Andrea must have someone watching me, since he always picked opportune times to ask about my progress. The disastrous meeting was just this afternoon. One that made me question my commitment to this pitfall of a scheme Andrea tossed me into. It wasn't just my life on the line if I failed, though.
“I did,” I began, trying to keep my temper restrained. Internally, I could feel my fox bristle his fur in defense. The urge to shift and run off some of this restless frustration had me gritting my teeth. “Lore was… less than amicable. And she made it very clear she didn’t want another offer like it. Frank was under scrutiny for trying to fuck her over by kidnapping sex workers. She said some of them ended up in the last auction she hacked.” I paused, dreading the answer to the question burning in my throat. “Did you know he was sending women under protection of the Riot to your auctions?”
I couldn’t sleep last night, still immensely pissed off over my so-called ‘meeting’ with the Red Riot boss. Finding out Lore was a woman was shocking enough. Realizing she was somehow connected to that camgirl, Vixen, just made my job even more complicated, considering she decided she wanted nothing to do with me.
Frustration at my uselessness in this situation burned my ass.
"I left Frank to his own devices." Andrea's casual tone set my teeth on edge. The least he could do was sound a little more concerned about having a mob boss at his throat. Or rather,atmythroat. "As long as he kept his profits high and his head down, I didn't care much about his methods of delivering product to the auctions."
"Well, he didn't do a very good job of that, did he?" As soon as I spoke the words I wanted to throttle myself. At this point, I just hoped for a swift death. Both my temper and will to live were sliding down a slippery slope. "Respectfully," I attempted to recover. "Frank didn't seem to want to operate at the standard you had set for him. I had walked blindly into the situation not knowing he was on bad terms with the Riot. It's a shame I couldn't prevent the consequences of his poor choices, is all." Simpering for Frank's benefit made me want to gag, like I'd attempted to swallow a heaping spoonful of cinnamon.
It seemed to work, to some degree. Andrea’s heavy sigh came through the line, and he wasn't yelling. “She’s an ornery bitch, just like her father. I suppose that quality has kept her from getting eaten alive in Vegas.” It almost sounded like he was begrudgingly complimenting her. “However, that doesn’t change the fact I want access to that skin market. Especially her club, the Masked whatever. It has the potential to be so much more than that stupid cam service she touts to the sex workers. I already have investors lined up who are very interested in flipping that platform to cater to more… eccentric tastes.”
As much as I wanted, and needed, to follow along in the conversation, my brain was stuck on the bombshell of a fact Andrea dropped so casually in passing. “Lore Brennanowns‘Prey to Play’?” This made everything all the more complicated.
“Of course, but online she goes by Cyber_Fox.”
Everything came to a screeching halt. The sound of all the puzzle pieces falling together as one in my mind drowned out whatever Andrea said after that. Indignant rage the likes I'd never felt before burned my chest and roared up to burst from my mouth as words I'd surely regret telling my boss.
“Cyber_Fox… as in the hacker Cyber_Fox? The one you sent me to look for? They’re the same person?” I knew I sounded stupid parroting Andrea, but my brain just couldn’t connect the two identities. Even for Andrea that was cruel.
If he said yes, I swear to God I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.
“You didn’t figure that out by now?” Andrea scoffed, clearly talking down to me and my ignorance. “That girl started her criminal days as a hacker, and was a pain in everyone’s ass for almost five years before she got caught. She would hack into the black market bidding systems and siphon off percentages of the online bids during live auctions. I tried speaking to her father about it, but he washed his hands of her ridiculous behavior after...” His voice dwindled to a stop, clearly about to say too much. “They just had a falling out,” Andrea finished lamely.
“So, let me get this straight,” I began, barely keeping my fury leashed. “Youknewwho the hacker was all this time? And you let me run around out here without a clue?”
The scoff he huffed down the line was insulting on every level. “I couldn’t say it outright. I’m almost positive she has my lines of communication bugged somehow, so it wasn’t like I could be open about it. That bitch has wormed herself so deep in the Lupi I can hardly take a shit without her knowing.” Andrea’s tone would have warranted a fist to the face for anyone else, and I wasn’t much of a fighter myself. “You got there eventually, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem,” I snarled. “Is that I made a total fucking fool of myself trying to keep the lie going about working for Frank! If you had just told me in the first place who Cyber_Fox was, instead of sending me all the way to Vegas to blindly wander around for over a week, I could have tracked her down through the goddamn website! And what’s changed now that you canopenly say that Lore is Cyber_Fox, if you were so paranoid before?”
