Page 98 of Tempt

“What’s going on?” I asked once she settled back in the seat.

Nicki gave me a frustrated look. “You are hella hard to find, you know that right?”

“That’s kind of the idea…” I said.

She snorted. “Well, my brother is doing an excellent job. Luckily I know how to manipulate Tad.”

My eyebrows rose in question.

Nicki shrugged. “Tad’s my bodyguard. Always has been. He’s a sucker for chocolate and big watery eyes. That and I palmed his phone when he went to the bathroom.”

“You can find me on a phone?” That did not sound safe or practical. Or like Theo.

“No…I refused to give him back his phone until he told me where you were. Duh.” Nicki rolled her eyes.

Of course she did. This was Nicki. What was I thinking? “And the reason you needed to see me?”

“Right. So we’re being followed.”

“By whom?” It was like pulling teeth and Nicki was enjoying every bit of the drama. I was starting to see why this side of her personality was so exhausting. Clearly I wasn’t in that much danger if there was time for drama.

“Oh, it’s Father,” she deadpanned as if that explained everything.

“And why is Donald following me?” I couldn’t think of a single reason for him to care or need me for anything. And why couldn’t he just call? Normally people called when they wanted to meet you.

Nicki stared at me, blinking while Joe swore from the front seat and made a sudden turn.

“Why didn’t you start with that information, Nicki?” he hissed.

“Someone tell me what’s going on!” I yelled loud enough to get everyone’s attention.

“Father knows about Dan and Toni. He’s here to make sure he doesn’t lose his leverage over Theo,” Nicki said simply, not understanding that I had no idea what that meant.

“Leverage?”

Luckily Joe decided he was sick of Nicki’s games and filled in the blanks for me. “Where do you think Theo learned all this, Allison? He didn’t just ‘fall in’ with a bad crowd—he wasborninto the bad crowd.”

“Stop it,” Nicki hissed, reaching over the seat to put a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “If Theo didn’t want her to know—”

“No. I’m not going to stop it. Allison deserves to know what’s going on and I’m sick of the games. It’s hard enough keeping her safe without all the lies and secrets, too.”

My stomach was churning now. Absolutely churning. What did Joe mean?Theo was born into the bad crowd?

Nicki turned her big eyes on me—the ones that looked so much like Theo’s it hurt. “Dan and Toni are the least of Theo’s problems. Always have been. Our father makes them look like amateurs.”

I could see Nicki sitting right in front of me, and I could hear the words as she spoke them, but for some reason everything was getting jumbled up on the way to my brain. “I’m sorry…what?”

Nicki frowned and furrowed her brow. “Oh dear god, you really don’t know any of this. Fuck. My brother is so damned dense sometimes.” She adjusted in the seat and took my hands in hers. The connection and warmth pulled me back into my body, snapping my mind back into focus.

“Look around you, sweetie. You’re in London. Your American gangs are babies compared to ours.” Nicki’s eyes slid from me to Joe. “It all looks so nice and normal around here, but if you look harder, look at the building you’re renovating, you’ll see a whole other world. The kind that’s existed for over three centuries.” Then she spread her arms wide. “Theo and I are the prince and princess of London gangster royalty. Aren’t you impressed?” her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Joe started barking at his phone. “Plans have changed. They’re followingus.”

I could just make out the voice on the other side as Theo. “Get herenow.”

Plans have changed. They’re following us… “Theo wanted Donald to follow him?” I asked, trying to understand all the disjointed information floating around the speeding car.

Joe’s eyes flicked to mine in the mirror before refocusing on the car behind us. “Yes. Unfortunately there’s no time to lose him. If you don’t want to be part of this I need you to tell me now because we’ll need to call everything off.”