Wallin was certain she was Blom’s daughter? Was that what Raine had discovered?
“No.” She whispered the denial aloud. She didn’t want Raine to confirm it. If she did, that meant that everything Zale had told her was most likely a lie. But it made sense. It fit. She was sweating. Barely able to breathe. “Just wait a minute, Raine. Give me a minute. Don’t tell me yet.”
“Vienna,” Zale started.
His voice. That voice. She wanted to drown him out. Put her hands over her ears like a small child might. She shook her head. “Don’t, Zale. Not now. I think it’s a little too late for explanations, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Vienna,” Raine said gently. “Do you want to stop until we’re on the plane?”
If she said yes, did that make her a coward? She wouldn’t have to face Zale. On the floor, her back to the love seat but facing the two men, Shabina stared at them both.
“What I’m getting out of this conversation, Raine, is that neither Rainier or Zale were actually in Vegas for the purpose they said they were here for. Rainier, we just had a conversation yesterday, out in the backyard. Was a single thing you said to me the truth?” Shabina asked.
Rainier didn’t answer her. He kept his gaze fixed on her face. She shook her head. “I should have known. You’re so good at telling lies. I don’t know why I ever believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. I want to believe you, I suppose.”
Vienna heard the raw hurt in her voice. Shabina wasn’t good at deception. She’d sacrificed to draw attention away from Vienna.
“The limousine is here to take us to the airport,” Harlow reported.
Vienna all but jumped up, reaching down to help Shabina up. She looked straight at Zale. “If you weren’t there to find out who was killing agents, what were you doing at that hotel, Zale?”
He didn’t answer her. She shook her head and walked past his outstretched hand without looking at him again. Bending down, she shouldered her pack and picked up as much of her gear as she could carry. Ignoring the men guarding the walkway, she went to the limousine’s open trunk and placed her baggage on the ground just outside of it. The guards urged her to get inside the vehicle. She complied, mostly because she knew Zale would come outside to insist if she didn’t do what she was told.
No one spoke on the ride to the airport or boarding the private jet. They waited until the plane was in the air and they could gather together again. On the plane was a small dining table and they sat around it, all of them looking at Raine expectantly.
“I’m really sorry, Vienna. I suspected something wasn’t right almost immediately. I couldn’t understand why Zale and Rainier stayed at the hotel after their cover was blown. That made no sense. I tried to come up with reasonable explanations that might fit, but there just weren’t any, not when they were agents of that caliber. And then there was the taking of your blood over that little assault in the hotel. That didn’t seem right either.”
Raine put her head back on the seat. “I hate being the one to make you so miserable. They knew what that bet was between Daniel and Liam. They could have told you. They knew that Liam had a son, Elliot.”
Vienna sighed. “Elliot Blom is their boss, isn’t he?”
Raine nodded. “Yes, he is.”
“Blom had an affair with Avril. He’s the man she was so upset over when she went to Mitzi. He’s my father.” Vienna forced herself to state the truth aloud. “He rejected me and ultimately her because of me.”
“We don’t really know that,” Raine cautioned. “But he does know you’re his daughter.”
“That’s why Zale and Rainier were at the hotel. They weren’t there to look after Daniel Wallin. They were there because Blom wanted them to look after me,” Vienna said. “That was why Zale got close to me again.”