Page 29 of Vicious Seduction

“Have a seat, Lina.” He motioned to the chair I’d been in while taking his own seat at the desk.

Hope drained from my heart faster than the blood from my cheeks. I allowed my now wobbly legs to drop me back into my seat. “How did you know I was here, Oran?”

Had he been watching my apartment building? Did he even know where I lived? It seemed far-fetched to think he’d put a general watch out for me with the police department, but I wasn’t sure how else to explain his presence. All I knew was that something was off. But then, nothing made sense in this whole crazy situation—the drugs, the police, and now Oran.

My spine fused straight.

The fine hairs on my arms and neck pulled taut.

“Did you have something to do with this?” My question was no more than a whisper. My voice abandoned me as though I’d been punched in the gut.

“I told you to stay away from him,” he said with a hint of irritation as he stood and shrugged off his coat. When he tried to drape it around my shoulders, I jerked away from him like a caged animal, shooting back to my feet.

“Get away from me, you—”

“Lina,listen.” His hands clamped around my upper arms, neutralizing my efforts. “You’re fucking freezing. You can still be pissed at me wearing the coat.”

“Howcouldyou?” I hissed in his face.

He waited until my body stilled before lowering his hands. “What you should be asking is why.”

I contemplated kicking him in the shins but decided to hold off for now. “You and your damn semantics. Who cares if I asked how or why? Are you going to explain yourself or not?”

“I did it because I can, and because I can just as easilyundo it.”

I considered his words, but no matter how I looked at them, I didn’t understand. “Why would you go through the trouble of setting all this up if you planned to turn around and make it all go away?”

“Because I can …if… you agree to my terms.”

Blackmail. That was what this was about. Oran was blackmailing me.

I should have known. They were all the same. How stupid did I have to be to think he might be different?

“What do you want from me?” My tone sounded as hollow as my heart felt.

“I want you to be mine.”

Had I heard him wrong? I must have. “What?” I squinted my eyes as if it might help me understand.

“I want you to agree to a fake engagement. It’ll be temporary, but it has to be convincing. Those are my terms.”

My night was one big fun house, each room more confusing and unexpected than the last. Oran had set up my arrest—framedme for drug charges—in order to thenblackmailme into being his fake fiancée.

Had I been given a million chances to predict how my New Year's Eve would go, I never would have gotten it right.

“But …why?” The word was saturated with disbelief.

His hands lifted to cup my face, a thumb trailing softly over one cheek. “Does it matter?”

He was right. It didn’t change anything, but I still wanted to know why all my efforts were about to be flushed down the toilet. He wasn’t going to tell me, though. His resolve was clear in the set of his jaw and the impenetrable wall behind his eyes.

I was only a pawn in his grand scheme.

What did that mean? Was he trying to show up Lawrence? Or was the show meant for someone else, and I was simply the unlucky fool he chose to play the part?

“The clock is ticking, Lina. You need to decide. Are you walking out of here with me or not at all?” His hands fell to his sides, but he didn’t back away.

We stood toe-to-toe as I weighed my options.