Page 9 of Sam's Salvation

“Report in when you get home.”

“I will.”

They said goodbye and hung up. Audra stowed the phone, then changed. For the next several hours, she refused to think about work. She desperately needed a break. This assignment was really beginning to wear on her. She was ready to end it and get back to her normal life.

The afternoon flew past as she whiled away the hours, reading a romance novel. It was her little secret passion. There was nothing wrong with reading romance, but she preferred not to let Liam or Theo know she liked the books. Liam would belittle her, making her angry, and then she’d just have to suppress the urge to tell him where to shove it. Theo would roll his eyes and tell her it was a waste of her brain power. It wasn’t. The books were an escape from reality. They reduced her stress, which to her, made them more valuable than all the couture clothing in her closet.

All too soon, the alarm on her phone went off, letting her know it was time to slip back into Alexandra Burton’s shoes. Quite literally. In her real life, Audra rarely wore heels. She was tall enough without them. Plus, she disliked blisters. Since taking on this role, though, she’d developed callouses on her heels and the sides of her toes. But the first month had been painful. She wanted to tell herself that she’d wear high heels more often when she went back to London, now that she had her feet conditioned to the shoes, but she knew herself too well. She much preferred sneakers and boots to dressy heels. No matter how good they made her legs look.

With a huff, she got up, leaving her book on the end table beside the sofa. Upstairs, she painstakingly applied her makeup and donned a royal purple, sleeveless dress that she topped with a three-quarter sleeve gold bolero jacket. There would be no exposed skin on her upper body that Liam could touch. She learned early on it made her skin crawl, so now she usually covered everything above the elbow.

At six-fifty, she heard the horn from the limo outside. Liam never came to the door. Sometimes, he wasn’t even in the car. Since they were meeting people, she doubted he was tonight. He was likely at the restaurant, making sure everything was to his liking. When it came to social events where others could judge him, Liam left very little to chance.

The chauffeur offered her a smile as she neared.

“Good evening, Ms. Burton.” He opened her door.

“Good evening, Rowan.” She slid inside. As she’d expected, the car was empty. Her shoulders relaxed.

But the reprieve was slight. Within fifteen minutes, they were pulling up to the restaurant. Rowan opened her door, and she slid out. Giving her name to the maitre’d, she was shown to a circular booth tucked into a corner. She took stock of the people at the table before they saw her. Two men, both dressed in nearly identical gray suits, sat on one end, a blonde woman with a blank stare on her face sandwiched between them. She held a long-stemmed wineglass in her fingers and toyed with the rim as she stared into space while the men talked. On the other side of the second man sat another woman. This one had dark hair, and unlike the blonde, her gaze traveled the room. Liam sat at the other end of the booth, talking to the men.

Liam glanced up as she approached and smiled. “Ah. There you are, my dear.” He stood, motioning her to sit.

Audra sat down, hiding a grimace. She didn’t like being closed in, but there was no way Liam would let anyone box him in. He always sat on the end.

Audra smiled at the strangers. “Hello. I hope I didn’t keep anyone waiting. My driver ran into traffic.” She wasn’t about to tell Liam that Rowan was a few minutes late. She liked her chauffeur. He was a kind, older man.

“You’re fine, my dear.” Liam laid a hand on her thigh. “We chatted a little while we waited. No harm done.”

“Good.” She lifted her water glass and took a drink so she didn’t pluck Liam’s fingers off her leg.

The dark-haired woman nodded in agreement, smiling at her; the blonde perked up slightly at the conversation. From the glazed look in her eyes, Audra guessed she was high. She could also see the faint outline of a bruise on the woman’s jaw. There were likely more hiding beneath the sleeves of her jacket. The woman flinched when the man to her right reached up to rest his arm across the back of the booth.

Anger burned in Audra’s chest. She catalogued his face and noted his name as Liam introduced her to the table. When she got home tonight, she’d do a deep dive on him and see what she could find. It would be her pleasure to stick this man in federal prison. She’d hand him to the FBI on a silver platter. She didn’t care if taking him down wasn’t part of her assignment. The men who beat women got her blood pumping harder than just about any other kind of criminal. Only child molesters angered her more.

Audra was the last to arrive. Shortly after she sat down, a server appeared to take their orders. She hastily glanced at the menu and picked something that sounded decent—an exotic stew. Then she sat back and did what Alexandra Burton was supposed to do. Look pretty. It was the perfect cover. While Alexandra appeared uninterested, Audra’s mind took in everything. From names mentioned, to business transactions. Tonight, however, there wasn’t too much of that. It seemed to be more of a get to know you type of dinner. The two men, Simon and Geoffrey Powell, were brothers who owned a distribution company in Las Vegas. Why Liam would be looking for a new distribution company intrigued her, but the three of them spoke little about business. It was mostly about themselves and their interests.

She was actually thankful they didn’t talk business. The dark-haired woman with Geoffrey, Celine, was chatty. Audra hadn’t been able to pay as close attention to the men’s discussion as she would have liked because Celine kept engaging her in conversation. By the time the meal ended, Audra had learned little else about the men besides some background info.

“Did you enjoy your dinner?” Liam asked as they left the restaurant.

“It was fine.”

“Only fine?”

Audra shrugged. “Yes. It wasn’t anything special. It was like a lot of the higher end restaurants we go to. All the food is the same.”

His mouth flattened. “Good to know.”

Something in his expression made her frown. “Why?”

“I invested in this place.” He tipped his head toward the building behind them. “I hope it doesn’t fail.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sure it will be fine. The food was good, it just didn’t wow me. Not many places do anymore. Like I said, it’s all the same.” Rowan opened the limo door. “There’s no originality,” she said as she got in.

“I suppose I see your point.” He got in beside her.

Audra pressed her knees together and tucked her ankles to the side, resting her hands and her small clutch purse in her lap. She did not want him to get any ideas while they were alone back here. She’d rebuked him before in the back of a limousine.