Page 7 of King

Realization hit hard.

He wasn’t sleeping with the town planning woman, he was sleeping with the woman in the pink dress. I turned back to him and he snapped out of whatever reverie he was in.

“She’s a little young, isn’t she?” I spat.

“Go back to your hell hole,” Zane said angrily. I’d ruffled him which was my purpose for this mission but I knew I needed to get to Ren before he kidnapped the wrong woman.

Little miss pink was going to enjoy my palace while Zane paid out his ass to get her back.

Zane’s security had come for me. I pushed them off me and walked out of the hotel, a hot new little plan fresh in my mind. Pulling my phone free from my pocket, I quickly pulled up the camera and took a photo of the woman in pink through the outside window and sent it to Ren.

H: New plan. Ditch the witch. Pinky is our new target. Quick and subtle.

Putting my phone away, I headed back to my side of the city to wait for our new guest to arrive. Zane was going to lose his mind judging by the way he stopped mid sentence when he saw her.

Chapter Three

Paisley

“Whowasthatguywith Zane?” I asked my mother as she looked away when he pushed the security guards off him and walked off.

“Someone you don’t want to mess with, Paisley,” she warned. “Just leave it be and don’t ask Zane about him.”

“Was it his brother everyone warns me about?”

“Who warns you about Zane’s brother?” she asked. I felt a little foolish for saying anything at all. That look in his eye had done things to me that I was ashamed to admit I liked.

“Zane, my friends, there’s like some beef with them, right?”

My mother shrugged. “Yes, it’s a long standing feud. Halen looks after the underworld of the city, and it’s said he lives underground like a rat.”

“Why would he be here?”

My mother looked at me, as if she could read my mind with how interested I was. “Leave it, Paisley. He’s no good. You need to find yourself a good man with a good job.”

Working on it, I thought but I didn’t say another thing. I would find out about Halen, one way or another.

“Daniela,” I heard Zane’s deep voice from behind me. His hands were on the back of the chair behind me. “Nice to see you again, and lovely Paisley as well.”

My mother smiled up at him. I knew she still liked him, but she had taken his rejection of her well when he gave her important jobs in lieu of his body. Zane didn’t like his women to age, that was evident with how much plastic surgery his wife had a year.

“Thank you, Zane. We’re just having a quiet dinner.”

“Not a problem,” he said, his fingers brushing against the skin of my back where the dress dipped down. I felt a chill run down my arms, goosebumps appearing. It was a promise of what was to come later. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night.”

He left the restaurant, and I knew there would be punishment for making him wait all night for me after the photos I sent.

“Why are you smiling?” my mother asked me. I immediately stopped smirking at the effect I had on him and looked down at my menu again. She knew.

She had to know.

But I was not going to be the one to tell her, or to admit I was fucking her ex.

Once I got back to the floor of my apartment, I started to unzip my dress before I even unlocked my door. As I keyed in my code along with my keycard, I opened the heavy door and set it to keep it unlocked. I knew Zane would be keeping an eye on me through the security cameras he had set up in his office so he would know the precise time I would walk through my door.

As I turned on the dimmer lights, I made a move to undo my dress when I noticed something off. I hadn’t left my blinds closed. I always kept them open until I went to bed. My entire apartment was darker than it needed to be. I stopped unzipping my dress and looked around.

Maybe I was going crazy.

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