Page 94 of The Husband Contract

“Great, thanks,” I say dutifully, and he just nods at me.

Janice opens the door, and I follow behind him as we leave the building. We get to the lobby, and he opens the door to a limo. For a moment, I think I could just run andleave right now. But I know Sebastian would find me if I did.

I get into the back of the limo, and Victor drives me to the Magnolia Club. As soon as I walk in through the employee entrance, I notice Norman lurking. He eyes me, scowls and makes a face, and then turns around.

Great,I think to myself.Just great.

I head toward the coat stand, and when I turn around, he’s inches from me.

“Hello, Miss Monty. I see you’ve decided to come back.”

“It’sMs. Montgomery,” I say. “And I was never not coming back. I just—well, it doesn’t matter.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he says. “I hope you’re going to be more professional today.”

I bite down on my lower lip. This is the last thing I need. “Yes, Norman.”

“I’m going to get a drink of water. You look after the front.”

I nod slowly and watch as he walks away. I stand at the front for about twenty minutes before my heart sinks. Jack walks in with a few other men I vaguely remember from the first night I worked here.

“Hi, Willow. Good to see you,” Jack says, his keen eyes observing me. He has a pleasant smile and an absolutely gorgeous face. His aquamarine-turquoise eyes seem to see right into my soul.

“Hi, Jack—or Mr. Heathcliff.”

“You can call me Jack,” he says. “This is Levi, Santiago, and Nate. I don’t know if you remember them.”

“Vaguely,” I say. “Good evening. Hi.”

They nod at me and hand me their jackets. They’re not really paying attention to me, and I don’t care. I don’t know what they know about me or about Sebastian, but I don’twant to talk about it. Jack steps closer as the others walk away.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” I answer in a polite tone. “How are you?”

“Busy with work and other things,” he says. He grabs his phone and brings up the screen. There’s a photograph of a young, handsome man on it. “Do you recognize this man?”

“Sorry, what?” I ask, staring at the screen.

“I said, do you recognize this man?”

“Not really.” I shake my head, then gasp as I look to the right. Norman is talking with a slinky, sultry woman who looks familiar. As she turns her face toward me, I see it’s Louisa. The woman who works for Sebastian.

Jack follows my eyes. “You know her?”

“Not really. She works for Sebastian. I just didn’t expect to see her here.”

“Oh, yeah. She comes to the club quite often. I guess she has friends here.” He shrugs. “She knows a lot of people who work here.”

“Must be nice,” I say. “She seems to know everyone.”

He nods slowly, a light coming into his eyes. “You’re right. She really does seem to know everyone. Always at the root of everything.”

“Sorry, what do you mean?”

“Nothing.” He shakes his head and lifts his phone again, sliding to another photo of the same man. “Do you recognize him?”

“This is the same guy you just showed me. I don’t know him.”