He shifted, pushing up to stand, pacing back and forth for a second.
This sudden need to burn energy made me uneasy.
“Ramsay, what did you do?”
“He never saw my face.”
“Who never saw your face?”
“I flew here. To New York. James helped me infiltrate Cole’s club. I dosed him with a laxative and while he was alone in the bathroom, I broke his nose, almost choked him to death, threatened him that if he didn’t stay away from you, I’d make him disappear for good.”
My lips parted and a little sound, half gasp, half strangled laugh, escaped me.
I would have paid to be a fly on that bathroom wall.
“Are you … are you telling me that you … you threatened to kill Halston Coleandyou made him shit his pants?”
Ramsay’s lips twitched. “Unfortunately, he made it to the loo in time, but he was quite distressed by the sudden, violent bowel movement, if that helps.”
Perhaps it was the strain of this entire day or weeks or months, but I laughed until I could barely breathe and was wiping tears from my eyes.
When I eventually calmed, Ramsay was on his knees before me, studying me with a warmth and tenderness he usually tried to hide. I reached out instinctively and smoothed a hand down his unshaven cheeks. His stubble prickled my palm and I shivered, remembering the feel of it as he kissed me … and as his face brushed my inner thigh.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You don’t need to thank me.” He covered my hand. “I told you. I’d do anything for you.”
“And Michelle?”
Ramsay’s expression tightened with sympathy. “Hugh overdosed her. He slipped too much GHB into her drink, trying to loosen her up. Her respiratory system failed.”
Horror suffused me. I felt sick. I’d lived with a man who had dosed a woman he was dating. I shuddered.
Poor Michelle.
“That son of a bitch,” I wheezed out.
“James looked into it for me. Hugh’s father has friends in high places. It was a team effort from all those bastards to make it look like Michelle was at fault. They considered it easy enough since she was a well-known party girl.”
Those bastards. The level of corruption was devastating. “What did you threaten Hugh with doing?”
“The men who helped Hugh out of the scrape, they’re holding on to evidence that they use every now and then to force Hugh’s father to do their bidding. James could easily acquire that evidence. I threatened to use it if Hugh didn’t leave you alone.”
Before I could respond, there was a knock on the adjoining door, and it suddenly opened. Ramsay turned to look over his shoulder as London stepped into the room in the hotel bathrobe. Her hair was wet and slicked back from her face.
And her black eye was more prominent than ever.
“Oh.” She halted, her good eye widening. “I didn’t … who is …”
“London.” I stood, my tone reassuring. “This is Ramsay.”
Ramsay slowly rose at my side and London’s eyebrows lifted as she took in the size of him.
Feeling his tension, I looked up at him and saw the muscle flexing dangerously in his jaw. “Who the fuck did that to your face?”
44.Ramsay
My purpose in coming to New York was to show Silver who I was and hopefully win her back.
