by Mia Knight
He knew. “What did you do to Kiki?” She wouldn’t have given that information willingly…
“She’s fine.”
“What did you do to her?”
Angel kept swinging his glasses casually, as if their discussion was as mundane as the weather. “I drugged her.”
She couldn’t believe her ears. “You what?”
“I drugged her.”
“Why?”
“I needed to know who her partner was.”
“How dare you! You have no right—”
“It’s my business to know who’s behind a business that blackmails influential people. It’s also my business to know who has financed so many projects in the valley and desperately wants to remain silent.” He cocked his head to the side. “Why so secretive, Carmen?”
“None of your business,” she hissed.
“Hiding your intelligence so everyone underestimates you?”
He saw too fucking much, which pissed her off. She was none of his business. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know the dirty secrets of every politician, cop, banker or businessman who has the money to enter your establishment. You think I wouldn’t turn Red Diamond upside down and find out who runs it? You don’t know me at all.”
“Gavin didn’t do that!”
“He trusted the establishment because Vinny vouched for it. Things change. I’m starting from the ground up. No one’s safe, no one’s trustworthy, no one gets a pass. You should be happy Kiki dropped your name, or I would have pushed her a little further to make sure she wasn’t lying to me.”
“Happy? You fucking drugged her!”
“It could have been much worse. That’s how Vinny knew so much, right? You were feeding him information.”
For the first time in a long time, she was speechless. She knew not to take anyone at face value, but she had grossly miscalculated Angel Roman, and it might cost her everything. His calm delivery as he dissected her world made her see red. The fact that Angel visited the Red Diamond within a week of becoming the crime lord, armed with drugs and God knew what else was alarming in the extreme. He would turn the city upside down.
“If you touch my businesses,” she began, but stopped when she heard the rumble of voices as Gavin, Blade, and Lyla entered the house. “Did you tell him?”
Angel’s eyes gleamed. “Not yet.”
She stuck her finger under his nose. “My investments are none of his business, and if I find out that you hurt Kiki, I’ll kill you!”
Angel stared at her lips. “Have dinner with me.”
“What?”
“Come to dinner with me, and I won’t tell Gavin you’re the silent partner for a whorehouse masquerading as a gentlemen’s club.”
“Suck my dick,” she hissed and backed away as Gavin’s voice carried toward them.
Angel chuckled. “Don’t tempt me.”
Gavin strolled into the living room while Lyla and Blade rummaged in the fridge for something to eat. Gavin stopped and glanced from one to the other suspiciously before he focused on Angel. “All set?”
Angel nodded without taking his eyes from Carmen. “Yeah.”
“Everything going smoothly?”
“For the most part. There have been some bumps in the road.” Angel raised a brow at Carmen. “Some very lovely bumps, but I’ve got it under control. You weren’t kidding when you said the natives are wild.”
Her hands fisted at her sides. He was baiting her. She wanted to stomp his foot with her stilettos, knock those sunglasses out of his hand, and knee him in the balls, but then he would definitely tell Gavin her secrets. Gavin might be out of the underworld, but he still had the status and power to crush whoever he wished. If he knew she was part owner of the Red Diamond, he would find out that she was CM Enterprises, which owned several properties he operated out of. Fucking Angel. He would ruin everything. Gavin would use her businesses as leverage to make her dance to his tune.
“Where you been?” Gavin asked.
“I’ve been making my way down your list. Chasing some of these guys down has taken me to some clubs, offices, homes …” His eyes glittered, and his smile widened. “The most interesting place by far was the Red Diamond.”
Gavin grunted. “Used to be a dive before new management spruced it up. It brings in boatloads of money. Their New Year’s Eve parties are more popular than some of mine. You find out anything interesting?”
Angel gave her an expectant look. “I ran into Carmen when I was there.”
Her heart sank as Gavin rounded on her.
“Carmen.”
His voice was disapproving and didn’t bode well for her. Normally, she would smile and flip her hair at him, but she couldn’t. Her investments were owned by friends and acquaintances who didn’t need Gavin Pyre showing up on their doorstep. Fucking Angel. What the hell did he want from her?
“Carmen,” Gavin said through clenched teeth.
“Huh?” She gave him a deliberately unconcerned look.
“What business did you have at Red Diamond?”
Angel snorted. “Business? I think it was more—”
“Weren’t you on your way out, Angel?” she interrupted.
He shrugged as he continued to swing his sunglasses. “I have time.”
“Not if I’m going with you,” she said and slid her arm through his and pulled him toward the exit. “See ya, Gavin.”
“You two are leaving together?”
Gavin sounded alarmed. Angel laughed, and she dug her nails into his bicep in warning.
“We’re having dinner,” she said with a wave.
“I don’t think—” Gavin began.
She hauled the door open and shoved Angel out. “I’m sure you have much more pressing things to do like run your company, get Lyla pregnant again, or kill people so don’t worry about us.”
Gavin took a step after them. “I don’t—”
She swung around. “Do you want me to move back in?”
Gavin stopped in his tracks and scowled. “No.”
