Page 104 of Heartless Game

But I was going to have some goddamn say in this.

“I don’t think your father knows you have a girlfriend,” Eliana told me.

“He doesn’t. And it’s going to stay that way. I refuse to let him fuck with our lives. Starting with this sham of an engagement. Where did you get the damn ring, anyway?”

She shrugged. “Your father gave it to me.”

“Do you do everything my father tells you to do?”

Her eyes flashed, a little bit of the fire I knew she had peeking out behind the reserved polish. “I do when my family’s safety and well-being is on the line. We’re not getting out of this, Isaac. So I suggest you break up with your girlfriend and save her, and yourself, a lot of heartache. She deserves better than being a mistress.”

Mistress? I gaped at Eliana.

“Don’t talk about Tovah that way. She’s not going to be my mistress; she’s going to be mywife.”

Eliana gasped, but I was done with her. Getting into my car, I told her, “Send my regards to dear old dad,” before slamming the door shut and starting the car. As I drove away from the parking lot, not even caring that my team was blowing up my phone, wondering why I wasn’t there to celebrate our win, I checked the cloning/tracker app to see where Tovah had run off to.

Her dot was at the newspaper office, not home.

Of course. She’d gone somewhere that felt like hers, and where she assumed I wouldn’t look for her, like I would at Aviva’s and Jack’s, or her old apartment. Plus, I didn’t have keys.

Was she calling “LOML” to ask for help?

Didn’t matter. She didn’t know I’d always know exactly where she was as long as she had her phone with her, and I had no problem at this point with a little light breaking and entering. And another kidnapping, if it came down to that.

And if LOML tried to contact her, I’d kill him.

* * *

I parkedin the lot behind the newspaper office, choosing a spot in the shadows so Tovah didn’t see me in case she was looking out the window. I wasn’t giving her the opportunity to run again. Walking around to the back of the building, I picked the lock. It was one of the first things my older sister had ever taught me. The alarm beeped once, but didn’t go off. I walked through the quiet, dark building, searching for her.

The only light that was on was in the editor-in-chief’s office. Was Tony or whatever his name was here?

For one, insane moment, I worried that she’d asked him to come. That she was writing the exposé against me and my family, after all.

No, she wouldn’t.

Fuck, would she?

Not bothering to knock, I threw open the door to his office. Tovah and that asshole were behind his desk, looking at something.

What were they looking at? Were they plotting against me, or was I being paranoid?

“Get the fuck out,” I barked.

“Isaac!” Tovah looked up at me, eyes wide, before they narrowed into slits.

“Youget out,” she said.

I didn’t look at her. “Tony, get the fuck out here, before I fulfill my earlier promise of tossing you out a window.”

“I believe the term is defenestrate,” he said snottily. “And my name is Toby.”

“I know what the term is, and I don’t care. I know what your name is, and Ialsodon’t care. I’m still going todefenestrateyou if you don’t leaveright now.”

Even though he was a complete asshole, he wasn’t a complete idiot, so with one last look at Tovah, he gathered his things and was gone a moment later.

I advanced toward Tovah, who shut off the computer.

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