Page 23 of Deadly Sins

I steadied my nerves, desperate not to screw up this chance. “Let me put it in your phone.”

He didn’t hesitate to hand it to me. He scanned the room for Grant, and I knew I had to be quick. I stroked my long hair while his eyes were averted, and I popped the tracking chip, which Roma had given me, from my hair clip. As I typed my contact info into Mitch’s phone, I pressed the chip into the back under the leather case, praying it would work.

I handed him back the phone, and he winked at me. What a creeper. I wanted to shove my fist up his coke-filled nose, but before I could do anything, Grant appeared, holding my drink, a jealous scowl on his face.

I fought the desire to dump vodka and cranberry juice over Mitch’s head. For all I knew, that chip could lead to some type of clue about what had happened that night.

What if Mitch had come on to Tiffany after Joaquín had slept with her, and she had rejected him. He could’ve become pissed off and choked her.

“Everything okay here?” Grant studied my lips, then glared at the lipstick stain on Mitch’s face.

“Never better. Hey, man,” Mitch sniffled as he stood up, “I’m pretty fucked up. You guys gonna fuck upstairs? Can I watch?”

I expected Grant to just laugh it off. But he shoved Mitch against the wall using a chokehold.

“You have ten seconds to unfuck yourself, Mitch. If you ever talk to her like that again, I’ll slit your throat. Got it?”

The ruckus alerted some of the other guys, but none of them approached.

“Relax, man. She’s a fucking stripper.”

Grant removed his hand from Mitch’s neck. “Get the fuck out of here.”

Mitch let out a laugh and walked away.

“Sorry about that, babe. He’s a jerk. You okay?”

I blinked back fake tears. “Yes. Thank you. Is there a bathroom?”

He pointed upstairs. “First door on the left.”

“I come right back.”

Away from Grant, I let out a deep, gratifying sigh. This was actually working. No one knew who I was.

I pushed back the door to the bathroom and saw the girl Grant was looking at earlier. She seemed around my age. A crisp blonde bob framed her round cheeks as she reapplied pink lipstick.

“Oh, sorry, I can come back.” I turned away.

“Hey, hon. It’s okay. So, you’re Grant’s new girl? I’m Autumn. I used to work at Panthers. Grant’s a good guy.”

My eyes widened. “I’m Ksenya. You know Grant?”

“Yeah.” She paused, glanced toward the window. “We hung out once at another party. But things got crazy. There was this murder. I’m sure you read about it in the papers.”

My breath stopped. She was there. “I’m new to area.”

“A SEAL killed one of the girls there. I was so scared. Grant and I were in the next room when this guy Joaquín found the girl dead. So tragic. Grant hasn’t told you about it?”

I paused and stared at her again. Why was this girl telling me—a girl she didn’t even know—about a murder? Was she trying to warn me about something with these SEALs? “No. We do not know each other so well.”

“I get it. Well, good luck with him.”

“Thank you.” My mind raced. I needed to grill this girl, find out every detail about that night. But I had to get her away from this party—away from Grant. “What do you do now for work?”

Her mouth twisted. “I work at this new club downtown, Diamond. It’s very high-end, very classy. We don’t even go topless. Guys respect you way more. I’m sure the owner would love to have you. You’re a knockout.”

I couldn’t tell if she was just super friendly or she was hitting on me. Either way, I didn’t care. I couldn’t let her go. “So are you. Can I get it, your number, and I can go to see it, the place?” I reached inside my purse.