The waiting was unbearable.They’d barely arrived, but it seemed like forever.She was still amazed the men had let her come.
Rake tapped a key, and a live feed from whatever gismos he’d pinned on Dom and Sloan’s jackets replaced the infra-red pictures.As soon as the two men disappeared inside the club, the screen split into four, showing the entire club.
The club was done in red, gold, and black.From draperies to the floor.It had Middle Eastern mosaic chandeliers, low back couches, and areas for the belly-dancers.Near the bar were long tables with hookah pipes.The four men they’d seen earlier were wiping down tables and seats.
Dom approached one of them.“Where’s Mr.Petrosian?”
The screen showed the man studying Dom as though deciding whether he was friend or foe.Stupid man.It didn’t take brains to know Dom could kick ass from here to hell and back.He had an aura of menace about him.Sloan was the opposite, the gentle giant.
“Which one?We’re all Petrosians,” the man said and laughed.His friends joined him.
Within seconds, Dom and Sloan had disarmed the men and taken their guns.They clipped them with the butt of their own guns and walked away before they hit the floor.
Okay, maybe the gentle giant was just the persona Sloan adopted to disarm people.He moved fast, like Lex.Maybe they’d all trained together or something.
Dom’s face filled the screen.“Coast is clear.We’re going to check on the other four.”
Rake glanced back at Cade and Rod.The two were seated behind Jillian in the back seat.“Your turn.”
“Why can’t I go with them?”Jillian asked.“Lex could be one of the two not moving.Hurt and needing me.”
“No,” Rake said, his eyes on his screen.“We don’t deviate from the plan.You stay put.”
Cade and Rod chuckled as they left the SUV and took off across the street.Jillian wanted to scream.Instead, she glared at Rake.Men and their know-it-all attitudes.This one was completely unlikeable.She glanced at Aiden, debating whether to work on him.He was the moneyman while Lucien, the boyish-looking one and Deedee’s love interest, was behind the wheel.Apparently, he had a thing for fast cars.He drove like a maniac once they landed the two choppers at John Wayne and hopped into a rental SUV.
Lucien and the Brit had caved a second after Dom when she’d turned on the waterworks earlier.Sloan had groaned and looked away.Rod and Cade were total softies and had tried to comfort her.Only Rake had watched her with annoyance and said, “You’re fucking kidding me.”Which had earned him a glare from the others.Deedee might be right about him being a robot masquerading as a human.
“Don’t look at me, luv,” Aiden said.“I’m outnumbered by the damn Yanks.”
“Quit pulling that Brit crap every time you want to get out of taking sides, Aiden,” Lucien snapped, his eyes volleying between the club entrance and the screen of Rake’s computer, which showed a hallway.“What’s keeping them?We’re missing out on all the action.”
“Eyes on the live feed, Aiden,” Rake said impatiently.“They’re getting closer to the other four.As soon as they find Lex, you take the money inside.”
Dom and Sloan turned the corner, their camera capturing the two people standing by a door.Jillian recognized Douglas right away.
“What the fuck?”she exclaimed, and the men in the car all turned to stare at her.Dom and Sloan heard her through the two-way com-system and laughed.
Annoyed at their reaction, and refusing to be embarrassed because she’d dropped the F-bomb, Jillian bristled and said, “Yeah, I’m a quick study.”
The conversation that followed between Dom and Douglas had her jaw dropping.Lex and the boss, as the man with Douglas called Petrosian, were having tea.Tea.After they terrorized her, ran him off the road, and totaled his Phantom?Something wasn’t right.Jillian reached for the door.
“Where are you going?”Rake asked in a hard voice.
This particular billionaire was now on her dislike list.And his goatee wasn’tthatcute anymore.“Inside to find Lex.And no, I’m not waiting in here like some pearl-wearing debutant or followingyour plan.”When his eyes narrowed, she added, “Try to stop me and I swear I’ll kick you in the balls.”
Rake looked at her like he wanted to shake her until all her teeth fell out.Aiden and Lucien laughed.The other four joined them.That stupid communication system didn’t miss a thing.
Jillian grabbed the duffel bag, jumped from the SUV, and sprinted across the street.A car swerved to avoid hitting her.The driver honked and screeched to a stop a few feet away.She reached the entrance when someone called her name, but she kept going.
“Slow down, goddamn it,” Rake yelled.
Great.He just had to be the one to come after her.
She raced across the club, skirting around tables.He yelled her name, and for one insane moment she thought he sounded like Cian.They both had the same arrogant, know-it-all voice that grated.The men Dom and Sloan had knocked out were still kissing the floor.She reached the hallway at a full run, almost bumping into Cade and Rod, who were coming from the left.
“Whoa, slow down,” one of them said.
“What’s going on?”another asked, but Jillian was already sprinting toward the office where her man was having a tea party with the enemy.
