She frowned, and then turned on her heel and headed out the office door as quickly as she could.

I shook my head, smiling to myself. The most stubborn woman I’d ever met in my life.

Alex crossed the open doorway, heading down the hall.

“Alex?” I called, turning and walking around my desk again.

She entered the room, a white towel over her shoulder and sweat glistening across her chest.

I dug in my wallet and pulled out a black card. “Take Banks shopping in the next couple of days,” I told her, handing over the credit card. “Will’s party is coming up, and she’ll need something to wear.”

Her impatient expression turned delighted as she snatched up the credit card.

“I’m a personal shopper?” she asked playfully. “Hoo-yah.”

“Bill me for your time.”

“Eh.” She shrugged. “Treat me to an outfit, as well, and we’ll call it even.”

She spun around and headed for the door.

“Alex?” I called. “Get her some clothes, too. Just everyday, average clothes.”

“And if she puts up a fight?”

I turned off the desk lamp and made my way toward the door. “Then buy whatever you want for her to wear. She’ll have some options if she ever decides to remove the stick in her ass.”

I opened the door wider, both of us walking out.

“How much can I spend?” she asked.

“I’ll call you when the text alerts start scaring me.”

I wrapped a rubber band around all the envelopes and grabbed my duffel bag. It was after six, and while we still had a steady flow of people coming in and out, I was done.

Will didn’t help, Rika was busy either teaching classes or going to school, and Michael was almost constantly gone. I was the only one who had absolutely nothing else to do with his day.

Not that I minded. I liked what we did here and where we were taking our other real estate interests, but I wanted to get over to The Pope. This time, alone.

Handing the stack of paychecks to Caroline, so she could dole them out, I waved goodnight and made my way out the front door.

Clouds loomed, rolling over the dark city like a flood of ocean waves, and it was unusually warm. Hot, even. I could smell the tar on the streets.

My phone rang, and I dug it out of my jeans pocket as I unlocked my car door and opened it.

“Hello?”

Tossing my duffel bag into the car, I took the phone with my other hand and switched ears.

The line was silent.

“Hello?” I asked again.

And then the voice said, “Have you fucked her yet?”

I raised my chin, my spine straightening. Heat flooded my veins.

Damon.

I didn’t know what it was about his voice that rattled me. It always did in a way, but I hadn’t realized it until now. After going so long without hearing it.

Glacial. That’s what it was. He sounded like the point of a blade digging into your skin.

“She’s pretty when she sleeps,” he told me. “So many nights I watched her next to me, wishing I could sleep like that.”

My hand ached, and I realized my fist was strained around the door frame. I unclenched my fingers.

“It’s almost Devil’s Night. A few days,” he pointed out as if I didn’t know. “Any plans this year?”

My mouth stayed closed. I raised my gaze, slowly turning my head left and right, looking for any sign of him.

Have I fucked her yet? I assumed he meant Banks. Which meant he knew she worked for me now.

“You know I’m not stupid.” He wasn’t asking a question, emphasis on the word know. “You above everyone knows that. Do you really think you’ll find me at The Pope? You think that whole place isn’t wired, and I wouldn’t see you coming? That Banks would’ve let you in there if she thought for one second I was there? She will always be mine.”

Cars drove past as the hot wind whipped down the alleyway where I’d parked. Part of me hoped he was right. She might lead me to him.

“You’ve been so bored, haven’t you?” he taunted. “So bored, because having me around gave you an excuse to be the deviant you already were. To turn inside yourself and have a real good look at that monster. You’re not noble behind closed doors, Kai.”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Around.”

I twisted up my lips at his coy response.

“Rika’s alone too much,” he went on. “With Michael gone all the time, you really shouldn’t have positioned yourself so far away from her across the river.”

I barely registered the change in subject, closing my eyes.

“She slept in the most tantalizing white silk panties last night.” His tone was almost confiding, and I felt my hand tighten around the phone. “It was nearly unbearable, watching a body like that go to waste in that cold bed alone. God, I wanted to fuck her. Dark room, half asleep…she might not have even known the difference.”

He was lying. Fucking with me. There was no way he got in that apartment. Michael might have been gone at times, but he’d taken significant precautions. Increased security, changed all the passcodes, hired additional personnel…. He even tracked her phone and car. I should feel guilty about that, since she was my friend, too, but we knew she’d put up a fight, and it was pointless. Michael was right. It was necessary.

I was honestly surprised he hadn’t tagged her jewelry, too, since Damon wouldn’t take her in her own car and would know to ditch the phone.

“But I have to bide my time,” Damon said wistfully. “I’ve waited so long. I won’t rush it.”

Rush what?

“So much trouble you’ve gone to for nothing, buying The Pope,” he continued. “You won’t find me.”

“I wouldn’t say it was all for nothing.” I fixed my eyes across the road at the hotel. “Your little ruffian is far more pleasurable than I thought she’d be.”

Which was an entirely true statement. Let him infer whatever he will.

“I think I understand now why you like her so much. Why, without the skimpy clothes, make-up, and hair, you find her so alluring.” I inhaled, liking this side of the playing a hell of a lot more. The side where I was on the offense. “She’s so repressed. It’s captivating to see her let go and lose herself. To realize she likes being seen as a woman.” And then I dragged out slowly, “And that she likes doing things a woman does.”

I could feel his silence like it was his hands shoving against me. Only I wasn’t backing down.

“So quiet all of a sudden?” I teased.

“Nik is mine,” he stated, his voice clipped. “You will never be to her what I am to her.”

Nik? Was that her first name?

“And I will kill you in front of her,” he added.

“Well, come on then. Why wait until Devil’s Night? Let’s get this over with.” I slammed the car door, walking toward the street and the sprinkle of rain that floated on the air. I had no idea if he was in The Pope or not, but I faced the building as if I was talking right at him. “Or you can run again. Either or.”

“But that’s not what you want,” he said, the sly mischief back in his voice. “I told you, Slope, I’m not dumb. I know what you’re after. And it isn’t a showdown, it isn’t revenge, and it isn’t even Banks.”

I leveled my eyes on a window above, willing him to appear.

“Go ahead,” he challenged. “Ask me. Ask me what only you and I know that you don’t want Will, Michael, and Rika to find out about.”

My chest heaved with silent breaths.

“Ask me where I buried the body when I cleaned up your shit six years ago.”

I closed my eyes, my heart dropping into my stomach.

He hadn’t forgotten. He would never forget. Did I really think he would?

Going to prison for three years, because I assaulted a police officer wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever done. I hadn’t even begun to pay for my crimes.

“Don’t tell me,” I choked out, completely deflated as I stared ahead, but I tried to be stronger. “Because if you do, I’ll bury you with her. And I know you’d hate that.”