Page 5 of Devious Truth (Vicious Sinners #3)

T here’s something going on with Vivienne. It’s as obvious as the pretty brown freckle just above her left eyebrow, but she’s hiding herself.

I was clear that I wanted to see her when she came in, sending word down to the club for her to come up to my office as soon as she arrived. She never showed.

Now I’m stuck in a meeting with my brothers and two of our closest friends. I’ll have to wait until this is over before I hunt her down.

“Earth to Ivan.” Kaz elbows my side.

“I’m here.” I cross my arms over my chest and listen as our oldest brother Alexander explains the deal he wants to make with Vasily Leonov.

It’s a solid alliance, and with the DeAngelo family stirring up so much shit, having more friends will give us strength.

The office door opens, drawing my attention. Vivienne walks in, carrying a bottle of whiskey.

Her thick blonde hair is swept up into one of those claw clips.

A pair of silver earrings dangle from her earlobes, and she’s painted her lips with a dark mulberry lipstick.

The Obsidian uniform she’s wearing hugs her curves.

It’s a fitted dress and all the waitresses wear them, but Vivienne is the only one who can steal my attention from even the most important meetings.

“Sorry to interrupt. Darren said to bring this up for you.” She holds out the bottle.

We have two more of them in the wet bar in the corner. Why would Darren send her up with another? Alexander’s office is always well stocked.

I remove myself from the group and take the bottle from her hands. She spins on her short heel, going for a quick escape. As she twists a dark spot on her arm catches my attention, and I grab her elbow, pulling her back to me.

My blood boils at the sight on her arm. A bruise circles her arm, just above the elbow. Like someone grabbed her and wouldn’t let go.

“What is this?” I demand, letting go of her arm. If there’s a bruise there, she may be tender further up as well. And as much as I’d love to see her squirm beneath my punishing hand, it would never be like this. Never with anger, and never with an intent to harm.

No, my harshness right now isn’t intended for her; it’s meant for the bastard that dared touch her.

“It’s nothing.” She covers the mark with her hand as she retreats a step.

I settle a hot glare on her. “Who did it?”

“Ivan. It’s nothing. I have to get back.” She said the same thing the other night.

It’s nothing, she had said. An hour later something spooked her even further, and she ran from the club.

She spins away from me and rushes through the door, slamming it behind her. I pump my fists a few times until the urge to chase her down and force her to spill her secrets becomes more manageable.

“Something wrong?” Kaz asks when I step back to Alexander’s desk.

“I don’t know, but something’s definitely not right.” I glance once more at the closed door.

“I’m sure she’s got it handled,” Kaz says checking his watch.

Sometimes I’d like to smash my younger brother’s face through a window. This is one of those times.

It’s not that she can’t handle herself; it’s that someone has put their fucking hands on her. And it wasn’t just a touch. Someone grabbed her, hurt her, left a fucking mark on her.

“I have to go.” I leave them discussing issues that are nowhere near my radar at the moment.

Right now, I have one target.

I shouldn’t care about this. She’s a waitress in my club. Getting involved in her personal life isn’t part of the employee package we offer.

And yet.

And yet, I find myself stalking down the hall to the winding stone staircase that will lead me downstairs to the club. To her.

“Ivan, shit. Sorry, man, didn’t see you coming.” Darren nearly walks into me as I burst through the door.

“It’s fine.” I survey the immediate surroundings. She’s nowhere to be seen.

“Did Vee bring up the bottle of Whiskey for you?” There’s an edge to his tone, like he’s trying to hint at something.

“Yes. But I was confused why you sent it; there were two other bottles still unopened.”

He bobs his head. “Yeah, but I thought Vee should bring another.”

Realization hits. “The bruise.”

“Oh, you saw that?” He’s failing at a casual tone.

“I did. What do you know about it?”

“Nothing. But she wasn’t herself when she came in today.” He chances a look over his shoulder, probably to be sure she isn’t stomping over to us.

“How so?”

“She was preoccupied.”

“The other night when she left suddenly, did she say anything to you? Did something happen with one of the members?”

Darren sees everything down here. In some ways he’s better than my security team when it comes to the waitresses.

“I don’t know. I mean, she was taking those trays to the gaming room.

Some guy stopped her to talk, and she dropped them.

It seemed like she just got startled. It wasn’t a long conversation.

It looked like maybe he was just apologizing for bumping into her?

I couldn’t really tell. But then she bolted. ”

“Where is she now?” I survey the room again, and still no Vee.

His expression falls, like he doesn’t want to say.

“Darren. Where is she now?”

“Kaz put up the signup sheet for the next auction earlier. She went to look at it.”

I’m already halfway to the locker rooms before he finishes his sentence.

“It’s not that big of a deal. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.

See, here you put what your limits are. So, if you don’t wanna fuck a guy, you just put no sex.

Then when Kaz makes the flyer with all the girls on it, it will have it there.

