Page 26

M ira’s cell phone number is a dead end. The same dead end it’s been for months. And the text I sent to the last number she messaged me from goes unread. I’m not even sure she’s getting them. Maybe she tossed the phone after our last short conversation.

As I walk through the massiveness of Alexander’s home, I scroll through her old social feeds, looking to see if she’s been active. Of course I find nothing.

Mira has been my roommate for years; we’re practically sisters at this point. If something horrible was happening to her, I’d feel it. We can always sense when the other is in trouble. And other than frustration at not being able to get a hold of her, I’m not panicking.

Yet.

A guard stands outside Alexander’s office door when I make my way to it.

“Is he in a meeting?” I ask, slipping my phone into my back pocket.

“He is, but you can go in.” He pushes the handle that still has the scratches on it from my ill attempt at breaking in and eases the door open.

“Oh, no, if he’s busy, it’s?—”

“Megan? Come here,” Alexander calls from his desk.

When I step inside, three other sets of eyes turn toward me. His brothers, I recognize, but the fourth man is a stranger to me.

“It’s not important. I was just wandering…er, looking around. You’re busy.” I glance at the men. They don’t seem at all worried about how long they look at me, unlike the others at the reception last night.

“Come here.” Alexander crooks a finger at me from behind his huge desk. The skull vase has been moved from the table in the sitting area to his desk. It’s empty this time, making it look even more ominous.

“Good morning, Megan.” Kaz grins at me as I approach the desk. His jaw is slightly squarer than Alexander’s and there’s an amber tint to his brown eyes, but otherwise, he could be his twin.

“Morning.” I smile back.Ivan greets me with a soft smile.

I wouldn’t bet on him being the nice one after overhearing the three of them talking last night. He’s just as ruthless as Alexander, and maybe in some ways worse.

“Oh. I forgot to ask yesterday. How is the waitress?” I ask. “From the club?”

“Vivienne?” Ivan’s scowl returns. “She needed a few stitches, but she’s fine.”

His concrete tone reminds me of Alexander’s. Yes, Ivan is definitely not the soft one of the three brothers.

“Ah. Yes. Vivienne.” Kaz slaps Ivan’s shoulder. “Don’t forget. Company ink, Ivan. Company ink.”

Ivan’s expression darkens. I’ve obviously picked a wound.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Alexander grabs my hand when I get close enough to them and he pulls me to his side. “This is Lev, a good friend. We were talking about Dexter Thompson.”

“The security footage from the party where he died didn’t give us any clues as to who fed him the poison.” Ivan frowns.

“Maybe it was slipped to him before he went to the party. What was it?” I inquire.

“Potassium cyanide.” Alexander answers me without any hesitation.

Only two days ago, he would have ordered me from the office and locked me away for even attempting to get involved in this conversation. Now, he’s folding me into the discussion.

“Potassium cyanide? That would act pretty fast. Within ten minutes, I think.” Their eyes bore into me.

“Megan?” Alexander tugs on my hand.

“Relax.” I grin, squeezing his hand. “I grew up reading mysteries and moved on to true crime when I was in high school. There was a case like that about twenty years ago.”

“What happened?” Kaz leans forward in his chair.

“This guy won the lottery, a big winner, and within a few days of collecting his winnings, he died of an apparent heart attack. He had some heart condition, so they ruled it natural causes at first, but his sons thought it was weird, so they ordered an autopsy.”

“And?” Alexander prompts me.

“That’s when they found the cyanide in his system. They still haven’t figured out who did it. His sons think it was their stepmom because she wanted the money to herself. The wife thinks it was his sons because they wanted the money.” I shrug. “It’s an unsolved homicide.”

“If it acts that fast, how can they not know who gave it to him?” Lev questions.

“Not enough physical evidence,” I explain. “Since it made it look like he had a heart attack, no one collected the dishes he’d been using for his lunch—that’s when it happened, right after eating. His two sons were in the house and so was his wife at the time, so without being able to prove how the poison was given to him, they couldn’t prove who’d given it to him. So… it’s unsolved.”

