Page 23 of Tainted Love

Damn. I’d hoped I could make it back here in time before she ran off. Then again, chasing Lucy Vaughn might just be as fun as it sounds.

I raise the bouquet of roses I brought back with me to my nose and smile as I inhale their sweet scent. It’ll take more than a few flowers to convince her to spend another night with me, but they’re a good start.

I take a step inside the house, but I halt before my shoe even touches the floor.

There’s someone else here.

I focus my hearing into the living room where Lucy and I played cards. A shuffling of feet on the floor. The tap of a glass on the end table. The give of the stiff couch cushion as they sit down.

I relax. Only one man would be so bold as to make himself this comfortable in a killer’s house.

I walk down the hallway to meet him. He sits on the couch with one ankle propped up on the opposite knee, casually slouching as he scrolls through his phone and sips water from a drinking glass. Not one visible wrinkle on his trademark black suit and tie. He’s barely aged since the day I met him over a decade ago. Agents older than me say the same. No one’s sure how old he is exactly. No one’s ballsy enough to ask.

You don’t question the Angel of Death, as we call him. But he prefers Spencer.

His golden eyes target the flowers at my side. “For me?” he asks dryly. “You shouldn’t have.”

I drop the roses onto the coffee table. “An assignment for Zappia, actually.”

“So, not for the trollop I found wandering alone half-naked in the kitchen this morning?”

I keep my expression frozen as my gut clenches. Depending on whatever mood he happened to be in, leaving Lucy alone might have been a very fatal mistake.

“No,” I answer. “But if you don’t mind me asking...”

He stuffs his phone into his breast pocket and waves, already bored. “I sent her on her way.”

My nerves ease up. “Thanks.”

Spencer sets both feet on the floor. “You’re not here to sleep around with the locals, Hart. You’re here to pay attention.”

“I can do both.” I lean a shoulder against the archway. “Antony’s spooked.”

He raises a brow. “Why?”

“The Lutrovas are back in town.”

“Is that right?”

“Can’t confirm it just yet, but he wants me to stay close for a while. I have to attend Enzo’s restaurant opening tonight.”

He nods. “Keep me updated,” he says, his tone rougher than usual.

“You didn’t come out here to critique my choice of one-night stands, Spencer,” I say, easily reading his piqued expression. “Cut to it.”

He wipes a bit of fluff off his pant leg. “I assume you received Myra’s message?” he asks.

“Black has gone dark,” I recall. “Await further instructions.”

“You haven’t heard from him, have you?”

“No,” I answer.

“Your squad?”

“No.”

“And Fitzpatrick?” He doesn’t blink. “No word from him?”

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