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She shakes her head, brown eyes wet and wide. Her lips part as if she might say something, but she seems too nervous to speak.

“Sounds like you’ve overstepped, then,” I say to the man.

“I don’t think you want to fuck with me. I know the owner of this place.”

“So do I.” Sort of. “You going to leave the young lady alone, or what?”

“I choose what.” And then he swings.

Fighting isn’t my strong suit, but doing gymnastics in high school and college made me fast and flexible. I stumble a bit, but the hit is easy to dodge. When I come back with one of my own, I’m not surprised he’s too slow to move out of the way. Probably drunk.

“Fuck.” When my hand hits his jaw though, I wonder if the damn thing is made of metal. My hand is already sore from hitting the senator, and this hasn’t helped. Later I’m gonna need a bucket of ice for my fist.

The man in the suit only laughs and squares up as if he’s going to take another swing. Before he can, I grab his arm. He’s stronger than I would’ve thought given his size, but not strong enough. While the young woman disappears farther into the dark club, I push the man face down into a very nice-looking brocade chair. “Damn, I hate to get your blood and drool all over this thing. Corvus must have paid a fortune.”

“Let me the fuck go,” the guy growls. I won’t be able to hold him for long. Luckily, I don’t have to.

When I look around for a guard, I see Corvus himself strolling toward me. Oddly unbothered, considering.

“Mr. Sinclair. You’ve been warned before about keeping your hands to yourself. Are we going to revoke your membership?” I let up my hold on the guy, shocked to hear Corvus backing me up.

The other man shakes his head. Somewhat frantically, I might add. Who the hell is Daniel Corvus to make a guy this arrogant suddenly look ready to shit his pants?

“Mr. Greene.” Corvus turns to me. “Thank you for your help. I’m afraid we’ve been a little short-staffed lately. Good security is hard to find.”

He nods as a couple of guys who make me look petite walk up, taking this Sinclair dude off my hands.

“Let me see you out,” Corvus says to me. He doesn’t wait for me to answer before walking away.

“Sorry if I overstepped back there. The girl looked scared and⁠—”

“No need to apologize. I meant what I said. We’ve been short-staffed, and good security really is hard to find.” He looks me up and down. “Have you by any chance been looking for a job?”

“I already have a job. Two jobs.”

Still, I can’t help but look around. Is he suggesting I work here? Because I don’t think I’d mind working in a place like this.

“Understood. The thing is, I’m in need of a numbers guy and I’ve heard you’re good with that sort of thing.” He looks around. “And you clearly aren’t cowed by the clientele here. The pay is competitive. Perhaps not what you’re making currently, but I can make it worth your while. As an added bonus, you wouldn’t have to fuck anybody. Unless you wanted to.”

“I don’t… Are you serious?” Maybe this is my sign. After my run-in with the senator, it’s definitely feeling like time.

My father would have said opportunities like this don’t simply drop into a person’s lap. Then again, he worked himself into an early heart attack, so I’m not sure he was the best guy to give career advice.

“You’d have to sign an NDA, of course,” Corvus continues. “You’ll see a lot of things here. Things you can’t repeat to anyone. And I mean anyone. I take employee loyalty even more seriously than Mr. Doyle does.”

Translation: Anyone spills the beans, they’re fucking dead. At a minimum, judging by his grim facial expression.

“I know how to keep quiet.”

“I know.” He looks me up and down again. “I’m an excellent judge of character‌.”

“Thanks.” I think. “Can I take some time to think about it?”

“Take all the time you need.”

Huh. A job offer from one of the most influential men in town. This is odd. Exciting, but odd. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Of course. If it helps you decide quickly, I can see that this ugliness with the senator gets handled. He’ll get what’s coming to him. And I can guarantee you’ll be kept out of it.”