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“You first,” Ilsa said. “You dragged us in here.”

He chuckled. “Draggedseems like an exaggeration. I…” he circled his hand in the air, searching for the words, “… invited you without option.”

“Diplomatic,” Ilsa murmured, and credit to her, she didn’t flinch when he slowly removed his sunglasses and danger flashed across his dark eyes. They were so dark, almost black, the pupil nearly indistinguishable from the iris. The sunglasses made sense—the reveal of those eyes would be a hell of an interrogation technique. He didn’t look human even in his human form, his eyes offering a supernatural quality to his appearance. He’d be handsome if he didn’t make my skin crawl.

He looked like fucking evil incarnate, and that was coming fromme.

“Emrick,” he said as he stood, placing a hand on his chest. “Please, sit down.”

“I think we’d rather stand.”

He studied Ilsa under his brow before closing the gap between them with a handful of casual strides. Nothing about Emrick said that he was in a hurry, buteverythingscreamed that we were lucky simply to be alive in his presence.

Who the fuck was this guy?

He towered over Ilsa when they stood toe to toe, his chest heaving with every breath as though he was trying to control his patience.

Ilsa didn’t know what he was or the fire she was playing with. How could she?

“Ilsa…” I started.

“Sit!” Emrick barked.

This time, Ilsa flinched before glaring at me as though her reaction was my fault. She eyed Emrick for a beat longer, staking her claim on the floor she stood on before slowly and without dropping his eye contact, moved and sat in the only single chair opposite his.

Emrick waited until I was seated on the couch before he returned to his spot, crossing one ankle over his knee and picking up a glass, swirling the contents while watching us.

When he smiled, it somehow made him look more dangerous.

“Why were you watching my club?” he asked, still looking at the contents of his glass. I got the impression he didn’t deem us worth his time.

I looked at Ilsa for guidance and found none as she was still staring hard at Emrick. “Information,” she said. “Someone tried to kill us, and I thought you might know who.”

“Why would I know that?”

“Because it has to do with the destruction of businesses that’s been going on around here.”

His eyes flashed with amusement, but when his gaze fell to me, I resisted the urge to shudder under his stare. He was all things darkness and power. A history of anger and pain lingered behind those eyes. Although he laughed as he indicated to me with his drink, splashing a portion of it onto the expensive carpet, I could feel it.

Hehatedme.

“Oh.” He chuckled, waiting for the murmuring laughter from his comrades to die down. “You’re the demon who’s been burning down places.” He eyed me again, and I frowned at him. “And very carefully not killing anyone,” he muttered.

Ilsa said nothing, and I wondered if she put two and two together about his awareness of the rules I was bound by. I could hardly ask her. Slowly, he returned his gaze to Ilsa, holding it for a beat before looking back at me.

Apparently, once he realized who and what I was, he didn’t deem talking to Ilsa worth his time.

Surely, he felt my presence when I entered?

Was I that weak to him?

“What’s this human to you?” he asked. “A fuck toy?”

“Fuck you,” Ilsa spat out, her cheeks flaming with rage as Emrick chuckled again. Placing his glass on a table, he snapped his fingers, and the bouncer closest to the door disappeared down the stairs, again locking the door behind him.

“I don’t know for sure who tried to kill you, but I know who it was likely to have been.”

“Who?” I asked.