Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Regent sent a glare to Victor. “Like you would bring Gracen.”
Victor scowled. “Hmm. Jilly, you need to stay home.”
She nodded with a sigh. What could she really do anyway?
“Victor, wait in the car.”
Wow. That was kind of rude. Regent walked toward her as Victor turned and left.
“That wasn’t very nice. You should have said please,” she scolded.
Regent paused. “What?”
“You should have said please when you asked him to sit in the car.”
“Baby, I didn’t ask him. And Victor works for me.”
“But he’s your brother first. Right?”
“Of course,” he said promptly. “But he is used to doing things this way.”
Did that mean they couldn’t change?
What are you doing, Jilly? You’re the one who needs to change. Not Regent. This is his world now.
“I’m sorry I acted like a toddler.”
He cupped her cheeks. “It was a bit cute.”
It was?
He ran a finger down her nose. “I’m sorry I can’t bring you. But I cannot have you that close to danger. It would be a distraction.”
Jilly nodded. “I know. I understand. It’s just hard to wait at home.”
He fingered the top of her dress. “This is new.”
She’d managed to get a couple of items sent overnight. Today she thought she’d try to dress classier.
So she was wearing a black, fitted dress with a beige band around the waist. It was expensive and made from gorgeous fabric. It reached just below her knees and had a sweetheart neckline.
But she wasn’t sure this dress was her.
However, if Regent liked it . . .
“Do you like it?” she whispered.
“Baby, you’d look beautiful in whatever you wore.”
Jeez. That was smooth.
Hopefully, the other clothes she’d ordered would feel more like her. She’d also bought a few sexy negligees.
Those were the things she was most excited about. And she hoped Regent liked them too.
“It’s just hard to wait here, worrying,” she whispered.
“How about if I call you from the car and keep you on speaker phone?”
“You’d do that?”
“I need you to be safe for my peace of mind. I couldn’t survive anything happening to you. However, I don’t like the idea of you worrying the whole time.”
“That works for me. Thank you.” She leaned up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
His eyebrows rose. “Is that the way you kiss me?”
Then his arms were around her and he was kissing her like he wanted to consume her. Which left her trembling with need as he left. It took her a long while to walk into the solarium where her phone was. Sitting, she waited for his call.
Nerves filled her as she stared at the time for what felt like the hundredth time.
The pick-up should have happened by now.
Linny, pretending to be her, had dropped the bag of money off. When Regent told her about the plan, she’d worried for Linny’s safety. He’d ended up calling the other woman so she could reassure Jilly herself.
She sounded like a character and as though she could protect herself.
Getting up, Jilly paced up and down.
She’d borrowed another book from the library here. She was starting to think that perhaps she shouldn’t be plotting out a romance book. Maybe she should be writing something similar to this book.
Urgh, who was she kidding? She couldn’t even stand to read this book!
“There’s movement,” Victor said. “Slim-built, short person heading to the garbage bin. They have a hoodie on. Hard to make out their features. They’ve got the bag.”
“Basilien, Henri, follow discreetly,” Regent barked. She guessed he had another way to speak to his men since he was still on the phone with her. “Thea, did you get any good images?”
Thea was there?
She couldn’t hear Thea’s reply.
“Good. Thanks. Jardin, get Thea home and send those images to me,” Regent said. “Basilien, as soon as you can, quietly grab the blackmailer.”
There was silence.
“Regent?” she asked. “I didn’t know Thea would be there. What’s happening? Who was it in the photos?”
Regent sighed. “Thea was far away, in a secure location with Jardin. She can take photos from a long distance. But, baby, it doesn’t look like our blackmailer is a man.”
A woman? Well, she guessed that women could be as awful as men.
“They’ve got her!” Victor said. “Basilien has her subdued and in a car.”
“Jilly, I’ve got to go and deal with this now.”
“But I . . . I need to know who it was and why.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I know. Try and do something to distract yourself.”
“All right, I love you,” she whispered.
“I know.”
It didn’t matter that he didn’t say it back.
Everything was fine.
Everything would be all right.
“I know?” Victor gaped at him.
Regent’s guts were already in a knot and he didn’t need Victor staring at him like he was an idiot.
“She said I love you, and you said—”
“I know what I said,” he snapped. “Jilly knows how I feel about her.”
“Does she? I’m surprised you’d move a woman in with you that you didn’t love.”