Page 27

Julian takes two large strides in my direction, stopping in front of me, keeping his back to Derrick. “Dima knows where you live,” he says in a low tone.

I grip my suitcase handle. “Dima read the contract. He knows I’m not his, so I doubt he’ll mess with me. Plus, it’s not exactly easy to get into my building.”

Well, not easy to get in through the front.

It seemed the employee entrance wasn’t a problem.

“You’re not staying here,” Julian snaps. “Conversation over.”

At this point, I don’t want to stay here alone anyway.

I’ll find somewhere to sleep that isn’t Julian’s.

It’safter two in the morning when Julian helps me load my bags into the Escalade.

This has been the longest night of my life.

Yawning, I shut the door and pull my phone from my purse.

“Who are you texting?” Julian asks, not knowing the concept of privacy as I hit Favorites in my Contacts.

“Darcy,” I answer. “I’ll crash with her tonight.”

“You’re not staying with Darcy.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No,you’re not.”

“Why?”

“Her brother is a fucking creep. I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him because he asked me out.”

Julian only knows this because he overheard me telling Melissa in their living room. He’d left his father’s office, and apparently, he had ears like a hawk. He made a pit stop, told me to stay away from the guy, and left the room.

“That’s one of the reasons,” Julian says. “He’s also a coke-addicted trust-fund kid who’s been arrested twice.”

I lean toward him in my seat and waggle my finger. “Now, if we’re going to talk about criminals, I don’t think you’re on the nice list there either, Mr. Bellini.”

“I’d think you’d be more careful with your words after all you’d witnessed tonight.” He starts the Escalade and drives off.

“Did you know he felt me up once?” I say this to rile Julian up because I don’t like him telling me where I can stay.

“Did you know I kill men who do things I don’t like?”

I snap my mouth shut.

He plucks my phone from my hand and slips it into his pocket. “You can have this back when we’re home.”

I shake my head and mock his tone and words.

He turns to me, and even though I can’t see his face in the dark, I know he’s glaring at me.

“You’ll stay here tonight,” he says when we reach his home. “We’ll discuss our plans tomorrow.”

I have no other options.