Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“I know it was you.”
His expression changes. Every hint of the charming playboy slides away, and I’m staring at a chiseled face as cold and deadly as the barrel of a rifle. This is the real Rex Roy. The magnate who owns half the city. Because in this modern world, that’s how you accumulate power. He’s a businessman who’s made himself into a force to be reckoned with. A man you don’t cross.
And also a killer.
“Do you, Inara?”
I love my name on his lips, so I tell him, “It’s Detective Ramos.”
“It is?” His fingers caress mine. He’s still holding my hand, and his touch is everything. It’s everything I’ve wanted for so long.
I thrust his hand away and step back. We’re still inches apart, face to face, but I find my anger and center myself. I’ve sacrificed everything to hunt for justice. I can’t let him thwart me now. “I know you did it.”
He tilts his head. “Do you have proof?”
I refuse to let him put me off balance. If he’s ten steps ahead, he might have used his connections to get his hands on details of the case. He has the chief’s ear. But he might not know about the security tape footage. Or the way I clocked the similar rope patterns.
Or maybe he knows everything, and he knows I’ve got squat. Nothing to tie him to the case beyond a feeling in my gut.
“I will. And when I do. . .”
He laughs softly, and the sound makes my toes curl in my new, uncomfortable heels.
“I have no doubt you will do your best, Detective.” As soon as he says my title, I miss him saying my name. “I look forward to watching you work the case.”
So he is watching me. All those times I felt like someone was following me. . . I stiffen my spine. “I look forward to seeing you—” I catch myself before I say behind bars. We’re at a charity ball, for Gods’ sake. To raise money for the NRPD. I can’t go screaming accusations at the host.
Not until I have evidence that he hunted and slaughtered two men.
On the other side of the orchestra, the man in the gray suit is still watching us. His attention didn’t waver when the rest of the room looked away. And it’s more than a gossip’s interest. He could be a reporter—or a TV personality. He’s handsome enough and very well-dressed.
Rex catches me staring and turns, seeking his quarry. He finds it, and his muscles harden under the fine wool of his tux.
The man in the gray suit takes the brunt of Rex’s glare with a slight smile. He salutes Rex with his empty whiskey glass, turns and disappears into the crowd.
“Who was that?” I ask.
“No one you should concern yourself with.” Rex faces me again, shifting so his broad shoulders block out the rest of the room. It makes me feel safe—and angry. How dare he try to protect me, this man who kills so easily.
“Don’t—” I burst out, wanting to chew him out for presuming to tell me who I should or shouldn’t be concerned with.
He places a finger on my lips. “Not here.” Before I can bite his finger off, he dips his head closer, and his scent swirls around me, his voice captivating. “Club Empire, midnight. I’ll be waiting.”
I choke on a sudden swell of desire.
He pulls back, straightening his lapels. Slipping back into his role as host.
“You have questions. I have answers. I’ll see you at midnight.” He catches my hand and skims his lips across my knuckles before striding off. Leaving me breathless.
Him
My fingers tingle where I touched her. I laid my hand on her back and held her. And she let me.
Her subtle fragrance clings to me. Jasmine. I bring my sleeve to my face and inhale.
“Rex,” someone’s calling me. Some socialite in a crowd of fake faces. I ignore them all. They’re as shallow as a petri dish, their sins too boring to catalog. They’re not even good for hunting.
Unlike my little bird. She’s real. And she knows the real Rex Roy. Out of all these people clamoring for my attention, she alone senses the danger. She alone is smart enough to run.
Fly fast and fly far, little bird. This time, you won’t escape me.
Years of searching. Months of planning. And finally, she’s going to be mine. . .
13
Inara
I argue with myself all the way to the club.
What am I doing? This is crazy. A sane person wouldn’t be en route to a kink club to confront a murderer.
But I have no choice.
And. . . I want to see him. The moment our hands touched, I was lost. Lost to sensation and need. Lost to him.
I can’t lose my grip like this. I have to pull myself together and prepare for battle.