Page 55 of A Vicious Love

“For how long?”

I took another drag. “Until somebody dies or he leaves. Whichever comes first.”

I ended the call.

For a few seconds, I sat there listening to the quiet penthouse around me. Then the front doors opened. My house had looked at Damius Crow and decided locks were decorative.

I laughed once under my breath.

Fucking great.

I stood, dragged on black trousers, didn’t bother with a shirt, then remembered Damius enjoyed making people feel undressed in ways that had nothing to do with clothes. I pulled on a black shirt, left it open at the throat, and didn’t bother with the blood.

Let him see it.

By the time I walked out of my bedroom, he was already in my living room.

Damius Crow he near the glass wall, hands clasped behind his back, looking out at Harlan… bored. As if the whole city had failed to impress him. He turned his head when I entered.

His gaze moved over my face, my bare throat, the cigarette in my hand, the dried blood on my knuckles.

Damius didn’t give a reaction.

I could bleed out on his shoes. And Damius would look at all of it as if assessing furniture placement.

“Jamison.”

“Grandfather.”

His mouth did not move. “You look poorly.”

“I woke up to find out you were in my city. That tends to ruin a man’s complexion.”

“This is not your city.”

I took a drag of the cigarette. “It was before breakfast.”

His eyes returned to the windows. “Harlan is soft.”

“Harlan makes money.”

He looked around my living room then. The black marble floors, bar, the wall of whiskey. Then to the private lift. Armed men stationed discreetly beyond the hall. Everything I had built.

“You’ve made yourself comfortable.” His gaze settled on me again.

“I’ve made myself rich.”

“A common mistake.”

Five minutes in, already stripping. Damius didn’t need to raise his voice, to make his disappointment loud.

I crossed to the bar and poured whiskey over ice because I couldn’t deal with him sober and the painkillers had not yet decided if they were going to help or punish me.

“It’s early,” he said.

“It was early when you opened my fucking doors.”

“You were awake.”