Claimed Read Online Free PDF

didn’t care after all. “What are you doing here?”
    “He needs you now, Ellie.” I could barely hear him, his voice was so low in an effort to keep from being overheard. “Lucien attacked us in Hanoi three weeks ago.”
    “Lucien?” It took all the training I’d received to remember to keep my voice soft, my shock was so great. “My Lucien? Is Alexander okay?”
    “Yes,” he responded, raising an eyebrow at the phrase I’d used. My Lucien.
    “We aren’t allies,” I hastily clarified. “Not anymore.” Adrenaline started pumping through my blood, an instinctive response to danger. “What do you know about Lucien?”
    “Nothing. That’s why we need you. We are hoping you can fill in the blanks.”
    I chewed on my lower lip, pondering Jean-Luc’s revelation. It was sadly not too much of a surprise. I’d been angry at the start with Lucien at the truths he had concealed from me, but after a few months, I’d reached out to him again. I had to remember that Lucien had saved me in Nigeria. But he hadn’t been interested in keeping in touch. He had become increasingly isolated. The last time I called him, he’d barely said two words to me.
    Lucien had rescued me from the men Dylan had sold me to. He’d trained me. He’d helped me get my revenge. But… he’d also lied to me. For a few seconds, I was genuinely torn, Alexander’s need for information tugging at my loyalties. But only for a few seconds.
    Both Lucien and Alexander had lied to me, but only one of them had deceived me and used me.
    If I was being forced to choose between the man who had saved me in Lagos and the man who had freed me from my demons, I knew what side I was going to pick. At the end of the day, there was never any real doubt of it.
    “I need to pack.” I lengthened my footsteps. “My cat needs to go to the vet to be boarded.”
    “No.” Jean-Luc shook his head. “We need to move quickly. I don’t know if your condo is being watched. We have no time to waste.”
    “Okay.” I could feel my heart beat faster in my chest. “I have my laptop with me. Everything else can be bought.” My fingers itched for a weapon – anything to feel in control of an uncontrollable situation. I reached in my bag for my phone but Jean-Luc’s hand on my wrist stopped me. He silently handed me a phone.
    He thought my phone might have a trace on it? Lucien wouldn’t do that, would he? But I couldn’t answer that for sure. The trust I’d once had for Lucien had been badly frayed after Dylan’s death.
    From memory, I dialled Tom’s number with shaking fingers. “Hello?”
    “Hey Tom, it’s Ellie,” I said.
    “Hey Ells,” he responded cheerfully. “Did your battery die again?”
    I seized the offered explanation about why I wasn’t calling from a familiar number. “Stupid phone,” I griped lightly. “Tom, can I hit you up for a favour? Could you collect Midnight tomorrow morning and deposit her at the vet? I’ve arranged for her to be boarded there while I’m away.” Tom lived close by and had a key to my apartment in case of emergency. Giving him access to my home had felt like an important marker on my journey back to normalcy.
    “Too much to do before you leave?” he asked easily. “Sure, no worries, doll.”
    I thanked him and hung up. We’d reached a waiting car with darkly tinted windows and Jean-Luc opened the back door for me and inclining his head. I got inside and he slid next to me, the car moving forward immediately. I glanced at the raised partition between the driver and the back. Good – we could talk freely.
    Jean-Luc was staring at me. “What?” I asked.
    “Is he a boyfriend? Someone you will need to explain what’s going on to?”
    It took a second for me to register that he meant Tom. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no,” I said. I wasn’t going to tell Jean-Luc that I wanted Alexander, not if he’d found someone else.
    “Anything that concerns Alexander is my business,” he