Page 2 of Tick Tock, Darling

And Dimitri Dragan had already found what he was looking for — his eyes went to my waistband and stayed there.

My fangs were still down. I pulled them up slow, the muscle of it stiff from six weeks of not using it right, and every second of that was a second Angelo watched me do it.

Charity’s hands were still on me. I didn’t move them. Moving them meant admitting where they were.

Six weeks of clean runs. Last crate ashore at dusk, money clean by nine, nothing on me and nothing in the hold that shouldn’t be. Angelo doesn’t come to the dock. For him to come, something was up—to deliver bad news.

I ran the manifest again anyway.

“I see you’ve been a good boy.” Dimitri smirked. “Christmas came early.”

Christmas. Two weeks out and he’d said it like a date on a calendar.

Nobody laughed. Angelo didn’t look at him, didn’t look at Charity, didn’t look anywhere but at me. Dimitri never made a joke he wasn’t sure would be allowed, and he’d made that one on my deck, in front of my crew, with my fly open.

I buttoned my jeans.

So it was already decided. Whatever they’d come for, they’d settled it before the launch left the wharf, and this was the part where I found out.

“We need to talk now. I’ll be in your office,” Angelo said.

Something dropped through me and kept going. Cold, low, all the way down, and my heart went with it—hammering hard enough that I knew Enzo could hear it from where he stood.

Fear. Say it plain. I was afraid of him.

My office. He said it like an address he’d been given.

He was already turning. Not waiting to see whether I followed — that had never been in question, and he’d known it before he came up the gangway.

I’d been careful. Six weeks careful. It hadn’t mattered.

“Ladies.” I didn’t turn around. “Get dressed.”

I followed him. Enzo and Dimitri were on either side of me. I felt like I was being escorted to my execution. I didn’t even know what I had done.

Sometimes Angelo was as infuriating as he was terrifying. He didn’t care if he ruined your plans. There was never a I’m-sorry-I-interrupted-you.

No—Did I come at a bad time?

No—Embarrassment on his face.

Just an order that he demanded to be obeyed. Arguing with him could lead to punishment, a vampire punishment. Being locked in his special little room wasn’t on my agenda.

My office was just a short walk from my cabin. Crocodile opened the door for Angelo, who walked in like a king. But then again, he was a king—the vampire mafia king. His word was law. The only one who had any influence on him was his mate—Serenity. She had won his heart and he would do anything to please her.

Fated mates were good for other people like these three. But I liked all women and being tied to one had never tempted me.

Angelo gestured for me to sit at my desk. Now, why would he do that? Something was up and I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like it. Dimitri and Enzo stood behind Angelo while Crocodile was behind me.

But it didn’t mean anything. Those three could overpower us easily.

I eased back in my chair, waiting for Angelo’s orders.

“We have a problem.”

We meant it was just as much my problem as it was Angelo’s.

I waited. Interrupting him was never a good idea.