Epilogue
Nate
“So, you’ve gone legit? Boy, I never thought I’d see the day,” said Lola.
I laughed. “You didn’t even know me before! Why does that surprise you so much?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t need to know you before. From the second I saw you, I knew you were a shady man. Hot as hell, but with a dark side. Still, I’m glad you and my girl finally worked things out. So what can I help you with?”
I dropped the envelope on the table and she picked it up, her face going pale as she looked inside. “What the hell is this? Listen, I’m a dancer, not a hooker.”
“Easy now,” I said as I raised my arms. “It’s nothing like that. I know you were another one of Blake’s conquests, and I have the means now to make a few things right. This should get you started down whatever road you want to take.”
“Are you kidding me?” she asked.
“Nope.”
Without another word, I walked away from her. She was the last one on my list to cross off. I had righted all of Blake’s wrongs, at least those that I knew about. Now it was time to get home and finally have some alone time with the woman I loved.
“Happy anniversary, sweetheart,” I whispered to her as I kissed her bare shoulder.
She groaned and moved her naked body closer to mine. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who thinks two months warrants an anniversary.”
I laughed. “For me, that’s a record, but no. I’m just happy you’re still here. I know I’m not the easiest person to live with.”
“That’s the truth, but don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” she said just as her phone rang. “Well, I guess that’s not entirely true. I have to go meet my manager, and if I don’t get up now, then I don’t know if I’ll make it there in time.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” I asked.
Anna shook her head. “You have your own meeting to get to, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah. Who knew going straight was going to be so much work?”
“I don’t think it’s that bad. I mean, meeting with the senator’s council about the largest security job your company has seen yet isn’t a bad thing. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
I groaned again. I knew she was right, but it didn’t change the fear I felt. I hadn’t been so nervous in a long time. Going straight was one thing, but when her father had suggested a security company, it all came into focus. Now I was being sought after for my skills, not for my kneecaps or wanted as a criminal. I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed thanks to her. Big Joey had been paid off and was happy to never see my face again.
Life was changing, but one thing stayed the same between us. It didn’t matter what time of day or night it was. It didn’t matter if we had been fighting or loving each other for a day or a week. The fiery passion between us was still just as hot as ever. She was a quick study, and more often than not, I found myself reaching new peaks each time she asked me to try something new. I had yet to discover anything that she did to me that didn’t instantly make me beg for more. Anna was a fierce lover.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked her. “I mean, you are the star. They will change everything around to make you happy.”
“That may be, but what about you?” she asked. “I don’t want you to miss this opportunity.”
“You know we still have a couple thousand in the bank from the heist. We could always quit everything and run away.”
Anna laughed. “I don’t think so. That money is going to work for us, not the other way around, remember? Did you watch the trial last night?”
“Yeah,” I said with a snort. “That’s some funny shit. They said Blake is going to be in prison for the next fifty years. He pissed off a lot of people.”
“And no Mr. Grey in sight. They said his ‘accomplice’ skipped town, and now they can’t find him anywhere.”
“Does it matter? He was a prick, but we got the big bad guy, and women are lining up around the block to testify against him. The charges he already has are going to lock him up for the rest of his life. Everyone who comes forward on top of that is just icing.”
“I heard someone set up a fund for his victims too,” she said with a wink. “And I guess that a bunch of others are coming forward and donating. He could have a few thousand victims, and they would still be set for life thanks to that generosity.”
“Well, it’s the least we could do after all. Just locking him away didn’t seem like enough.”
“I don’t think it will ever be enough. Can you believe there are so many woman that he has raped over the years? How does one man get to the point that he thinks women are just objects?”
“I wish I knew. I know a lot of those women, and they didn’t deserve to be his playthings. Did you hear about Maria?”
“No.”
“I set up a special fund for her. She’s going to be getting all the help she needs to lead a good, happy, drug-free life. Her testimony alone got him another twenty years. She was right there next to him throughout it all. She had names and dates of every single woman he took back to that office.”
“Good,” she said. “I hate that man more than I’ve ever hated anyone in my life. He doesn’t deserve prison, it’s too good for him.”
“Don’t worry about him, baby,” I said. “He’ll be getting his soon enough.”
We both fell silent, thinking about Blake finally getting the justice and punishment that he deserved. I wanted to go into that courtroom and make sure everyone knew what a pig he was, but we’d both agreed that showing our faces around there wasn’t a good idea. The last thing we needed was more attention drawn to us. Anna was about to go global, and the only press we wanted was the good kind.
“Are we having dinner tonight with your dad?” I asked her.
“Yep, I can’t believe how much he likes you.”
“I know, right? Even though he knows about the heist and my past. He really is a great guy. You are lucky to have him.”
“No, we are lucky to have him. What are you going to do when I go on tour next month?”
