Page 88 of Awakened by Sin

“Why don’t you want Gavin to know you’re a silent partner for the Red Diamond? I’m surprised you care what he thinks. Is it because it’s a strip club?”

“It’s not a strip club, it’s a gentlemen’s club, and Gavin knew me when I was a stripper. I don’t care what he thinks. I just don’t want him interfering.”

“Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it right. Every one of your investments yielded a double return. Why would he interfere?”

She stared straight ahead with her hands clasped between her legs so she wouldn’t hit him and wreck her new car.

“He’s the one you want to underestimate you. Why?”

He was using an off the charts intuition that was stripping her bare, and she didn’t like the sensation. In one week, Angel Roman uncovered more about her than anyone ever had, even her parents. Her relationship with Gavin was complicated, unpleasant, and filled with old hurts that would never go away. They rarely saw eye to eye, and he was manipulative and ruthless enough to use anything to make her come to heel. “That’s none of your business.”

“I know enough for now,” Angel said. “And I have no interest in your businesses as long as they cooperate.”

“We always have,” she gritted.

“I’m just making the rounds, introducing myself.”

“And drugging them.”

He shrugged. “Sometimes I pull out my gun; sometimes I shake hands. I usually let them lead. Kiki showed me her gun, so I showed her mine.” He took his eyes off the road and shot her a veiled look. “Mine was bigger. If she’d been a man, she would have met a different fate. Instead, she visited La-La Land for a couple of hours.”

Hearing that Kiki tried to defend herself mollified her a little. She pulled her cell phone and gun out of her purse. Angel hummed under his breath and tapped the wheel along to the beat playing in his head. Obviously, he was off his rocker. She dialed Kiki’s number and waited for her to answer. On the last ring, she heard a weary, “Hey, babe.”

“Tell me you’re okay,” she demanded, fingers tightening around the gun.

“I’m okay. Are you?”

“Me? Of course. I didn’t get fucking drugged! Did he do anything else to you?”

“No, but Carmen, I told him everything.” Kiki sounded uncharacteristically shaken. “I don’t know what he gave me. I’m so sorry. I can’t even remember everything I said—”

“It’s okay. Did you go to the doctor? Do you need some time off? I can—”

“No, I’m fine. The next day, I felt like I had a hangover. He told me not to contact you, that he’d handle you himself. I’ve been so worried.”

She glared at Angel who continued to use her steering wheel as a drum. Crazy fuck. “I’m fine. I’ll kill him.”

“Carmen,” Kiki said sharply, “don’t. No harm, no foul.”

“He drugged you!” she shouted.

Angel didn’t flinch, but he rolled down his window to drown out her voice.

“I’m fine. I would have done the same if I was in his position.”

Kiki was justifying his actions? She closed her eyes as her temples throbbed. She tapped her forehead with the gun, and it was snatched out of her hand.

“Be careful,” Angel admonished.

“I’m fine,” Kiki reiterated in her ear.

“Let me know if he fucks with you again,” she ordered before she hung up. She leaned back against the door and turned in his direction with her arms crossed. “How did you know Kiki had a silent partner?”

“Bank records,” Angel said as he rolled up the window.

She stiffened. “I’m not on the bank records.”

“I know, but the quarterly payments she did to an off-shore account got my attention.”

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