“He’s dead,” I say after a particularly brutal gash on the neck makes Emilio bleed out the rest of the way. “Luke.”
But he takes one more lash before he drops the whip, heaving.
Luke turns to me.
“I’ll send some of our men to take him to the graveyard, but I’m not going with them. I need to get upstairs to Scarlett.”
Under normal circumstances, Luke wouldneverpresume to tell me how anything was going to go, and he’d follow my instructions to the letter.
But tonight, he’s my friend. My cousin.
“Did you see her?”
“On my way here,” he confirms with a nod. “He fucked her up.”
“He did. I assume you’ll be keeping her with you?”
He nods again.
“Permanently?”
“Yeah. She’s mine.”
I smile at him. “Good. I like her. I was going to offer her an apartment here since she and Eloise are so close.”
“She’s with me,” he says, shaking his head. “She doesn’t need her own place.”
“Understood.” I clap my hand on his shoulder as we leave the room, and he looks at me with surprise.
No, I never initiate touch.
“Areyouokay?” I ask.
“No, I’m pissed as fuck. Look, I get that she loves her job, but I’m not okay with anyone else touching her. I’m trying to be cool about it. I know I’m an asshole, and a piece-of-shit human, but she should have what she wants, even if it’s fucking other men in the playroom. And I know that something like this won’t happen again, but I don’t wantanyoneputting their hands on her.”
“I get it,” I assure him. “I feel the same way about Eloise. Listen, Scarlett’s going to be out of the game for a while. Given her injuries, she may not want to come back, and if that’s the case, that’s fine with me. But I might have a new position for her soon.”
We step into the elevator.
“What position?”
“One that I need to make available first. I’ll talk to Scarlett about it when she’s ready. But she wouldn’t be in the playroom anymore. Not like she has been.”
Luke blows out a breath. “Here’s to hoping that’s what she wants.”
I take out my phone and type in instructions to have Emilio’s body disposed of and the cell cleaned.
When we reach Luke’s floor, we step out of the elevator and find Michael standing guard at the door.
“They’re inside.” He sighs. “Boss, I tried to take Miss Lulu upstairs, but she basically told me to go fuck myself and refused to leave Scarlett. I stayed nearby and made sure they were safe.”
I nod. And then smile. My girl is made of steel, and although I’d be furious at thewhy, I’m glad too. She needs that strength to be my girl and live in my world. “I should have known. Thank you. We’ve got it from here.”
Michael nods and strides away.
“Your girl scares everyone,” Luke informs me before he punches in the code to his door. “It’s pretty impressive.”
I chuckle and follow him inside, and what we find has my heart stuttering in my chest.
