Page 15 of When He Lies
Her eyes narrowed. “I work for Frederick. I am following his commands. If you don’t believe me, get him in here.” Anything to buy her some time to figure a way out of this mess.
“The boss doesn’t want dead bodies near his guests.”
Well, that was something. Especially since she did not want to become a dead body.
“You’re coming with me,” Alexei ordered.
“What? Like, now?”
He reached out and grabbed her wrist. That grip of his hurt. She could feel her bones grinding together as he yanked her in front of him. The jerk actually moved pretty fast. One moment, the gun was in her face, and in the next instant, she was positioned in front of him, with the gun shoved against her back and him looming behind her.
“Yes, like now!” Rage poured in his voice.
She did not like the muzzle of the gun cutting into her back. The cold metal of the gun pressed directly to her skin since the back of her gown did a daring plunge. “This is such a mistake.”
“A fatal mistake that you have made.”
“I’m Frederick’s personal assistant! I’m assisting him!”
“He was suspicious when we found you and Ryan Quinn in this gallery.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. Hard.
“Frederick wanted eyes in here. He sent me to wait. To watch. I caught you. Like a rat in my trap.”
Again with the rat comparisons. “So insulting,” she muttered.
“You will tell the boss everything.”
She didn’t have much to tell. “I’ll tell him what an asshole you are and that he should fire you immediately! Seriously, threatening me with a gun? Twice in one night? I don’t know what kind of jobs you usually do…” Though she had plenty of suspicions. He was a scary man, and her instincts were usually not wrong about people. “But this is not how one handles typical business.”
“It is how I handle my business.” He moved the gun long enough to yank open the gallery doors. Alexei blasted orders at the guards who were still, ah, distracted by the catering staff. Then Alexei was pushing her through the sprawling manor. He repositioned the gun behind her and kept her tucked closely against him, so none of the drunk guests probably even realized that she was a woman fighting for her life.
She considered crying out desperately for help, but…
That gun was pressed against her spine. If she screamed, Alexei could just fire. He was too unpredictable for her. So she had to play along. For now.
He didn’t take her out the front of the house. Sent them straight out into the storm that instantly soaked her skin and had her hair falling out of the twist she’d worked on so long. The heavy locks clung to her shoulders. Not some gentle shower of rain, either. The downpour felt more like hard, pounding nails biting into her flesh. He shoved her through the rain and toward an ominous, black van.
“Get into the van!” Alexei shouted at her.
Sure, why not? She’d just jump into the van and go meekly to her death. Nope. This was the instant where she was going to make her escape. If she acted as if she was going to climb into the back of the waiting vehicle, Alexei would have to move the gun away from her. She’d get free for a few, precious moments and…
“Simone!”
Her head jerked to the right. Blinking against the rain, she saw a big, dark figure running toward her.
No, no way.
She even shook her head in denial.
“Simone!” But that big, hulking figure in a tux was not stopping. It was Ryan Quinn, and he was heading straight toward her. “Simone, what in the hell are you doing out here?”
She could use him. He could be a distraction to help her flee. But, if she did that, then Ryan…he could get hurt. Alexei was already swinging the gun toward him, and she feared that he would shoot Ryan at any moment.
I can’t use him. I can’t risk him. “Ryan, run!” Simone screamed.
And he did run—right for her. He hurtled fast toward her even as Alexei pointed his weapon at Ryan.
