Page 68 of Vicious Kingdom

“Quit saying his name,” Jonatan bit out. “It’s the dumbest business move in the books!”

I ignored him.

“He agreed?” I sat straighter, barely able to contain my eagerness.

I hadn’t seen the CEO all week. At first, it was because I avoided him, sticking to chain coffee shops in the suburbs. When I’d sufficiently licked my wounds and summoned enough courage to return downtown, I hadn’t run into the businessman in any of the usual haunts.

Maybe this was why.

“Of course, he agreed, the deal was too good to pass.” The gleam in my father’s eye was potent.

“You won’t fuss, will you, Annaliese?” Uncle Jon sat at the opposite end of the elongated desk, the place where he worked when he did business here with his brother.

“I’ll admit, a heads up would have been nice,” I managed to say.

“Blame your mother. She was supposed to talk to you,” my father said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s fine, that’s fine,” I said hurriedly. “I accept.”

“Good.” My uncle smiled and gave me a relieved look. “We knew you’d like the situation.”

Like it? I was still in shock, but later, when I had time to digest, I would be over the moon.

Rising quickly, I made an excuse about helping Mom and left the men to their business. This was too good to be true. There was more to the story than a simple exchange of business shares. I couldn’t help wondering if my sleuthing—and secret mailing—hadn’t helped the situation in some small way. Whatever happened, it had to be magnanimous to flip the tables so quickly.

And how did Leo feel about this? He wouldn’t have agreed to it if he didn’t want to. I battled down the delirious little sparkleof hope. The angry, hurt mobster from the lake wasn’t going to agree to something like this without a large incentive. Once I found out exactly what changed, I would see if a celebration was in order. Until then, I would wait patiently for the cards to fall.

***

As it always did, my help turned into a scolding. So I spent the hour before the guests began to arrive hiding in the kitchen and stealing bites when the caterers weren’t looking.

Now, the hour was late, and the party was in full swing.

As I wandered through the rooms and the back patio, greeting the horde of guests and doing my best to answer their questions, I still found the situation hard to believe.

It would have been easier if the groom-to-be was actually here.

But it seemed my fiancé was held up with business and would be fashionably late.

Until Baldwin arrived, until he confirmed with his own words this was happening, I expected any minute for someone to pull the rug out from under me. ‘Just kidding, Annaliese! The man who you’re desperately in love with, who is cold and doesn’t love you back, has no intention of marrying you!’

Disengaging from a long Q&A with Monica about the situation—tired of her ribbing me for not saying anything at the speed-dating auction—I walked around the house to wait by the front door. It made sense to the matronly socialite that the businessman would pay such an exorbitant amount for a date, since he was my secret fiancé.

“So secret that I didn’t even know,” I muttered.

Wandering through the lawn was tricky. I bent to pluck sod off my spikey kitten heel, wondering if I shouldn’t take the damn thing off.

There was no sound, no noise of warning. Slim fingers shoved me down.

I yelped, but the sound died on my lips as a gangly body tackled me. Fear, putrid and toxic, spiked in my veins.

“How dare you!” the Tormentor seethed. “You little slut, you’ve been unfaithful!”

“Get off me!” I struggled, giving him a hard shove.

“Ssshhh, shhh, Pookie, I’m not mad. I’ll forgive you,” he murmured, wrestling me to the ground. His lanky frame shouldn’t have that much strength. But he’d studied grappling martial arts and effectively pinned me down.

I gagged. “Stop that. Get the fuck away from me!”