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His dark hair, usually slicked back and perfect, fell into his eyes, the loose curls almost charming. He’d left the first three buttons of his black shirt undone, revealing the glittering diamonds in his Cuban chain.
“Surprised to see me?” he asked. His Brazilian accent clung to the English rolling off his tongue, and I wondered suddenly if he did it to unsettle me. Because it was working.
He smirked and looked around condescendingly, an unimpressed frown twisting his face. “Bit of a dive compared to your usual haunts, isn’t it?” he mocked. “Or at least, so I’m told.”
“How did you find me?” I breathed, finding my voice at last.
“I already told you, didn’t I?” He grinned. “I never lost track of you. Just because you’re staying in a fancier area doesn’t mean I won’t find you. My eyes are everywhere. I hear everything.”
“Who’s been following me?” I demanded, but my voice was weak, I was so surprised that he’d do this in public. Reid could reappear at any moment.
I racked my brain, trying to recall seeing any familiar faces in the peripherals of my memories. Donnie was a paranoid man and wouldn’t have hired anyone new. He kept his circle small and tight. It was how he’d been able to operate foryearswithout ever being caught.
“Why?” He snickered. “Do you miss the old crowd? Want to hang out again like the good old days?”
“Fuck no,” I spat, but it was wobbly, thick with fear. I glanced over his shoulder toward the women’s bathrooms, where Reid might emerge any second.
“Pity,” he drawled. “They all miss you very much.”
“What do you want?”
“The same thing I wanted the last time we saw each other,” he said simply. “I want the money you owe me.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. He slid it across the table to me, and I unstuck my fingers from the edges of the table to pick it up. My hands shook so hard that I could barely hold onto the paper, and I knew he loved to see me this way.
Completely at his mercy. As he loved to see everyone around him.
I finally managed to peel the folded paper apart and gasped. “There’s no way,” I whispered, dropping the paper onto the table. “Donnie, there’s no way.”
“There is one way.” He winked, and my gut turned over. “But I know you’d rather die than come back to me.”
“That’s too much money,” I breathed. “How could I owe you that? All my debts were paid before I left. What is that?”
“What I lost in the last six years thanks to you.”
Millions.
He’d claimed to have lostmillionsbecause of me.
“I can’t afford that,” I said shakily. “Donnie, there has to be another way.”
He shook his head, the smug set of his shoulders making me wish I could scream. “I want the money,” he said. “And I’d hurry up, if I were you.”
I looked back up at him.
“Vitoria is doing really well in university,” he said calmly, and my whole world went silent.
“No.” I fought for each breath I dragged into my lungs. “You touch her, Donnie, and I swear toGod-”
“What are you going to do, Kitten?” He chuckled. “If you can’t come up with a way to pay me back, then I have to make that money back somehow. Vitoria looks enough like you that your old regulars would beecstaticto, uh, see her.”
“Just give me time,” I begged. I’d crawl if I had to, beg on my knees. “Please, Donnie, just give me time and I’ll work something out.”
“You’ll give me my money?”
“Yes,” I said, punching down the sobs that shoved up into my throat. “Please just leave her out of this. I’ll do anything.”
“Obviously not,” he pointed out nastily, switching back to Portuguese in the heat of the moment. “Otherwise you’d give me a set date on when that money will find its way back into my hands.”
