Page 24 of Vendetta
“Dylan, I need you to cover a special shift tonight,” he said.“Our client wants a little extra attention.Private setting.High tip potential.”
She blinked.A private shift?“I -- I’m not scheduled for that,” she said.
Eli shrugged.“You are now.”
Her stomach flipped, and she wasn’t sure if it was panic or rage.Private shift?Since when?Looking past him, she found the other man watching her like she was already his.
And that’s when her instincts started screaming.She agreed, but not with a smile.Not with confidence.She gave a small nod and a tight breath, her agreement more out of obligation than willingness.That last fragile thread of belief still held.The one that said,he’s your uncle; he wouldn’t let anything happen to you.
Even after everything, his silence to the way he looked right through her and let that other man touch her last week, she’d still wanted to believe Eli gave a damn.She should have known better.
Eli handed her a black, zip-up jacket, new, branded with the bar’s logo, and a card with an address scrawled across it in bold, sharp handwriting.“Client wants a one-on-one setting.Just drinks, small talk.You’re there to make the guy feel welcome.That’s it,” he said.
His tone was too cool.And he still didn’t look her in the eyes.
Dylan frowned, turning the card over in her hand.“Why out there?”she asked quietly.
Eli shrugged like it didn’t matter.“Client’s request.He wanted privacy.”
“I don’t have a car,” she reminded him, liking the situation less by the second.
“That’s been taken care of,” he told her.
What was that supposed to mean?
“How long am I supposed to be there?”she asked.“Why just me?You’ve got a lot of other girls.”
That got his attention, but not in the way she wanted it.His expression was hard to read.“Because he asked for you,” Eli said flatly.“You can handle yourself, remember?That’s what you said.”
Her stomach dropped when he threw her own words back at her.The way he dismissed every reasonable concern, like this wasn’t a favor.It was already a done deal.
“Is this safe?”Dylan had to ask.
“You think I’d send my niece somewhere dangerous?”he asked with a smirk.
She wanted to believe him.But something in his voice left her feeling cold and uneasy.Dylan slipped the jacket on like it could protect her.
“Just drinks?”she asked under her breath.But deep down, she was already starting to wonder if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.Her stomach curled in on itself as she read the address on the card.It wasn’t in town or near anything familiar.Just a private road outside Oak Grove.
Peggy watched from behind the bar, but she didn’t say a word.Her gaze followed Dylan as she went back to grab her bag.When Dylan came back, strong headlights flared through the side window of the bar.Was the car already there?She saw a black sedan with tinted windows.Everything was happening way too fucking fast.
“Your ride,” Eli said, not even glancing up.“Client requested no phones.It’s his policy for private sessions.No distractions.No recording.”
Dylan blinked.“You want me to go out there without a phone?”
Eli held out his hand.“You’ll get it back after.Or I’ll bring it to you.You’re fine.”
She looked down at her phone.Jason’s name lit up at the top of the screen.He’d texted earlier asking if she wanted him to pick up Greek food for tonight.
Every part of her screamed not to go.
But Eli’s eyes were hard now.His mouth a firm line.
And some piece of her, the part that still didn’t want to believe Eli would do anything to harm her, overrode everything else.Taking her phone out of her bag and turning it off, she placed it in Eli’s waiting hand.
“Good girl,” he muttered.
The words made her skin crawl as she walked out of the bar.
