“I think I made it clear that I’m not interested in that stuff with you anymore, Jacob. It’s too complicated.”
“Not like that.” Jacob rose but kept his distance. He nodded to the bed. “You’ll take the bed and I’ll take the sofa. I’ll ask room service to bring me up spare pillows and blankets for the night.”
“What? Why?”
“Come on, Chloe, you know why. Your brother is in the hospital, Addy is gone, and if Carolina is involved in this, she knows you, and she knows what happened between us. They’ll come for you. I won’t let that happen.”
My heart tha-thumped, and I hated myself for it.
“Stay, Chloe.” His phone buzzed, and he picked it up from the bed.
“That sounded like a command.”
“It wasn’t. It was a request.” Jacob unlocked his phone. His face transformed from concern to rage.
“What? Oh my god, what is it?”
“Message from Pritchard.” He held out the phone to me. “Read it for yourself.”
I took the phone, ice-cold all over, and read the message.
“You’ll meet with me tomorrow at the map pin I’ve attached. You’re going to marry Carolina.”
And that was it. There was a location attached, somewhere along the northern coast of the country.
“Is he—what?” My eyes widened. “What the hell?”
Jacob took the phone back from me. “I’m forwarding it to Smith.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around this. “That’s his motivation? I thought he wanted you as a business partner.”
“He does. I think that’s what this is about, but it’s proof that Carolina is involved.”
“Like…marrying into the business?” It was old-timey and weird. I backed up and sat down on the sofa. “Wow.”
“I don’t know. Obviously, it’s not going to happen.” Jacob’s phone buzzed again, and he looked down at it. “Smith is coming up to talk about it.”
“Coming up? He’s here?”
“Apparently, they’re hanging around,” Jacob said and put his phone down again. “Christ, this is such a clusterfuck.”
I pressed my hands to the sides of my head again, shaking it. “How are you going to…?”
“I don’t know, Chloe, but I’m obviously going to have to do something about it. Smith will have more information when he gets here.”
He was in control, and I appreciated that. A part of me needed him to be calm so I could panic. “It’s going to be OK, right?” A pathetic question. Why was I like this? Maybe because your world is falling apart. Your brother is in the hospital. It’s a valid fear.
Jacob walked over to me and pulled me out of my seat. He held my arms tight, stared deep into my eyes. “Hey,” he said. “Listen to me. I’m here, and I will make everything all right. No matter what it takes.”
I fell into his eyes for a moment, but hardened myself against it, mentally.
“I need you to believe that, Chloe. I need you to believe in me.” Jacob was dead serious, his jaw clenched. “Do you believe that I can make it OK?”
“I do.” My breath catching in my throat. “Because I’m going to make it OK with you.”
“Good,” Jacob said. “That’s what I like to hear.”
A knock came at the door, and we parted. Smith was here. It was time to figure this out.
Twenty-Two
Jacob
“I’m trying to be patient, Smith, but I’m struggling. Explain to me how that will help.” I remained standing. It helped—feeling like I was in motion.
“There’s a reason he wants you to marry his daughter,” Smith said. “Leverage.”
“But he can’t do that,” Chloe interjected. She was seated on the sofa, glaring at the agent across from her like he was a book she could read or a frog to dissect. “It’s an illegal marriage. I’m not super familiar with the laws in France, but you would surely need a marriage license. It’s got to be some kind of ploy.”
“It’s definitely a ploy. It’s a way to get a reaction out of Jacob. Pritchard knows that you two were together here, and he wants to flush Jacob out. He wants outrage.”
“Or he’s completely cracked.” Chloe shook her head. “I don’t understand it. But wait, wait a second…”
“What?” I asked.
“Carolina said that you two were engaged before you broke it off. Could that be a part of this?”
Smith didn’t answer but turned toward me, raising an eyebrow. It was the most regular emotion I’d seen out of him since our first contact.
“We weren’t engaged,” I said. “She wanted to get engaged, but I did not.”
“What do you mean she wanted to get engaged?” Chloe asked.
“Exactly what I said. She wanted it, I didn’t. She went as far as to have an engagement party planned at her father’s house. I broke it off with her there. I tried not to make a scene, but she certainly did.”
“This was in front of her father?” Smith asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “But I doubt that her father would truly be offended. He’s a businessman. Businessmen keep business and family separate.”
“Ha, yeah, that’s totally true.” Chloe pointed at me and winked. “Except, for, you know, the mafia?”
“She’s right,” Smith said. “This could be as simple as you having both offended his daughter’s honor and his own. He wants to kill two birds with one stone. Force an engagement out of you, and a deal, as well. He’s got what he needs to make it happen now. Addison.”
My gut tumbled. Fuck, it was difficult to forget that, but every time Addy’s name was mentioned it got worse. I had put them this position.
“So, what you’re saying is that Addison’s life now depends on whether Charlie is willing to marry the cougar-pants girl?”
“‘Cougar-pants girl’?” Smith asked.
Chloe waved a hand. “There’s got to be a way around it.”
“Simply put, Jacob goes to the meeting wearing a wire. We close in on his location. We choose the opportune moment and sweep in to save them both and make the arrests,” Smith said.
