“The prince of darkness is a gentleman.”
—Shakespeare
“Aubrey. Meet us out front with the limo,” I order, typing up instructions for Felix on my phone while Griff and I pace down the hallway. “Be prepared for a long drive.”
“Yes, Master.” The redhead gives a curt nod and takes off toward the mansion’s lobby.
Few people have proven themselves trustworthy enough to be involved in our dirty work, but Aubrey and Stella are two of them. Stella is ruthlessly loyal as long as it serves Raife, which renders her a liability to me, so I stick to using Aubrey for my own shit. And that’s on a limited basis. I prefer to work alone.
My phone sounds. I answer on the first ring.
“You sure you wanna do this?” Felix asks through the line. “I mean, it’s daytime in the middle of summer.”
I grit my teeth. “I’m not a fucking vampire; the sun won’t burn me.”
“Asshole, you know what I mean. It’s been a long time since you did an actual pickup with Griff, and we both know why. Doesn’t help that you’re all worked up, either.”
“Don’t you have a conference call to make?”
“Yes,” he grumbles, “if Raife can get his damn head out of the new hire’s ass long enough to show up.”
My fingers curl around the phone until the edges dig into my palm. The last thing I need right now is to hear about Emmy fucking Highland’s ass. Black hair swinging down her back, blue eyes wide and curious, knees on the white marble and hands clasped neatly in front of her—she was the perfect little hire this morning.
Until she opened those pink lips and let that one, single word spill from her tongue,Master.Like it was meant for me. Like she was spelling out my goddamn name.
Burning irritation cuts through me at the thought of Raife’s hands on her, and I’m both sickened and fascinated by the fact. It shouldn’t send fire scorching through my chest the way it does. The heat is suffocating, making me loosen another shirt button for some fucking air.
Of course, I could have claimed her and owned every move her tongue made from here on out. It would have been so easy. I can’t deny it was tempting, even more so when I saw the black scarf Raife originally placed in that tray for her. Like Griff and Felix, he’d wrongly assumed I intended to claim her. In other words, he’d assumed his manipulations had worked on me. Unfortunately for him, there’s only one person who controls what I do, and that’s me.
Felix’s sigh filters through the speaker. “Clearly a subject for another time.” My jaw ticks, but I keep my stride steady as Griff and I round a corner. “Anyway, you realize what you’re asking me to do is going to start shit, don’t you?”
“Since when are you afraid of starting shit?”
Felix lets out a snort. “It’ll raise red flags, Adam, and you know it. I had every meticulous step of this operation set up for eight tonight, and you’re asking me to move it all up to what, three hours from now? Technicalities aside, how exactly do you think this million-dollar film tycoon will react when we ask him to drop his afternoon plans all for ‘Luke McAvoy’ to reschedule at the last minute? Especially after everything we’ve already been pulling on him up till now.”
I press my lips into a tight line and stop in my tracks. The tension coiled around my muscles is like a leech digging its teeth into my skin and sucking me bone-dry. All because of a little mouse. And it’s pissing me off.
I dip my free hand into my pocket and wrap my fingers around my knife. A knife that got its first taste of Emmy’s sweet, crimson blood less than fourteen hours ago. My eyes close as I clench my jaw, stroking the handle with my thumb. Sometimes feeling the weight of the weapon as I walk is enough to calm me, get my pulse under control.
Other times ...
“Get it done, Felix. I need a damn fix, and moving the appointment up a few hours isn’t going to kill anyone.” I hear a rough chuckle and glance sideways at Griff. He’s shaking his head as he drops the crooked smirk from his face. “Figuratively,” I add as an afterthought and resume walking.
There’s a pause on the line, the sound of a door closing. “Yup, got it. But hey, I meant what I said earlier about going out. Just take it easy.”
Ending the call, I lock my gaze ahead as we approach the lobby’s front door. Of course I know what he means, but I’m not about to discuss it like he’s a damn shrink. I have only one method of therapy, and we’re driving to Pennsylvania to pick it up.
Griff yanks the front window curtain to one side and glances out. He doesn’t move, which tells me Aubrey hasn’t pulled the car up yet.
I roll my shirt sleeves up to my elbows and slip my hands back in my pockets as I wait, watching the door. Felix wasn’t wrong; I can’t remember the last time I stepped outside these walls. My pulse spikes with each passing second. It’s just a few steps on the pavement till I get to the car, nothing to shit anyone’s pants over.
“She’s here.” Griff pulls the door open and heads out.
Light filters through the doorway, dusting the marble flooring with a golden hue, inches from my shoes.
I fall behind to stare past the threshold. Curl my knuckles. Crack my neck. Then I step outside.
“So,” the man sitting across from me folds his hands in his lap, leans back against the leather seat like he owns the limo, “which one of you is Luke McAvoy? I want to know who’s been trying to fuck me over behind a screen for the past year.”
