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So I give in, kicking him as hard as I can in the gut with my steel-toed boot. Nick screams, curling protectively into a fetal position. He probably deserves more of a beatdown, but I’m done.
I follow Dominick out, getting behind the wheel to drive him back to Petals. Outside, we stay silent until we pull away. “Shane.”
“Yes?” I ask, looking up into the rearview mirror. If he did want to kill me, this would be the best time. He could shoot me through the seat. He’s buckled in, and we’re not going that fast.
Dom’s eyes meet mine in the mirror, icy grey and hard. “I wanted to handle that myself. It was necessary for an appearance of strength and knowledge,” he explains, finally answering the question I’d asked in his office when I checked in with him last night. The conversation had led to some rather unsightly conclusions after I reviewed the remaining security video and we’d talked through different possibilities of what happened. “The hitman on the other hand . . . if you would like, you may have your turn. Or I can take care of that as well. Your choice. For now though, let’s go back to the club.”
Back to Maggie.
Chapter 25
Maggie
I pace back and forth in the apartment, trying my best not to get freaked out. When Shane told me last night that he was going with Dominick on a mission to hopefully prevent the war that could ruin the city, I begged him not to go. I was nearly paralyzed with terror that it was a setup by Dominick.
But Shane said that he and Dominick talked things through, and he felt like he needed to back Dom’s play. He also promised he’d be safe before we made love and he left a few new souvenirs along my skin.
But since they left, I’ve been jittery with nerves that I’ll never see him again. Knowing I need to keep busy, I give up pacing and decide to check in with my regular life . . . the one I had before everything went so haywire.
I can’t believe that Dominick’s let me have access to a computer, but he did. After our first night here, I gave Allie my keys, and she went to my apartment, coming back with some clothes and my laptop. Dominick didn’t even ask to go through my files. “Maggie,” he said, “anything you have that you’ve already published can’t be pulled back, and anything you have in there that you could publish, I trust you won’t.” He said it kindly, but the threat was apparent in his simple words.
A quick run through my email deletes most of the spam, but there are several from Jeanine at work. She’s left several voicemails on my phone that were forwarded to my email program too, but after two, I turn them off. It’s best to go straight to the source.
I grab the burner phone Shane left me, dialing into the office and waiting for the receptionist to transfer me to Jeanine’s office line. I get lucky. I’m not left hanging on hold for long.
“Jeanine Matthews.”
“Hi, Jeanine. It’s Maggie. I wanted to call to—”
Before I can even get my greeting out, Jeanine interrupts me, her voice crisp and hard. “You have some nerve calling in like this. You drop off the face of the Earth, don’t return my calls or meet deadlines for nearly a week, and now you just call in? You should’ve just stayed gone.”
She’s mad. Still, some professional instinct guides me to try to patch things up so I’m not leaving under the pall of job abandonment. “Ma’am, I had an emergency and I couldn’t call in or check emails for a while. I’m back now and trying to catch up.”
Jeanine stops her rant, greed tingeing her voice. Toss her a sniff about a headline, and she’d let me get away with murder. “Anything story-worthy?”
If only she knew, but she thinks I’m just a strip-club waitress looking for celebrity gossip. She has no idea about the depth of how things go at Petals, who Dominick is, or any of the things I’ve learned over the last few days. And this is a story I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Dominick’s shown me some trust. I’m not stupid enough to betray that.
“No, just a family emergency.”
It’s not really a lie because the people at Petals are my family now, and while it might take me awhile, I plan on regaining their trust, if that’s possible.
Jeanine sighs, annoyance making her drag it out longer than usual. “Unacceptable, Miss Postland. We have standards, the least of which is that you turn in quality work on time. Abandoning your job and your duties cannot stand. You’re fired,” she jeers, obviously enjoying the opportunity to shut me down. “I wish you all the best in your future waitressing endeavors.”
