Dear Mr. Hirsche,
As requested, we have reached out to the other party and extended your request for another transaction, along with the details of your new offer. We have taken every care to ensure that the other party understands that this offer is triple the amount of the previous one and with room for negotiation.
Unfortunately, the other party has chosen to decline the offer. Morever, she has also very clearly stated that she will take legal action if we choose to contact her again for the same purpose. In this light, we regret to inform you that we will no longer be able to provide further assistance on this matter.
We apologize for whatever inconvenience this may cause, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to consider other parties for your next transaction.
Yours truly,
VIP Productions
“Sir?” Spencer’s tone was of wary concern, and when their gazes met, the deep frown on her face made him realize she might have been trying to get his attention more than once. “Is everything alright?”
“No.” And it was all her fucking fault. Why the hell wouldn’t she want another night with him, dammit? His last offer had been a whole damn mil. Seven fucking digits, just to spend another night with him and have Etienne fuck her brains out. What kind of idiot would say no to that?
He was glaring at the back of her head again, Spencer noticed through the rearview mirror, and the knowledge left her feeling hurt and angry at herself. He had been a moody son of a gun the past few days, so darn short-tempered that everyone around him had taken to walking like they were treading on eggshells. He lashed out at the smallest mistake, and no one had been in the receiving end of his temper more times than Spencer. And it was unfair. So stupidly, unreasonably, unfair that she knew it should’ve completely turned her off him by now…
But it hadn’t.
He was still beautiful in her eyes, and her heart still ached foolishly in his presence. It was still a daily struggle to keep her voice from becoming breathless at his presence, and ever since the night she lost her V-card and realized what she had been missing all this time…
She wanted him more than ever now, wanted him so badly that there were times she wanted to beg and offer herself up as a one-night stand, or even a five-minute hookup, if that was all the time he could spare.
Maybe I should’ve just said yes to another transaction, she thought glumly. Although that night had been nothing like her worst fears, she had so little recollection of it that a part of her wondered if it was her mind deliberately blocking her memories out because it considered the whole thing as an act of infidelity.
When she had woken up the day after, she had been alone in the hotel room, and the sight of her naked body had her bursting into tears. All of a sudden, it had felt completely wrong, like she had betrayed the man she loved. And yes, she knew it didn’t make any sense, since it wasn’t like she and Mr. H had any relationship beyond boss-and-driver, but even so—
“I want to know where you went that day.”
Hearing him suddenly speak had Spencer jerking in her seat. “That day?”
“When you took the afternoon off…” Her gasp cut him off, and Etienne saw her hazel eyes turn incredulous at the same time through the rearview mirror.
“So that’s what this is really about?” Spencer demanded disbelievingly. “I’ve been working for you for over two years, and I’ve never taken a day off! Never until that—”
“Just answer the fucking question,” he growled.
“No.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because you don’t have the right to ask, and you—”
“Shit.”
The expletive, as always, came from the backseat, but this time Spencer didn’t have to ask why. No need at all, since she herself was seeing the four-letter word written all around her, when the doors of the armored truck in front of them suddenly burst open and men came flying out, eyes soulless and red-rimmed.
When a couple of them landed on the limousine’s hood, she reacted without thinking, throwing them off with by making the car spin and take a hard right. Her wheels screeched in protest, the sound deafening, but what really made the hairs behind her neck stand were their snarls and hisses, and as she watched their bodies fall to the ground, she was able to lock gazes with one of them—
And that was when she saw it: a glistening, viciously sharp pair of fangs.
“It can’t be real,” she muttered to herself. “It can’t.” But she hit the gas hard all the same, wanting to be as far away as possible from that gang of lunatics.