The Deadliest Sin Series Complete Collection, page 47
Rose watches me intently, almost like he’s waiting for me to express my frustration at having lost him that day, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
I shrug as nonchalantly as possible while I inhale again. “It seems you thought of everything.”
But he has secrets. Lots of them, no doubt. Like who the mystery tattooed lookalike was who showed up at Kat’s Cradle and startled Rowan right before she quit and disappeared. The video Michael found of the incident still rattles around in the back of my brain. There’s something there, something important I’m missing, but until I can find Rowan or Rose decides to open up to reveal all, it’s a mystery I’m unlikely to solve. Doesn’t mean I won’t still try, though.
Rose chuckles at my observation and shakes his head. “I like to hope so. But it does leave one unanswered question.”
“What's that?” I blow a plume of smoke toward him.
He motions between us slowly. “Where do we stand?”
I grin at him and knock off some ash in the glass tray on my desk. “I'm not sure I understand your question.”
“It's pretty simple, Kat.” He relaxes into his chair and rests his right ankle onto his left knee. The move exposes his crotch, a move that was no-doubt intentional. “Where do you and I stand? Are you still looking for a partner, or are you still looking for a way to kill me?”
A grin pulls at my lips, but I hope I manage to hide it behind my cigarette.
He waits for me to reply, then flicks a hand toward me. “Now that you’ve taken over Michael's territory and become head of this organization, do you plan to continue down the warpath Michael was on, or are you going to play nice?”
I lean back in my chair and examine him while I take a few hits off my cigarette. His dark, slicked-back hair matches his perfectly suave demeanor. The man doesn't get rattled. Sitting here with me, knowing I undoubtedly have several weapons within reach that could take him out in an instant, he doesn't flinch.
It’s impressive.
And also terrifying.
“I'm not looking for a partner, Rose. You saw what happened to my last one.”
Rose chuckles and shifts slightly, and his loafers shine perfectly under the harsh overhead fluorescent light. “Yes. It was a rather unfortunate turn of events for our friend, Michael, wasn't it? And I have no doubt that if given the opportunity, if I were dumb enough to give you my back, that you would stab a knife straight into it.”
I take a drag off my cigarette and drop my head back against the leather of the chair I cleaned Michael’s blood from only a week ago. “Then why even ask?”
He leans forward slightly and focuses his gaze on me intently. “Because what I told you when we met before Michael's untimely demise still rings true. We would be amazing partners, Kat—in business and life. Unstoppable, really.”
I snort and shake my head. “You guys are so persistent. So intent on making something happen when you know it's not only bad for you but it’s also potentially lethal.”
He grins at me and shrugs. “What can I say? I am a glutton for punishment.”
“I told you before, Rose, I'm not anyone’s whore.”
“I never said you were.” He raises his hands defensively. “And if that’s how you took my offer, then I deeply apologize. I want you to be my partner—in the brothels,” he waves his hand, “this club and any others.”
“And what about me?” I raise an eyebrow at him. “What do I get out of this deal? Besides having to give half my profits to someone who hasn’t earned them.”
He presses a hand over his chest and grins. “You get me and everything that comes along with me.”
I bark out a laugh that echoes off the undecorated walls. “You say that like it's a benefit.” I take another drag and blow the smoke across the desk at him. “All I see is someone who will try to interfere with my plan and direct things the wrong way. A man who is just as likely to stab me in the back and shoot me down the way I had intended to do you. For all I know, this is just another game on your part to get close to me and take me out the way Michael planned to take you out with my assistance.”
He chuckles, a deep rumbling sound that reaches across the desk and goes straight to a place in my body that I definitely don't want it. “I guess you don't. I guess you have to trust me when I tell you that while I'm definitely not pleased with the little game you were playing with Michael, I do respect it. And you.”
“Really?”
Respect is that last thing I thought I’d receive from Rose. Not after what we tried to do to him. Yet, I somehow know he’s speaking the truth.
His head bobs slowly, and he steeples his fingers in front of his mouth, elbows propped on the armrests. “You're a strong woman, Kat. From what I've been able to piece together, you've been through an awful lot and come out on the other side the better for it.” One corner of his mouth curls. “I find powerful women like you incredibly attractive.”
I lean forward and snuff out my cigarette. “We're also dangerous. Michael could attest to that, if he were here.”
This time, it’s Rose who barks out a laugh and shakes his head as he pushes to his feet. “You're cold as ice, Kat. And absolutely intoxicating. Consider my offer. I'd much rather have you as an ally than an enemy.” He holds out his hands. “But if you choose to keep coming after me, I'm only going to have one recourse. And we both know what that is.”
He turns and walks out, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
I shift back in my chair and squeeze my eyes closed as I let our conversation sink in. Rose isn't someone to fuck with. He's proven that. And if he ever learns that I'm the one who set the bomb that almost killed him and his sister as well as the rest of the heads of the Chicago families—not Michael, like he and everyone else suspects—any potential partnership we could have would disappear.
