Page 15 of Her Cruel Empire
“Fly where?” Panic creeps into my voice. “I can’t leave the country. My family?—”
“Will be taken care of,” she says smoothly. “Just tell me what they need, and I’ll arrange it. But you’ll need to hand over your phone. I don’t want you distracted during our time together.”
I stare at her. The casual way she talks about moving money, about flying to private airfields, about buying people—it’s like she exists in a completely different world from mine.
“I need to call my brother,” I say. “I need to let him know I’m okay.”
She checks her watch—a delicate thing as lovely and expensive as she is. “You can have a few minutes, I suppose.”
I find Adrian’s number with shaking fingers and he answers on the second ring. “Robin? How did the...thing go?”
“My audition went well,” I manage, trying to keep my voice steady. “Really well. I got picked for the show. But Adrian, I need to tell you something. I’m going to be out of the country for the next month. I can’t say where. I signed a non-disclosure agreement.”
“Out of thecountry?Wow, this is like, a big production, huh?” I can hear the confusion in his voice. He didn’t believe me before now. He knew it was a cover story, he just didn’t know for what. But now…
Now hewantsto believe.
“Yeah. Really big production,” I parrot. I glance at the woman, who’s watching me with those unreadable amber eyes. “And I won’t have my phone, either.”
“But Robin?—”
“The prize money is a million dollars.” The silence on the other end stretches so long I think the call dropped. “Adrian?”
“A million?” His voice cracks. “Robin, are you serious?”
“Dead serious. It’s going to be the next big reality TV show, they tell me.”
“Robin, this is—you’re going to change everything for us.”
Tears prick my eyes. “I love you guys so much. Please take care of yourself, and them.”
“We love you too. Go win that thing, okay? We’ll be fine here.”
I end the call before I start crying. The woman reaches for my phone, and I reluctantly hand it over.
“Reality show?” she asks, amusement coloring her voice.
“They wouldn’t have let me go if they knew the truth.”
Something flickers in her expression, too quick to read. “My name is Eva, by the way. Eva Novak.”
“My last name is Rivers. Robin Rivers.”
She smiles again, but this time there’s something almost gentle in it. “Do you know, I wondered if you might be a plant from the Gattos. A honeytrap. But you’re not, are you?”
I feel my eyes widen. “No. I’m not, I promise.”
“No,” she agrees. “You’re not. You’re just a very desperate and innocent young woman who was clever enough to use the assets she was born with.”
I look down at my outfit with a grimace. “If that’s what you could call this. Yeah. I guess.” I look up in a panic. “Hey—shouldn’t I pack a bag if we’re going away, or?—”
“No need. Everything you require will be provided. Anything and everything.” The limousine is heading toward whatever private airfield she mentioned, I assume. Through the tinted windows, I watch Vegas blur past—the city where I grew up, where my family can sleep without worry in their beds because of what I just did.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
Eva swirls her drink, the crystal catching the light from passing neon signs. “Home.”
“Your home?”
