Her jaw dropped.“Then what’s going on?Is it about my bruises on Saturday?I tried a stupid move, and I promise never to do it again.”
“You’d better not, or I swear…” Chris sighed.“You just said we’re family.Families don’t keep secrets from each other.You’ve always come to me when you have a problem.Why not this time?”
“Uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about Chris.If this is about the party—”
“No, it’s not.Margo is a child with an oversized ego, but she won’t start another malicious rumor or misbehave in public again.Any public misconduct and her contract would be canceled.”
Lex had made good on his promise.The man was scary powerful.“Then I don’t understand.I’ve been honest with you about every… Oh.The money.”
“Three hundred and fifty thousand of it.”
Jillian dropped into the nearest chair and sighed.“I guess I wanted it to go away.I thought if I paid it off, everything would go back to normal.”
He frowned.“Is this, uh, money you owe someone?You know you could have come to me.Greg and I would have loaned you the money.”
“Oh.Thank you,” she said.“But it’s not my debt.I don’t owe anyone money.Dad does.”
Chris shook his head, furrows appearing on his forehead.“Your father?”
Jillian explained what she’d overheard.“I was so hurt, and then Greg called, saying he had a potential client.I assumed it was a weekend thing, a week at most.I figured I’d make the three-fifty and pay off the debt without Dad knowing.”
Chris came to where she sat, perched his ass on the edge of the table, and crossed his arms.“You haven’t changed.You still charge in solo instead of asking for help.There’s always safety in numbers.We’ll think up a way to deal with this.Together.”
Her throat tightened with gratitude, Jillian jumped up and hugged him.“You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.I was thinking of going to the club and scouting the place, then—” She leaned back when he shuddered.
“No solo acts, missy.Where’s the money now?I don’t think I’ve ever seen half a million in real cash before.”
Neither had she.The money they used in movies was usually fake.“Three hundred and fifty thousand,” she corrected him.“Douglas, Lex’s man, is supposed to drop it off this evening.I wasn’t comfortable having it in my house so I left it with him.”
Chris frowned.“That’s understandable.Can you ask him to hold off dropping it off until we have a plan?”
Jillian was more than happy to comply.She made the call.Douglas didn’t seem bothered by her decision.“Is Lex still coming home on Friday?”she asked Douglas.
“He’ll be arriving tonight, Ms.Jillian.He mentioned ten, but it might be later.”
A thought came out of nowhere and she ran with it.“Can you pick me up before you head to the airport?I want to surprise him.”
Douglas chuckled.“Of course.And may I say that he’ll like the surprise?”
CHAPTER 9
Lex’s jet had just left Dallas, after refueling, when Douglas called.He braced himself for bad news.“Just a second.”
As he left the main cabin for the stateroom, he could almost hear the sigh of relief from his employees.They’d been subdued while watching a game on the big screen TV because of his presence.It didn’t matter how long they’d worked for him; there was an invisible barrier between him and them that they refused to cross.
That fact in itself didn’t bother Lex.He often stayed in the stateroom unless they were catching up on a project or contract and needed his input.He didn’t mind the solitude.In fact, he craved it.His creative juices tended to flow better when he wasn’t distracted.
Closing the door, he brought the phone to his ear.“Is she okay, Douglas?”
“She sounded fine when we spoke, sir,” Douglas said.“But she canceled the drop off.”
Lex frowned, even as relief coursed through him.“Why?”
“She didn’t say, sir.”
Why had she asked for the money when she didn’t need it?Knowing her, she was probably testing him.He didn’t care about what she did with the money as long as it wasn’t illegal and she was safe.Though the notes weren’t marked, the serial numbers could be traced if she was in trouble, like being blackmailed.
“I’ll talk to her when I get home.We should be arriving around ten.”
