Accidentally Married to…a Vampire?(Accidentally Yours #2)(25)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Ugh! “No. I said Ninetieth.”

“Tisk, tisk.” The woman shook her head. “Everyone knows that place is a rip-off.”

“Dammit! Just pull over.” She’d walk the rest of the way.

The driver huffed. “You’re a stubborn little thaang, aren’t you? Look it, I guarantee this other guy will give you top dollar. If he doesn’t, then I’ll take his soul and the ride is free.”

Helena smothered her sparks of frustration. “Fine.” Wait. Did she just say she’d “take his soul?” What a whack-job.

The driver nodded. “Here we are!” she sang out.

“I’ll be right back.” Helena slid from the vinyl seat.

“You won’t regret it! And don’t settle for anything under four-hundred!” the driver screamed out the window as Helena reached for the front door.

Helena glanced back, but the driver quickly turned away, preventing Helena from getting good look.

Whatever. All that really mattered was being free. Now she’d have to figure out how to stay that way.

***

Cimil watched Helena disappear into the pawnshop. “Ha! Did I tell you this was gonna be drama-tastic, or what?” she said toward the roof of the car. “Just wait ‘til you see what I have coming next! That vampire’s gonna be so jealous, his head’s going to spin like a Beyblade.”

Cimil howled with laughter then whipped out her phone and began texting: vampy bride just went into pawnshop, corner of Amsterdam & 107th.

She knew Andrus would just assume one of his men had sent the text from the blocked number. They’d been watching Helena’s every move for weeks via satellite. (The gods personally had the system installed for the Demilords; it was a much more efficient way to keep tabs on people…or naughty vamps.) That said, Cimil wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Not today. This particular meeting was critical.

The door of the cab suddenly flew open. A tall man in a gray suit hopped in. “University Medical Center, please.”

Cimil turned her body to get a good look through the Plexiglas. “Oh, hey there, naughty boy. Isn’t this convenient. I was about to come for you! Aaah fate…What would I do without her?”

The man shot Cimil a confused look.

“Hold on, honey. It’s going to be a bumpy ride! Hope you like Twister and molten lava. Cuz, that’s how we roll where you’re going.”

“I don’t have time for this crap,” the man mumbled and tugged on the now inoperable door handle.

Cimil cackled loudly then cranked up the radio. “Oooh! Lucky day. Neil Diamond.”

The cab screeched away from the curb.

Chapter 8

The full-bellied man wearing a beige grease-stained sweater stared impatiently at Helena across the glass counter. The grainy picture of a foreign soccer game flickered on the large screen TV behind him.

“What do you mean, ‘fake?’ That can’t be right.” Her blood pressure hit the floor. She’d only been free from the penthouse twenty minutes and already hit a snag in her plan?

No. She could figure this out. She was smart, resourceful, and pissed as hell about how Niccolo had treated her. In short, she wasn’t even close to giving up. She was getting her life back!

The merchant handed her the large solitaire engagement ring. “Listen, lady,” he said with a thick, indistinguishable accent. “I do ’dis my whole life. Is fake. No worth five dollar.” He picked at his molar with his pinky finger to remove whatever horrible fishy thing he’d been eating when she entered the pawnshop.

Lord, love a duck! She only had eighty bucks on her and zilch in her bank account. After graduation, she’d been planning to start working right away, to begin saving again and paying her student loans. But then, well, Niccolo happened.

As much as she’d protested, Niccolo insisted she wasn’t to worry about such trivial human things any more. She hadn’t even known he’d paid off her student loans until last week when she’d received the closing statements forwarded in the mail. She’d made a mental note to talk to him about finances as soon as possible, including her plans to go back to work.

But if Niccolo was wealthy, why would he give her a fake engagement ring? It made absolutely no sense…unless…he wanted to keep her resources limited? Maybe he’d feared she’d leave and, if he knew about her student loans, he probably knew how much money she had in the bank. He wanted to keep her from getting far.

Damned sneaky vampire! If it was the last thing she did, once she found a way to “divorce” him, she’d pay him back every cent he’d spent on her. She didn’t want to owe him anything.

Helena noticed an odd pang in her stomach when she thought about life without Niccolo. It felt…uneasy, somehow. She still craved him, his addictive scent, the endless depths of his dark eyes. But dammit! He is so closed off and controlling. And so, so strong and sexy. She stopped herself. And arrogant! And controlling! And don’t forget…he said he doesn’t “do” love. He will never ever love you.

Helena swallowed the dry lump in her throat and then eyed the intricate filigree gold ring on her right middle finger. It had been her great-grandmother’s and was the only thing of value she owned. She slipped it off and placed it on the counter. “How much?”

The man wiped his greasy palm on his sweater and popped the jeweler’s loop to his eye. “Two hundred.”

“What?” Helena’s mom once had the ring appraised; it was an antique worth a thousand. Darn it! She needed to make it to Chicago where she could stay with Ann until she figured things out. “Five, or I go down the street.”

The man blinked. “Four. That’s my final.”

Helena’s mind toggled. Hadn’t the crazy cabby said something about four-hundred? Weird.

“I’ll take it.” Helena only hoped she’d be able to buy the ring back somehow. Her mother would be devastated to know Helena had sold it.

A few minutes later, Helena emerged from the pawnshop and there, standing across the street, was the same man she’d just seen outside Niccolo’s building minutes earlier.

She froze.

His lips twitched with a predatory smile.

How had he found her? Who the hell was he?

Once again, he slid his dark sunglasses down his nose and drilled into her with his fierce golden eyes.

Helena’s body stiffened. “Darn it,” she spoke under her breath. Where had the crazy redhead cabby gone? Helena hadn’t even paid her.