“What aren’t you telling us?” I asked.
“The man is slippery. If he wasn’t, we would have taken him into custody months ago. I need something from him. A mention of the drugs, anything that will serve as proof that he’s involved, personally, in the production or smuggling.” Smith paused, his steely-eyed gaze moving from me to Chloe, then back again. “But you won’t get it from him easy. He’ll suspect foul play.”
“Why?” Chloe asked.
“He had to know that dropping a map pin of his location would bring trouble. He’ll assume the worst—that you’ve gone to the police or that you’ve already got outside help from another authority, like us. He’s not an idiot.”
“So, this is a trap.” Chloe pressed her hand to her stomach. “It’s a trap, and you’re going to let Jacob just walk right into it?”
“There’s no other choice,” I said. “I’ll find a way to take control of the situation. It’s what I do.”
“Not with guys like this. Haven’t you ever seen The Godfather?” Chloe clapped back.
“No.”
“That’s—wow, I’m actually disappointed in you.”
Agent Smith cleared his throat, and we silenced. “Chloe is right in this case. You’ll have to make him angry if you want to get anything out of him. What was your impression of this man when you met him?”
“Calm, in control, slightly smug,” I said. “I didn’t spend much time with him. The sum total of our conversations consisted of him asking me for drone shipments and me refusing to take the contract. Then a few threats were thrown around. I ended my relationship with Carolina shortly after.”
Smith fingered his chin and kept his silence.
“What do we do?” Chloe asked.
“I’ve told you this before, and I’ll tell you it again, Chloe, there’s no ‘we’ in this situation. It’s me. I’m the one who’s going to sort thi
s shit out. I don’t need you in danger.”
“Actually,” Smith said, and tapped his chin.
“No.” I raised my palm. “No, no, no. Whatever you’re thinking, the answer is no.”
“What is it?” Chloe asked.
“You said this woman spoke to you?” Smith asked Chloe.
“Forget about it!” I repeated. “She is not getting involved in any of this. I will not have her put in danger.”
“That’s not your choice,” Chloe said, turning coldness on me. “Charlie’s my brother and Addy is my friend. If I want to help, I’ll help.” She faced Smith again. “What would you need me to do?”
“I would need you to pretend to be his fiancée, or at least his girlfriend.”
“Huh?” Chloe and I echoed each other.
“You two would pretend to be engaged. Pritchard will grow angry when he finds out, and you can use that to your advantage, to talk him into revealing something. The last thing he’ll be expecting is for you to bring a woman with you. Chloe, in particular.”
“This is half-baked.” I forced myself up and toward the door. “I won’t stand for it. You should leave, Smith, and come back when you’ve got a better idea.”
“This is the only idea,” Smith said. “If you go in there alone, he wins. If we come with you, he wins. He’s expecting everything but this. Chloe, are you willing to take the risk of seeing these people face to face? You’ll be unarmed and in a great deal of danger.”
“If it will help get Addy back home safely, then yes. Hell yes.”
“No.” I balled my hands into fists. “Not her. I won’t do that with Chloe. We’ll find someone else.”
“Who?” Smith asked. “Who would be a believable alternative?”
No one sprang to mind. And Chloe was the only one I’d spent time with in the past week. If Pritchard had been watching, and he had been, considering the video of Chloe I’d received, then this was…inevitable.
“You’ll have to be convincing,” Smith said, as if it was a foregone conclusion that we’d go through with it. “You’ll have to make it seem like this has been true from the start.”
“But Carolina saw us fight.” Chloe glanced up at me, uncertain now. Her dark hair was a mess around her shoulders, and I longed to tug fingers through it. If I could have kept her in this room and sheltered her from tomorrow and Pritchard, I would have.
“It doesn’t matter. Couples fight all the time. You two will have to be convincing,” Smith said and rose from his seat. He walked to the door and placed a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll rendezvous tomorrow at noon in the hotel’s restaurant. I’ll brief you on all that needs to be done before you can meet with Pritchard.” And then he was out the door and gone, taking his standard-issue kiss-ass shoes with him.
I slapped the door shut and locked it. “Fuck, that guy’s annoying.”
“It’s the only way,” Chloe said.
“Don’t get me started. You didn’t have to jump in like that.”
“What am I supposed to do, Jacob? Sit back and watch everything go to shit around me?” Her voice was weighted with emotion. A thickness that I had helped cause. “I’m not going to let that happen. You promised everything would be OK, and I said I’d help you make it OK, and that’s all there is to it.”
I kept my distance. Getting too close would only lead to touching, and touching would, fuck… “You’re set on doing this.”
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin.
“Fine.” I headed for the safe in the corner. I typed in the code then opened it. The box containing the rings was in there again—I’d placed them there this afternoon, after the horrible failure at the wedding. I removed them now, opened the box, then walked over to Chloe.
“What are you doing?”
“If we’re faking it, we’ll need to look the part.” I removed a ring and slipped it onto my finger, then lifted her hand and pressed Addison’s ring onto hers. It was a little loose. “There. That will work.”
