Page 14

I exhale sharply, throwing one hand into the air.

“For God’s sake, Ariadna.”

“It wasn’t one of ours. They think it was some low-level dealer, a runner really, turned informant. The identification hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

“Okay…” I frown, sitting down again and trying to figure out why she’s telling me this.

“The police believe he was meeting a lawyer at the Pandora two nights ago.”

The porch seems to shrink. Blyat’.

She widens her pretty eyes, waiting, and I admit, “I was there. But have no idea what that was about.”

A lawyer. At the Pandora. Ariadna is scrutinizing me with those eyes, as immovable as the mountains in the distance. Every detail slips together in my mind and she watches it happen.

The woman.

The one who had looked at me like she was trying to cross-examine me even while handcuffed to my bed. She hadn’t come to meet me, that was clear. But once we realized we’d both made a mistake, we didn’t change course.

She’d come to meet someone else.

Someone who might now be dead.

I lean back slowly, replaying every moment in my head. Trying not to linger on the particularly memorable ones, and concentrate instead on the details. The questions.

The way she’d looked around the suite, evaluating exits instead of admiring the view.

“What?” Ariadna asks.

I realize I’ve been staring past her.

“The woman.”

“Mmm?” She cocks a brow, waiting for a confession.

“I was supposed to be meeting an escort that night. But met her instead.”

“Men,” she sighs, dropping back hard further into the seat. I can’t help a smirk, remembering again the sounds the woman made when I gripped her hips and buried my face in that salty-sweetness.

“I didn’t know she was a lawyer.”

“I didn’t think so; you’re not that stupid.”

She hadn’t trusted me, whoever she was, which means she must be a damn good lawyer. All that luxury and she didn’t even flinch.

“What firm?” I ask.

“We don’t know.”

“Name?”

“Don’t know.”

I look at her. “So why bother telling me this?”

“I had a feeling you two probably crossed paths. But I wasn’t sure if you would think this is relevant, or worth looking into.”

“Find out whatever you can. Who she is, why she was there.”