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I frowned in thought, then pulled my phone out and texted Reid, disregarding the swoop my stomach gave when I opened her chat. “Remind me to tell you about Paulo’s,” I murmured out loud as I typed, quickly locking and pocketing my phone before she could read the text.

I glanced up at the setting sun with a sudden sense of foreboding gripping my chest. I hadn’t realized how late it had gotten.

“What a surprise, little Mia.”

I knew that voice. It still haunted my nightmares.

Like a bucket of ice water was dumped over me, my entire body locked up and the lunch Mom cooked sat in my throat.

“Donnie,” I breathed, turning to find him standing a few feet behind me.

He slunk forward, his smile serpentine as his eyes drank me in.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think.

“I’m so flattered that you remember me after all these years,” he drawled, the click of his heeled shoes deafening in the otherwise eerily quiet street.

“What do you want?” I choked out.

“Well.” He sighed, inspecting the gold ring on his pinky finger with obvious disinterest. “When you broke your contract with me, I lost out on quite a lot of money. And even after all these years, I still haven’t gotten a single cent of compensation from you.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“Oh, but you do.” He chuckled. “All of my best customers were very,veryupset to find out that their favorite product was suddenly off the market.”

“Fuck you,” I spat, my hands curled into fists at my sides.

“If you insist,” he sneered. “But I have other matters to attend to.”

“How did you find me?”

He stopped barely a foot away from me, and the smell of his pungent cologne alone was enough to twist my gut.

“You didn’t really think I’d stop keeping tabs on you, did you?” He snickered. “Running to America only removed you from my sight, but I never lost track of you, Kitten.”

“Don’t call me that,” I whimpered, hating how unsteady my words were.

“But you were always my Kitten.” He frowned, but his frown quickly morphed to a smirk once more. “Cutting and running without even telling me won’t change that. Nor will the years you’ve spent in hiding.”

“I was never youranything,” I hissed, hating the tears that sprung to my eyes. I hated him, hated the deep-seated, primal fear he struck into my very soul, hated how easily he had me trembling with just a few words.

I hated myself for my own past; a past I could never change. And, according to Donnie, never run away from either.

He stepped closer, the distance between us disappearing, and grabbed hold of my chin. His fingers dug into my jaw, almost prying my mouth open, and he leaned in far too close.

“You willalwaysbe my whore,” he murmured. “If you don’t pay me what you owe me, I’ll just have to tell your lovely new boss all about your dirty past.”

Chapter 24

Something Amiss

REID

“You’vehadmeonthe phone for hours, Reid.” Alex yawned. “Is there a point to this impromptu freak out session you’ve roped me into?”

Somehow, I’d known that calling Alex about my latest crisis would do more harm than good, and yet I found myself craving my best friend’s presence. I wished she’d at least been here to club me over the head for my stupidity.

“If you’d rather not hear about my most recent fuck up, then I could always call Hayden instead,” I scoffed, my heart hammering wildly anyway.