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“I fucked up with Grace one time. She was done with me. A puppy got me in the front door. The thing about puppies is they melt the worst anger.”

“You just told me you couldn’t find Haley—”

Ice raised a brow at him. “The puppy isn’t meant for Haley.”

“Then who …” Desmond began nodding when understanding dawned on him. “Nadia.”

“Got it in two. Good job.”

Texting his pilot, Desmond stood, setting his glass aside. “Make sure it doesn’t piss on my leather chair while I go pack a suitcase.”

Ten minutes later, he came back to see Ice was outside on the front lawn with the puppy.

“Come with me to the airport. You can come back for your motorcycle.”

“You can’t drive yourself?”

“I am driving. You’re going along to hold the puppy. I don’t want my upholstery scratched.”

Inside the car, Desmond caught the smug smile Ice was giving him.

“What?”

“Nothing, just happy this is the last puppy in the litter. Had the mom spayed so she won’t be having any more.” Ice patted the wiggling puppy’s head before lifting it up in the air to face toward him. “It’s a female, and the last of the litter.”

“You said that.”

“Females are more expensive.”

“You want me to pay for the dog, despite the amount of money I’ve paid you over the last three months, and you have come up with jack shit results.”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“A couple grand should make Grace happy. She wanted to keep this one.”

Desmond pursed his lips into a thin line. “I’ll have Lucas bring you the cash.”

“Cool.”

They were nearing the airport when another realization dawned on him. “You could have come up with this suggestion a couple of months ago.”

“Could have,” Ice said, giving a predatory smile. “But I had to wait for it to be born, and then to be weaned off the mother.”

“Any dog would have done it.”

“How would it have benefited me?”

* * *

Nadia came out of the house as he opened the back door to remove the dog carrier. Holding the carrier, he walked it to a fuming woman who was glaring at him as if she wanted to stick a stake through his heart.

“I told you to stop coming here. I’m not going to tell you where Haley is!”

Desmond raised the carrier in front of his chest. “I brought you a present.”

Nadia stared at him suspiciously. “What is it?”

“Open it and see.”

Opening the small metal door, Desmond watched Nadia’s furious face switch to unrestrained joy.

“Aw … He’s so sweet.”

The puppy, grateful for being released, began licking Nadia’s chin.

“He’s a girl.”

“You’re giving her to me?”

“If you give me Haley’s address.”

Her eyes turned into slits.

“Dante!” Nadia screamed.

Alarmed at the explosion of sound that Nadia screeched, Desmond tried to calm her.

“There’s no need to call for Dante.”

“Help, Dante!”

Desmond took one look at the men coming out the door, Dante among them, and decided never to take Ice’s advice again.

Getting back into the car, he drove away, leaving the group outside eating his dust. He thought the bastard had retired. What did he interrupt, a fucking family reunion?

Making sure he wasn’t being followed by the goon squad he had left behind, Desmond pulled over to think of his options. His first plan of action was to find a place to stay in Kansas City. The red carpet wouldn’t be rolled out at the casino hotel anytime soon. Second, he was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. Fuck that. He had to go back to the way of thinking like when he had been desperate and was willing to live life on the edge.

Coming to a conclusion of what to do, he started driving again. First things first, he needed a place to live. He Googled the closest realtor then keyed the address into the GPS. Finding the realtor was easy; convincing the agent that he only had two items on his must-have list—an isolated house with no neighbors—was the hard part.

Using all the charm available to him, and several high-profile names as references, Desmond walked out with three addresses on his phone to be looked at. That the realtor had refused to go alone with him until another one agreed to go with her didn’t place a dent in his pride. He didn’t have any left. Haley had taken it all with her.

Thirty-Five

A burst of wind sent the trees overhead of her swaying, red, orange, and gold leaves floating down. Haley loved this time of year and enjoyed the sight of the leaf-covered sidewalk she was walking down. It was mid-day, during the middle of the week, so, many residents in the neighborhood wouldn’t be hastening to rake the leaves until the weekend. Wanting the exercise and fresh air, she had walked the mile to the small grocery store instead of driving.

No longer given curious looks or probing questions when venturing out, she had started broadening her horizons and gone into other shops.