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“But I ht for a moment”

He got out of the car I wanted to h heels and thick mud

I unbuckled and went for the phone infingers, I held up the cell—no signal whatsoever Not a single fucking bar

The door flung open and he yanked round, the contents scattering My phone dropped frorippedthe way His fingertips dug deeper into my flesh, despite the suit jacket I wore

We took the steps to the porch and crossed to the door The inside wasn’t finished There were still exposed two-by-fours and tresses Weaving our way through the mess of sawdust and plastic sheets, we reached the staircase with aon one side, clearly a safetybuilt

I let out a strained laugh There was nothing safe about this scenario Not for me

The landing at the top of the stairs opened into an enors were piles of rope coiled high

I screaainst him and said, “Don’t make this difficult We want ourto liquidate Profits from 10,000 Lux are to be paid out quarterly We need access to that capital I need access to that capital”

“And you’re willing to tie et it?”

“I a—and have the authority—to do whatever’s necessary” His inti stare unnerved me further

“Whose authority?” I ed to ask, the fear distinct in my voice

“The others ere part of the investroup for the hotel”

“You’re the one behind all the problems on the property? On their behalf?”

“They paidtheured all of this out and has been wreaking his own havoc No one’s happy about that It also causes trouble for me So now it’s time to put an end to this, once and for all”

I did not like the sound of that Did they intend a hostile takeover of the Lux? What if Dane flat-out refused? What if Ethan, Qadir, and Nikolai stood their ground as well? Would this man really shoot me? Or leave me here? It could be teeks before the construction crew returned There was still rain in the forecast, since we had experienced a record-breaking monsoon season