“No,” I shout after him and follow him into the hallway. “I won’t let you dismiss me after what I’ve had to put up with.”

He pivots around to face me and shoots me a withering look. “I’m not taking advice from someone so close to my bread and butter. Thanks for the offer, but no.”

“How are you so sure? What I have to say can turn out to be a godsend.”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, Sabrina, but I’m out.”

“Are you hell bent on ignoring me just because I’m a woman?”

“Don’t fucking go there,” he warns me. “You’ve known me for less than two days and you already see me as a fucking pet project.”

“That’s not true. I—”

“Stop talking. I don’t need you to fix me or to tell me how to live my life.”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from you!”

“Everything I did for you was to protect you. If you don’t believe that, it’s not my problem.”

He’s so stubborn I can scream. “You won’t listen to what I have to say?” I’m so frustrated, but it figures. We’re combustible in and out of the bedroom.

“Leave it alone, Sabrina.”

“I never asked you for your help on that elevator. You just charged in and did your thing. So why did you do that?”

“Don’t test me, woman. I did it and it’s done.”

“What was in it for you?”

A vein on his forehead pops up and begins to pulse. “Nothing.”

“And why am I here with you now?”

“I protect my investments.”

“I wasn’t your investment when you helped me on that elevator. You didn’t know who I was then. So why did you take time out of your precious life to help? Tell me why. Maybe you’ll figure out why I want to return the favor.”

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs is the only thing that stops me from pushing the issue further. Cole stops at the top of the landing when he sees us in the hallway. “Let me guess. Trouble in gangster’s paradise? Or is this what you kids call ‘foreplay’ nowadays?”

“What the hell do you want?” Silas asks.

“You’re needed downstairs.” He points down the stairwell, and Silas heads down without another word to me.

“What?” I ask Cole. He’s just standing there studying me with an irritatingly sympathetic stare as he chews on the end of the cigar hanging out of his mouth.

“I’ll level with you, honey.”

“If anyone else around here gives me a piece of their mind I’m going to scream!” I tell him, and storm back into my room.

He follows me, stopping in the doorway before I can slam it shut. “I need you to listen because I’ll only say this once. Got it?”

“Fine. Say whatever the hell you want, then leave me the hell alone.”

He points down the hallway. “There’s no future there. Everyone knows it. You’re too much of a good girl for him, even with your mobster family ties. And you can’t change him, so let that idea sink in for a minute. In fact, whatever you’re thinking, forget it. You’re engaged, and he’s as good as taken.”

“He’s with someone?”

I make a wild guess that it’s the wild-eyed she-bitch who jumped me in the hallway. But that couldn’t be right. Silas never mentioned it. Then again, why would he mention it? Especially now that he knows about Lorenzo. Trying to keep my face neutral, I walk over to the bed and take a seat.

“Do I have your attention now? Good. Silas belongs to no woman, but if he did, it wouldn’t be to you. He’s promised to someone else. Kind of like you and your mafioso in training fiancé.”

“But… who?”

“It’s not your concern, but for the sake of getting you off his back, I’ll fill you in. Cindy and his old man made a deal with the president of our Texas charter club. He and the guy’s daughter have had this…thing…” He holds out his left palm down to around hip height. “Since he was yea-high. Why do you think he won’t settle down? He’s already got someone on lockdown. Besides, I just called their charter to help us out if things go south with your dear old Padrino. So that complicates matters, doesn’t it? If I were you, I’d stay out of the way and leave Silas alone until we can ship you back home where you belong. Otherwise, you’ll be playing with the big girls, and they have claws. You won’t win.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I mutter, only half paying attention to the words coming out of my mouth because my brain’s working on overdrive. It makes perfect sense. Silas kept telling me there’s no chance for us, yet he’d contradict himself and go on like he owns me.

Not the other way around.

Because someone else has a claim on him.

A rush of nausea takes over my stomach, and I have to swallow hard to keep down the bitter bile rushing up to my throat. This arrogant bastard essentially turned me into one of those dime-a-dozen sack demons downstairs. God, I’m an idiot, blindly sleeping with this guy I know nothing about and assuming it meant something.

I really am fucking naïve.

Silas has his own motives that I know nothing about.

I allowed myself to be his pawn.

It turns out this new information is what I need to point me in the right direction. My priorities are no different from what they were before my world collided with Silas’s on that goddamned elevator.

I know what I need to do.

One: Get the hell out of here.

Two: Figure out how to free Jordan on my own.

Three: Get as far away from my father and Lorenzo as possible.

Four: Never, ever be used as a convenient poker chip.

Five: Forget I ever met Silas Corrigan.

“Reality’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

My head jerks up. Cole’s still standing there. Fuck. “Yes it is,” I agree.

“Sorry he didn’t tell you about the whole engagement thing.” Cole shoots me a knowing look as he takes a long puff on his cigar. “Then again, you left out a few details too.”

“True.”

“So, you’re kinda even, although that doesn’t matter anyway. Try to get some rest. You’ll need it for the next forty-eight hours.”

I can’t argue with that.

I only have myself to blame.