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He’s taken me from zero to one hundred in seconds. Just this small taste of him leaves me wanting so much more. My hand roams lower, sneaking under his t-shirt so I can touch his skin. His low groan of appreciation makes me feel powerful.
Less than a second later, it’s like a bomb goes off between us, ripping us apart so fast, Z stumbles backwards. It isn’t until I hear his phone ringing back on the island that I realize what’s happening.
He leaves me still trembling near the sink to answer the call with a simple, “I’m here.”
My head spins at how fast the mood of the room has changed. I internally curse at Dex’s timing, but then realize I need to focus on more important things than lusting after Z—like staying alive.
Z’s “Fuck,” is followed by a “damn,” a few seconds later.
Moving closer into his line of sight, I signal for him to put the call on speakerphone so I can hear too. He hesitates long enough that I think he’s ignoring me, until he finally punches a button and Dex’s voice fills the kitchen.
“They know JV’s phone is dead. And so is Rowan’s. They’ve tried phoning you, too, so they know you’re offline. Vinny is demanding to talk with you.”
“Yeah, they know I’d be involved with any cleanup at The Whitney,” Z says.
“I told them you’re in London doing a scouting trip for a hotel we plan on opening there, but they don’t believe me.”
“Of course, they don’t. They know you’d do any scouting for new properties,” Z says, running his fingers through the same cropped hair I’d enjoyed playing with just minutes before.
“It was the best cover story I could come up with for you being out of town, but they aren’t buying any of it.”
“How did you leave it with them?” Z asks, worry-lines wrinkling around his eyes.
“They said I have to produce either JV, Rowan, or you by tomorrow or they’re going to call in someone who will find you.”
I don’t know Dex well, but even I can hear a sliver of fear in his voice that has never been there before.
Z shuts his eyes, like he’s thinking before finally answering, “They have plenty of connections who will love to pick up our trail for the right price.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. I know we have a lot of friends, but we’ve made more than our share of enemies who would love to help bring us and The Whitney down, too.”
“Shit, you need to get Katja out of town… like tonight. They have to know how much leverage they could gain over you if they decide to put her into play.”
Z’s words bring a whole new level of terror to me. It’s bad enough that killing JV has put me and even Z in danger, but not my friend too, although to be fair, it was the dark side of her business that put this all into motion in the first place.
“Don’t you think I know that?” Dex shouts, clearly upset that the woman he loves is now in danger too. “I’ve been calling in favors left and right to get her out of town. She should be boarding our jet as we speak. I made her leave her phone behind and take only a burner I can reach her on.
“I hired the O’Keefe brothers as her bodyguards, which totally pissed her off, but I don’t give a shit. I told her to decide where she wants to go after she talks to the pilot. I don’t even want to know where they’re headed. The fewer people that know where she is the better I’ll feel.”
A moment of relief registers until it hits me, and I blurt out. “Wait, if Katja is in trouble, aren’t my parents and friends in danger as well?”
Z answers. “This is why I told you not to fill them in on what’s happening or where you were going. Not contacting them is the best thing you can do to keep them out of this right now.”
“But what if they go to the police to report me missing?” It’s a real possibility. Maybe not my parents, but Laura won’t let me go too much longer before she figures out something is really wrong.
“Then we let them. There’s nothing we can do about it, and a public story about your disappearance will keep the Lucianos thinking they don’t know where you are,” Dex fills in.
Z counters before I can say how much I hate this plan.
“Yeah, but a public missing person’s story will also make it harder for us to move around without being noticed. We need to move somewhere more secluded—hell, off the grid. All of these houses out here have security cameras to track who is coming and going. Not to mention, we’re only a few houses down from Rowan’s family home and this place is one huge window. It will be impossible to defend if they find us here.”
