“I swear to you, if anyone tries to get in between us, they’re losing a headlight,” she said, braking hard as the red car stopped suddenly.

I drummed my fingers against my leg. I had just done the most insane thing I’d ever done in my life—told someone, to his face, that I was blackmailing him—and now here we were, stuck in the parking lot where I’d committed my crime. I had visions of Hooks running clear across the lot, his security team in tow, and ripping open the door to drag me out.

I took a deep breath.

Certainly, any one of the fans in the parking lot would’ve held on to Ryan Hooks’s phone if they had it. But would they be considering what I was considering—finding a way to force Ryan Hooks to pay me for what I knew?

I heard a giggle from the front seat, and then Jen squealed.

“I already have forty-seven likes on Instagram!” she said.

Vanessa braked hard again, turning to look at her daughter. “Do you even know forty-seven people?”

“Yeah, Mom,” Jen said.

I zoned out and stared out the window. I could still see Ryan’s face as I followed Vanessa and Jen out of the meet-and-greet area.

I’d lucked out with the element of surprise. He’d wanted to say something, to stop me, but there were just too many people around. Too much risk in calling attention to something that he didn’t want anyone else to know about. As I’d floated away in the crowd, he’d watched me, the polished smile that he’d poured on his fans rusting over. The anger that had flashed in his eyes had sent a chill through my body, and I had the strong sense Ryan Hooks wasn’t used to people not following his directions.

“Hello back there,” I heard Vanessa say in a singsong voice, and I looked back toward the front of the car. She was staring at me in the rearview mirror with her eyebrows raised. “You alive?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I think we’re all a little spacey after that.”

I thought back to the moment when Hooks and I had stood there, staring at each other, and the calmness I’d felt asking him for the reward.

I didn’t know where the confidence had come from.

But I liked it.

I heard a noise, something loud and unfamiliar, and I frowned when I felt my purse vibrating. Unzipping it, I reached inside, my heart skipping a beat when I saw that it wasn’t my phone that was ringing.

It was Ryan’s.

Vanessa had finally reached the edge of the parking lot, and she turned onto the main road, which was packed, given the concert traffic. As she merged into the left lane to get on the highway, I heard Jen laugh out loud.