Page 12 of Theirs to Corrupt
Realizing Natalie is still talking, I drag myself back to the conversation.
“I was saying…there’s the kind of shitty situation we both escaped, but Link and Pax are a totally different kind of dangerous.”
True. “But I don’t have any desire to be a rich man’s plaything.” After all, that’s part of why I ran away.
Resolved, I change the subject.
After dinner, I take a quick shower and dress in shorts and a T-shirt. Then I say goodnight to Nat and walk across the complex to Serena Rodriguez’s apartment.
The young single mom greets me with a harried smile. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I wave off her thanks. This job is easy. After all, I mostly get paid to sleep. “It’s no problem. How’s Miguel doing?”
“Finally asleep,” she says. “Three bedtime stories tonight.”
I grin. One time, he managed to get four out of me.
Miguel is a great kid. But he’s five, and he has way more energy than I do.
“I should be home in the morning around seven thirty. If you can feed him breakfast and get him ready to go, I’ll drive him to school.”
“It’s a plan.” Occasionally something comes up at work, and she can’t get out in time. “Just let me know if that changes.”
Since the apartment is blessedly quiet, and I don’t have any immediate obligations, I lock the door, then drop onto the couch and turn on the television.
Maybe because of the conversation with Natalie, or the fact I’m imagining Link’s masculine, spicy scent, I can’t stop thinking of the men.
Even though I don’t mean to, I pick up my phone.
Within seconds, I’ve opened theScandalicioussite.
To my surprise, I see a photo of him, snapped last night at some high-society gala. He’s gorgeous in a tailored tux, his longish black hair brushing his collar.
Eventually I realize he’s with another man.
My eyes widen as I read the caption.
Link is speaking with Matteo Moretti.
Heir apparent of the infamous Moretti crime family.
An icy chill skates down my back.
Mob connections? No wonder Link needs a bodyguard.
I wonder if the man they threatened that night is still alive.
My God.
And yet…
I never felt threatened, even when challenging Link—which my instinct for self-preservation should have stopped me from doing.
Unnerved, I close the article and instead google Pax.
There’s frustratingly little information about him online, but I’m not deterred. After all, I have nowhere else to be.
So I spent the next hour digging.