“Much like Dexter. The evidence is all gone by now and without the camera footage to show who slipped it to him, we’re back to knowing nothing.” Ivan sighs.

“Well, you guys were blackmailing him, right? That’s why you have all those boxes with the flash drives and photos? You use it to make people do what you want?” Being Alexander’s wife gives me a little leeway here, I suppose. No one’s going to threaten to shoot me because I know these things.

“A lot of people could have been blackmailing him,” Lev points out.

“Were you told to get everything in the box or only the flash drive?” Kaz asks.

“They wanted the flash drive specifically,” I confirm.

Alexander lets go of my hand and opens the top left drawer of the desk. After he rifles around a second, he pulls out the flash drive.

“Maybe something on here will give us an idea. There were a lot of damning things in the box. If they only wanted this, then whoever is involved might be on it.” He opens his laptop and pushes the drive into the slot on the side.

The men gather behind Alexander’s desk. I scoot a little closer to him, but it’s not enough for Alexander. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me into his lap.

“I can stand,” I whisper, keeping my gaze from seeing the guys’ reactions.

“This is better.” He winks, then clicks the folder of the drive open.

It’s all photographs. He opens the first one.

“Oh, that’s Senator McKenzie.” Lev chuckles. “Didn’t realize he swung both ways.”

“Neither does his wife,” Kaz says.

“Could Dexter have threatened the senator? Maybe he was trying to blackmail him into something?” I twist to ask Alexander.

“Anything’s possible.” He clicks through other photos. Some are just scanned copies of contracts Dexter put his signature on; a few are of him at Obsidian. The last photo catches my eye, though.

“Wait.” I tap the screen. “Go back to that last one with the woman.”

He clicks back a file and there it is.

“That’s Cheryl Carmine.” I turn in Alexander’s lap, feeling his heavy, thick cock pressing against me as I move. My cheeks heat at the sensation.

“Focus, Megan,” he whispers in my ear. “Or they’ll notice how red you’re getting.”

I clear my throat and do my best to push it from my mind.

“Cheryl Carmine is married to Stevan Carmine. He owns Cinders Industries, the company I work for.” I sigh. “ Used to work for. That’s his wife.” I tap the screen with my finger.

“Are you sure? I mean, she’s bent over that pool table and everything,” Kaz teases, leaning over Alexander’s shoulder to get a better look.

Alexander shoves him away, muttering what sounds like an insult in Russian.

“It’s her.” I nod. “She’s not usually wearing all that leather, and the strap-on isn’t something I would expect from her, she’s so demure and elegant in the office. But it’s definitely her.”

“There are plenty of photos of Dexter cheating on his wife; why would this one be on here?” Alexander questions. “We’ve only kept evidence that would ruin him politically and financially. I doubt he really cared if his wife left him or not.”

“Especially after seeing those photos with the senator.” Kaz laughs.

“I don’t know how true it is, but there have been rumors that Stevan is related to some really bad people.”

Alexander’s grip tightens around my waist.

“What bad people?”

“I don’t know. It’s just rumors. It is also rumored that if she divorces him, she gets nothing. Not a cent. You can tell she doesn’t really like him, the way she looks at him, so there might be some truth to that.”

“And I bet if she gets caught cheating, she’ll probably get nothing then too,” Lev says.

“Maybe whoever was trying to get this drive wasn’t looking to blackmail Dexter. Maybe they wanted to blackmail someone else on here, like this woman,” Ivan adds.

“Why does it matter who killed Dexter?” I ask.

“It’s not the killer I want. It’s the person who knew where the information was kept. I want that man.” Alexander closes the laptop. “If it’s one of my men, it would make more sense for them get the drive themselves.”

“Do you have cameras in that room?” I twist to ask him.

“Just one. The footage is taped over after a week.”

“So, if he’d been in there and taken it, wouldn’t you have seen him?”

“If someone had been watching at that moment.” He nods.

“Maybe it’s someone who doesn’t have access to Obsidian. Someone who would stick out if he was caught in that part of the building.” Ivan moves back to his chair.

“That could be true,” Kaz agrees, taking his seat.

Alexander pats my hip. “You don’t have to sit here for the rest of this. You have better things to do.”

