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Benedict
“YOU’RE FUCKING FIRED!” I shouted at the woman who stared across the desk from me, tears in her eyes. Good fucking riddance. She gathered her notepad and pen, and then fled out the door, sniffling and whimpering.
She slammed into Ibrahim, who merely raised an eyebrow. “Cindy, go get cleaned up and go back to your desk. You’re not fired.”
“She is too fired, you asshole!” I shouted at my friend.
“You’re not fired, Cindy. But you should leave Benedict’s office right now.”
Cindy fled.
“Fucking hell, Benedict,” Ibrahim said. “That’s the third one since Christmas.”
I stared at him flatly, knowing exactly what he was about to say next.
“Just call her.”
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t drag Piper into the violence of our lives.
“I saw her today, ” I admitted, running my hands through my hair, remembering how I’d been arrested by the sight of her flushed cheeks peeking out of the bright red coat I’d bought her. “With Igor Lebedev.” Fury roared through me at the thought of her meeting Igor, even after I’d learned it was only for business. Seeing him with his hand on Piper released a long-dormant rage inside me.
“He called me, after lunch, and told me that if I broke her heart again, he’d personally slit my throat.”
A startled laugh burst out of Ibrahim. “That’s because even he recognizes what a fucking gem she is. Why are we doing this to ourselves?”
“And drag her into our world?”
Ibrahim laughed bitterly. “She had lunch with Igor Lebedev today. Whether she knows it or not, she’s part of our world now.”
“No,” I snapped. “She’s better than that. She deserves better than that.”
He stalked to my desk and leaned forward, getting in my face. “Don’t you think we should allow her the opportunity to make that decision for herself? If she’s having lunch with men like Igor, she doesn’t even know how much trouble she’s in. She needs protection.”
I exhaled sharply and ran my hands down my face. “She needs safety.” And we couldn’t offer her that, not by a long shot, not ever.
Ibrahim stood back up, contempt in his gaze. “You’re a fucking idiot, Benedict. And we’re all suffering for it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Piper
A WEEK OF TEARS AFTER I exchanged less than a dozen words with Benedict. That’s what one chance encounter earned me. I cried myself to sleep. I cried in the shower. I cried every time I put on that goddamned red coat. I cried every time I fastened James’ necklace around my neck and Ibrahim’s earrings in my ears.
Three days with these men changed me irrevocably, and I wanted them back. As I rode the elevator to my apartment, I stared at my phone, looking at the still empty group text that we started together, and wondered if I should take the plunge.
They didn’t want it. The arrangement was clear—a few days of mind-blowing sex, and then we’d go our separate ways.
Igor Lebedev sent me a USB key with more documents related to the sale of the building, the construction companies that my employer used to hide its tax evasion, and evidence that the owners laundered money from Russian oligarchs through it.
The elevator dinged, rousing me from my late-night musings. My apartment door was cracked open, the keycard entry smashed, and a dent in the door where it’d been kicked in.
Shit. Shit.
The door swung freely on its hinges when I pushed it in. What do I do? Steeling myself, I stepped into my apartment, casting my eyes over the common areas and the open kitchen. It looked untouched. My heart pounded, and I rubbed my clammy hands on my coat. Maybe I should just leave and call the police.
No, the apartment looked empty. Whomever had been here was already gone. What did they want? What had they taken? I sighed, pulling my phone out of my pocket to call 9-1-1.
A noise in the back of the apartment scared the daylights out of me and I froze, terrified, regretting the impulse to enter my home and make sure everything was okay.