And I'd be number one on his hit list.
I've come too far on my own to partner with a man like Rose, even if he might be able to bring something to the table. The only thing more lethal than him is me, and I’m the only one I know who I can truly trust.
I sit in my chair at the desk in my room Kat’s Cradle and examine the two empty ones facing me. The last time anyone was in this office with me, it was Michael, and we ended up there…
My eyes drift to the bed, the one I swore I would never use in this house. The one where I did far more than just fuck him—my enemy and my target. Every time Michael and I were together, things got more twisted, more convoluted inside me. Even now, after I’ve ended the game, my body heats at the memory at the same time a cold dread settles in the pit of my stomach. My time with Michael isn't what I want to be remembering.
Forget it, Kat. Forget HIM.
I squeeze my eyes closed and picture the almost black eyes of the man who will always hold my heart.
Aleksander.
He's the one I did all of this for. He is the driving force behind every action I've taken since the moment I learned of his death. He is my end-all, be-all. But he's also gone. And maybe my punishment for my sins, for what I did to Michael to seek revenge and unleash my wrath, is to constantly have my memories of Aleksander tarnished by the memories of my time with another man.
I will have to live continuously haunted by the fact that no matter how much I didn't want to enjoy it, my body yearned for him and his touch. How despite my best efforts to see him only as the monster he was, there were glimmers of a real person beneath his thick, hard exterior.
It wasn’t enough to make me alter my course, but it was apparently just enough to weigh me down with guilt and follow me in a way I never anticipated. And now I have Rose breathing down my neck, heating my body in the same way, flirting with the danger Michael once did.
But this isn’t that. I won't get involved with Rose despite what he said during our meetings. Even if I were to consider a potential relationship with him, it would be strictly professional and done to ensure he doesn’t become a bigger threat.
And in order to know what I'm truly dealing with where it comes to him, I need to figure out who the mystery man with Rowan was.
It's the only reason I came back to Kat’s Cradle tonight. I need to take another run at the girls try to find out what they know. No one seemed to have anything to offer the first time I questioned them, but that was weeks ago, before I killed Michael and demonstrated my ruthlessness. And now, perhaps with a little more incentive, they might be willing to tell me what I need to find Rowan.
And I do need to find Rowan because even if one of these girls knows who the man is, who looks so eerily like Rose, they don't know what Rowan knows. That look in her eyes when the man entered the room, the way she furtively glanced at the camera before it shut down inexplicably, it all means there's a story there. One I need to know regardless of whether Rose is an enemy or a friend.
Or preferably neither.
I lean forward and press the button on the phone to dial Driton downstairs. “I need you to bring me Amber.”
“You got it.” He ends the call.
I force myself to keep my eyes straight forward toward the door instead of drifting back to the bed I'll never use again. Those memories are dead. Gone forever. I just need to figure out a way to wrap all of Michael in that same box and lock it away somewhere it can disappear.
A sharp knock sounds before the door opens and Driton ushers in Amber. She smiles sheepishly and approaches to take a seat in front of the desk as Driton steps into the hall and closes the door behind him.
I offer Amber a reassuring smile. I don't want her to think she's in any trouble. That will only make her clam up more and make finding what I need that much harder. “Amber, thanks for coming to meet with me. I was hoping we could have a little chat.”
She gives me an unsure smile. “Sure, about what?”
I clasp my hands in front of me on the desk and lean forward slightly. “About what we talked about previously—Rowan and the man who came to see her before she quit.”
Amber shifts in her chair, averting her gaze. “I…um…I told you what I know. I've never seen him before, and she didn't tell me what she was doing or why she was quitting, just that she was done working here.”
I fight the urge to scowl at her—or worse. It's not in any of these girls’ natures to have loose lips…at least where client information is concerned. They’ve been trained to remain quiet. To protect our clients’ identities and anything else they may overhear or learn like steel traps. Of course, she's not going to want to volunteer any information; that could get her fired.
It almost makes me proud as much as it annoys me. If she had volunteered everything she knew right off the bat, it might be a sign she isn’t Kat’s Cradle material in the first place.
I force what I hope is a sympathetic smile. “I understand you may be reluctant to share with me, but I need you to understand the situation I'm in.”
She nods slowly.
“As you know, I've managed to make Kat’s Cradle the premiere brothel in all of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs and have set up a second location that is already taking flight.”
Her eyes widen. “And I really appreciate the job here.”
“Of course, you do. I treat my girls well, and I make sure your clientele does, too. And I know you may feel like you're betraying some sort of confidence with this client or with Rowan if you give me the information I'm seeking, but I need to know if we have been compromised.”
She stiffens in her chair, and some of the color leaves her face.
Good. You should be nervous…especially if you’re hiding something from me that will bite me in the ass.
It’s time to push her. “This man was not on anyone's schedule. The guards don't know who he is or how he got into the house. And Rowan appeared frightened of him, then suddenly quit. That could pose a very serious issue for me, for you, and the rest of the girls here, not to mention my greater business plans.”