“Then butt out,” she said and gave him a sugary sweet smile as she slammed the door.
“You two have an odd relationship,” Angel observed.
She growled in his face before she stalked to her Aston Martin. No man had ever turned the tables on her, and she didn’t like it worth a damn. Fuck Angel. When she reached for the driver’s door, she found herself being pushed aside.
“Nice ride. I’m driving.”
She whirled around. “I’m not going to dinner with you!” she bellowed.
Angel turned back to the house. She jumped on his back and put him in a chokehold.
“I have a gun in my purse, and I know how to use it,” she hissed.
“Good. It’ll come in handy.” He walked to the passenger side of the Aston and untangled himself with an ease that infuriated her. He settled her in the passenger seat before he got into the driver’s side. He paused a moment to survey the car. “You have excellent taste.”
Of course, she did. “You can’t force me to go to dinner with you.”
He started the car. “Of course, I can. Besides, I already have a reservation.”
“You think blackmailing me to go to dinner with you is going to make me put out? You’re out of your damn mind.”
“Who said anything about sex?”
She turned toward him in the seat, ready to shout, but whatever she would have said was drowned out by the roar of the Aston.
“Buckle up,” he said.
He drove as recklessly as she did, so she saw the wisdom in doing as he suggested. It took less than two minutes for them to be on the open road. The Aston ate up the pavement as the last rays of light left the sky. She glared at Angel who switched gears efficiently, smoothly. This was her car, so why the fuck was he driving? This couldn’t be happening to her. She called the shots in her life, not anyone else, especially a slick crime lord from New York!
“You’re going to reg
ret this,” she promised.
“I can’t wait.” He clucked his tongue. “This really is a beautiful car.”
“What do you want, Angel?”
“Why don’t you want Gavin to know you’re a silent partner for the Red Diamond? I’m surprised you care what he thinks. Is it because it’s a strip club?”
“It’s not a strip club, it’s a gentlemen’s club, and Gavin knew me when I was a stripper. I don’t care what he thinks. I just don’t want him interfering.”
“Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right. Every one of your investments yielded a double return. Why would he interfere?”
She stared straight ahead with her hands clasped between her legs so she wouldn’t hit him and wreck her new car.
“He’s the one you want to underestimate you. Why?”
He was using an off the charts intuition that was stripping her bare, and she didn’t like the sensation. In one week, Angel Roman uncovered more about her than anyone ever had, even her parents. Her relationship with Gavin was complicated, unpleasant, and filled with old hurts that would never go away. They rarely saw eye to eye, and he was manipulative and ruthless enough to use anything to make her come to heel. “That’s none of your business.”
“I know enough for now,” Angel said. “And I have no interest in your businesses as long as they cooperate.”
“We always have,” she gritted.
“I’m just making the rounds, introducing myself.”
“And drugging them.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes I pull out my gun; sometimes I shake hands. I usually let them lead. Kiki showed me her gun, so I showed her mine.” He took his eyes off the road and shot her a veiled look. “Mine was bigger. If she’d been a man, she would have met a different fate. Instead, she visited La-La Land for a couple of hours.”
Hearing that Kiki tried to defend herself mollified her a little. She pulled her cell phone and gun out of her purse. Angel hummed under his breath and tapped the wheel along to the beat playing in his head. Obviously, he was off his rocker. She dialed Kiki’s number and waited for her to answer. On the last ring, she heard a weary, “Hey, babe.”
“Tell me you’re okay,” she demanded, fingers tightening around the gun.
“I’m okay. Are you?”
“Me? Of course. I didn’t get fucking drugged! Did he do anything else to you?”
“No, but Carmen, I told him everything.” Kiki sounded uncharacteristically shaken. “I don’t know what he gave me. I’m so sorry. I can’t even remember everything I said—”
“It’s okay. Did you go to the doctor? Do you need some time off? I can—”
“No, I’m fine. The next day, I felt like I had a hangover. He told me not to contact you, that he’d handle you himself. I’ve been so worried.”
She glared at Angel who continued to use her steering wheel as a drum. Crazy fuck. “I’m fine. I’ll kill him.”
“Carmen,” Kiki said sharply, “don’t. No harm, no foul.”
“He drugged you!” she shouted.
Angel didn’t flinch, but he rolled down his window to drown out her voice.
“I’m fine. I would have done the same if I was in his position.”
Kiki was justifying his actions? She closed her eyes as her temples throbbed. She tapped her forehead with the gun, and it was snatched out of her hand.
“Be careful,” Angel admonished.
“I’m fine,” Kiki reiterated in her ear.
“Let me know if he fucks with you again,” she ordered before she hung up. She leaned back against the door and turned in his direction with her arms crossed. “How did you know Kiki had a silent partner?”
“Bank records,” Angel said as he rolled up the window.
She stiffened. “I’m not on the bank records.”
“I know, but the quarterly payments she did to an off-shore account got my attention.”
Her nails dug into her skin. He knew everything. “What do you want?”
He glanced at her. “I want a lot of things, but right now, I’m focused on information.”
“Information about what?”
