Page 35 of High Reward

I laugh. Matteo may not be violent the way I can be, but he’s vicious and sharp, and I’m grateful every day that he never believed my family took out his father or I would probably be in a shallow grave somewhere.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spy Liliana at the bar. When her eyes land on me, I motion her to my side.

“Kneel here with me,” I murmur in her ear when she arrives. “Observe the man we’re about to have a meeting with. I’ll want your thoughts when he’s gone. Just pretend to be my submissive.”

She drops to her knees without hesitation, and I stroke her long, dark hair.

A few minutes later, Price joins us and nods approvingly at the women kneeling at our feet. It makes me want to see Amarjit Singh crush his balls even more.

“Are they discreet?”

Matteo smiles and strokes Skylar’s cheek. “Are you discreet, Princess?”

“Yes, Master. You would cut out my tongue if I were to speak out of turn.”

The absurdity of her statement almost makes me snicker. If anyone in that relationship is cutting out anyone’s tongue, it would be Skylar wielding the knife.

But she put just enough wobble in her voice for Griffin to believe she’s actually terrified of Matteo, so he seems satisfied.

“You have a hell of a space here, gentlemen. And your goods did not disappoint.”

It comes with the territory, mixing criminals and kink, but it still pisses me off to hear him refer to the submissives who chose to play with him as ‘goods.’ It takes effort, but I keep my expression neutral as I stroke Liliana’s hair and smile as if I know exactly what he means.

“Fetch us all a drink,” I say, leaning down enough for her to hear me.

“Help her,” Matteo says curtly to Skylar who purses her lips but nods.

“I’ll have a vodka martini with a twist,” Griffin says without looking at either woman.

When they are gone, he leans forward with a slimy grin on his face. “How much to play with those two?”

Matteo’s fist clenches in his lap but he doesn’t say anything.

“They are off-limits. Each owner has a… special submissive who can’t be touched by anyone else,” I explain, glossing over the fact that they are well-negotiated relationships with full consent. This man makes my skin crawl.

Griffin nods. “You chose well, then. Now, shall we discuss business?”

Matteo clears his throat and sits up a little straighter. “We can discuss the broad basics, but we prefer to get into the details at a secondary location.”

Griffin narrows his eyes but doesn’t argue. “Very well. I’m offering five percent off the top for clean cash.”

Matteo chuckles. “Our rate is fifteen.”

Griffin leans back and eyes him. “That’s absurd.”

“We’re the best at what we do. We have arrangements with all the right people, including a few on the Nevada Gaming Commission. If you want to risk losing everything, use someone else. But if you want the best, you pay the price.”

Our actual rate is closer to eight percent, but Matteo knows I don’t want to work with this bastard, so he bumped it enough to raise eyebrows.

The fact that the number doesn’t have Griffin stalking out is an interesting tell. He must really need someone. It makes me wonder why other people won’t work with him. I make a mental note to ask Owen to dig into him. But that will have to wait until after he’s done digging into Grace’s stalker, and Phineas Draven.

At the bar, I see Grace talking animatedly to Lili, and my senses are on high alert. That’s her worried face. Lili remains calm as a bartender slides her Griffin’s martini. She puts a hand on Grace’s cheek and says something that calms her, and she sits on a barstool.

Skylar and Lili return, and Lili bends to whisper in my ear as she hands me my whiskey. “Grace says Griffin looks familiar, but she doesn’t know why. Says something about him is off-putting, though.”

I kiss her cheek and nod to show I’ve received the message, and she kneels next to me again.

“I’ll have to hear a lot more about your operation before I even consider anything higher than ten percent,” Griffin says, as he sips the martini.