She snorted at that.
“Look, Inez. If you don’t come with me and let me explain things, he’s going to send over someone to clean up this mess.”
Inez frowned at the door. “Clean up this mess?”
“Yes. He’ll send an immortal to come here and remove this incident from your memory.”
“Like you were supposed to do?” she asked dryly.
“Yes.”
She ignored the fear that quivered through her at the thought and said, “You couldn’t do it. What makes you think anyone else could?”
“I’ll explain that too, but we really don’t have time right this minute. I have to head to the airport. So make up your mind. Do we wait here for someone to come remove this whole incident from your memory, or do you come with me, memory intact and perfectly safe?”
Inez hesitated, considering her alternatives, and then Thomas added, “If they remove your memory, they’ll probably remove the memory of everything from the day you were promoted on. You’ll go back to being whatever you were before being promoted to vice president.”
“What?” she squawked with dismay. While Inez wasn’t completely sure she wanted the job anymore, she wasn’t sure she wanted to give it up either. This whole working for and with a nest of vampires rather sullied things. But Inez had worked for Argeneau Enterprises for eight years and enjoyed her greatest triumphs there. She’d also worked long and hard for that promotion. She’d neglected her own social life, forsaking dates for work and pouring all her energy and time into it, building a career and climbing the corporate ladder to her vice presidency. She’d worked too damned hard and given up too much to let anyone take it away.#p#分页标题#e#
“That’s the only alternative,” Thomas explained. “Either you come with me to Amsterdam and allow me to explain things, or we wait here for Wyatt to come wipe everything from your memory.”
“But just the memory of the bite,” she protested. “He wouldn’t—”
“He’ll wipe everything from the last few months,” Thomas responded firmly. “Bastien was supposed to explain about our people to you when you were promoted. In fact, you shouldn’t have been promoted without it. You were sent to New York to be told about us. If you’d been able to accept it and agreed to keep the secret, you would have been promoted. If you hadn’t, what he’d told you would have been wiped from your memory and you wouldn’t ever have been promoted.
“Unfortunately,” he added dryly, “Bastien was a bit distracted at the time. He’d just met his lifemate and there was a lot going on. He promoted you, but sent you back to England without doing the rest of it. Wyatt was supposed to keep you from any jobs or information that might give us away until Bastien could fly to England and take care of you. If you can’t accept us and our explanations, Wyatt will wipe everything from your memory, including your promotion.”
Thomas let that sink in and then said, “So what is it going to be? Are you going to fly to Amsterdam with me and allow me to explain? Or do we wait for Wyatt, let him wipe your memory and return you to whatever job you had before the promotion?” He waited a beat, and then added, “At least until they find another job for you and remove you from the company altogether.”
Inez didn’t have to think long. Her career had become her life. She wouldn’t give it up easily. In fact, they’d have to take the key to the vice president’s office from her dead, clutching fingers before she’d give it up. Still, she hesitated, her eyes on the doorknob, but her fingers refusing to reach for it.
Finally, she raised her hand to her throat. A golden cross hung from a fine gold chain around her neck. It had been blessed by the pope during a trip to Italy. It should have double power, but had been tucked inside her blouse when Thomas had bit her. Now, she pulled it out and held it up before her like a shield with her left hand as she unlocked the door and tugged it open with her right.
“Back up, Nosferatu!” Inez snapped, covering her fear with anger as she glared at Thomas. Much to her relief, he backed up at once.
His hands were raised—the cell phone in one—in a gesture that might be used to soothe a wild horse, but a smile tugged at his lips.
“I knew you’d come out,” Thomas said, and much to her amazement he sounded proud, as if she’d done something praiseworthy instead of incredibly stupid.
“Tell Bastien not to send Wyatt. We’re on our way to the airport,” she ordered, holding the cross higher.