Page 59 of Collide

Fuck.

“I’m on my way,” I said to Miles and hung up the phone.

I was nowhere near ready for the night to end but the shit at thewarehouse needed to get sorted immediately, my hand had been forced.

I was beginning to get tired of my employees taking liberties andforgetting who the fuck they worked for, it was time to put a stop to it.

“Riley, I’m sorry but something has come up and I need to go,” I saidas I walked back to her, trying to keep some of the anger out of my voice.

Someone was going to die tonight for fucking this up for me.

My radiant Star was looking back out at the city but when I stoppednext to her, she turned to face me. Her eyes were filled with sadness and I hated seeing it there.

“Is everything okay?” she asked softly. Unable to resist touching her, Ireached up and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“There’s a problem at one of my warehouses, it can’t wait. I’ll get oneof my drivers to take you back home.” I couldn’t break my stare away from her mesmerizing eyes, and I silently cursed Miles for phoning when he did, wondering what would have happened if he’d waited one minute more.

“Can I come with you?” she almost begged, and as much as I wantedto give in to her and have her by my side every minute of the day, after what she’d just learned about Joe, taking her to the warehouse was a bad idea. I didn’t know the extent of what had happened, but a badfeeling had taken root in my gut, whatever had gone on at the warehouse was not going to be pleasant.

I was about to tell her no, when she put her delicate hand on mychest, igniting a fire in my body.

“Please, Kai, I don’t want to be on my own,” she whispered, her eyeswide and pleading.

How the fuck did I say no to that? It was like she had reachedinside my chest and squeezed my black heart.

“It won’t be pretty.”

“I don’t care.”

And so, against my better judgment, I found myself in the back of mycar heading towards my warehouse with Riley sitting beside me. She didn’t say anything for the entire journey, but she did let me hold her hand, finding comfort in the way my thumb brushed over her knuckles.

Or maybe it was me who found comfort.

Before I knew it, we had reached the warehouse. It was situated onthe outskirts of the city, surrounded by forest in an area where no one had cause to go. And anyone who thought they did have cause to go there, found themselves staring down the barrel of heavily armed guards before they got anywhere near the goods within the confines of the warehouse.

I made a shit load of money through importing and exportingweapons of various kinds, I wasn’t going to be taking any chances by not protecting the heart of my organization.

The guards opened the gates when the car got close enough, notbothering to check if it was me, they knew my car. Frank drove us down the rough track and I noticed Riley’s interestpeaked. She was looking around, taking everything in but still not asking any questions, even though I was sure they were on the tip of her tongue. If anything, her being present when this shit was about to go downwas going to be a testament as to whether Riley could really hack the life I led.

I really hoped she fucking could.

When we reached the main entrance, the car came to a stop andFrank opened my door. I stepped out first and held my hand out for Riley. She gracefully got out of the car which was no easy thing to do in her tight dress and gaped at the enormous warehouse standing behind us.

“What is this place?”

Curiosity got the better of her, she couldn’t tear herwandering eyes away from the building as she asked.

Not letting go of her hand, I started walking us toward the side doorwhich would take us to the staff quarters, the area where I had an office, where security sat and watched the cameras installed throughout the place, and where there was an empty room used only on rare occasions when an employee failed to follow my rules.

I had a feeling the room would be utilized in the coming hour.

“This is where all my weapons are imported to,” I told her casually, asif arms dealing was an everyday occurrence.

I guess for me, it was.

“This is where my staff check the weapons, assemble them, and thenprepare them for exporting onwards.”

“Oh.”

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