“You’re serious. You’re OK with this now?” Chloe asked, her hand still pressed against mine.
“I have to be, don’t I? The alternative is you do what you want anyway. That’s how I fucking know you.”
“True.” Chloe’s smile was brief, the first she’d worn since this had happened. “True. OK. Well, I guess it’s time for us to sleep.”
“You take the bed,” I said and let go of her hand. There was a tense moment—neither of us moved, we stared at each other, breathing, and that was it.
If you take her now, will you be able to let her go again? No, I wouldn’t. Nothing had changed between us, though everything had altered around us. When this was all over, I’d still be the guy who couldn’t commit, and she’d still be my best friend’s sister and allergic to romance herself.
I pressed my hand to her cheek and held it there. “I’m sorry this has happened, Chloe. I’m not great at apologies, but I am sorry. I take the blame for this.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Let’s get some sleep,” she said then walked past me to the bed.
“You can take a shower first. I’ll get shit sorted out here.”
“Thanks” Footsteps—I didn’t dare turn and watch her walk to the bathroom—and then the click of a door.
I turned, half-expecting to find her waiting there for me, but the door was shut tight, and I was on my own.
Twenty-Three
Chloe
Tears streamed down my cheeks in the darkness.
It was pathetic. Seriously pathetic.
I’d spent a lot of time calling myself that, but for a good reason. It was difficult to come to terms with what had happened. Addy gone, Charlie in the hospital, and tomorrow looming. I’d never been this weak, weepy woman, and it frustrated the shit out of me that I was now. When it counted.
I slapped tears off my cheeks, grimacing in the semi-dark.
The lights of Paris glimmered between a gap in the curtains. The night had wound down a long time ago. Likely, the sun would rise soon and reveal my shameful red eyes.
You’ve got to be stronger than this. For Charlie. For yourself.
“Chloe.” Jacob’s voice from the sofa, soft for once, and filled with pity.
I didn’t need it. But the tears wouldn’t stop. “Yeah?” I managed not to snivel like a child. “What?”
“It’s going to be OK.”
“I know that,” I said, trying to harden my tone. It came out small. “God, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.” I clambered for the tissues—there had been a box on the nightstand—grabbed one, and pressed it to my face. “Just…forget about me. I’m fine.”
Jacob shifted, and a figure rose from the sofa. He came to the side of the bed and stood there. “What do you need? What will help you sleep?”
“Nothing will help me sleep. I don’t see how I’m supposed to, right now.”
The silhouette of Jacob’s head bobbed up and down. “Just call me if you need anything.” He turned away again, to return to his makeshift bed for the night.
“Wait.”
Jacob halted.
“Lie with me.”
“Chloe…”
“No sex. Just lie with me. I’ll feel better that way.” And it was true. It made me an idiot, but it was true. At least then I’d have warmth and another breathing human being next to me, one who understood what had happened. Who could empathize.
Jacob’s figure didn’t move. The scent of him washed over me, though, the lemon and leather. I warmed to the thought of him, even though I’d sworn him off. He’d admitted that this was his fault. And through it, I’d been angry, but jealous at the same time.
Jealous that he’d taken a shot with Carolina.
And not with you.
Jacob drew back the covers on the bed, and I scooched over. He slipped in next to me, rested his head on the pillow, and stared at the ceiling. “I promise.”
“What?” I asked.
“That I’ll ma
ke this happen. We’ll get out of this, all of us, unscathed.” He turned his head toward me, and the light from outside glinted in his eyes. “I will protect you, Chloe. I’ll protect you, and I’ll make this right.”
“Jacob,” I whispered. “It’s not like that. I’m not expecting you to solve this.”
“It’s my fault.”
I couldn’t deny that. But it wasn’t exactly his fault—how could he have known that Carolina was connected to this Pritchard guy? “I just wish you’d never met her.” I hated that I’d said it. It was such a desperate sentiment.
“Why not?”
“I thought… Look, never mind.” I couldn’t turn my back on them. I kept my gaze on him, on the half of his face that wasn’t hidden in shadow.
“Tell me.”
“I thought you liked me, back when I was a fool.”
“I did like you, Chloe.”
“But you left afterward. You never told me why,” I said. “And a part of me, the dumb part, wants to know why that’s the case. What was it about you and me that freaked you out so much?”
“I wanted you too much. I’m not capable of…the love shit. The relationship. Staying in one place, staying attached. I always mess it up or lose interest. I didn’t want that to happen with you. And then there’s the issue with Charlie.”
I listened, trying to make sense of it. “He told me that you left to be with someone else,” I said.
“What?”
“Charlie. After you disappeared, I asked him where you’d gone. I don’t think he knew what had happened between us, but he got this strange look on his face and then told me that. That you had left to meet with some girl you’d been in contact with on the internet. That you were into her and moving out to see her.”
“And you believed that?” Jacob asked.
“I didn’t know, Jacob. I barely know you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He turned fully onto his side, pressing his knuckles to the mattress. “You know me. We’ve known each other for years.”
“The only thing I know about you is that you’ve got a big dick and you’re friends with my brother. We never talked all that much.”
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