“Everything. I want to know everything there is about everyone in this city.”
“That’s impossible.”
He shrugged. “Well, not everyone, just the ones who have ties to the underworld. I didn’t hurt your friend more than necessary. Why do you think I drugged her? Less effort, more forthcoming answers. Easy.”
“You can’t do this!”
He slanted her a glance devoid of amusement. “I can do whatever I want. That’s a crime lord’s right. He doesn’t ask; he takes. You know this. You were married to one.”
“For a week,” she said through clenched teeth.
“No matter. You’ve been on the outskirts of the underworld your whole life. Once you know me better, you’ll understand how I work.”
“I don’t want to get to know you.”
“You do,” he said with such confidence that her hands balled into fists.
“I don’t.”
“If I touched you right now, you wouldn’t be wet?”
Her mouth dropped. “You conceited jackass! Pull over so I can beat your ass.”
He laughed. “As much as I’d like to see you try, we have reservations and can’t be late.”
He was unbelievable.
They left the barren desert behind and entered the city, which was lit up and buzzing. He coasted down The Strip, and her car drew a lot of attention. She glared at Angel who waved at a bunch of teenagers drooling over the Aston. She was trying to strategize an escape plan, but that went out the window he turned off the bustling Strip. He cruised down a deserted street she wouldn’t be caught dead on. The difference one street made off The Strip was unbelievable. Most of the stores had bars on the windows and looked abandoned.
Angel pulled into the deserted parking lot of a nude bar. The sign out front said, “The Pussycat,” but only “The Pussy” was lit.
“This is a joke, right?” she asked as Angel slid out of the car.
He crouched down to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“This is where you had reservations?”
“Yeah.”
“Nude bars don’t have reservations!”
“This one does, and I don’t want to be late.” He shrugged back his sleeve to look at his watch. “I heard the wings here are amazing.”
She looked around the empty parking lot and street. Anyone with an ounce of common sense wouldn’t drive down this lane for fear of being shot or assaulted. Her skin prickled just sitting in the car. She felt as if they were being watched.
“I’m not going in there,” she said.
Angel closed the door and rounded the car. Belatedly, she tried to lock the doors, but she wasn’t fast enough. He opened her door and pulled her out. She stared at the dirty building, which made her skin itch.
“I can smell the STDs from here,” she said.
“You’re probably right. Don’t fuck anyone but me then.”
While she was trying to think of something scathing to say, he opened her purse and peered inside.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she snatched it from him.
“Phone, condoms, and a gun. My kind of girl.”
“I’m not leaving my brand-new car out here! It’s going to get stolen or vandalized.”
He slid his arm over her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it.”
She shoved at him and got nowhere. “Don’t tell me not to worry. I paid three hundred thousand for it!”
“It’ll be fine.”
“You’re insane. Fine. Tell Gavin my secrets. I don’t give a shit. I’m not going in there. I just bought these shoes, which will be covered in piss and jizz and God knows what else if I walk in there!” She pawed through her purse for her phone. “Here, call him. See if I care. You can suck my—”
Angel grabbed her phone, tossed it on the seat, and slammed the door.
“Wh
at’s your deal?” she shouted and stomped her foot. “You want to get off at a nude bar? Be my guest. Me? I got better things to do like watch my hair grow! I danced at the Red Diamond, but this isn’t my fucking scene. And if you think I’m the type of woman who will let you—”
Angel leaned down and hauled her over one shoulder. She screeched and slammed her purse against his ass.
“I’m going to kill you!”
He set her down in front of the door and pinned her against it. She raised furious eyes to his and froze. The easygoing façade was gone. His body was tense and revved up against hers. Her heart leaped into her throat. He wouldn’t—
“Why did you dance at the Red Diamond?” he asked.
She blinked. “What?”
“Why’d you do it?”
“I don’t understand—”
“Just answer.”
“Because I wanted to!” she snapped. She was scared, excited, and confused as shit.
“You like the stage, the attention, the power. That’s why you did it, right? You like the adrenaline rush.”
She stared at him. “Are you gonna sell me or something? I’m not a whore.”
His mouth quirked. “No, you’re not. This would be easier if you were.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
His eyes hardened. “I’m gonna give you the high you’re looking for.”
Her heart skipped. “What? I don’t—”
He leaned in so close their lips brushed as he said, “Keep close.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
12
Angel clasped her hand and pulled her inside. She blinked hastily to adjust her eyes to the darkness. The only light came from the stage where two nude women danced not to music but a monotonous, relentless bass. The club was cluttered with empty tables and chairs. She glanced at the unmanned bar and then grimaced at the booth Angel stopped in front of.
“Get in,” Angel said.
“I don’t—”
Angel pushed her in and followed. She glared as he made himself comfortable. This place was a fucking dump. She didn’t dare touch the table, which looked as if it had a month’s worth of grime on it. She could just imagine what she was sitting on. She kept her back ramrod straight so her new sweater wouldn’t touch the booth, which was no doubt filthy. At first, she thought they were the only ones in the bar, but she was mistaken. Against the walls, she could make out the figures of other men slouched in booths.