When the senator suddenly locked eyes with Cat, it was all she could do to hide her loathing and abhorrence.
Especially when he excused himself from the other guests and started toward her with the two guards following close behind. The thumping of her heart drowned out all other noise. Cat did her best not to look at Leese. He saw it all, of course, but this would work better if the senator remained unaware of the net closing in.
When Platt got close enough, he reached for her hand.
Cat snatched it away. Touching him? No, that she couldn’t do.
“Catalina,” he chided in his soft, grandfather’s voice. He glanced at the guards and they turned their backs, watching the crowd, ensuring privacy.
“I haven’t told anyone,” Cat lied in a whisper.
“Of course not.” His slick smile made her stomach roil. “There’s nothing for you to tell, now is there?”
Pig, she thought inwardly, but outwardly, she only whispered, “No.”
For only a second, the pretense of “sweet elderly man” slipped, showing the sick, deviant freak. “You need to return to your father.”
With just the right quaver in her voice, Cat said, “Not until I know I won’t be hurt.”
“Hurt by whom?” He eased nearer, crowding her personal space. “Sweet child, tell me what you’re afraid of and I’ll do what I can to protect you.”
Pure menace glittered in his eyes as he stared into her soul. Cat swallowed, trying to think with him staring so hard. “Tesh.”
“Ah, yes. He was ruthless, wasn’t he? Necessary. Very necessary.”
Was? She went on high alert. Had the senator done away with Tesh?
As if confiding in her, Platt said, “There are those people who would use my public stature against me.”
Anger outpaced fear and she asked recklessly, “Like Georgia Bell?”
His face pinched. Through lips that barely moved, he said, “I have no idea who that is.”
Realization of what she’d just done sent a flush of panicked heat rolling through Cat, leaving her faint. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I shouldn’t have...” Stick to the plan, Cat. “I need to go.”
“You don’t need to fear Tesh any longer,” he promised her. “Our association has...ended.”
If he’d killed Tesh, that would be one fewer person for her to worry about.
Rather than risk asking questions, she turned away—and his cold thin fingers clamped around her wrist with crushing insistence. When he spoke, she felt his damp breath on her temple and smelled the shrimp hors d’oeuvres he’d eaten.
Her stomach lurched.
“My child, you have tried my patience enough. You either head home to your father tonight, or you’re going to start losing loved ones.” His grip tightened more. “Is that clear?”
No longer caring if she caused a scene, Cat jerked free and faced him again, doing her own fair share of crowding. “Who are you threatening?” she demanded to know. “Webb?” The laugh sounded close to a choke, proving she had very mixed feelings about that.
He didn’t smile. Idly, as if it didn’t matter to him, he said, “Or your brothers.” Watching her, he gauged her reaction to that, and added carelessly, “Whoever is most important to you, my dear. That’s the way leverage works.”
Definitely past time for her to retreat. “Could...could we speak privately? Please? I just... I’m afraid of being overheard and I need...” Forcing another stammer, she said, “I need...reassurances.”
Triumph blazed in his dark eyes. “Of course.” His attention dipped to her chest, then back to her face. “But my guards will need to accompany me.”
“I understand.” She looked around as if searching for the right place. “I believe there’s an empty boardroom. If you give me five minutes—”
“Five minutes,” he repeated, then his voice hardened. “And, Catalina? If you think to run from me, you can consider your brothers dead.”
That wasn’t a threat, but a guarantee, and Cat shivered with apprehension. “I won’t run, Senator, not this time.” She would never run again.
“Finally,” he purred, “you’re being reasonable.”
Blind with determination, Cat fled his proximity, heading for the designated boardroom. She ensured no one followed. And in fact, she almost felt invisible.
Only Leese remained acutely aware of her. With every step she took, she felt his attentiveness.
She slipped out of the conference room and across the hall, then ducked inside the dim, empty boardroom. Pressing her back against the wall, her heart in her throat, Cat prayed her brothers would be okay. Bowen and Holt were good men. They didn’t deserve to be pulled into her nightmare.
Remembering the plan, she quickly removed her earrings and pulled the pins from her hair, then shook it loose. At a table to her left, draped over one of the chairs, she found the long coat that would completely conceal her dress, along with black ballet flats to replace her heels. Forcing herself to go through each preplanned step, she set the heels aside and—
“Cat.”
She jumped, but immediately recognized Leese’s calm voice and launched herself against him, holding tight.
“It’s okay now,” he said, as he coasted his hands down her back. “Sahara is changing. She’ll join us very shortly.”
They’d used different rooms to change, to help lessen the chance of them being caught together.
Moments later, Sahara slipped through the back door that led to the restrooms. “I’m sorry, but I need one of you to zip me up.”
Sahara had ducked away right before Cat had, going into the private, locked restroom where her blue dress was hidden. There, she’d switched out her shoes and earrings too.
Beneath the doors, lights from the conference room filtered in. As Leese turned to assist Sahara, he said to Cat, “Go out the back door now and into the private bathroom. Platt could be here any second and if he sees you together, we’re blown.”
“Please,” Cat whispered. “Please, both of you, be careful.”
Sahara said, “I’ll be as careful as I need to be to nail that bastard. Before the night is over, he’ll be mine.”
Knowing she had to hurry, Cat said, “Thank you, Sahara.”
Poised, strong in her own right, Sahara smiled with evil delight. “This, Catalina, is absolutely my pleasure.”
Cat believed her. Sahara was not only a beautiful woman, she was intelligent, cunning, ambitious and a very imposing adversary. Strong enough to best Platt? Cat just didn’t know, but Sahara certainly thought so.
Bracing herself, Cat whispered, “Leese?”
Leaning down, he struggled with the tiny zipper, and finally pulled it up. “What is it?”
“I love you.” She needed him to know...just in case this all went sideways.
Battle-ready, prepared for the worst, Leese slowly straightened and stared toward her.
Cat didn’t want or need for him to say the words back. At the moment, under the circumstances, she wouldn’t believe him if he did. “I’m just saying, you better not get shot again.”
His face dark with turbulent emotions, Leese nodded. “I promise not to get shot.”
“Thank you.” She hurried to the door.