Page 5 of Cherished by the Sinners (Sinners Never Die #4)

Darlene

D amn it. She tried to think about what Sam would tell her to do, but nothing came to mind.

Mason started walking toward her and the man holding her arm.

The other people in the room moved as well, coming closer. All of them had the same cold, flat expression on their faces. Like they were a bunch of reptiles and she and Mason were food.

This was bad. So very bad. Everything was going wrong. All thanks to some nasty people. She was so tired of mean, horrible people.

The anger that she’d stuffed down earlier when she grasped how closely Mason and Magnus watched her on the security cameras ignited into a blue flame.

She wasn’t going to let these horrible people hurt Mason. She wasn’t .

Darlene tried to pull her arm away, but the man holding her jerked her back. She went with the motion, turning and lifting her knee into his balls as hard as she could.

He bent, his eyes bugging out, his face a mask of pain.

She thrust her foot behind his leg and pushed him over it, putting all of her body weight behind the shove.

He slammed to the floor, gasping as his breath was knocked out of him.

Everyone in the room stopped where they were, staring at the man on the floor, then at her.

“You dare—” the woman who held her phone began.

“You dare!” Mason shouted.

When Darlene turned her head to look at him, he had a very long knife in each hand. He stalked slowly toward Darlene, stopping only when he was standing next to her.

“You come here, ask for our help, safety, and support, then abuse our people because you’re feeling peckish?” Mason’s voice was low and rough, rolling over the room like a clap of thunder.

Darlene tilted her head to one side. What did peckish mean? Peck, like chickens?

“I should kill you all,” he added, snarling like he’d already decided to do it.

“I’ll help,” said another deep and dangerous voice from the doorway.

Magnus stood there, a sword in his hand. He stepped into the room and behind him, Anna Breznik followed. She didn’t have a weapon, but she looked really unhappy. Her frown sent a shiver up Darlene’s back.

“Darlene?” Anna said in a calm tone that didn’t belong in this room full of threat. “Come here, please.”

Darlene’s feet moved before she consciously knew what she was doing. Anna Breznik had this air about her, like she was in charge and could fix any problem. “Yes, ma’am.”

She stopped in front of Anna, while Magnus joined his brother facing the guests.

Anna smiled. “Please tell me what happened since you entered this suite.”

Darlene took in a deep breath. “I asked permission to enter, and the man on the floor let me in. He followed me as I worked, too close, not at a respectable distance like the Japanese guest did.”

“Oh?” Anna asked, sounding only slightly interested.

“Yes, ma’am. Our Japanese guests were very polite. They asked how I liked working here, one of them even said he liked my singing.”

Anna nodded, glancing at the man on the floor.

Darlene cleared her throat. “Anyway... I asked the man over there to step back to give me more room to work, but he refused. He looked at me like I was... was... dirt under his shoes. Men have looked at me like that before. They always hurt me when they looked like that. I tried to explain that you and Mason and Magnus and all the Brezniks don’t allow anyone to hurt their staff, but he didn’t believe me. ”

Anna looked at Darlene’s arm and pointed at it. “What happened here?”

“He grabbed me,” Darlene said, lifting her arm and seeing the beginning of some bruises. “It hurt. Mason got here and everyone got scary in a hurry. I was afraid that they would attack and hurt him, so I kneed the man holding me and tripped him.”

“You were afraid they would hurt Mason?” Magnus asked, his voice low and quiet.

Darlene wasn’t fooled. He only talked like that when he was furious. “He was outnumbered, and they all looked like street thugs who are about to gang up on someone.”

“Thugs,” Mason said, drawing out the word, then barring his teeth at the guests. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

“We are not thugs,” one of the female guests spat out.

“And yet, that is how you are behaving,” Anna said, studying the guests with a cold gaze.

“Words are meaningless if you act contrary to them. You have all been told of the standard of behavior we demand from everyone, staff and guests. You agreed to follow that standard, yet you treat one of ours like she has no value.”

“She is cleaning,” one of the other female guests said, a frown on her beautiful face. “Is she not below those who speak?”

“No,” Magnus said in his deep rumble. “All of our people hold the same status. If you treat one like shit, you’re treating us all like shit.”

Darlene sucked in a quick breath. Us ?

He was lumping himself, his brother, even his aunt in the same group as herself?

Magnus and Mason whipped their heads around to stare at her.

She took a half step back. Had she made a noise?

Anna’s voice, sharp as shattered glass, drew attention away from Darlene and back to the guests.

“He is right. This is America where all people are equal. That thinking of yours is a relic from a dead social order. You believe she is beneath you, but here, in this hotel, that belief is what makes you inferior.”

“We have,” one of the guests began, stopping in the middle of the sentence to look around. “Made a mistake.” She bowed slightly.

All the other guests bowed as well.

“We apologize to the young lady,” the same guest said, bowing now, toward Darlene.

What was she supposed to do? Bow back? Curtsey? Go back to work? She looked at Mason, raising her eyebrows a little. She didn’t have any cultural experience with people from their part of the world.

