Page 62 of Seduction in Spades

“I’m not a helpless damsel in distress.”

“Agreed. You’re not helpless. You also shouldn’t be in the middle of this.”

“A little late for that, don’t you think?”

She tries to take her bag from me, so I switch hands and hold it away from her, gripping her biceps as I guide her to the elevators.

“Don’t fight me on this, Avery.”

We ride the elevator in silence. When we get off on our private floor, I let her storm out ahead of me. The second I unlock the door, she pushes her way in.

“At least this prison is bigger than my apartment. For the record, I’m only staying until Sunday night. I’ll be at work on Monday morning.”

She crosses her arms and glares at me. I’d take her in my arms and tell her everything will be okay if I didn’t think she’d slap me away from her.

I set her bag on the coffee table. “Trey’s room is to the left. He never stays here so it’s the smaller of the three. Ryder’s room is next to his and has an adjoining bathroom. My room has a bathroom as well and is to the right. Take your pick of rooms. But don’t fucking leave.”

I leave her and text the guys when I’m in the elevator.

Nolan:Get to Drake’s office. Now.

I have just enough time to scan through the video coverage of Avery’s apartment before the guys arrive. Since I haven’t done anything other than walk her to her door for the past week, and I have our sex tape downloaded to a private folder and deleted from the camera app, I’m not worried about Trey busting us.

What I’m more concerned about is who broke into her place. I find the footage from last night and curse when the perp’s face is unidentifiable. He’s wearing jeans and a plain black sweatshirt with the hood drawn up.

The baseball cap covers his eyes. He’s wearing gloves as he easily breaks into Avery’s apartment. As soon as he’s in, I switch to the window camera but can’t see anything other than a reflection in the window.

His movements are mechanical. From the little I can see, he doesn’t search the apartment. He stabs his knife through the pillow, and four seconds later, he’s slipping out the front door. It’s as if he knew she wasn’t home and wanted to leave a warning.

“Avery? She okay?” Trey asks, coming up behind me.

“Yeah. She’s in the penthouse.”

“What’s this about?”

“No one comes in here until we’re done. That includes Nora and Avery,” I say.

“What the fuck?” Drake says from inside his office.

When the door is closed behind us, I nod to Ryder.

“Shit got fucking real.”

I flick on the projector and connect my phone. I play the footage from last night, and Trey kicks back his chair.

“What the fuck is that? How did you let him in her apartment last night?”

“Avery wasn’t home. I texted you last night. She passed out drunk at my place.”

“Have you been to her apartment yet?” Drake asks, his face ashen white.

It’s déjà vu from what happened to Nora, only she wasn’t as lucky, finding her best friend stabbed to death in her bed.

“Her pillow got blundered by a butcher knife. No note. Nothing missing that Avery could tell.”

“Fuck, man. You let her in there?” Trey clenches his fists by his side.

“I didn’t know her place had been broken into when I dropped her off this morning.”

---