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“The highlighted sections inBlack Silk. Very educational.”

Oh, shit.Black Silkis an erotic romance I bought after breaking up with Travis. I’ll tell you, he’s not wrong...itwasenlightening.

“I . . . uh . . . that one wasn’t meant to get in there.”

“No doubt. I’ll take more of those if you have them. Thenon-fiction nearly sent me to sleep.”

He liked it?

“Umm, sure. I’ll bring some down later.”

He grins up at me, and I head up the stairs, my legs feeling heavier with each step.

Chapter Seven

Austin

As she heads up the creaky, wooden stairs, I can’t help but smile. Her energy was lighter once she’d unloaded some of her concerns about Millie Gilbert and Travis Burns. Yeah, I fucking know their names.

Travis Burns, twenty-eight, currently unemployed. Has a Finance Bro channel that consists of him mostly talking about being an alpha, not realizing that an actual alpha doesn’t need to talk about how much of an alpha he is. Pathetic.

And Millie Gilbert, twenty-two, Fitness Influencer—started her channel six months before Olivia did and has had relative success in the last few months. She’s done well, but Olivia was light on the specifics of Miss Gilbert’s content. She’s fucking rude, shames people on her videos, and does those awful before-and-after shots that only suggest someone’s value lies in their weight, not their happiness, not their confidence, not their personality. Is attraction a thing? Sure. Can I acknowledge that Olivia is beautiful? Absolutely. But if she were as vapid as Miss Gilbert, she’d be fucking ugly.

As the door clicks shut, I wait for the slide of the lock. Once it’s in place, I take out the burner. The battery is getting dangerously low.

“Luca, I’m running out of battery. Give me an update.”

One of the blessings of knowing Luca for so long is that he gets straight to the point.

“I have someone working on a profile for both MillieGilbert and Travis Burns. You’ll know the last time they sneezed by the time we’re done.”

“Good. And no word of this will get back to Danny, correct?” I remind him.

“Yep. He’s working the warehouse this week, so he’s out of the loop, and I let the boys know it’s a need-to-know only.”

“Good, I’m going to need another burner. Do you have the address I gave you yesterday?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Good. Woman living alone, not to be disturbed. This is an in-and-out job. I’ll have the basement window open for you to pass the phone and give me an update on tonight.”

“I’ll be with you before 1 a.m.”

“Get going. Remember, this is a need-to-know only.”

“Boss, quick question?”

Here we go.

“Why the fuck are you choosing to stay in this woman’s basement?”

I inhale slowly, closing my eyes to count to five. Dr. Alfie says ten, but if I did that, I’d spend my whole damn day counting. “I hope no one can fucking hear you right now.”

“Give me some credit, Austin.”

Luca and I grew up together. He calls me boss for show, but I know he’s alone when he calls me Austin.

“Okay, okay. I don’t know, man. I’m following a hunch here.”