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I press my ear closer to the interconnecting door and do my best to listen.

“Fuck,” I whisper. “Speak louder, damn it.”

But just as the voices do indeed appear to be getting more audible, I feel my heart almost jump out of my throat as the interconnecting door swings open and I nearly fall flat on my face.

“And who might you be?” the man asks as he towers over me. “Talk. And make it quick.”

I’m on the floor, my ass sticking up in the air, and he expects me to answer his question? Well, judging by the glare on his face, the answer to that question is yes…

“I said⁠—”

“Yeah, I heard you,” I reply, turning the sass to eleven before rapidly reconsidering my approach and going into full-on ditsy mode. “My name is Lyle. I work here. Well, it’s my first shift. A trial shift. I’m super-late with my rent, please don’t tell my manager. I was just listening to make sure that I could go and clean the room as soon as you two left. That’s all.”

I make sure that my voice and mannerisms are all perfectly aligned with the kind of desperate trial shift worker who would do anything to keep their job. Stumbling over words, fluttering my eyelashes, doing my best to cover my tracks.

But I quickly realize that the man isn’t buying it.

“Give me one damn reason why I don’t call your boss up here right now,” the man says.

It’s at this point that I haul myself to my feet. And as I’m doing this, I can’t help but notice the other man…

Silent, observing, hanging back.

Now this is the real power in the room.

This is the man who calls the shots.

“Okay, okay, I screwed up,” I say. “I was in the smaller room and heard some people talking. I got a bit nosey. That’s all.”

The two men exchange a look. This could go either way. Then to make matters a million times worse, Steven enters the room.

“Elias? What the hell is going on here?” Steven asks, a look of anger and slight panic in his eyes. “Gentlemen. I can only apologize if there has been an issue. I will ensure to remove the boy from the premises right now.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I’ve blown it within ten minutes of my trial shift.

Zane will freak out.

But just as I’m about to lose hope, the so far silent man steps forward and stands next to me. There’s something about him. I can sense it in his presence. This isn’t a corrupt politician or run of the mill gangster. This is something else altogether.

“The boy was simply giving us our space before cleaning the room,” the man says. “There is no issue here.”

“Yes, Mr. Pakev,” Steven replies. “As long as you’re sure.”

“I am perfectly sure. And please, call me Dmitri.”

“Yes, Dmitri,” Steven replies, a slight wobble in his voice as he utters the man’s name. “Now perhaps you can allow me to escort you down to your booth and I’ll arrange for some champagne on the house?”

“Excellent,” Dmitri answers.

And just like that, Steven, Dmitri, and his associate leave the room. But just before he shuts the door, Dmitri pauses and turns to face me.

“Good to meet you, Lyle,” he says. “Or should that be Elias?”

I blush hard and bite my lip. He’s got me right where he wants me, and he knows it too. Dmitri knows I lied about my name, and he knows I was up to something. If not, why would he save my ass like that? He could easily have gotten me fired. Or worse.

“It’s Elias,” I say, my voice quiet but my heart racing and my mind suddenly spinning with possibilities.