Page 45 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

ADRIAN

W e walk into a fury of sound and light.

The club is transformed. Gone are the seating areas and the center stage. In its place is a dance floor. A low, thumping bass is playing on the sound system, and strobe lights are flashing on and off.

The club is absolutely packed with people dancing to the music, grinding against each other. “Want to dance, Fiona?” Brody shouts above the noise of the music. “Come on.”

I shake my head and follow them. I don’t have a good feeling about this.

Half an hour later, the three of us have worked up quite a sweat. We’re ready to take a break when someone slams against Fiona. I moved protectively in front of her and look up to see who the clumsy fool is.

It’s Downing. Even masked, I’d recognize him anywhere.

Does he want to get beat up in front of an audience? Brody and I have battle-hardened skills. Only a complete idiot would cross us.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” My voice is low and deadly. I take a step closer to Downing, my fist clenched at my side. “Did we not tell you to stay away from Fiona?”

At Downing’s side, his submissive looks terrified. Strangely, her gaze is fixed, neither on Brody nor me, but on the woman at our side. Fiona.

Fiona’s eyes widen. “Adrian,” she says quietly, tugging at my arm. “Listen, it’s a crowded floor, and I’m sure it was just an accident. Let it go.”

Something is wrong. There’s an urgency to Fiona’s tone, a tension in the way she’s standing. I look closer and catch it. In her right hand, she’s holding something that looks like a crumpled scrap of paper.

A note?

Brody sees it too. “Let’s go,” he says curtly.

I take a step back and give Downing a scathing look. “You’re lucky that Fiona’s a better person than I am.”

As we walk to the bar, Fiona moves closer to us. “Katya was the one who bumped into me, and she pushed a note into my hand,” she whispers. “I need to read it.”

I don’t want Downing to see us. “Let’s head upstairs.”

“Okay,” Fiona agrees.

The three of us move toward the exit. “Why doesn’t she just approach us directly?” Brody asks. “Or Xavier, or anyone else? Why the cloak and dagger stuff?”

“I don’t know,” Fiona replies, removing her mask, her face etched with concern. “When I talked to her yesterday, she was terrified. More afraid than I’d ever been.”

A group of people is in the lobby, and we fall silent. The elevator arrives, and we step in. As soon as we are alone, Fiona unfolds the scrap of paper in her hand. Her eyes scan it, and then she shakes her head, exhaling in frustration. “It’s in Russian. I can’t read it.”

“Katya’s a smart girl.” I hold out my hand for the note. “She’s using her brain. If the note’s in Russian, Downing can’t read it.”

“And you can?”

I nod. “I’m not fluent enough to pass for a native, but we did some missions in Georgia and Crimea. I can read well enough. So can Brody.”

I read the note, my fury growing as the words sink in. When I’m done, I hand it to Brody and turn to Fiona. My chest is tight with rage, and my voice is cold. “I am going to kill Downing.”