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Riley sent another text to Kristi, which probably would go unanswered.

Saint’s fingertips brushed her shoulder, and she leaned into the touch.

“How was your first day of freedom?” Aaron sipped a short glass of whisky, a slice of pizza untouched on his plate.

She looked at him and away. “Weird.” He still made her a bit nervous, but she knew she didn’t need to be.

Aaron and Wheeler nodded as if they too broke up with the sketchy bosses on a regular basis.

It shouldn’t feel like a breakup.

“I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Saint tugged Riley’s chair closer, and she stopped herself from tipping her head onto his shoulder. He looked pointedly at the partial slice of pizza on her plate, and she shook her head.

“Saint said you already signed and sent back the paperwork for the severance and NDA?”

She nodded to Aaron.

“Did you get anyone to look at it first?”

“No, but I read it. Nothing looked odd.” She’d Googled all the parts she didn’t understand, and they made sense. Don’t talk about the money, don’t talk about work, don’t die.

Okay, it hadn’t said that.

“Do you want to look at it?” she asked. “Actually, that violates the terms… so never mind. I’m not going to do anything that will interfere, and so as far as I’m concerned, it’s in the past.”

A stifled laugh came from the kitchen, and Wheeler frowned as he looked over her head.

Saint let out a low sigh. “Ignore him.”

It felt like Dante had always been here, as familiar as Wheeler or Aaron had become, even though she barely knew him.

“She shouldn’t be ignoring me. She should be thanking me.”

Saint stiffened, and Riley twisted in her chair. Dante took a sip of beer, fingers barely holding the bottle, as he gloated in the kitchen.

“For what?”

Dante’s dark hair and sharp jaw made him look like he’d stepped out of an action movie. He was pretty and mean. Just like Kristi.

Riley shooed the thought away. Kristi wasn’t mean. She was avoidant.

Dante’s smile was stamped on as he looked at Saint with predatory focus. Saint lifted his chin almost imperceptibly, and silence rolled through the room like fog off the ocean.

“For what?” she asked again, smoothing the sharpness out of her voice.

Saint’s jaw ticked, and his fingers stopped their soft exploration of her shirt collar.

Wheeler stopped chewing.

I’m not going to like this.

Dante turned his black gaze on Riley and she couldn’t look away without losing something.

His eyes flicked to Saint, and his face became ugly for a split second.

“Hmm.” Dante’s smile was cruel. “Never mind.”