Page 16 of Hard Bargain

Knox scoffed. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you got in the car.”

Knox’s jaw worked. “That doesn’t mean I had a real choice.”

“No,” Dominic agreed. “It means you’re not stupid. And that you understand the situation.”

Knox bit down on his lip, eyes bright in the passing city light. “You really see people as things to use, don’t you?”

Dominic returned his gaze to the road. “Only the useful ones.”

“And the rest?”

“The rest,” he said calmly, “usually don’t last long.”

For a while, neither spoke. Knox stared out the passenger window, rigid with frustration. When he finally spoke again, his voice had changed. The anger was still there, but something heavier sat beneath it. “You ruin things.”

“That implies that there was something worth preserving. From where I’m sitting, your life doesn’t look so wonderful. Maybe it could use some change.”

Knox gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah? You think you’re some kind of improvement?”

Dominic shrugged, still watching the road. “Compared to what I saw? Possibly.”

Knox shook his head. “You really don’t get it.”

“Then explain it.”

“At least before, it was mine. My mess. My shitty apartment. My dead-end job. I knew how it worked.” He paused, frustration coating every word. “Now I’m just waiting for the next time you decide to tear something apart because you can.”

Dominic’s eyes moved toward Knox. “You want me to believe that life suited you? Because I call bullshit.”

Knox went still beside him. “At least I knew where I stood.”

A slow smile ghosted across Dominic’s mouth. “You still do. Right here. Tonight. With me.”

Something unreadable passed over Knox’s expression.

Moments later, Dominic turned into the private lot behind his casino, Lucky Thirteen, and killed the engine. “You want to survive? Learn how to adapt.”

Knox remained motionless in the passenger seat, his shoulders drawn tight, his body carrying the same taut energy it had since they left his apartment. There was still defiance there, still that stubborn edge Dominic hadn’t managed to dull.

Interesting.

He studied him before opening his door. “Let’s see how a little change suits you.”

They stepped out of the car and walked inside. The atmosphere changed immediately. The casino floor stretched out in a wash of gold light. Slot machines chimed, cards snapped against felt, and the murmur of conversations blended into a steady hum beneath it all. The air carried liquor, expensive perfume, and money.

Everything here belonged to him.

He stopped, letting Knox catch up. “You’re shadowing me tonight,” he said, keeping his voice low. “You observe. Nothing else. Watch the staff, the guests. Listen to what’s said—and more importantly, what isn’t.”

Knox shifted, clearly trying to process the assignment. “And then?”

“Later,” Dominic said, “you’ll tell me what you noticed.”

Knox caught his lower lip between his teeth. “What exactly am I looking for?”

For a brief and irritating second, Dominic’s attention caught on that mouth again—on the way he worried at his lower lip.