No one who expects that will bid on you.

” Serenity is explaining the rules my brother has laid out for the auction girls as I push the door to the women’s locker room open.

Three women snap their heads in my direction. They’re all dressed, not that it would matter. They don’t have anything I haven’t seen before, and only one of them has anything I’d like to see in more detail.

“Ivan!” Serenity feigns annoyance. “This is the girls’ room.”

“Out.” I jerk my head to the doorway as I hold the door open for them.

Serenity and Caroline exchange a glance that tells me they understand exactly why they need to leave, but the look of admonishment and annoyance coming from Vivienne says she doesn’t have a clue what’s in store for her.

With them gone, I let the door close and stand in front of it.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I ask.

“No, Ivan. What do you think you’re doing?” She fists her hands on her hips. “This is the women’s locker room. You don’t belong in here.”

At least she used my first name.

I give a pointed look at the sheet my brother pinned up on the bulletin board.

“You’re not putting your name on that.”

She huffs a laugh. “You can’t tell me that.”

“I can, and I am. You’re not putting your name on that.”

“Ivan.” She pauses. “Why?”

“You’re not auctioning yourself off, that’s why.”

“But you’ll let everyone else here sign up? That’s discrimination.” There’s a little note of hope in her voice, like she’s found something to use against me.

“You think that’s going to change my mind?” I’ve spent evenings washing enemy blood from beneath my fingernails; there’s nothing she can say or do that would change my mind here.

She’s not putting her name on that fucking list.

“I think—” She clenches her eyes closed and drags in a slow breath. It looks like she’s counting.

“Are you willing to fuck a stranger?” Her eyes fly open at my question.

Personally, I have no problems with one-night stands, paid or otherwise. Hell, even with the small cut we take from the girls, we make a killing. But not her. No one is going to touch her.

“I don’t have to do that.”

“If you want to make any decent money, you do, or at least suck them off. You want to do that?”

The tinge of red of her cheeks softens.

“You’re being crude to make me think it’s my idea not to sign up.”

“I’m being realistic.” I fold my arms over my chest. “Why do you want to do an auction all of a sudden? You’ve never shown any interest before.”

“How do you know what I’m interested in or not?” She puts her hands up between us. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need your permission.”

“As you’ve mentioned several times, I’m your boss. Just because you put your name on that list doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted into the auction. You still need to be approved.”

The color rushes right back to her cheeks, even more heated than before.

This conversation has gone off the rails. I came to find her to ask about the bruise, and the man who upset her two nights ago. Not fight with her about the fucking auction. She’ll never get on that stage. I won’t fucking allow it.

“You’d keep me from making money?”

“I’d keep you safe from the men who buy the girls at this auction.”

“You tell the girls it’s safe for them to be in the auction. The club provides security; they don’t have to leave the club with them. There’s minimal danger; isn’t that what Kaz tells us every time he puts one together?”

“Yes. That’s all true.”

“Then there’s no reason I can’t sign up. It’s safe. It’ll make me a ton of money in one night.” She raises an eyebrow.

“I don’t want you in the auction.” It’s selfish of me. I don’t give a fuck.

“Why?” She presses. “Why would you care if I’m in it and not if Caroline’s in it?”

Because Caroline doesn’t keep me awake at night with worry when she drops food all over the floor and flees the club. Because Caroline doesn’t slip into my dreams, taunting me with what I can’t have because she’s on my payroll.

And because I don’t want to tear the limbs off the men who try to get Caroline to go home with them at night.

“You host these auctions. You give entry to these men. You’re no better than any of them.” Her lips curl inward.

She’s right. I’m not. In some ways I’m worse.

It would be better for her to stay away from me. Not that I’ll let her.

“Tell me about the bruise, Vivienne,” I order her.

Her shoulders drop, and for a second, I think she’s going to scream, she looks so flustered.

“I’m not talking to you about my personal life. It has nothing to do with work, and it’s none of your business. No one hurt me; it’s just a bruise.”

Pushing isn’t getting me anywhere. I knew it wouldn’t. Not with her. There’s a wall around her, one made of steel and stubbornness. It will take more than a simple command to get what I want from her.

“Fair enough,” I concede but point to the auction list. “But that is work, and it is my business. You’re not putting your name on that list.”

Her jaw flexes.

“You seem to confuse employer with owner.” She picks up the pen dangling from the board and scribbles her name at the bottom of the list. “I have to pee.”

Spinning on her heel a little harder than she needed to, probably to prove a point, she stumbles her first step. She recovers and saunters out of the room to the bathroom stalls with a sway to her hips that makes the hem of her dress brush against her thighs with each step.

It’s cute.

She thinks she’s had the last say in the matter.

The door butts into me as someone tries to open it.

“Ivan?” Meredith speaks through the small opening. “You’re needed upstairs. There’s a problem.”