Page 33 of Blood Moon

“It’s about time you called. I had almost given up on civilized communication.” I barked at him, still pissed that he had managed to get past my guys and into the hospital without me knowing.

“Shut up and listen. I’m done with this stupid fight. We need to talk. Now.” Strain was out of breath and sounded upset. Interesting. I wondered what had him spooked. He was enough like me that I knew he didn’t scare easily.

“Where?” I wasn’t even going to respond to his disrespectful tone. I could deal with that when we met.

“I own a warehouse at the pier. Meet me there in twenty minutes. Come alone. No weapons.” He hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

I knew the exact place he spoke of, as I had my men casing it. I suspected that they were using it to smuggle contraband into the city, but couldn’t prove it.

I shot a message to Jones letting him know where I was going. He knew that if I didn’t check in within an hour of the meeting time, he was to gather his team and come after me. Jones responded that he still hadn’t been able to track Delilah down.

My next message was to her. Are you okay? I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I’m getting worried.

She didn’t respond right away, and I wasn’t about to beg her to talk to me. “Fuck it, you want to be childish, go ahead.” I knew it was immature of me to feel that way, but she’d hurt my feelings by running off. Not that I would ever tell her that such feelings exist.

I climbed in the car and sped through the city. I stopped at my office to pick up some packages I’d had delivered.

“Oh, Mr. Maxwell! I didn’t expect you to come in today.” Liz was at her desk, exactly as she should be, fielding phone calls and dealing with visitors.

“Just a quick pop in to pick up some deliveries. I trust everything came as promised?” I knew Liz wouldn’t be able to resist opening the packages and looking through everything. That was one of the reasons I’d ordered a silk scarf for her. She was already wearing it, which made the question moot.

“Yes, sir. Everything on the list was accounted for. Thank you so much for the gift. It was totally unnecessary.” She played with the scarf as she spoke. I was pleased that she seemed to like it. “The rest is boxed up right here.”

I carefully picked up the box and carried it back to my car. It was a struggle to get it in the trunk, but I managed. I had hoped that Delilah would be excited about the new wardrobe. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I would ever even find her. Maybe if I did, she would accept the gifts as an apology.

I drove to the pier slower than I had ever driven before. I felt like a man who was headed to his execution for a crime he didn’t commit. There was a time when I thought of Eli as a brother. Then his boss started coming after Kat, and it all fell apart.

As much as I hated him, I respected him for what he’d built. His corporation was the only one in the state that came close to competing with mine. I knew that was intentional on his part. If he hadn’t created it that way, I probably would have changed mine to compete with him.

It seemed as if we would always be rivals. First for Kat’s attention, then in business, and now for Delilah’s affection. If she remained terrified of him, I would win. However, if he got her alone, he might just be able to charm her and convince her that I’m the bad guy. I had to do whatever it took to keep that from happening.

I checked my watch as I put the car in park. I knew I was early, but I planned it that way. I wanted to see him pull in and gauge if he’d stood by his own request to come alone.

The black Porsche that pulled in and parked on the other side of the lot looked familiar. It only took a moment to remember where I’d seen it. That was the car that sped away while I was walking down Ninth Street looking for Delilah.

My heart started to race. What if he’d called me here to tell me that he’d won? If he had managed to kidnap her from right under my nose, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I swung my head from side to side, searching the area for hidden guards. It appeared that the area was empty, but that didn’t mean anything. Strain’s men were almost as good as mine at hiding.

Panic set in as Strain climbed out of the fancy sports car, then walked around to the passenger side to help someone else out of the car. I took a defensive stance and prepared to flee if needed. I wasn’t above running away from an unfair fight.

Chapter 33

Eli

It didn’t surprise me to see Vik already at the meeting location when we arrived. I turned to Delilah. I could feel the fear coming off of her in waves. But there was more. She had so many emotions that I wasn’t sure if she could even sort them out.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked her before climbing out of the car.

“No, but I have to do it. The three of us have to talk. There has to be a non-violent end to this war you two are having. I can’t be the thing that stands between you,” she replied.

“Love, there is so much between Vik and myself. Trust me, it’s not all over you. But even if it was, is that so bad? We both want you. It’s your decision. You get to call the shots here. You decide.” I could tell from her face that my response wasn’t what she wanted to hear. I wasn’t sure what she wanted. It was so hard to interpret all of her emotions right now.

Sometimes being an empath was helpful. Sometimes it was confusing. It’s hard to be with someone intimately and not read their emotions. I tried to block it all out, but everything she was feeling was so strong that I couldn’t.

I climbed out of the car and walked around. Vik eyed me suspiciously. I didn’t blame him. I told him no weapons and no backup. I wondered if he had actually listened. I guess we’d find out in a moment.

I opened Delilah’s door and she grabbed my arm to steady herself. It was like she was drowning and I was her lifeline. I loved that feeling and hoped that this negotiation didn’t go south. I wanted to be part of her life. I was willing to negotiate. I would give my rival whatever he wanted in return.

I looked down at Delilah, urging her to step forward. There was no point in being here if we weren’t going to talk. In order to do that, we needed to be much closer than fifty feet away. I didn’t think any of us really wanted to yell about our feelings today.