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and chews on it as she considers me.
I hold up my hands. “I'm not asking you to tell me anything personal that Rowan may have revealed. I just need to know if we are in any sort of danger.”
Hopefully, that will open her up enough that I can pry what I really need from her.
She crosses and uncrosses her legs and shifts in her seat again. “I only saw him once. The day of the video you showed me.”
“Where did you see him?”
Her pale-blue eyes dart down to her hands twisting in her lap and back up at me. “I let him in the back door and up the private rear stairs.”
I tense and narrow my gaze on her. “Is that why security never saw him?”
There aren’t any cameras in the back stairwell. Only the staff uses it. And he must have slipped in the door when the guards were making their rounds and on the other side of the property.
She nods, and her cheeks flush. “I'm so sorry, Kat. I didn't mean to do anything wrong, but I thought it would be okay, given the circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“He asked for Rowan by name. Her real name Rowan, not Red like she goes by here. He said it was urgent that he speak with her and that he was afraid if he came to the front, she would get in trouble.”
I release a sigh and sit back in my chair. “So, you believed you were protecting your friend.”
She practically sags in relief. “Yes.”
As much as I want to be angry about her disregarding the rules, I can’t bring myself to tear into her. “Tell me about the man. Did he give you a name?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“What else can you tell me about him?”
One of her slim shoulders rises and falls. “He was handsome. Hispanic, with an accent I couldn't quite place. Maybe South American? Tattoos on his forearms that were visible in the T-shirt he was wearing.”
“Did he appear nervous?”
She bites her lip again and shakes her head. “Not really. More like it was urgent that he see Rowan.”
I nod slowly and lean back in my chair. “Did you take him up to her room?”
She nods again and clears her throat. “Yes. I let him in.”
“Do you know what happened between them in there?”
Her eyes dart away again. This is when I imagine she will shut down. Having to reveal something personal that Rowan might have told her might be pushing too far.
“Amber, please, this is important.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “All I know is that he was in there for fifteen or twenty minutes and then left out the back. And after, Rowan seemed agitated. She was distracted the rest of the day. Even one of her clients mentioned something to me about it when he was on his way out and asked if she was okay.”
I clench my fists on the arms of my chair. That's the last thing I want to hear—that one of our clients was not happy with her services. It makes me want to find Rowan and the answers even more. “But she didn't tell you who he was or why he was here?”
“No, I'm sorry I can't help you more.”
“Have you heard from her since she left?”
That same blush spreads across her cheeks again, but she shakes her head in the negative. Amber would be a shitty poker player.
“Be honest with me, Amber.”
A heavy sigh slips from her lips, and she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her phone. “She texted me once. She asked me to grab a few of her things from her room that she forgot and to meet her with them.”
“Where did you meet?”
“A small coffee shop near the Loop.”
“Did you two talk?”
She shrugs. “Not really. She seemed nervous and distracted. I asked her if she needed anything, and she said she was fine and then left.”
Shit. A dead end.
At least, for now. I narrow my eyes on the phone in her hands. “I want you to send a text to Rowan. Tell her that something has come up and you need to talk to her. That it's urgent.”
Amber’s eyebrows fly up. “What do I do if she replies?”
“You schedule a meeting.”
“For when? Where?”
“As soon as possible. See if she'll meet you outdoors somewhere you could have a conversation and not be overheard, like a park.”
Somewhere she won’t be expecting me.
Amber watches me for a moment before nodding. “Okay.”
“And then, let me know as soon as the meeting is set.”
Her hand shakes as she slips her phone back into her pocket. “You're not going to hurt her, are you?”
I force my best smile, the one that I used to fool Michael so many times. The one I hope I can use against Rose and the rest of the heads of the families, too. “No, Amber, I would never do anything like that.”
I tighten my hands on the steering wheel and take my exit off the freeway, glancing behind me to ensure Genti and Driton are still following in their SUV. If they had their way, I would be tucked safely away in the backseat with them instead of driving myself, but I needed some alone time—some time to mentally process what’s been happening and to have a little private call with the man I’m hoping will get me what I need so badly to hopefully help vanquish some of my demons.
But right now, that man doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. “I don't like the reluctance I hear in your voice, Arden.”
Silence greets me through the line as Michael's cousin and tech guru considers his response. He finally clears his throat. “I'm sorry…I'm just…”
“Reluctant to assist me because of your familial relationship with my predecessor. I can understand that.” After all, I did shoot his cousin in the head after seducing him and working my way into his inner circle. “But I think there are some things you need to understand, too. I'm the head of this organization now. I call the shots. And if you aren’t going to get on board the way Michael's other men have, I suggest you disappear before I make you disappear.”
Coming from anyone else, it might be an empty threat, but from me, it is a promise. As much as I despise having to even say it, he knows too much. About Michael. About me. About this operation that I’ve inherited. About my plans for the future that were intricately aligned with Michael’s.
