Page 390 of Dark Love

Dahlia is safe at work. “See you Friday.” Where I’m going to work on convincing you to quit and spend all your time with me.

I grab the other phone and answer without looking to see who it is. “WHAT?”

“Well, aren’t you cheerful today?”

What does The Vincenti Heir want this early in the morning? “What do you want Max?”

“A meet.”

“You called me early in the morning to arrange a meet.”

“If you checked your phone, I called at a reasonable hour yesterday, but you never answered.”

And I wish I didn’t this morning. Not that Vincenti is a bad guy. His do-gooder family just doesn’t jive with my life. “I was busy.”

“Do you have time this morning?”

Something about the urgency of his tone gives me pause. “This isn’t a friendly little visit.”

“I need a favor.”

That’s not good. “Can you just send me the name, and I’ll take care of it?”

“Not that kind of favor. Though thank you for the offer.”

Whatever he wants, it’s important. “Give me an hour. I’ll meet you at my office.”

“See you then.” Max hangs up.

***

My club is completely different first thing in the morning. With the lights on, the façade of the nighttime show falls away. The allure loses its shine without the smoke, mirrors, music, and freely flowing booze.

Dahlia was assaulted here. She was threatened.

This place isn’t for an innocent soul like hers. The filth see her and want to tarnish that beauty.

But the fact that it happened in my club, in a place that is supposed to be safe, makes me want to burn it down. I won’t because too many people rely on it for work. We need to up the security though. What almost happened can’t ever happen again.

Dogs… Maybe we need some drug-sniffing dogs to walk the line.

Or a head on a pike outside the door as a warning.

It would be brutally effective.

A knock sounds at the door and Tac pokes his head in. “Vincenti is here to see you.”

“Send him up.” Hopefully, it’s something easy that the family wants handled. Max has until Friday morning. Then I’m unavailable.

“Max.” I walk over as he steps in.

“Vex.” He takes my hand and gives it a firm shake.

Of all the Vincentis, Max is the richest. Not that you can tell. He doesn’t flash his wealth much more than I do. And only two people know that I’m worth billions. “Have a seat.” I gesture to the couch by the wall. He takes the armchair across from me instead. “What do you need?” There’s no point in wasting time.

“A security video.”

That’s it. He called this meeting for one of my security videos. “Why?” Max owns the biggest cybersecurity firm in the world. He can hack my system any time he wants without so much as blinking.

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