Missy jabbed her phone off, but not before half a dozen people turned curiously toward the noise. “You wouldn’t,” she hissed, her eyes shooting flames. “That . . . that is a private thing!”
“I would,” Zane said, hard as steel. “What’s more, I want you to know I can. Anytime. To anyone. Any damn where you go. If you want your privacy respected, you need to stop violating other folks.’”
“No.” She grabbed for his sleeve, her fury tinged with pleading. “Don’t do this.”
Zane shook her off and touched his earpiece. “Make the delivery,” he said to Caroline.
Thankfully, this event was packed with people who didn’t turn off their lifelines for anyone. All around the ballroom, hundreds of phones in purses and pockets chirped and buzzed and played an endless variety of tunes. Attendees laughed, cheery from the free-flowing booze and food, assuming the charity had arranged a stunt to entertain them and raise money. As they opened the message they’d received, a chorus of moaning walruses succeeded the previous cacophony.#p#分页标题#e#
“Damn you,” Missy cursed, humiliation tears in her eyes.
Zane caught her wrist before she could storm past him. “It’s a cartoon.”
“What?” she said, tugging to get free.
“They’re watching a cartoon. Not your face. Not the rest of the vitriol you spouted. It’s a cartoon woman having sex, making that sound you do. The caption says, ‘What’s more generous than a big fat O? How about a check with a lot of O’s that helps save endangered tigers?’”
“I don’t believe you,” Missy said.
Zane turned his phone around to show her. “This is your only warning,” he said as she took it in. “Pull anything against anyone I care about, and this will seem like child’s play compared to how I’ll go after you.”
She looked from the screen to him.
“Child’s play,” he repeated.
He saw the intelligence he’d once admired come into her face. “You mean it,” she said, searching his expression.
“I will do whatever it takes to protect the people I love.”
Hurt flicked across her eyes an instant before she looked away. She shoved her own phone into her spangled purse. “I won’t bother you again,” she said.
~
Rebecca and Trey snagged a small stand-up table to sample the hors d’oeuvres. She’d meant everyone to share it, but they seemed to have disappeared. Most troubling, after Mystique’s big entrance, Zane had strode across the ballroom in the same direction.
Rather than give in to paranoia or jealousy, Rebecca frowned at the cell phone she’d just shut off.
“That was weird, huh?” she said to Trey. “Who knew the wildlife people were such pranksters?”
“Mm,” he said, attention focused where the well-dressed crowd might be concealing Zane and Mystique. He didn’t seem worried, but like he was distracted.
“They had to hack everyone’s phone to do it.”
“Maybe they had people’s numbers from their fundraising.”
“They didn’t have mine.”
Trey finally looked at her. “We’ll get you a new one, with better security.”
“I’ll get me a new one. Don’t you remember what you pay me?”
He smiled with soft eyes and a hint of wickedness. “I’m sure I barely scratch the surface of what you’re worth.”
A ripple among the partygoers stopped her from coming up with a smart remark. “That’s Mystique,” she said. “She’s leaving without her date. I hope whatever Zane said to her didn’t rile her up even more.”
“I wouldn’t worry,” Trey soothed. “He’s pretty good at encouraging people to cut their losses.”
Something in his tone made her brows lower. “You know what he said. Her being here wasn’t an accident.”
“And there’s the man himself,” Trey announced as Zane’s warm hand settled on her shoulder.
Rebecca turned at the touch. “Zane. What have you been up to?”
He smiled the way Trey had—like a mischievous angel. “What I’ve been up to is looking forward to our dance. I noticed the orchestra taking their seats on the balcony.”
Rebecca wasn’t that easily fobbed off. “Where are Pete and Charlie? Why did Caroline bring her laptop in here?”
He shrugged. “Maybe they’re helping her study. Those summer courses can be a bitch. Come on, Rebecca. Aren’t you going to dance with me?”
She was, and after that she’d dance with Trey, an arrangement she was secretly looking forward to. Apart from chaperoning Pete and Charlie, she’d skipped the proms in high school. In the interest of making up for that, she let her suspicions drop.