Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
I let out a humorless chuckle. “I don’t seem to have any self-control when you’re around.”
“I suppose I don’t either.” Her lips twitch.
I close in on her. “Do you regret it?”
She presses her lips together. “Of course not,” she mutters. “I’ll never regret any of it, Vinnie.”
I want to tell her that I won’t either. Because in most ways I won’t, except for one.
I just hope this little tryst didn’t put her in any further danger.
I grab her by the shoulders and lean in, my voice lowered. “I need you to listen to me, Raven. Listen good. There’s a man at the gala tonight. A man who wants you dead.”
She gasps, darting her gaze around the room. “My father is here. Jared is here. My three brothers are here. Do you really think anyone will get near me? He’d have to go through all of them.”
“Those people can’t protect you if they don’t know who the threat is.”
“Then tell me who it is,” she says.
“I wish I could.” I frown. “The truth of the matter is that I don’t know for sure. I only know that a very bad man who I met in Colombia made a huge donation to your charity and a subsequent smaller payment to someone who I think might try to hurt you.”
She widens her eyes. “How much was the donation? I’ve been taking checks all night.”
“He didn’t make the donation tonight. He made it the day I left for Colombia. Fifty million.”
She slaps her hand over her mouth. “Oh, my God.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “So you’re aware.”
“That fifty million was sent to my attorney, Emily,” she says. “It was made anonymously, but then I got a call a week or so later from someone claiming to be the person who sent it. But I had no idea he might be in Colombia, or that he would have anything to do with you. He didn’t have an accent or anything.” She eyes me uneasily. “What was his name? The man who made the donation?”
“Daniela’s father. Jacinto Agudelo.”
She lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. The call was from a Mr. Smith.”
I grit my teeth. “A Mr. J. Smith?”
She bites her lip. “Jack Smith, yes.”
“And he’s here tonight?”
“He requested an invite. I couldn’t turn down the guy who made a fifty-million-dollar donation, Vinnie.”
I rub at my forehead. “And you just…believed him when he said he made the donation?”
“He knew about the donation. He knew it had been made directly to my attorney.” She crosses her arms. “I’m not a dumbass, Vinnie.”
“Has he checked in?” I ask.
“I have no idea. I haven’t met him yet.” She pulls out her phone and pulls up a file. “But I have the seating chart. I can tell you where he had dinner. I’ll send it to you.” She scrolls through her phone a second more. “Is he the one who’s been sending me texts?”
I raise my eyebrows. “You’ve been getting texts?”
“Yes. On my regular phone. I got a threatening text. But on that burner phone—the one the fake Uber driver gave me—I’ve been getting texts warning me. Warning me that I’m in danger.”
Damn. Austin Bellamy. He’s the one who was behind the Uber driver hijacking Raven. But Raven doesn’t know that.
Which means… Raven’s own father knows she’s in danger. He’s trying to warn her.
But of course he can’t let on how much he knows. Then she—and the rest of her family—will know of his involvement. Or at least suspect it.
I still have a lot of questions about Austin Bellamy. About his involvement with Diego Vega. About why Falcon went to prison. About who is buried underneath that old barn on their property. About his involvement with the cartels and “Operation Falcon.”
“Do you know who’s been sending the threatening texts, Vinnie? Because if you do, you have to tell me.”
It could be anyone. It could be Smith. Or Vega himself. It could be Agudelo. It could be McAllister. Hell, it could be Mario.
After tomorrow, though, Mario will be in my debt.
I have what he wants more than anything. And the cost will be his empire.
23
RAVEN
If Vinnie knows, he’s not responding.
“That’s what I thought,” I say. “I’ve got to get back to the gala.”
I whisk past him this time, unlock the door to the conference room, and open the door.
Jared is waiting on the other side.
“Raven…”
I hold up a hand. “Please, you’re not my father, Jared. You’re my bodyguard. I don’t need a good talking to right now. I don’t need for you to tell me what a big mistake it was for me to go in there with Vinnie. What I do need is for you to escort me to the ladies’ room.”
“Of course,” he says.
I don’t know what to think about this situation with Mr. Smith, but I do know that I have a job to do tonight. Vinnie can figure out who Smith is and take him aside if necessary. Right now, I have to doll myself back up and keep playing hostess. Vinnie is here, Jared is here, and multiple generations of burly Bellamy men are here to protect me.