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.