He glanced at the guests, then turned back to her and nodded.

Well, that was helpful. Not .

She swallowed and said, “Apology accepted.”

“Excellent,” Anna said, sounding pleased and smiling at everyone.

Everyone, even Mason and Magnus, visibly relaxed.

“Can I finish cleaning the suite?” Darlene asked.

Mason and Magnus frowned at her, then glared at Anna.

She studied them for a moment, then approached Darlene. “Can we speak for a moment, outside?” she gestured toward the doorway.

Darlene’s shoulders dropped as dread sucked out every morsel of confidence she had out of her.

Great, she was getting fired.

“Yes, ma’am,” Darlene said softly, trying to keep from sinking through the floor. She turned and left the suite, her gaze on the carpet. She walked down the hall, stopping next to the elevators.

Darlene turned to face Anna, though she kept her gaze glued to Anna’s chin rather than her eyes. She really didn’t want to see the disappointment she was sure was on the other woman’s face.

“I’m sorry for causing so much fuss,” Darlene said. Maybe an apology would help? “I’m trying hard to do the best job I can.”

A masculine grunt brought Darlene’s head up.

Mason and Magnus had followed Anna and were standing behind her.

Anna sighed. “I know, dear. You’re doing an excellent job. Louise has told me how hard you work, taking on extra shifts and staying late if others are out sick. This... issue,” she waved a hand at the suite down the hall. “is a... cultural misunderstanding.”

“Oh, so I can go back to work, then?”

Anna glanced at her nephews, and frowned. She turned back to Darlene, her frown dissolving into a small smile. “I think it’s time Mason and Magnus talked to you about a couple of things.”

Both men glared at their aunt.

“It’s long past time you explained yourselves to her,” she said to them.

Anna turned back to Darlene. “No matter what you decide, you won’t lose your job here. Understand?”

“Decide about what?” Darlene asked.

“I’ll let them explain, but I want to be sure you understand that you won’t lose your place here.” Anna waited. And waited. As if Darlene was valuable. As if her thoughts and choices mattered to Anna and the rest of her family far beyond the employee and employer relationship.

Mason and Magnus’s behavior toward her had been strange from the start. Protective, yet distant. Intense, yet there appeared to be a line they wouldn’t cross. And now, Anna had stood up for her, even threatened important guests with eviction.

Finally, Darlene said, “Okay, thank you.”

Anna nodded, glanced at Mason and Magnus, then walked back down the hallway toward the suite.

Mason and Magnus stared at Darlene. Silently.

“I’m not trying to be a pain in the ass,” she said to them on a sigh. “I’m not.”

“We know,” Magnus said.

“I just don’t... don’t understand all these foreign guests.” Or you . “The Japanese were very nice, but...” She was babbling. “I’m sorry. What did you want to tell me?”

Mason rubbed a hand over his hair, blew out a breath, and looked at his brother.

Magnus met his gaze and, after a moment, nodded.

Mason turned to her. “Will you come with us to our suite? This might take some time to explain.”

Their suite ?

The question must have been written all over her face because Magnus raised his hands, palm out. “We need somewhere private to talk,” he said quickly. “That’s all.”

“I’m not done with my shift.”

“We’ll explain to Louise,” Mason said.

“Explain it how, exactly?” Darlene asked.

“You two need to have some secret, private conversation with me? You do know what she’s going to think, right?

What all the housekeeping employees are going to think?

” They were fucking her. She’d been a prostitute, and she still was a prostitute. She was turning tricks on the side.

Both men stiffened.

“No one is going to think that,” Magnus said, using his voice of doom.

She sighed. “It’s what they’re going to believe the second your backs are turned. You can’t stop people from being... people no matter how much you scare them.”

“We have a training program for staff who we feel can work for the security team in some circumstances,” Mason said.

“We’ve tapped other members of the housekeeping and maintenance staff to do this work.

The training is tailored to suit each employee.

We’ll tell her we’re pulling you for the rest of the day for additional training. ”

“That won’t work,” she said with a shake of her head. “Louise can’t get anyone else to clean those suites. That’s why she asked me to clean them in the first place.”

“Then I will remain with you while you finish your work,” Magnus said.

She opened her mouth to put an end to that idea, but Magnus stepped closer, close enough that she could feel his body heat. One corner of his mouth lifted in a snarl.

“Fine, but you stay outside.”

“With the door propped open,” he added.

She waved his condition away. “Whatever makes you happy.” Whatever got him to leave her alone long enough to do her job.

Darlene headed back to the room in time to meet Anna coming out.

“Is everything okay?” Darlene asked.

“Why are you still here?” Anna asked.

“There’s no one to cover for me,” Darlene explained. “I need to finish my shift.”

Anna’s gaze moved to a spot high over her shoulder. “Ah.” She smiled, though she tried to hide it. “Carry on.”

“Thank you.” Darlene walked into the suite and went to her cart.

Now what had she been about to do?