Until Midnight by Desiree Holt, Cerise DeLand Read Free Book Online

mess. “My personal
    items are replaceable. I’m concerned with who set this.”
    “Set it?” His winged brows shot upward. “I am at a loss—“
    “I’m not.” She let her she-wolf come out for a bite of him, always the best way to push a man into confusion “Are you used to having your facilities erupt in explosions?”
    “Explosions? No. Never!” He was defensive, but also inquisitive. “We take pride in our maintenance and our supervision of our grounds. You think this was an
    explosion?”
    “I know one when I see one.”
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    Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand
    “So do I,” he said softly, realizing he couldn’t con her. He eyed her with a new
    respect before he turned to examine the small fires scattered over the blackened earth where her little house once stood. “I never thought there could be any here.” His voice drifted off into the mist of his own private memories.
    The West Bank, she knew, could be a violent place as Israeli settlers and
    Palestinians fought for the same land with fists and guns and C4. “I understand. But other things have happened here to me.”
    He swiveled toward her, shock draining his features of reason. “What do you
    mean?”
    “May we adjourn to your office?”
    He scowled. “Certainly.” He took her elbow as he called over one of his male staff and gave instructions to call him when the fire trucks arrived. “My first priority is your safety and happiness.”
    Nicki gave a fleeting thought to persuading Muhammed to remain and to call for
    the police. But she wondered how effective the locals would be in forensics for
    explosives. This part of Mexico was one that had quite a few exotic resorts, but it was also listed on Interpol’s list of most dangerous criminally controlled areas. The
    relationship between the drug cartels, law enforcement agencies and government was close and rife with corruption. Someone local had executed this job. And quite a few someones had knowledge of it.
    If Calderon and the Campeche cartel were truly the ones after her here, Nicole had to learn how they had gotten inside this compound and who had helped them. Then
    she might be able to look beyond Calderon and Campeche to finger the linchpin who
    had given the order to destroy her.
    She hurried beside Muhammed as he led her toward the main building sequestered
    among the huge palm trees and pink bougainvillea. Inside the cool, dark stucco
    building, he showed her toward his office. Appointed in caramel-colored Saltillo tiles 40
    Until Midnight
    and pale daffodil walls, his ultra-modern glass, steel and leather furniture spoke of a man and a corporation devoted to the very best of everything.
    She took one of the chairs and sank into buttery comfort.
    “A drink?”
    “Ice water, thank you.”
    He strode to the wet bar and fixed her a tall glass filled with slivers of ice and bubbling water. When he returned to hand it to her, he sat down across from her and with deadly serious eyes, said, “Tell me what has happened to you here.”
    She recounted the incident on the beach in short sentences. Leaving out Adam’s
    role in any of it, she told him that she had killed the would-be assassin. She had dragged his body into the shrubbery. But she kept her words short, her descriptions brief, thinking this best until she could read the wind on Muhammed’s complicity.
    At each revelation, Muhammed stiffened, and at the end asked, “Why did you not
    come to me immediately?”
    “I am a security expert, Mr. Abbas. I know to investigate my own challenges.
    Naturally, I was concerned for my safety but interested in relying on myself first. You, second.”
    “I hear your rationale, Miss Welles. But still, I do not agree.”
    She waved a hand. “Your agreement is of no importance to me, Mr. Abbas. But
    what you know and who you know is.”
    His sea blue eyes narrowed on her. “You think someone here had a hand in this?”
    “I know they did. How else would this man get inside your very