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“Considering I’m about to have your sorry ass escorted out for not bidding, I’ll walk you there myself. Wouldn’t want the door to hit you on the way out,” I snark.
He kicks up an arrogant smile but proceeds to follow me anyway. Clay and Vance walk on either side of him. Very few of the bidders give us their attention.
We walk out into the hallway and toward my private room. Out of all the mansions we own, this is my least favorite. It’s boring, with brown tones and dreary paintings and trophies on the walls. It suits well to the theme of items sold here, but without Alek in it, I find nothing nice about the place. It’s an eyesore, really.
“Wait outside,” I instruct my men. They briefly glance at each other but say nothing as they stand on either side of the door, staring down River as he steps inside first. I follow him into the private room and close the door. This room is just like the rest of the mansion—basic. Functional. Empty.
“How did you spend my money?” River asks, walking to the bar in the corner. I couldn’t be fucked telling him not to have any of Alek’s liquor.
“Which money?” I ask him since he’s paid me twice.
“The last lot.”
I smile as I pointedly glance at my hands, flashing my new jewelry.
“You like expensive things,” he notes.
“I do,” I say, looking back up at him. He’s staring at my hands, which are covered in Cartier. “Stunning, really, don’t you think?”
“I agree,” he replies, but he isn’t looking at my hands when he says it.
My core floods with heat again, and I hate how my body betrays me around this man.
“Let’s get your proposal out of the way, shall we? You paid me one million dollars for my time to hear you out. So I will. Then I’ll happily reject you and send you out of town. If you’re not gone in two weeks, you’ll leave this city in a body bag,” I say sweetly.
He cocks a smile as he pauses to take a sip of his scotch. I lean against the table and brush my hand over my red leather dress, still entirely aware of his gaze that rakes over me.
“Surely, thirty million would suffice for me to taste again?” he says slowly, his gaze fixed on me.
“Taste again?” I ask, surprised in his change of topic, considering I just threatened his life. “Ha.” I comb my hand over my sleek hair that’s pulled back in a tight bun.
“You’d turn me down?” He puts a hand to his heart as if I’ve offended him.
“Is that what offends people these days? Really?” The threat lingers in the air as if it was never mentioned, and that pisses me off. Because River Bently clearly doesn’t see me as a threat. I begin to rummage through Alek’s top desk drawer, curious about what objects I might be able to use as a weapon, until I pull out a letter opener.
“For the love of God, Red, please don’t let it cross your mind that you’re going to try to stab me to death with a letter opener,” River says with an exasperated tone.
I place the tip of it against my finger. “It’s more effective than you’d think. And stop calling me Red.”
He chuckles with a cocked eyebrow. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you’ve already used one on somebody. Did they make it out alive?”
I shrug casually. “I don’t know. Did they ever find the body?”
He laughs, and I’m surprised and transfixed all in one. “I’ve been curious ever since I was told you were crazy.”
Some might be offended by being called crazy, but I love it. Thrive and bask in it. It means I’m unpredictable, and people fall into place easily around unpredictability.
“Curiosity often kills the cat.”
“Lucky I’m more of a dog person,” River replies dismissively as he walks toward me and stands between my legs. I allow him that close, and he allows me to put the letter opener to his jugular.
He seems unfazed as he puts the glass of scotch down beside me.
“Be careful. You can’t touch what you haven’t paid for,” I purr. My body thrums for him, an unwelcome need eating me alive.
But I refuse to give in to the likes of River Bently.
When he becomes a little bolder and presses into me, his bulging trousers in line with the edge of my skirt, I press the letter opener firmer against his throat. It won’t do too much damage, but if I were to get a little stabby with it, it certainly will. “Tell me why you’re here, River.”
