Page 60 of Lord of Vice
My little captive rolled her eyes in response. “I bet you have cameras installed in your suite.”
“It’s the one place I don’t, other than outside the door of course.”
“Of course. Such brilliant security.”
I chuckled as I pressed my flexed fingers on the private elevator’s panel, making a mental note that she’d need to be scanned so she wouldn’t feel like a complete prisoner. Although her earlier cage comment had the sadistic man inside of me thinking evil thoughts. At this point, I doubted she had any intention of going to the police. What would she say? Although I’d give her a shortleash and nothing else. God, I was acting like some fucking guardian or worse.
Her father.
But she still had no real understanding of the impending danger. And I had no doubt it was impending, the clock ticking.
Only this time, I feared a guillotine’s sharp blade would fall.
As soon as we stepped into the steel box, I felt more at ease. The meeting with the Santos twins couldn’t come fast enough in my opinion. “I was serious about you working at one of my clubs. I have various styles of dancers in three resorts.” The doors closed and I leaned against the back wall.
“Come on, pup,” she said as she guided Remington in beside her. “I won’t take handouts, Kraven. Especially not since we were… intimate.”
“Oh, I assure you that you’d be required to audition like any of my other dancers. And the man I hired as a choreographer is a Siberian tiger.”
“Oh, goodness. He took your title away from you.”
“Only because I allowed him to. I have an award-winning series of shows, my dear. I hire the best and because of that, our reputation is solid. Unlike the Morelli brothers who use some of the girls in sexual escapades.”
“You mean in sex trafficking.” When I slowly lowered my head, probably showing another sign of surprise, it was another opportunity for her to roll her eyes. “You really do think I’m nothing but some innocent bumpkin a country girl who never learned anything. Right?”
“No, you graduated Summa Cum Laude from college after holding the valedictorian honors with your high school. You’re a very smart woman.”
“You’ve been checking up on me.” She wrinkled her nose, fury rushing into those bright eyes of hers.
“It’s what I do to help keep myself alive.”
“Why didn’t you just ask?”
“Because people lie and because it would seem you have something to hide.”
She huffed. “Maybe people lie in your world but not in mine. My mother raised me right. What about yours?” As she took a giant step forward, only a couple of inches from the elevator doors, I knew I had my hands full. “Yes, I have a past I don’t want to relive, talk about, or be judged by. Don’t we all?”
My pretty Penny wasn’t saying anything that wasn’t true.
The slight pinging was followed by the doors starting to open and she did everything she could to yank them open faster, ushering Remington out as soon as possible. By the time I stepped out, she was already pacing in front of the suite’s door, which pulled another smile to my face.
I took my sweet time heading to where she was standing, leaning against the wall. “I take it you want something?”
“Yeah, space from you. Open the door so I can go take a long, hot bath and rid myself of your scent.”
“Say pretty please.”
“How about bastard instead?” She even lifted her arm, showing off her middle finger for emphasis.
What a freaking breath of fresh air. I could even fall in love with this girl, if I were the kind of man to allow that to happen. I pressed my hand on the panel, taking a deep breath. “It’s all about keeping you protected.”
“No, Kraven. It’s all about keeping you and your world protected. I’m nothing but an inconvenience.”
She bolted inside without hesitation and all I could do was shake my head. My little lioness might never learn to trust me.
A noise caught my attention before I had a chance to walk inside. I glanced toward the elevator, seeing nothing but an empty hallway. But my instinct told me otherwise. Goddamn it, I loathed reacting this way. After ten seconds of seeing nothing, I moved inside, immediately scanning the main room.
Fortunately, there was nothing amiss. I closed the door, locking it by instinct.