Page 259 of Love Me in the Dark

Instead, I dial a different number.

Ruby answers on the first ring. “Roman.” Her voice is too smooth, too expectant. “That was quick.”

“I need to see you.”

A pause. Then her voice softens—eager, breathless. “Now?”

“Suite 617. Argonne Grand. Ten minutes.”

Another pause. “You want me to come toyou?”

“I want this done in private.”

She laughs softly, mistaking the tone. “God, I love when you’re like this.”

I end the call without replying.

Ten minutes later, she knocks like it’s foreplay.

I don’t answer. Just open the door.

Ruby struts in wearing a dress I’m sure she thought would distract me. She’s overdressed for what this is. But then again, Ruby always thought she waspart of the empire, not just a name in a file.

She walks straight to the window, back to me, like she owns the room.

“You know, you could’ve just invited me out like a normal man. Dinner. Drinks. Negotiation.”

“This isn’t a negotiation.”

She turns. “No?”

I shake my head once. “This is closure.”

Her smile falters. “Closure?”

“You overstepped.”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, please. Your little pet project? That girl? You think I’m intimidated by some nobody from the slums?”

“You should be,” I say quietly.

“Is that why you’re threatening me now?” Her hands are on her hips. “Because I poked around your charity case? Joked about your little kinky need to play with the poor girl?”

“You didn’t just poke around. You offered her name to people who would pay for leverage. You thought I wouldn’t find out.”

She stiffens.

“She’s nothing.”

“I know every backdoor you’ve ever crawled through,” I say. “And I own most of them.”

“I didn’t think?—”

“That,” I interrupt, “is your only honest sentence. And Ruby? She’s not nothing. That woman is…everything.”

She opens her mouth again.

“Don’t say anything you can’t take back, Ruby.” I erase the distance between us. “You’ve always acted the way you have to get my attention. Now that you have it, don’t ruin it.”