Five Dates with the Billionaire - Alyssa J. Montgomery Page 0,65
in your name?’
‘If Giovanni has some way of tracing your flight to Paris from Venice, it’s better to let them think you’re both still here. That’ll give us more time to set things up in London. Mia will go separately with Agent Roberts.’
Sensing Connor was about to protest, Mia said, ‘It’s better this way, Connor.’ It might be unnecessary secret service smoke and mirrors, but Mia had learned her lesson tonight. She was determined to follow every future instruction to the letter. ‘When we get back to London and I see you at the office, we’re back to Miss Simms and Mr Stewart. The only time I’ll see you is during our marketing presentations.’
She couldn’t make it any clearer to him.
It was over.
For both their sakes, she hoped he’d accept it.
Chapter Twenty
Back in their hotel suite at the Ritz, Connor sat on the sumptuously comfortable lounge while Mia gathered her things together. She’d hardly had time to unpack anything before she’d hared off to see Stanley, so it wouldn’t take her long. Connor’s bag was still in the corner where the bell hop must’ve left it.
Leaning forward, Connor rested his elbows on his knees.
Miss Simms and Mr Stewart.
It wasn’t possible for him to go back to their employer-employee relationship. He hoped Mia wouldn’t be able to turn away as easily as she imagined from all they’d shared.
His hands clenched. Although he understood why Mia was intent on cutting him out of her life, it was difficult to accept her decision.
It’s only temporary, he told himself.
When all this mess sorted itself out, he and Mia would resume their relationship. How could they not when it’d been so good between them?
‘Goodbye Connor.’
He hadn’t heard her come into the lounge area, but she stood in front of him with her glasses firmly in place and her hair wound up in its signature bun.
Mia placed an item and a piece of paper on the coffee table. ‘I’m leaving my necklace and jewellery box behind. I’ve written a note so the housekeeping person who comes to clean can keep them and won’t be in trouble for theft.’
Hearing the slight wobble of her voice, he stood and urged, ‘Don’t. You’ve carried those things with you for a decade. You said yourself they’re the only link you have to your mother.’
‘Wearing Mum’s necklace put me in danger. Agent Roberts is right. I have memories. I don’t need material possessions as well.’
‘Mia, you can’t let go of the meaningful things in your life just because you get into a tight spot.’ He wasn’t only referring to the necklace and jewellery box, even though he gestured to them.
Holy hell.
For a moment, his heart stalled.
‘That jewellery box was your grandmother’s.’
‘Yes.’
‘My grandmother has one exactly the same.’ He walked forward and picked it up, smoothing his fingertips over it as he did. ‘I remember Gran told me that she and your grandmother had identical ones. When they were teenagers, they had them custom made copying a design that’d been in the duchess’s family for centuries.’
‘I didn’t know that. All I knew was that my grandmother gave it to Mum.’
Did Mia know? ‘As a youngster, I was always fascinated with the secret compartment and the precise mechanics needed to open it.’
Her lips parted and her eyes widened. ‘Are you sure it’s the same box? Mum didn’t mention a secret compartment and I’ve never found one.’
‘Watch.’ He picked up the box. ‘I tip the box upside down and at the same time I push the clasp in. I can then put my fingernail into a barely noticeable groove on the foot of the box right here and—’ He performed each action as he spoke. ‘See! I can slide the false bottom along.’
Mia gasped as the bottom panel moved.
‘Voila!’
Her gasp turned into ‘Oh my God! Connor!’ as a USB clattered onto the table surface.
Connor stared at the USB.
‘This must be it,’ Mia whispered as she picked it up. ‘It has to be the one the FBI searched for.’
Connor’s heart felt like it took great leaps around his chest. ‘We need to get this to Agent Roberts straight away.’
‘No!’ She spoke rapidly, ‘I need to see what’s on it first. He’s already upset that I wore Mum’s necklace. I don’t want to waste his time if all it contains is recipes or something else completely innocent. I need to know this is what we think it is.’
Connor was convinced the thumb drive held the key to dispelling the menacing shadow Giovanni cast over Mia’s life,