“Just listen to me, dammit!” He roars.
“Is this you asking as a boss or my date for the evening?”
“Yes.”
I shake my arm free or at least try to. Magnus just grips harder. “I suppose this is you giving me no choice.”
“If that’s what it takes to get you to stand here and listen.”
“Okay, fine. I’m standing here and listening. So what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I do what I have to in order to protect what’s mine. And that is my sister up there. My methods aren’t palatable to everyone, but then you already know that, don’t you, Sloane?”
“There’s a difference between underbidding an old foe and humiliating your sister, even if you think it’s for her own good.”
“And what about murder?”
I inhale sharply.
“Don’t act as though you’ve stayed here, working with me despite that, Sloane. I think a part of you is secretly excited by that side of me.”
A hundred different retorts come to my lips, but none would ever stick without being laughably dismissed. He’s right. A part of me feels a vicarious rush of vengeful satisfaction about him dispensing with the man who killed his mother.
“Whatever you think you know about me, it’s obviously not much. I have respect for my family members. Even after everything my brother has done, I would never treat him that way. In front of his friends? In front of the person he loved? Never!”
Magnus’s only reaction is a slight tick in his jaw. Ironically, I know him well enough by now to realize that I’ve hit a nerve.
I lean in closer so he can see the disdain on my face. “I would think someone who holds his family so dearly would understand where the boundaries are.”
“Boundaries?” He coughs out a laugh. “Perhaps I should tell you about the man who’d been disowned by his own family and approached me with an offer to pay him one-million euros to keep him from running away with her, which she very much threatened to do. Or the one who took off without so much as saying goodbye once I made it clear that there would be no money coming from me? Or perhaps the man hired by Gabriel to use her to get to me. Sound familiar, Sloane?”
I ignore that jab.
“And what have you learned about this man tonight? Because the only thing I saw in there were two people who obviously love each other. A man who seems to respect and adore your sister.”
“What I’ve learned is that I never take people at face value. They always have a way of surprising you.”
Now, the look on his face is challenging, maybe even accusatory.
I just stare at him, feeling my willpower wane. Not because I agree with what he’s done tonight, but because I know he’ll battle me argument for argument, and neither one of us will give in.
“You should go back up there and apologize. She’s your sister, and one day, if you keep going about things this way, you’ll lose her for good. And will it be worth it?”
Magnus blinks in surprise. I’m sure he was expecting another verbal punch right back. Instead, he gets my two cents of advice, for what it’s worth.
“I’m going back to my suite—alone. I’ll understand if you kick me out and even fire me after tonight. Honestly, partnership isn’t worth it if this is what it takes, sitting by while you destroy even the people you claim to love.”
This time, when I turn around, he doesn’t follow me. Maybe he realizes that I need this moment to myself.
I manage to catch a taxi further on down the street to take me back to La Mer. It’s only once I’m settled in the back that I realize what I’ve just done.
I came to Monte Carlo for one reason and one reason only. To save the lives of my brother and me. Magnus was the one to open me up to so much more opportunity.
I have what I need to take back to Jan and Gabriel. At least I think so. At the very least, I can warn them that he plans on killing them. That ought to earn me some leeway.
So why am I reluctant to use it? Why the hell do I still feel a sense of loyalty to him?
Perhaps it’s not just loyalty I feel. It’s not even admiration or respect. It’s something I’ve never felt about another man before, something deep and troublesomely emotional. I suppose that’s why tonight disappointed me so much.
Dear God, despite everything, I’m actually falling for the man!
I sigh and lean my forehead against the window as Monte Carlo passes by.
My only hope is that Magnus will be as heartless with me as he was with his sister. A painful but clean break.
By the time I get to my room, I’ve already steeled my heart in preparation for my termination notice.
It’s when I’ve finally undressed and started the water for a long soothing bath that I get the call. Almost as though it was timed perfectly.
“Mademoiselle Alexander?”
“Yes, Neville,” I say, recognizing the voice. I suppose this is my eviction notice in preparation for being sent back to New York.
Instead, he surprises me.
“Monsieur Reinhardt has requested your presence at his house at nine o’clock tomorrow morning to work on the Holt Cloth & Fabric case.”
“The what?” I ask, wrinkling my brow.
“The Holt Cloth & Fabric case,” he replies in such a way as to point out he’s just as clueless as I am.
“I see,” I say slowly. “And he wants me to go to his house, not his office here?”
“Yes.” I get no more than that.
Now, I’m wondering if this Holt Cloth & Fabric case is just code for something else. Something I definitely don’t plan on querying the man on the phone about.
“Thank you, Neville.”
“Of course, Mademoiselle Alexander. Did you need anything tonight? Perhaps a dessert or
