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With Ivy gone and everyone else relatively calm, I squatted down, rummaging through the would-be-robber’s clothes. No phone, no wallet, no keys. Had he come with someone else or walked to the club? Who the hell walked to a robbery alone?
No one. Which meant more of them were probably nearby.
“Arnam, take someone with you to check on security. When you find them, lock it down. No one else in or out.”
He nodded, taking Reagan and Sancho with him. Despite being manager for the night while Shara was off, Arnam hadn’t done jack shit during or after the robbery. Just stood there with his mouth agape like he’d watched me swallow fire. I didn’t blame him, though. Not many people knew how to react in that type of situation. I was part of an unlucky few.
Carefully, I pulled the handgun from the robber’s hand and checked it. One in the chamber, seven in the magazine, no extra bullets on him. Did he seriously think he’d get through a robbery with just that? He’d certainly waved the gun around like he’d had more than enough rounds to take us all out, and there were over a dozen employees working the closing shift.
This doesn’t feel right.
“If this guy’s affiliated, you’re fucked,” Roscoe said quietly, nudging the guy’s leg with his boot.
Grunting, I lifted his shirt and pulled down the hip of his jeans, and yep, a playing card. After opening night, we’d been briefed to remove Aces on sight. I didn’t think death by broken liquor bottle was quite what the bosses had in mind, though.
There was a low thread of anxiety that came with killing an Ace. It wasn’t my first time, and I doubted it would be my last. Not with the way things were happening in the city. Still, I had a feeling the consequences would be more severe this time than the other.
The urge to leave, to flee and start a new life somewhere else made my pulse race. I didn’t want to stay in the city with a gang of assholes coming after me or the family who ran it. I wanted a simple life somewhere with no affiliations, no territory wars. No wondering how long I had until my luck ran out. That wasn’t my life, though. People were counting on me, and the past was catching up more and more every day. I had to stay—and stay alive. There was no other choice.
Like clockwork, my mind drifted toward Mari. Was this the life she’d dreamed of as a little girl? Bullets and blood and funerals? Playing politics with the other families? I wondered if there was a part of her that wanted what I did or if she was so resigned to her life that dreaming was out of the picture.
I wondered if she knew just how dangerous her life had become.
There were rumbles in the city. The Aces were getting bolder, and whispers said their leader cared less and less about rules of engagement. He didn’t care about collateral damage as long as he got the prize—all of Seattle at his feet. Even knowing we had to keep some distance between us for both our sakes, I worried about her.
“Security’s out upstairs,” Arnam said when he returned.
“Dead or unconscious?”
“Unconscious.”
That was good news. Likely, they’d been drugged or hit so the robber could get in. “Did you bring them inside?”
“Yep. Locked the door, too. We need to call the boss.” He wiped his palms along his pants, cringing, but he didn’t head for the phone. Likely because he didn’t want to deal with a pissed-off Greyson Andrews. I didn’t blame him.
Greyson’s face when he got out of the car to find Mari and me surrounded by bodies was burned in my mind. To him, I was a liability. An enemy to his boss and a danger to his friend—if that was all they were.
Worst part was, he was right.
Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I held out a hand for the phone and dialed. When the phone clicked over to voice mail, I tried again. Somehow, I didn’t think this was the type of thing that could wait.
“Andrews.” The second he picked up, I wanted to end the call. That ever-present bite in his voice was still there, but the cadence of his breathing spoke of an interruption to something…intimate. Remembering how he’d looked at Mari, like the stars hung by her will alone, I assumed he was with her, and the thought sent my stomach rolling.
Focus. “Mr. Andrews. There’s been an incident at Gilded.”
Sticking to the facts, I explained the would-be robbery. After I got confirmation that they were close, I tossed the phone back to Arnam and tried desperately to figure a way not to see Mari. It didn’t take long before I realized I had no way out of it. I’d killed a man in her club. I had to own up to that, but I didn’t have to like it.
My rejection had hurt her. I hadn’t wanted to do it. There was a piece of me that craved her more than I’d ever wanted anyone. But I couldn’t have her. We were leagues apart and with too many obstacles in our way. She didn’t realize I was trying to protect us both, but how could I not? Warrior queen or not, Mari wasn’t invincible, and I had a history that was dead set on destroying everything I touched.
Better to be without her now than to watch her fall later.
* * *
By the time the bosses arrived, we’d brought the two unconscious guards down to the bar so we could keep an eye on them. I’d expected Mari and Greyson, but with Dominic close behind them, the trio looked like a mix between avenging angels and sin incarnate. The dark colors, the fierce looks, the air of power that seemed to grow with every step they took.
They looked like three pieces of a puzzle, and a part of me mourned that there was no room for a fourth.
Mari was stunning in a black dress that skimmed luscious curves I was dying to touch, but what drew my eyes was the rosy flush to her cheeks and the looseness of her limbs. She had the look of someone a few orgasms deep, and jealousy reared its head again. Especially when she smiled at the brush of Greyson’s hand against hers or the way Dominic caught her eye.
