Page 39 of Monstrous Urges

He scowls. “I mean…not this second, no.” A smirk tugs at his lips. “You? Any baby thoughts?”

I bite back the heat that is threatening to spread up my neck into my face as I replay part of last night.

“I… I’m n-not on birth control…”

“You say that as if I give a fuck.”

I smile at Alistair through the throb deep in my core as I force a wry smile to my face.

“Yeah, still single as fuck, thanks.”

Alistair shrugs. “Hey, I could totally see you as one of those single fifty-year-old ladies with a surrogate…or doing some sort of superwoman in-vitro thing. Freezing your eggs is a thing, right?”

I glare at him. “Yeah, my big takeaway from that is how easily you imagined me as still single at fifty. Thanks, dickhead.”

He grins. “Hey, true love might be walking in your door any sec?—”

“Ms. Crown?” Amelia blurts as she all but falls into the office. Her face is stricken as she glances between Alistair and me. “Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Black?—”

“It’s fine,” I cut her off with a frown when I see the seriously concerned look on her face. “What’s going on?”

“The, uh…the…”

“One word, three syllables,” Alistair says dryly. “First syllable sounds like?—”

“Ms. Crown, the police are on their way up. The front desk just rang me.”

The smirk drops from Alistair’s face, and we both leave my office and go out onto the wraparound walkway when we hear the commotion rumbling from down on the main floor. Two uniformed NYPD officers—a man and a woman—are completely ignoring the shocked looks on the Crown and Black employee faces as they thread their way through the main floor pit to the staircase up to the executive level that rings the lower offices.

Alistair, Amelia, and I watch in confusion as the two officers reach our floor, look at each other, then glance our way before walking over. The male officer clears his throat as they come to a stop in front of us.

“Ms. Crown?” he says with an official tone.

My brows furrow. “Yes?”

“Would you like to step into your office with us so that we can talk privately?”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Alistair growls, butting in. “I’m Alistair Black, and not only is this my firm, but Ms. Crown is my client. I’ll be present if you wish to speak with her.”

I roll my eyes slightly as I glance at him. “Thank you, Alistair,” I say quietly. “But I’m sure they’re not here to talk about me.” I glance back at the two officers and grin.

Neither of them grins back.

“Shall we?” The female officer, with a name tag that says “Officer Horton”, gestures past me to my office door.

“Uh…sure… Yeah, of course,” I frown, turning and glancing at Alistair before stepping inside. “Amelia, would you hold my calls, please?”

“Of course, Ms. Crown.”

Alistair and I step into my office, and I hold the door for Officer Horton and the guy, apparently “Officer Ramone”, as they follow us inside.

“Please,” I gesture at the two couches to one side of my office. “Why don’t you have a seat?—”

“Ms. Crown,” Officer Ramone says in a terse, official voice. “Can you tell us where you were last night?”

Something inside of me tenses. My lips pull tight as my eyes snap to his.

What the fuck.

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