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"You're not dancing. I've seen what they do to the people on stage. I won't stand by and allow someone to drag you away and—" He shakes his head, jaw clenching.
"You don't have a choice. Besides, it's not like that. This is an exclusive event."
I want to ask him to come. Even if he can only sit in the crowd and watch, I'll feel better knowing he's there. Whether he'd handle me being up there, though, is another story. He can't protect me from their gazes. I bite my lip, leaning away, and his hands drop to his sides. What the hell is wrong with me? I can't rely on him one minute and the next wonder if he's going to betray me.
"You might not have a choice, but I do. I told Jenkins you were mine and I wasn't giving you up. How would it look if I just allowed him to dictate your time?"
"Like you knew who was in charge?"
Jenkins is in control of this whole organization. He's not going to let someone like Dante come in and take over.
"Except he needs me. Or rather my money, among other things. It's why he didn't make me pay the usual price of joining. You said the money isn't new? What did you mean?" He steps away, taking the warmth with him, and I shiver.
"I don't understand it fully since I only see a portion of their assets, but the accounts I'm moving money to and from don't have an influx of cash anymore. Before Synd, I could barely keep up. We had subsidiaries all over the country. Now it's concentrated in Rima. Last month, I closed two offshore accounts. Usually he'd open new ones, you know, to throw off anyone figuring out what the Guild does, but Jenkins told me not to worry about it."
"Maybe he did it himself. Or asked someone else to do it."
I let out a sharp laugh, rubbing my hand up my arm. I told myself I was done feeding him information when we went back inside, but I might not make it much longer before I become a human popsicle. He strips off his coat, settling it around my shoulders before starting to pace, fingers running through his hair over and over. He does it a lot, but only when we're alone.
"He doesn't know how. Until I came along, he had his lawyer doing all the books."
His head whips up. "He has a lawyer?"
"Dirty lawyer, obviously. Keeps the law off his back. Helps with a judge in your ranks, but Morrison is the one who decides when we need to move headquarters. Apparently, we should be able to stay a long time in Rima, at least until the merchandise dries up."
He scowls, confirming my suspicions that he wasn’t lying when he said he was from Rima. No one with a vendetta against the Guild wants them moving into their city. They take over and infect everything. Once they've picked over all the people they can sell or the law gets too close, whichever comes first, they move on.
"I haven't met him," he mutters, pulling a phone from his pocket, and I tense.
He must catch the movement, since he gazes at me, raising an eyebrow.
"You can't call anyone. The police here won't help.” My heart skips a beat when I take decide to take a small risk. “You know that."
I expect him to interrogate me, accuse me of being a spy or something, but he grins. "Figured it out then, did you?"
I tense, wide eyes still fixed on him. "What exactly have I figured out?"
"That I didn’t lie about being from Rima. Which is why I would know the police and shitty judges like Merrick are fucking useless."
"You going to tell me who you really are, then?" I ask, tipping my chin up, and he shakes his head slowly. "Because you don't trust me? Good choice. You can't trust anyone."
He prowls toward me, and I shrink into his coat, his scent wafting over me. His forearm lands above my head as he stoops until we're eye to eye.
"If you were going to snitch you would have done it last week when I disappeared. I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you, but I can't be everywhere at once. If they take you down to the crimson chambers, I'd rather you not have anything to tell them."
"They wouldn't believe me either way. Lie to me. Tell me some random name I can give them."
He chuckles, running his nose along my jaw and my breath catches in my throat. His hand dips down, brushing my hip and skimming along the hem of my shirt until his palm presses against my back. My body sways of its own accord and my fingers curl around the fabric of his coat.
"The only name you need is Dante."
"Why?" I whisper, my voice trembling with need.
"Because it's the one you'll be screaming when I finally make you mine."
His lips brush against mine, a gentle promise at war with his words. I tip my head back and he groans, covering my mouth with his own. He melds my body to his, pressing my back into the cold metal door.
Sliding my hands up his chest, I latch onto his neck. It's the only thing grounding me when his tongue sweeps into my mouth, devouring me. I tense, eyes flying open, then fluttering shut again.
