Page 67 of Virtuous Vows

“What are you doing?” I ask.

She offers me a sickly-sweet smile. “You’re not the only one who can walk out any time they want, Dawson.”

Mischief and humor is glinting in her gaze as she slips through my grasp and walks out, closing the door behind her.

Fuck my life!

CHAPTER 35

Dawson

“Ididn’t think we’d leave Crue Monti’s party so early,” Lesley says as I drive us back to the office. “Didn’t have anything to do with a certain little bumble bee, did it?”

I eye her, unimpressed with her attempt at teasing. I swear, it’s bad enough that I have Daphne on my ass, I don’t need Lesley jumping on board too. “We have a few things to go over before tomorrow night.”

She agrees as she looks through the details on her phone for tomorrow’s event. “Everyone invited has accepted and is due to come.”

As was expected.

It’s an annual event that anyone in the know won’t want to miss, where many of the escorts under my banner sell themselves for the following year.

“Are you sure we should still go ahead with this? It’srisky,” she says. “And, I don’t know, you seem distracted lately.”

My knuckles turn white over the steering wheel. Because I know who she is insinuating is the distraction, and she’s not wrong.

“We continue business as usual. Neither Crue nor I have found a definite answer on who’s keeping tabs on my business, and they will want to be a part of this event. In whatever form, he’ll slip up.”

She keeps flicking through her phone. “Dangling bait can backfire, and this is the elite of your services, staff and clients.”

“And what other idea do you have?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I think it’s the best idea as well. It’s just risky. But we have to find this fucker. He’s put too much doubt on your reputation already. And he needs to pay for what he did to Macy.”

The car is silent.

“How is she?” I ask. I’d visited her once since and deposited a large sum of money into her account. Money can’t make up for what happened, but there isn’t much more I can do in the meantime, the guilt riding me hard that she’d been caught up in this.

“She’s strong,” Lesley replies. And after a beat of silence, she asks, “And who will you have attending the event by your side?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“Hm…” She puts down her phone and turns to me. “Do you have a contract with Honey?”

“No.”

“Hm…” I can hear the disapproval in that hum. “You’re playing with fire, Dawson. She’s a Ricci. Her father will put you on a spike for bringing his flower into your world.”

“He can try.”

“I just hope you’re not risking your empire for one woman.”

“I don’t pay for your advice on who I fuck, Lesley. Maybe you should remember thatyouwork forme.”

She blows out a whistle and shakes her head but says nothing more.

Honey’s father and family are no fucking saints. But this is my world. Pleasure, sex, pushing boundaries. There is money and power in it. But it comes with its own expectations, something that I’m not entirely sure Honey will fit into.

And maybe there is only one way to find out—to throw her in the heart of it all. Because if she wasn’t scared off by the virgin auctions, then this might be what turns her away from me.

---