Page 48 of Toxic Attraction
I have maybe ninety minutes before he returns. Less if the meeting finishes early.
Move. Focus.
I head for the desk first. Pull out my phone and open the camera.
The laptop is password-protected—I'm not stupid enough to try that. But there's a physical planner beside it. The kindimportant people keep for meetings they don't want digitally tracked.
I flip it open to this week.
Thursday—today—shows the security meeting. 3:00 PM. East perimeter.
But Friday has something else:Shipment arrival. Pier 17. 11:00 PM. M + 4.
My hands shake as I photograph the page. Then the next week. And the week after that.
Meeting locations. Times. Names I don't recognize but Patrick probably will.
This is wrong. This is so fucking wrong.
But I keep photographing. Keep gathering exactly what Patrick demanded.
Because Ethan's life is worth more than my conscience.
I'm flipping to next month when I hear it.
A voice. Low and cold and coming from directly behind me.
"Looking for something?"
My blood turns to ice.
I spin around, and Lev is standing in the doorway.
Not at the east perimeter. Not at the security meeting. Right here. Watching me with those pale gray eyes that see everything.
How long has he been there?
"I—" Words die in my throat. There's no explanation. No excuse that would make sense. I'm holding his planner, my phone in my other hand, clearly photographing his private schedule.
I'm caught.
This is death.
He steps into the room and closes the door behind him with a soft click that sounds like a
I back up instinctively. My hip hits the edge of his desk.
Nowhere to go.
"I set traps for you, Valerie." He's close enough now that I can smell his cologne. See the cold calculation in his eyes. "Left doors unlocked. Made sure you saw Sofia's keypad entry. Scheduled a meeting I had no intention of attending."
A trap. This whole thing was a trap. I’m such a fool.
"And you walked right into it." His mouth curves into something that isn't quite a smile. "Just like I knew you would."
My phone slips from my shaking hand and clatters onto the desk. The planner follows.
"Please—"