I turn around, grinding my ass a little into his cock, because if he’s going to get rid of me, he can feel a little discomfort for it.

“Are you telling me to leave so the men can talk?”

He frowns.

“No. I’m telling you that you have better things to do.” He looks at his watch. “Like meeting Elana in one hour, and half of that will be spent in the car, so you need to change.”

I look down at the brown knit sweater I’m wearing with my jeans. “What’s wrong with what I have on?”

“Nothing. It hides your delicious body perfectly from the prying eyes of assholes who don’t know better than to look, but you’re going shopping with Elana.”

“So?”

“Elana enjoys high-end boutiques.” He’s politely telling me I’m not dressed nice enough to enter their establishments.

“Oh.” While what I’m wearing works fine for walking down Main Street, shopping in those high-end stores while wearing a sweater I picked up off the clearance rack last year might not be the right thing. Though I’m sure Elana wouldn’t have a problem pulling a Pretty Woman moment out of the situation.

“What is she shopping for?” I slide off his lap.

“You. You’re both shopping for you. You need a full wardrobe with shoes and jewelry.” So, it is a Pretty Woman situation.

“I can’t buy all that.” He’s talking about a complete shopping spree. I wouldn’t even know how to do that. The largest excursion I’ve ever been on was back-to-school shopping as a kid. And that included three pairs of pants, a few shirts, and new pair of gym shoes—all bought from the bargain bin.

“You can.” He pulls out his wallet, flips it open, and pulls out a black credit card. “Use this.”

It’s heavy in my hand but sleek and slim at the same time. His name is on the front along with the logo of a Roman-style helmet that’s embossed in silver.

“I can’t use this, Alexander. It doesn’t have my name on it. If they ask for ID—” His chuckle stops me.

“There won’t be any issue. You’ll have Elana with you, and she’s a regular at all these stores. And no one would dare to ask you to prove who you are while you’re handing over my card.” He sounds so sure of it; I close my fingers around the card.

“So, anyone could steal this from you and the stores would be too afraid to double-check? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Much more dangerous for the person who tried to steal from me.” I don’t miss the little undertone there, but since he’s offering to buy me an entire wardrobe, I let it slide.

“Fine. I’ll get a few things, but really, I don’t need much.” I’ve never been into fashion. I’d rather go for comfort than look.

“Elana will tell you when you’re done.” He grins. “She’s an expert at this sort of thing.”

“You guys seem close even though she didn’t grow up here.” I’m sure it was awkward for Elana to be around this place.

“We weren’t very close when she was little, but when my mother moved to Russia full-time, Elana was always here. She deserved better than the mess my father made for her, but she’s never let it get to her.”

I can understand that more than he probably knows.

“I think they’re waiting for you. I’ll go.” I start to turn, but he grabs my arm and spins me back to face him.

“They can wait.” His lips crush mine in a possessive, needy kiss that I should be used to from him. But I don’t think I can ever get used to how overprotective and possessive this man is.

When he breaks away, I run my tongue over my top lip. I haven’t been kissed by a large number of men, but enough to know this is different. I’m left dazed and breathless every time his lips brush across mine.

“On your way out, speak with Mrs. Wells and let her know what sort of meals you like. She’ll stock the kitchen with whatever you want.”

“Even if I want hamburgers for dinner?” I’ve been craving a good burger for the past two days.

He grins. “Yes, even those things.”

Now I’m smiling. “Then I’ll talk to her.”

“And Megan,” he says, grabbing my elbow again when I start to turn.

“Yeah?”

“My sister and you together reek of trouble.” He pulls me closer, leaning down until his mouth is just a hair from my ear. “Behave today, or when you get home, I’ll put you over my knee before I take you to bed. Understand?”

My mouth dries at his words, but my pussy is another story altogether.

“Yeah. I understand,” I answer quietly, hoping the guys aren’t hearing us over their own chatter.

“Good girl. Now go.” He presses another kiss to my cheek, then lets me go.

He returns to his brothers and Lev with steady, grounded steps –– like our exchange did nothing to him. While I slip out of the room, my head and heart somewhere up in the clouds.