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When he shoved off the desk and turned, he stood toe to toe with the man and lowered his voice "Just so we’re clear If you so ain, I’ll rip your balls out through your throat and hand them to your boss" He turned away, as the ‘female’ asn’t much of a fe cargo pants, she was more man than some he knew

Luke silently cursed as the ‘feave Julie a once over from behind that made him want to backslap the bitch

Michaelto protect uard stepped to Michael’s side and Luke could almost feel Julie’s discomfort, and the smirk on both Michael and the wo it

Julie inhaled and let it out "Let’s get this over with" Bravely, she walked forward Michael and the female stepped aside and Julie planted her hands on the desk

Chapter Twenty-Two

Luke felt helpless watching the guard grope Julie He should have protected her He should have found a way to get her out of this But it was over, finally over

When the party motioned toward the door, he pulled her close under his shoulder, and whispered, "I’, didn’t even look at his, which onlyBut he couldn’t think about that now He had to focus, to et them out of here if he had to

They were led past a set of stairs and into a , walls of lass s, and furniture in sleek black leather A variety of people, all dressed to ie Moore included Several waiters held trays filled with drinks

Luke glanced around to find the one, then he refocused on Julie and followed her gaze to the the painting of several sailboats on an ocean over a fireplace

"That Monét," she whispered, "is supposed to be in a museum in London"

"It’s probably a fake," he said, but Luke didn’t doubt the real thing was in Arel’s possession, thus why he had this one displayed

"I hope you’re right," she said "Because it’s worth a fortune"

Luke’s gaze returned to the judge to find he was sitting in a leather chair next to a man who’d not been there moments before Dressed in an expensive suit, the thirty-soant confidence that even if Luke hadn’t seen pictures of Arel, he’d have known it was hiazes He never even spared Julie a glance Several seconds ticked by before he leaned in to listen to soain, he motioned to Luke to join them