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“What about it?”
“Shouldn’t you be there? At the club?”
He walks toward me and leans in close. “You know, you seem to think I’m a legitimate guy, running a legitimate business.”
“You’re a criminal, one who thinks about himself first, except right now,” I say. “Or is this thing with Amelia just an excuse to get in here? What is it you’re really after?”
“To help you and take advantage of the legitimacy you can bring me.”
“And if I want to know more about what you do?” I ask.
“Keep your nose out of my business, Red.”
Something’s not right. I know he’s a criminal, a bad man, someone who’s doing something good, but only to help himself move forward. Yet… that man wouldn’t have been so nice to my cousin, would he? He spoke to her like someone who cared on a basic level. He gave her a card with a number to call if she was scared or needed help. Yet…
The man he seems to want me to think he is wouldn’t care at all.
So what is he up to? Really?
I look him up and down, trying not to think about my ass or the fact he’s so close I could kiss him. “I’ve seen you in action. Seen you as a ruthless, sleazy BDSM sex club owner, as a murderer. And that man… why the hell is he being nice to my cousin?”
“You’d prefer I was an asshole?”
“You are an asshole. I’m just wondering what your agenda is. There’s no payoff in this.”
“There is,” he says. “Help your cousin, get the rewards from your family.”
“But you don’t…” I stop. “I think you’re up to something. The rewards, as you put them, won’t change. This threat isn’t something new, and we both know my uncle won’t see it that way.”
He backs away and crosses his arms. “Then why don’t you tell me what I’m up to?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “But I want to know who you really are. What you are.”
“You already know that.” There’s a deadly note in his voice, one I try to ignore.
“No, I don’t.” I look at him. “You want me to trust you’ll help us. Maybe you’re here to get information; maybe you’ve got another agenda. Maybe you’re working for whoever’s threatening us. And maybe you’re waiting to turn on us.”
“You got all that from me being nice to your cousin?” He doesn’t smile, his face is blank, calm, and the anger radiating off him mirrors the heat and pain he inflicted on my ass.
And I wonder…
Have I hit on something?
“Maybe,” I say quietly. “Maybe you’re just being nice because it got this door open for you.”
“You’re the one who reached out to me, Red. Remember?”
His expression doesn’t change, but I can’t shake the feeling he’s furious at me. On a cold, deadly level. “I have no doubt that you could have manipulated the situation and gotten onto my uncle’s radar as someone who could help. I’ve seen what you’re capable of.” I push through because I don’t care. “Because you’re up to something. Something other than the job at hand.”
He doesn’t say a word. Just waits.
I clench and unclench my fingers, my pulse hammering against my neck. “Who are you, really? And what is it that you really want from my family?”
TWENTY-ONE
malone
She’s firing on instinct. I probably shouldn’t have broken even slightly out of the JM “no shits given” mold. But the girl’s fucking fifteen. And combined with the other threats, threats I never made toward her, it doesn’t sit right. At all.