“Well, my love, it’s my hope that I will have this company up and running. Then I can travel around and be your number one groupie. Do you think your father will be up to the challenge?”
“Ha! I would love that! Then I can show you off to the world. I think he’ll love taking over the company. He’s been talking about it all week. It’s just what he needs, a desk job that will keep him busy, but not so much that I’ll have to worry about him all the time.”
“Good. So you’re okay with me just being some hot star’s arm candy?”
She crawled back into bed and kissed me tenderly on the cheek. “You are so much more than that. Before you, I didn’t know what I was doing with my life, but now that I have you, there is nothing in this world I can’t do. You complete me. You have given me everything that I ever could have wanted.”
“You know I love you, right?” I whispered to her.
Anna bit my lower lip. “I love you too, baby, and I will for as long as I live. Now, what do you say we push our meetings back and have a little fun?”
I laughed as I pulled her back down onto the bed. Her body slid over mine, and I let all the other plans we had for the day slip away. She was the only thing I cared about in that moment. Everything else didn’t seem to matter. As she laughed in my arms and I pulled her body closer, I knew I had finally found my peace. Anna was my savior and the love of my life.
Make sure to check out the rest of the books in the Deadly Passion Series!
High Stakes - Book 1
Double Or Nothing - Book 2
Triple Threat - Book 3
About Roxy Sinclaire
Roxy Sinclaire writes steamy, suspenseful romantic stories as the main genre, and this includes a variety of different topics. Some of these include dark romances, action packed romances, mafia romances, and many more. She currently works in customer
relations in New York City, but is trying to fulfill her passion in writing and eventually have her dream job become a reality.
Please see her Author Central Account on Amazon for a full list of her titles.
Sign up for her mailing list and find out about her latest releases, giveaways, and more. Plus, get a FREE book! Click here!
For more information, be sure to check out the links below!
roxysinclaire.com
[email protected]
Also by Roxy Sinclaire
Deadly Passion Series:
High Stakes (Book 1)
Double or Nothing (Book 2)
Triple Threat (Book 3)
Bundles:
Book Boyfriends
Omerta Series Box Set Books 1-3 (Volume 1)
Pass To Win Series:
Touchdown: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Book 1)
Line of Scrimmage: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (Book 2)
Between The Tackles: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Book 3)
Fourth and Goal: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (Book 4)
Game Winning Catch: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (Book 5)
Second Chance Draft: A Second Chance Sports Romance (Book 6)
Mafia Romance Series:
Dirty Indiscretions: A Dark Mafia Romance (Book 1)
Her Protection: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Book 2)
Deadly Ink: A Dark Mafia Romance (Book 3)
His Revenge: A Mafia Revenge Romance (Book 4)
His Betrayal: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Book 5)
Dangerous Indulgence: A Dark Mafia Romance (Book 6)
Romantic Secret Agents Series:
Lethal Seduction (Book 1)
Deadly Seduction (Book 2)
Toxic Seduction (Book 3)
City Bad Boys Series:
Object Me: A Bad Boy Lawyer Romance (Book 1)
Entitled: A Bad Boy Romance (Book 2)
Tempting Me: A Bad Boy Romance (Book 3)
Fast And Loaded: A Bad Boy Romance (Book 4)
One More Series:
One More Kiss (Book 1)
One More Turn (Book 2)
One More Chance (Book 3)
One More Night (Book 4)
Standalone Novels
One Night With The Tycoon: A Billionaire Romance
Dirty Fighter: A Bad Boy MMA Romance
The Devil’s Dream: A Dark Romance
Trapped In His World: A Dark Romance
Dirty Money: A Dark Mafia Romance
Deceived By The Hitman: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance
Standalone Novellas
His Long Island Iced Tea
Excerpt From Dirty Indiscretions
Excerpt from Dirty Indiscretions: A Dark Mafia Romance (Book 1)
I walked around the spacious room, keeping an eye on the guests. I could think of a dozen things off the top of my head, that I would rather be doing, but it was part my job description, apparently.
I wasn’t a guy that liked to wear suits, but I'd had to get used to it with the crowd I ran with. Still, dealing with the upper crust wasn’t a part of my job that I liked. I was supposed to be there to enjoy the events, not working; but I couldn’t help but act as a lookout. The party was boring, anyway.
And then she caught my eye, and I had second thoughts.
Tall, slim, in a close-fitting black dress with a slit up the side that stopped high on her thigh, showing a mile of pale, toned leg. The dress had a 'V' neckline, down the front and back, that showed, even more, skin, so pale that the contrast against the dark dress was striking. The hem nearly swept the floor, even with her high heels. Her dark brown hair was held back by pins on one side so that it hung down her back and onto her opposite shoulder. I wasn’t close enough to see her eyes, but I thought with her coloring, they would be a dark color like her hair, maybe brown.
