“I agree.”
She would obviously agree to anything I said if it looked like I was leaning her way, but she was making good points. Now that I’d calmed down, I could see the value in getting back into that club, but I had to have limits set. “We have to get the hell out when it feels dangerous.”
She smiled. “Deal.”
Nodding slowly, I gestured to the hotel. “Let’s go call Brody.”
She slid her hands off my chest but reached down and wrapped one around mine. “We’re a couple, remember? Just in case anyone’s watching.”
No one was watching. It was two in the morning, but her hand felt good in mine, and I wasn’t willing to let go. I laced my fingers with hers, and we started across the parking lot. Pulling open the door, we walked through and went straight to the elevators. We were upstairs in our room, without saying a word, in less than a minute.
I reluctantly dropped her hand and reached into my pocket for my phone but frowned at the time. “Wonder if we should call this late?”
“Maybe text him first. It’s around one in the morning there.”
Nodding in agreement, I typed out a quick text, smirking when my phone rang almost instantly.
“Not surprised.” Mila laughed.
I answered and put him on speaker. “We wake you up?”
Brody snorted and answered quietly. “That would imply I sleep.” We heard a door close and his voice level rose. “What do you have?”
“A fucking shit show,” I answered honestly.
“Not surprised from what you’ve told me already.”
“Got to a lower level and finally saw Samson,” I told him immediately, knowing that was the information he wanted.
“What was he doing?”
“Nothing,” Mila replied. “Except hanging around outside a door that led to another room, but it was clearly invitation only, and I don’t think we were going in there just because we made friends with someone. Not like we did with the lower-level invite.”
“Who was going in there?”
“Mostly men,” Mila continued. “Some women, all young. We watched for a while. The men came back out, but the women didn’t.” She paused. “Something more is going on in there. At one point, Samson gestured for us to go to him. We talked briefly. He already knew I was a dancer and invited me in, but Ethan refused to let me go in without him.”
I looked down at her, surprised she told him, but she was staring at the phone in my hand.
“Good,” Brody replied.
“I understand why he did, and I agree,” Mila continued, “but you have to admit we can’t ignore whatever’s going on behind that door.”
Brody paused for a moment before he spoke again. “Mila, why do you think I sent Ethan with you?”
Mila and I glanced at each other, both confused by the change of direction in the conversation. That wasn’t typical of Brody. He was a straight shooter and liked to stay focused on the task at hand.
“Because we had no real public connection to Elite, and you needed us to look like a couple to blend in.”
“Partly,” he agreed. “The other part of that was that you’re used to taking chances that put you in situations where you got hurt. We didn’t want a repeat of that, so we sent someone with you who could be objective and keep you safe.”
She swallowed hard. “It sounds like you’re implying I’m a loose cannon?”
“Not implying anything,” he answered honestly. “You’re used to working undercover and taking risks you were forced to take. We don’t operate that way, and I knew Ethan would shut it down if it was dangerous.”
The look on her face made it easy to see that she took his comments personally. I knew Brody well enough to know that wasn’t what he wanted, but she didn’t know him like I did.
“We talked about it and agreed it was a bad idea after the fact. I get why she wanted to, though, Brody. Something is definitely going on, and it’s being very well guarded. Women are going into that room and not coming out,” I reiterated.