Page 16 of Scarlet Angel

“I’ve no idea.” A cock-sure smile crosses her lips. “But you should know, when bitten, I bite back.”

Her hand leaves the knob, and she crosses her arms over her narrow waist and takes a single step into my office.

“I’d expect nothing less, love.”

“Don’t call me love.”

I dump the sharp, tiny pieces in the rubbish and brush my palms against each other. The desire to put the siren in her place brews, but I swallow the temptation.

“Is your room to your liking?”

“I don’t hate it.”

I bite the corner of my lip, unsure what to do with this one. “Take your pick of rooms, lo?—”

A single eyebrow arches, because yes, she caught my near slip, and damned if that eyebrow raise is irritation or amusement. I haven’t a fuck.

“My room is lovely. Thank you. I saw the light on in your office. How shall we proceed?”

“Close the door.”

She glances over her shoulder and stills.

For Christ’s sake. “Close the bloody door.” She pierces me with a glare. “Trust me or not? If you don’t, I’m wasting my time.”

She closes the door and backs up to it.

What the hell?“I’m not a bloody monster.”

Her lips purse, but that’s the only movement I clock. What the bloody hell have I gotten myself into?

“Here’s the deal. Love.” I pause for effect. “If we’re talking about something that might get a head shot off, we close the door. And we only talk about it in my study or outdoors.” The house holds a lot of rooms, a few with a stuffy old-world library vibe and plenty of locations to stash a listening device. “This room is my study,” I add for clarity. “Now, let’s get on with matters of import. You do the books?”

“Quicken. And a proprietary program Titan Shipping uses.”

Finally getting somewhere. “Can you access them from here?”

“No.”

“Fuck—”

“I can tell you where to look. How they do everything.”

That’s helpful, I suppose.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Here we go. Well, she deserves payment. “Go on,” I say, curious about the depth of the beauty’s greed.

“Help me find a new location to live. Somewhere they’ll never think to look.”

She’s talking about hiding from the mafia. “And where would that be?”

“Greenland? Australia? I don’t care. I don’t want anything to do with the family. I want to be as far away from them as possible.”

If she’s a witness, that’s wise. “Done.”

“Yes?”

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