Joel took several steps back, and Dante frowned a question down at me. I shrugged, but slipped the chain off its lock and pulled the door open.

Three officers stood on the other side, beefy and intimidating with impatience etched on their faces.

“What can I do for you?” I asked, channeling every ounce of professional ice I could manage while clad in nothing but pink silk.

“We received a report about illegal business activities,” the biggest, baldest one said as he removed his sunglasses. “Excuse me.”

He pushed into the room and glanced around suspiciously.

“Whoa—hold on, you can’t come in without a warrant,” Dante said.

At the same time, I asked, “What’s this all about?”

The officer didn’t answer either of us. I looked around for Joel, but he seemed to have disappeared completely.

“Nice place,” the officer said. “How many of these parties does it take to pay for it?”

I couldn’t process what he was asking me. Unable to come up with any kind of response, I just stared at him. Dante turned to me and I shook my head, bewildered, silently asking him what was going on. The officer turned to me after a long moment, slicing through my soul with his piercing blue eyes.

“Well?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re asking me,” I said in a rush.

“Well, this place must run you, what—a grand a month with utilities? How many clients do you take on to pay for it? Fifty? More?”

“Fifty…what? No. One to five a month, depending on the assignments,” I replied, still confused.

The confusion on Dante’s face deepened, and he turned to the officer.

“Sir, there was no transaction here today, just some mutual fun.”

The officer looked at Dante, blinked, and looked again.

“You’re Dante Drake,” he said, surprised. “It would serve you well to get out of here before the press get wind of this. We know where to find you if we need you.”

The officer’s grin was ugly, but it didn’t cut as deep as the look that Dante shot me as he grabbed his keys and jacket, then strode out of my apartment.

“This will make for some killer headlines,” the officer said gleefully. “Jess, call Jimmy at the Crier. He’ll love this.”

“Wait, what?” Panic made my mouth run dry, shoving my heartache down into the pit of my stomach. “No, don’t call Jimmy, please. If he knows I was here with him like this he’ll end the contract! Please don’t do that; Jim’s my first big client…”

I was babbling—I knew I was, but I couldn’t help it. I was watching the carefully woven strands of my life unravel before my eyes, and I didn’t even understand why.

“Hold on, Jimmy at the Crier? He’s your client too?” The officer frowned.

“What do you mean?” I wailed. “He’s my only client right now; the job pool is bone dry unless you have a reputation. I don’t have a reputation yet; I need one or I’ll never get any more clients…”

“So, wait, you’re new to this? How did you manage to land Dante ‘the Legend’ Drake without a rep?”

“What are you talking about? Dante isn’t a client!”

“Okay, hold on.” The officer pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply, exuding exasperation. “Ms. Ramos. Are you or are you not using your apartment for illegal activities?”

“What illegal activities? What are you talking about?”

My panic was hitting a hysterical velocity. If somebody didn’t give me a straight answer soon, I was going to lose it.

“Bill, who called in that report?” the officer asked his colleague.

“Um…says it’s her ex-boyfriend and neighbor. Luis Greg.”

My head snapped up, instantly cleared by a sudden rage.

“Luis?” I repeated. “He filed a report saying that I was doing what, exactly?”

“Prostitution,” the officer said, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

“Go get him,” I hissed through my teeth.

“Excuse me?” the officer said, all arrogance once more.

I didn’t care. I was done with Luis’s crap. This went beyond annoyance; this was straight-up harassment, and I was not going to stand there and take it.

“He’s right next door,” I said, pointing. “You go get him, you bring him in here, and you look at him. Make him make his nasty, bullshit accusation to my face.”

I was trembling with fury now. The officer in charge nodded to one of the other officers still hovering by the door. He left, and I shivered as my anger turned my veins to ice. I didn’t say a word as we waited for the officer to return. I heard Luis’s slimy voice echoing in the hallway and felt suddenly nauseous.

“Need me to identify her? Why? Doesn’t she have an ID? It’s those two johns you need to identify,” he was saying.

The officer escorted him into the room. He leered at me, looking me up and down. I felt more exposed and filthy than I ever had before, which only stoked my temper. He came to stand beside me, his beady little eyes glinting up at me from his four-inch deficit. I barely spared him a glance, meeting the officer’s eye instead.

“Sorry to have to do this, baby,” Luis said, his voice dripping with false chagrin. “But I told you you were going to get in trouble with thugs like that. Maybe now you’ll reconsider, hm?”

He swung his arm to slap my ass but I dodged.

“That’s enough,” the officer said sharply.

Luis shrugged and sneered smugly at me. “I’ll post your bail,” he assured me. “And I’m a lawyer, so this’ll all be done and over with in no time. You know. Assuming.”

“Assuming what, exactly?” the officer questioned, pinning Luis to the spot with his gaze.

“Assuming she’ll work with me. Cooperate and all that,” Luis said.

His predatory gaze was all the interpretation the officer needed. A vein popped out on his forehead as his jaw worked. He glanced from Luis to me and back again, growing more red in the face and tense with every passing second. My fury was the only thing keeping me from slinking away from his intimidating presence, rooting me to the spot.

After a long moment, the officer reached forward, grasping Luis’s wrist and spinning him around.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” Luis bellowed.

“Luis Greg, you are under arrest for falsification of a police report, sexual coercion, blackmail, and harassment. Ex-boyfriend my ass. Ms. Ramos, does he stalk you?”

“He’s always in the hallway when I am,” I answered, my voice shaking.

“I like to people-watch!” Luis whined.

“And stalking. Anything else?” The officer looked around at his colleagues and me, then back to the short, greasy man he was cuffing. “Ah, that’ll do for now. Good thing you’re a lawyer, Luis! You’re gonna need one!”

“No, wait! You don’t understand! She is a prostitute! Out at all hours, wearing practically nothing! Men in the house! You should have heard the noises coming from her room this afternoon!”

“Can we add eavesdropping? Is that a crime?” one of the officers asked gleefully as they led Luis out of my apartment.

The last officer shot me an apologetic smile as he shut the door. My racing heart slowed abruptly, my blood pressure tanked, and I slid weakly to the floor as black rings clouded my peripheral vision. I sat, just catching my breath, for a full minute.

A door opened behind me and I gasped, choking off a scream. Joel appeared, fully dressed and looked sheepish. He sat beside me on the floor and nudged me with his shoulder.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said shakily. “Dante thinks I’m a prostitute. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.”

I groaned, folding over on myself until Joel squeezed me in a firm embrace.

Panic slowly seeped out of my body, replaced by a bone-level exhaustion. It was only six o’clock, but I didn’t even know if I had the energy to drag myself to bed.

Exhaustion left me numb, except for the sharp cut of Dante’s abandonment. How could he believe that, even for a moment? Didn’t he know me at all?

No, I realized. No more than I knew him.