That time she smiled. And ate a spoonful of smoked salmon. But she obviously had to force herself to swallow.

“Not for you?” I asked, laughing at the face she made. In answer, she pushed the platter toward me and took a drink of wine, but that only twisted her expression into a stronger display of dislike.

“I’m two minutes away from ordering a burger and a beer,” she threatened, pushing the wineglass away, too. “How can you drink this sh— Uh, this stuff?”

“It’s an acquired taste,” I said, lifting my own glass. “Much like the syndicate, I suppose.”

“I guess.” Kori shrugged and watched me from across the table. “The big difference between Jake and uncooked salmon is that eating what he serves will eventually kill you.”

Thirteen

Kori

After the waiter came to refill his glass—mine was still full—Ian excused himself to go to the bathroom. I watched him make his way across the restaurant, pointedly ignoring my wine, wondering for the millionth time in the last twenty-four hours what Ian was looking for from Jake. And how I would be able to live with myself once he was bound, knowing I was the one who’d led the sheep to slaughter.

Halfway to the bathroom, Ian turned to speak to someone, and my heart nearly stopped when I saw Julia Tower stand from the table where she and Jonah had just been served their own appetizer. No doubt Jake had sent them to make sure I was getting the job done. Treating Ian right.

She and Ian spoke, and she laughed at whatever he’d said, and suddenly I desperately wished I could read lips. She would hear the truth—or lack of—in whatever he said. As a Reader, Julia was her brother’s best and most trusted source of inside information. And one of my least favorite people in the world.

After another minute, she let him escape to the restroom, and if he’d come to hate her half as much as I had, the urinals in the men’s room must have been a much more welcome sight than her face.

When he disappeared around the corner, she looked right at me, then started across the restaurant in my direction.

Fuck!

“I have to say, you’ve impressed me with this one,” Julia said, sinking into Ian’s empty chair uninvited.

“Because I’m still alive?”

“Because he actually likes you. And he thinks you like him.” She picked up my wineglass and sipped from it, then held it as she crossed her legs and leaned closer, like she’d let me in on a secret. “I must admit, you’re playing this one very smart. Jake will be pleased.”

“Um…thanks?”

I never knew what to say to Julia, because I was never quite sure what she was talking about, but if I lied, she’d know it. So I usually treated her like I’d treat any snake in red satin—I avoided her like the plague. And when avoidance wasn’t possible, I tried my best to dodge both fangs and venom.

She twisted the glass, swirling the red wine, and I found myself watching the way light shone through it. Anything to avoid eye contact with her. But I couldn’t stop her from watching me.

“Uh-oh.” She set the glass down and lifted my chin with one finger. I slapped her hand away, but it was too late. She’d already seen…something. Or maybe she’d pretended to see something. I never could tell with Julia. Her silence was as toxic as her words. “He’s right, isn’t he? You actually like him.”

I didn’t answer, because the answer didn’t matter. If I told the truth, she’d know. If I lied, she’d know. Silence was my only defense.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Kori,” she whispered while my blood rushed fast enough to make me dizzy. “You know this isn’t real. The reality is that he’s champagne, and you’re malt liquor.” She spat the last phrase like it actually tasted bad, and my fingers twitched in my lap, itching to curl into fists. But if I punched her, that punch would be the last I ever threw. “His career path will take him soaring, and yours has already landed you in the basement.”

“Shut up,” I growled, itching to call her all the names running through my head.

“I’m trying to help you, Kori. I’m trying to keep you from hurting yourself.”

That was a lie. It had to be. She would never help me, unless helping me somehow benefited her. But what could she possible gain from this?

“Just let him play his game. Let him fantasize until he’s satisfied, then he’ll sign with Jake and you’ll be off the hook. There’s no reason for you to get hurt by this.”

I shouldn’t have asked. I knew better than to ask. Just because she could read the truth didn’t mean she would speak it. But after everything I’d already shown Ian—everything I’d told him—if I’d given him that much power over me and he was playing some kind of game, I was screwed.

“What game?” I hated myself for asking. For giving her that opening. But I had to know.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open in a staged display of surprise. She didn’t even try to make it believable. “Seduction, Kori. The game of seduction.” Fake surprise melted from her expression to expose her natural look. Malice. The snake was about to strike. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

I rolled my eyes. “He is not trying to seduce me.”

“I think this has gone beyond ‘trying.’”

“You are so full of…crap.”

She lifted one brow over my uncharacteristically tame language. “So, he hasn’t told you you’re beautiful? He doesn’t try to make you smile? He doesn’t look right into your eyes when he talks to you, so you feel important?”