She wasn’t the best dressed, nor was she the skimpiest dressed woman in the room, I could see that with just a cursory look around. Yet, when I took my eyes off her to do just that, I found my attention skittering back to her.
I didn’t think I knew her. That wouldn’t be surprising; I didn’t know a lot of the people at this party, considering I was technically just the help. But I'd been to enough of these parties that I knew the crowd my boss ran with.
Intrigued, I followed her around the room. She interested me more than most, because unlike everybody else, she didn’t find a group and stand around chatting with them. Instead, she moved around the room, never sticking to one group long, always with a glass of champagne in her hand that she never drank from, though she brought it to her lips a couple of times, only to be 'distracted' and forget about it again. I noticed, that in all the stops she made, she didn’t speak to anyone.
I narrowed my eyes.
I looked around. Everyone was busy, making polite conversation and whatever else those rich types did when they got together at a party. I caught sight of my boss on the other side of the room and decided that for once, he wasn’t doing anything shady. No one was paying attention to things they shouldn’t, yet this woman didn’t look like she was paying attention to anything specifically.
Trying not to act suspicious, I moved into her orbit. She wasn’t following a pattern, but I'd gotten good at maneuvering this sort of shindig.
I was lucky enough to have her coming closer to me. No one was close enough to pay any notice to either one of us. I couldn’t resist the urge to move and intercept her circuit.
She looked up, almost surprised, to see me. I'd seen her moving with single-minded focus, despite how randomly she seemed to move, so I wasn’t sure I bought that she was surprised to run into me.
"Please, forgive me for interrupting you, ma'am, but I couldn’t help but notice you and get a little curious." I gave her a genuine-looking smile, playing the part of a young gentleman.
It was almost laughable.
The surprised look was instantaneously replaced by something gracious, a small smile curving her lips. "Think nothing of it. Who, if I may ask, do I have the pleasure of conversing with?"
She held her hand out to me, the curl of her lips turning up into something like mirth. Feeling amusement curve my own mouth in response, I took her hand and brought it to my lips, kissing the back of it. Her dark eyes watched me, intent on mine.
"Luke Bable. But please, call me Luke."
Bable, technically, wasn’t my real name, but it was the name I’d taken when I’d left my old life after being recruited. It was a safe enough name to use, the few times I’d had to introduce myself to people because Luke Bable did not exist.
The pretty lady in front of me didn’t need to know all that, though.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Luke. I am Elda Abba. But you can call me Elda," she added, her smile turning into a smirk.
"Elda," I repeated, curling my tongue around the name. Her eyes grew slightly darker in fascination, and I felt almost smug. Her last name was foreign, but I couldn’t begin to think from where. "Well, Elda. I was wondering if you would mind accompanying me."
I tugged her closer by the hand, pulling it around my elbow and flattening my hand over hers on my arm. She moved without resistance.
"Should I be worried? A strange man comes up to me and asks me to accompany him. It's suspicious, no?"
I chuckled, keeping my voice low. "It’s a private party. Trust me, everyone is vetted for these things. We're both here, so you should have nothing to worry about," I said pointedly.
Her lashes lowered to cover her eyes, lips pursing. "As you say," she murmured, diplomatically.
I pulled her with me and she followed. We avoided other guests and the staff. The room was quite large and littered with guests, but I didn’t need to take her from it.
Instead, I dragged her over to a corner that left us out of view from most of the room, and the section that could still see us weren’t going to be considering dark corners unless they wanted some action for themselves. But this crowd was much too classy for something like that.
&n
bsp; I stopped her there, turning so we were facing each other and took a quick glance around, just to be sure.
"Are we here for any reason in particular?" she sounded amused.
I decided to be blunt. "I need to frisk you."
Just about any other person would have been annoyed or insulted. No one got frisked at these parties, they were checked before they got this far. This woman was a little special, though.
"Is there any particular reason?" she murmured, looking up at me from under her lashes, but I thought her amusement only grew.
"I never saw your name on the guest list."
She gave a Gallic shrug. "Maybe I was invited last minute and my name isn’t on it."
I smiled tightly, repeating, "Just the same, Miss Abba, I'm going to need to frisk you."
"There's no reason you can't still call me Elda." She tugged her hand away from me and I didn’t stop her. "And of course, you can frisk me. For purely security reasons."
I narrowed my eyes on her. "Are you laughing at me, Elda?"
"I wouldn’t dream of it, Luke."
I was sure she was, though.
She took a step back and raised her arms from her sides, arching an eyebrow at me, her look practically daring me to go ahead.
I couldn’t help the suspicion. These parties had such tight security, even I was impressed. No one not on the list—prepared weeks in advance, should have been able to bypass it. How she got in, I didn’t know, but I didn't think asking would get me anywhere. She'd just deny, deny, deny.
Or, if she was especially good, she'd have an airtight excuse.
Triple Threat: A Dark Romance (Deadly Passion Series Book 3) Page 12