Page 114 of Contempt

“No, no. Not busy,” Christian said. “I’ll text you the new hotel’s address. Expect a man to be there to check you when you arrive. I hope you understand. I have … some things going on today, so we’re being careful.”

Lucia smiled.

Stupid man.

“You got it. See you soon.”

She let Christian hang up the call first. His text for the address where she had to go came less than two seconds later.

The man wasn’t fucking around.

Good.

Neither was she.

• • •

Lucia stepped out of the cab after paying the man, and pulled her phone from her pocket. She didn’t even think about it—she had her head start, now. Her father could do with it what he wanted, if he needed to. She just needed that extra time.

She sent a single text to her father.

The address of the hotel.

And then, I love you, Daddy. I’m sorry. She dropped her phone in a trashcan as she passed it by, just because. There was supposed to be a man who would check her, right? She didn’t think it would be good for him to find that message in her phone.

Lucia didn’t even have to open the front door of the hotel. The man in question was waiting there to do it for her. He said nothing, but took her bag after she said, “I’m here to see Christian Savino.”

Silence.

That’s all she got from him.

Ass.

He checked her bag, and then her coat when he waved for her to hand that over, too. Jesus. Once he was satisfied that she wasn’t trying to pull anything on them—apparently, he hadn’t seen her toss the phone into the garbage can outside—he handed over a single key card.

305.

That was the room number.

Lucia didn’t even bother to thank the man. He hadn’t said a single word to her. Heading for the bank of elevators at the other end of the hotel’s main entrance, her nerves finally started to pick up once she pressed the button. It got worse when the elevator opened.

Lucia sucked in a breath to force herself to be calm, and stepped inside. Once the doors were closed, she felt like there was no turning back now. She didn’t know what was going to be waiting for her upstairs, but she couldn’t stop.

Now or never …

She suspected the man downstairs had let Christian know she was coming up because by the time she arrived at his hotel room, the man was waiting for her at the door. He looked slightly disheveled, more so than she had ever seen him before. His usually put together appearance was mussed with a wrinkled shirt, and his wild hair.

Still, he smiled.

That charming smile.

Lucia smiled back.

All lies.

“Are you sure you’re not busy?” she asked.

Just over his shoulder, she could see the spread of monitors that the man had set up on a table. Four monitors, to be exact. On one, showcasing the outside of what looked to be a large building—the warehouse, likely—a dark car pulled up.