Spellbound (Otherworld 12)

"You got a girl in there?" Bryce called. "I don't have a problem with you stopping home for a booty call, but I don't appreciate being lied to." A pause. "Frankie?"

Salas and I faced off, then he charged. I ducked out of his way, but he knocked my shoulder and I hit the dresser with a bang.

"Okay, that's it," Bryce said. "Just because I don't treat you like an employee doesn't mean you can act like I'm a loser friend who doesn't even deserve a response." The door flew open before Salas could grab it. "You show me some respect or--"

Bryce stopped short. "Savannah?"

"It's not what it looks like, boss," Salas said.

"And what does it look like?"

"That, you know, she seduced me to get to you. I'd never do that."

"I didn't think you would. Not unless your idea of seduction involves a split lip, torn clothing, and handcuffs." Bryce paused. "Well, it could, but I'm sure that's not what's happening here."

"She broke in," Salas said. "Planting evidence to blame us for that missing kid."

"Um, no," I said. "Do you see any evidence on me? Go ahead and search. I didn't bring or leave anything."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Salas said. "I watch TV. You've planted hair or DNA or something only the crime scene team can find. The Cortezes took that kid, and you volunteered to frame Bryce, so you took samples from the boy."

"Is that what you think? Fine." I turned to Bryce. "Call Sean. He's with Lucas. Tell him I was found here and tell them what your bodyguard thinks I was doing. That will taint any forensic evidence and exclude--"

"If Sean tells them to exclude it," Salas said. "Maybe he'll decide this is an easy way to take Bryce out of the running for the CEO seat."

"I appreciate your loyalty, Frankie," Bryce said. "But I'm not in the running for CEO. Even if I was, Sean would never do that to me."

"But maybe--"

"No."

"He's right," I said. "Sean wouldn't do that. He doesn't even know I'm here. That's why I'd never plant evidence in the first place. Given the choice between believing me and believing Bryce, it's no contest. Bryce would win."

A look passed behind Bryce's eyes, one that said he wasn't so sure. Yet everyone who knew Sean knew that his little brother came first.

When he turned to me, his voice cooled. "So what was going on here, Savannah?"

I fed him the same story I'd been trying to give Salas. Lucas had heard Salas had been seen with members of the supernatural liberation group. Converting the personal bodyguard of a Cabal son would be a serious problem. So I'd broken in to investigate the allegations.

"But I didn't find anything."

"Of course not," Salas said. "Because no one ever approached me."

"Who thinks I did it?" Bryce said.

"Did what?"

He met my gaze. "You're not chasing down leads on this group. You're investigating Larsen's disappearance, like Frankie said. You didn't come to plant evidence. You came to look for it. So who thinks it's me?"

"I bet it's Sean," Salas said.

Anger flared in Bryce's blue eyes. "Would you stop that? It's not Sean. It would never be Sean." He turned to me. "It's Lucas, isn't it? What has he found?"

"Found?"

"If you're breaking into my bodyguard's apartment, it's because Lucas has found something that he thinks points to me. False evidence. Planted by the real kidnapper."

"There's no--"