Page 74 of Virtue & Vengeance

His eyes narrowed as if he could read my thoughts. “And if you even think of trying to run, we’ll kill everyone you love. Your aunt Kennedy sure is a pretty piece of ass. It would be a shame to let her go to waste. Maybe I’ll have a little fun with her before I kill her.”

Both laughed at the remark, but my heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach.

My plan to tell Zander dissipated and the realization that there was no getting out of this if I wanted the ones I loved to be safe, killed me.

“I’m not going to try anything,” I said softly.

He smiled, knowing he had killed my hopes of being free of them. “Good girl.”

Thirty minutes later, I found myself in front of Empire Sevens as Winston and Rodger sat in the black Sedan across the street. They warned me they would be there all night. Not that I was even thinking about running now. No way would I put anyone else in danger.

Walking into the lobby of Empire, I pulled the hoodie they had given me over my head and speed-walked toward the employee lounge.

From there I made my way toward the kitchen and then to the back elevator that Zander had taken me to his penthouse on the night of the gala. There was a code to enter to get to Zander’s penthouse, but thankfully I remembered it.

Quickly, I pressed in the numbers, checking around me and making sure none of his security members were around. Jerome and Joey would stop me, of that I was sure, and I didn’t need anyone else involved in this mess.

The door opened with a ding, and I stepped into the small space and pressed the button that would take me up to the penthouse.

As I rode the elevator up, my stomach was in knots. I twisted my fingers together and nibbled at my bottom lip as worry and anxiety ate away at my insides.

I had no idea how I was going to get five hundred thousand dollars from Zander without tipping him off that something major was happening, but I would have to think on my feet and be smarter than him.

I already knew he was going to flip when he saw my face since no amount of cover-up was going to fix what Allen had done, but I couldn’t think about that. I needed to focus on the task at hand, get it done, and disappear from Zander’s life for good.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to Zander’s floor. I stepped out and turned toward his room. The entry area was warm and welcoming. It smelled fresh and clean, reminding me of how filthy I was.

Once I made it to his door, I stood for a few seconds, breathing deeply and trying to bring my heart rate down a notch. When I felt like I could speak without losing my breath, I reached up and knocked.

A few seconds passed, and I knocked again, praying that he was there. I scanned the area around me, making sure yet again that I was alone, and when I turned to face the door again, I began to feel a bit lightheaded.

I shook the sensation away and blinked against the wave of strange feelings taking over. When he finally opened the door, I looked up to see the shape of his broad shoulders in the darkness of his entry space.

The sight of him was more than I could handle. A rush of emotion moved over me mixed with longing and exhaustion. My world tilted on its axis, and a wave of relief crashed over me. The corners of my vision grew dark before the world went black and I dropped.

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