Andrea’s silence was ominous. I’d probably end up dead on the floor, but I wished just this once I was in the room to see his face. To see just what he was lying to me about, instead of relying on his voice through this damn phone. “Blood is thicker than water, as they say. I have some favors I've called in to the main family. She would do well to fall in line and take my offer if she wants any help on this side of the Atlantic. Now, get off your ass and make sure she agrees to that meeting. Your life depends on it.”
And with that, the line disconnected.
The phone stayed pressed to my ear as I looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows lining my condo, staring out into the brilliant sea of lights in the Vegas night until the dial tone buzzed. I’m not sure when my hand finally dropped to my side, but my attention was taken by thoughts of the woman I was supposed to be in negotiations with. The more time I spent with her, the more I had grown to admire her vivacity, that indomitable will that made her shine brighter than anyone I'd ever encountered. Maybe those enticing pheromones that slipped through her scent blocker had a part to play in my infatuation too, but it all led to the same realization.
Lore Brennan was becoming much more than an assignment or casualty of the black market. And I wasn't sure I could face her again. Not without being eaten alive. Is this really what my life boiled down to? Choosing between the mob who owned my life, or the woman my primal had already become so obsessed with? What would happen to my foster parents if I ended up betraying Andrea? They had avoided his influence this long, but what if he turned his full attention to finding them?
The thought of Lore beingkilledmade every part of me recoil in horror.
I was so fucking screwed. But so was Lore, if she didn't know how adamant Andrea was about taking her down. I had to warn her. With an annoyed flick I lifted my watch to check the time. I still had a few hours before The Masked Merrow opened. That was all the time I had to gather the scraps of my resolve and face the Red Riot boss again. This time, I wasn't going to represent that piece of shit Andrea. And I hoped that was enough to keep her from killing me.
"Fuck my life."
Back in the Club
Lore
I’ve gone and lost my fucking mind.
The floor of Masked Merrow was packed with people dancing and drinking tonight. Slippery, sweaty bodies coveredin glitter and melting body paint rubbing up on each other in time to the electronic beat pulsing through the sound system. And yet, instead of hanging out in my office above the writhing crowd or joining in to catch myself a piece of ass to take home, I was sulking in a dark corner with a watery scotch I swirled around absently. For some reason I couldn't quite put my finger on, I'd been all bent out of shape since my meeting with Grant two days ago. Even Taylor seemed to notice and had been blatantly avoiding me and my pissy attitude. My focus was somewhere else, so lost in my dark thoughts I didn't realize someone had sidled up beside me with a fresh drink until he set it down at my elbow.
My stupid heart lurched in my stupid chest, and I jerked my head up with a hope I shouldn’t have. That hope was squashed pretty quickly when I realized the man swaying side to side next to my table was not who I wanted him to be. He looked like a fucking ass, wearing his white shirt only buttoned halfway up and a cocky smile showing off perfectly white teeth. “A drink, for the pretty lady,” he yelled over the music. “You look like you’re lonely. Mind if I–”
I shoved the offered glass away with my fingertips hard enough to fly off the table's edge. My unwanted guest cursed loudly and sprung back to avoid the splash on his white pants. “Fuck off, sap. I’m not in the mood.”
Half of me wished the tool would cause a scene, even if it would be bad for business to start a brawl. Kicking his ass might help get some of this frustration out of my system, though. Unfortunately, the guy ran off with his tail between his legs before a solid decision was made with one low growl from the closest guard. Taylor had put extra security detail on me and everything within a two-block radius since the shooting. No one could drive down the street in front of the club without being stopped if I happened to be on the premises. It felt… isolating.Even though I was in a packed room full of people dancing and drinking, and having the time of their lives. I’d never felt like this before meeting Grant. I’d been totally content to hang out in the soundproofed office upstairs, not down here moping among the masses.
