Page 64 of Conning the Billionaire
Dark thoughts swirled in Micah’s head. “Are they coming for me? Did you rat me out to Salvatore Grande, and you just came back here to get the money and get out before his enforcers show up?”
Kylie shook her head, and her glossy black curls swayed around her face as she sobbed with her head down. “No, I wouldn’t rat you out. I’m not a rat. I’m not.”
“You wouldn’t be trying to renege on our deal unless there was a reason. What’s the reason, Kylie?”
She was still shaking her head and hiccuping. “Why did you even pick me? You shouldn’t have known that I could get you in to see Salvatore Grande in the first place. And why would you offer me so much money for my body for a month? Plenty of girls in Atlantic City are a sure thing for the night. It would’ve been a lot cheaper to get a new girl every night than to make me that offer. I can understand that if someone hated me, if they wanted to degrade me, and that’s why they might try to force me into doing something like that. Did you hate me so soon?”
Micah slapped the security latch over the door’s knob and flipped the double bolt. It wouldn’t keep her from leaving, but it would give him a second to slam the door if she tried to jump ship again. “I don’t hate you at all.”
“Then why? Why would you offer me a stupid amount of money for sex if you didn’t want to be able to tell me what to do, to be able to command me to suck your dick or take it up the ass, if you didn’t want to treat me like a whore?”
“I don’t want to—” God, it sounded crass now. “After that night at the Borgata, I couldn’t get you out of my head. I thought about you all week. I didn’t want to make you a business proposition that would get me into Don Grande’s office. I wanted to seduce you and take you to bed again. I wanted to bring you on board with my business and bend you over my desk in my office in London. I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
“I was conning you. You of all people knew what I was.”
Micah admitted, “Yeah, but like you said, game recognizes game, and I wanted to play games with you.”
Kylie sighed and wiped her face.
“But look, if you don’t want to play games, I’ll pay you another buck-twenty-five just for the introduction to Don Grande and nothing else.” He squatted down so he was closer to eye-level with where she sat on the floor. “So the question is, Kylie, do you want two-fifty for getting me into Don Grande’s office and going along with the story? You can skip town with that just fine.”
She hiccuped and wouldn’t talk.
“What else is going on? What did you do?”
Kylie whispered, “When I was in Salvatore Grande’s office, he said he knew where my sister was. He was taunting me, holding it over my head.”
Micah nodded. “Grande isn’t the only one who has that information.”
Kylie looked up at him through the messy curtain of her hair. “What?”
“I know a guy who might be able to hook us up with that information,” Micah said.
Her eyes were puffy from crying, but she squinted at him. “You ‘know a guy?’ You sure you’re not connected?”
Micah had never said he wasn’t. “More like I’ve got friends in low places.”
She chuckled and snorted, looking away. Her nose was reddened from crying, too.
Micah held a hand out to her. “Come on. Let’s get you some lunch. My mom always said that when you hate everyone in the world, you need to eat. And if everyone in the world hates you, you need some sleep.”
“Your mom sounds smart.”
Yeah, she was, except for her taste in men. “Which is it, little one?”
Kylie nodded, thinking but perhaps still on the verge of tears. “Eat?”
“Okay. I’ll order us some lunch from room service. You go wash your face and take a deep breath.”
Instead, Kylie scrambled for her phone and dialed it. She used her thumbs to dial out a number, not just select a contact.
Micah withdrew his hand.
She said, “I have to call Salvatore.”
“Not yet, right? We were going to wait a few days before you made him the fantastic offer of free scientific authentication.”
Kylie said into her phone, “M.P.? Can I please talk to Mr. Grande? It’s really important. It’s about something we were just discussing. No, I’ll hold. It’s fine.”
