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I don’t let her respond, slamming the door behind me on my way out.
Way to go, asshole. Two seconds after the devil whispers pretty words in her ear, you’re the one who cuts her feet out from underneath her. Who looks like the devil now?
I shake my head, angry at myself, at her, at him. Down the hall, I start to hit the button for the elevator and realize with a vague unease that the elevator is going up, not down.
I’m literally seconds behind Dominick and he should’ve taken the elevator down to the first floor to get to his car, but he went up to the fourth floor?
Something is off here.
I already don’t like this guy, but this is . . . wrong. I turn and quietly enter the stairwell at the end of the hall, adjacent to the elevator, going up a floor. I wish I had my gun with me, but out of respect for Allie, I left it in my truck tonight. No time at the moment, although I can bet money that Dominick’s carrying.
Slowly and quietly, I crack the door open to peek into the fourth-floor hallway. I see Dominick’s back, his broad shoulders encased in a steel-grey dress shirt unmistakable. Silently, I watch as he pulls a keyring from his pocket and unlocks a door on the other end. He enters and the door clicks closed behind him.
I wait one heartbeat and then close the stairwell door, pausing as I try to think about the ramifications.
Dominick has an apartment in Allie’s building.
I search my brain. Did I know that? Did Allie say anything about them both working together and living in the same building?
But I can’t come up with any instance where she’s said anything of the sort. And Dominick screams wealth and privilege, from his fancy clothes to the ridiculous ring on his pinky finger.
This building’s nice enough, a damn sight better than the barracks, but this isn’t his sort of place.
I almost go back to Allie and demand that she follow me up here and bang on Dominick’s door. I imagine his smug face falling at being found out, but at the last moment, I stop myself, thinking.
What have I found, exactly?
If this is something innocent, or worse yet, that Allie knows about, I’m going to look like a goddamn fool. The imaginary image in my head shifts to one where he sweet-talks his way out of whatever this is and Allie believes him, making me even more of an ass.
I need to play this smart. I think she’s safe, well, safe enough, for the night.
Turning as casually as I can, I make my exit, discreetly peeking in on every floor for anything unusual, but I see nothing until I hit the parking lot. Outside, I see a black Lexus across the street, a bald guy sitting in the driver’s seat not even trying to avoid giving me an eye fuck as I come outside. Obviously, that’s Dominick’s guard he has stationed on Allie, which strangely doesn’t make me feel any better.
I head to my truck and take my pistol out as soon as I have the doors locked and sit there for a full five minutes to see if the bald guy follows me, but all’s quiet.
Driving back toward the hotel, I decide to stop at the bar down the street. A beer and some crappy tunes are just what I need to think this thing through.
Leaving my gun in the truck again, because guns and alcohol do not mix, I head inside. The bar is like one of a million others all around the world, dark and dingy, with buzzing neon and a ball game on the television.
Behind the bar, the tender’s a woman, not too bad looking, honestly, but right now, it wouldn’t fucking matter who it was, and I wouldn’t give them a second glance.
“What can I get ya?”
“Draft, please.”
She leaves, and I’m able to disappear into my thoughts for a bit.
For once, they’re not about Janine and what I’m going to do alone, but about my sister and how I’m going to help her.
Missions . . . I know how to handle those.
Chapter 16
Dominick
Sitting back in my chair, I take the time to let options play out in my head. It’s the same whether I’m in business mode or personal mode. I saw it firsthand on the chess board, learning that it wasn’t just about my next move but about what happens ten moves from now.
And I’m doing that now as I steeple my fingers, considering every play, every angle, every possibility.
What are the pieces of the game that I know?
I know TJ dislikes me for frankly valid reasons. He’s taking out his anger with his own situation on Allison. Still, he was aware enough that he followed me upstairs and saw me enter my apartment. And he made Logan sitting outside.
