Page 43 of Corrupted Empire

“Ms. Wright, I promise I wasn’t—”

“Don’t bullshit me, Lupe,” Alexis replies in a flat voice. “I saw you looking in my jewelry box. There’s nothing to clean in there, so why would you be doing it unless you were checking out the goods?” She sighs. “Listen, you have a family. I understand that. But I also know you’re paid well here, so there shouldn’t be any reason for you to be skimming off the top. If there is, if you’re in trouble somehow, please come to me so I can help you. So are you in trouble?”

“No,” Lupe says in a quiet voice.

“Okay. Because you do have a family, and because you’re going to promise me that you won’t do it again, I won’t tell Gabriel what happened. I am going to tell the head housekeeper, though, and you will be searched at the start and end of your shifts from now on until I feel that you’re no longer a threat. Do you know what happens if you get caught even thinking about stealing again?”

“No.”

“You don’t just lose your job, Lupe. You lose everything. You’ll probably have to leave the city. You do understand how privileged a position this is, right? You’ve seen things. You’ve heard things. That’s why you’re so well-paid, and that’s why you’re only valuable to us as long as you can be trusted.”

“I won’t do it again,” Lupe says with a quaver in her voice. “I promise. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Okay. I believe you.” Alexis lets out a sigh. “Get back to work.”

I hear footsteps heading in my direction, and Lupe rounds the corner. She lets out a strangled cough when she sees me, eyes wide with fear. I nod amiably, as though I didn’t just overhear their conversation, and continue on to my bedroom.

I’m proud of how Alexis handled the situation. She was stern but fair, and I believed the promise of retribution in her voice. I have seen this side of Alexis a few times, and it never fails to impress me.

I get changed into my gym clothes, wondering if maybe this is not the first time this week that Alexis has spun threats around a potential enemy.

* * *

I ask Alexis to join me for dinner in the evening. It is the first time we have dined together since she came back to the mansion, and as such, I employ Victoria to craft a specialty menu of Alexis’ favorite foods.

Alexis comes down for dinner wearing a gorgeous red satin dress that clings to her curves and a skeptical expression.

“This feels a lot like a date,” she comments as I pull her chair out for her.

“So?” I pour a glass of wine for us both and take my seat at the other end of the table.

“So, you’re up to something.” She evaluates me over the top of her wineglass, ruby-red lips pulled into a tight frown. “You’ve made it very clear that we aren’t together the same way we used to be. The fact that you’re wining and dining me now is suspicious.”

Victoria brings through the appetizer—baked camembert with cranberry sauce. Alexis stares down the table at me while Victoria places the plates in front of us, eyes narrowed in challenge. I can tell she is expending considerable effort not to dive face-first into her food. My lip tugs up at the corner.

“I have a question to ask you,” I say simply, picking up my fork.

Alexis stabs into the cheese with more force than necessary. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Did you intimidate the detectives working on my case?”

Alexis pauses mid-chew, eyes snapping up to meet mine. She finishes chewing and swallows carefully.

“I might have had a few words with them,” she says, and picks up her napkin to dab the corner of her mouth.

“Why would you do that?” I ask.

Alexis sets her fork down and licks her lips. “Because I fucked up,” she says. “I thought that getting them to stop investigating might make amends for the damage I caused.”

The air thickens between us. Something stirs in my chest, and I lean back in my chair, resisting the urge to pull her into my arms.

I take a long sip of wine, and when I set my glass back down, speak in a deliberately measured voice. “You told Ruby Flint that if she kept investigating, you were going to expose her affair on the front page of theUnionwith full-color photos.”

Alexis shrugs. “It’s not my fault that she’s indiscreet,” she says, smirking. “And into some weird stuff, too.”

I hold her gaze. “You also told her that once you’d done that, you’d slice an inch of her skin for every day I spent in prison.” Suppressing a smile, I add, “That’s cold.”

“I learned from the best,” she retorts, and lifts her glass in salute.

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