Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Soren was hiding some dirty ones of his own.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Soren
“Shit,” I hissed as I saw the name on my phone screen.
He was the last person I wanted to think about.
Especially after seeing dread on Saff’s face as Teresa moved into the elevator with her; then the smug satisfaction on Teresa’s face as she came back a few moments later.
It didn’t take a genius to know that something had gone down there.
The last thing I needed was tension between the two women in my life.
One, because I wasn’t sure my business could function without Teresa. And two, because Saff was finally starting to keep her walls down around me.
I was getting to see the fun and silly sides of her—once walking out of the building in the morning after she’d left to find her a half-a-block away baby-talking the pigeons sitting on the back of a bench, or dancing around my kitchen to some horrible aughts pop hit, not even stopping when she saw me watching her.
I wanted more of that.
I wanted everything she had to offer.
I didn’t even care anymore about the obvious lies, the secrets she was keeping for reasons I didn’t begin to understand.
I just wanted her. Point blank, period.
Sucking in a deep breath, I swiped the screen.
“Alen,” I said, wincing at the annoyance in my own voice. “I’m surprised to hear from you.”
Since, you know, he was supposed to still be in prison.
“Clearly,” I said, forcing some lightness into my tone.
I might have been sick of him, but I also couldn’t afford to be openly hostile toward him.
“I’m checking out this new club of yours,” he said, making my blood run cold.
He was always going to find out, of course.
But he was supposed to be behind bars for the next decade. Leaving me free to do whatever the hell I needed to do to keep expanding my business empire.
Not even he could fault me for that.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “We haven’t released the press briefing yet.”
“And yet, here it is. I like the marble floors.”
Oh, fuck.
He was literally checking out the club.
I was rushing out the door before I could talk myself out of it.
There were security cameras at the club, for fuck’s sake. Ones that Saff had installed, so I assumed she had access to. And if she saw some strange guy walking around, she was going to call the cops.
That was the last thing in the world I needed.
“You gonna be there for a bit?” I asked, ignoring Teresa as I flew into the elevator, jabbing the close door button as my heartbeat tripped into overdrive.
“Still got some looking around to do,” he said.
“Want some company?”
He had no choice.
I ran down the block, locating Calvin where he was parked, windows twitching in their frames from his music.
I pressed the phone to my chest to slam my hand into the door, making Calvin jump and turn off the music.
“Brooklyn. And do me a favor and don’t talk for a bit,” I said, getting a nod out of him.
His whole posture changed, tightened, likely picking up on my tension.
“Yeah, I think we have some catching up to do. It’s been a while.”
I didn’t like something I heard in his tone.
But I tamped down the churning sensation in my stomach that I knew as fear and forced my voice to be calm and light.
“Yeah, man. I’m on my way. It’s a bit of a haul from my office. So it’ll be about a half an hour or so.”
“I’ve got nothing but time now,” Alen said.
There was a shuffling sound, followed by a muffled ‘nuh uh uh,’ like he’d pressed the phone to his chest to not be heard.
What was he doing?
Was I walking into some sort of trap?
I wouldn’t put it past Alen to get violent. I mean, he had that reputation. But he’d never laid a hand on me.
Still, there was a first time for everything.
And this current Alen wasn’t the same friend of mine who’d given me a way off the streets, who’d helped me slowly become the man I was today.
True, his ‘help’ had never been free.
But up until this point, it had never been violent.
That said, he’d been unraveling for years.
There’d been a time when his arrest would have gutted me.
All I felt when it had happened, though, was relief.
It was all finally over.
Until his name was on my screen.
I should have known better than to celebrate too early.
Alen Hakobyan was like nonstick cookware. Toxic as fuck. And so slippery that nothing ever stuck to him. Especially not charges. He had one of the best criminal attorneys around.
I would know.
It was my money that paid for her.
“Good then. I’m on my way. Wouldn’t you rather meet somewhere else? Somewhere we could get some food or a drink?”
Anywhere but at the club where Saff might see him and call the cops. Or, worse yet, investigate herself.