Dante

 

Troy wasn’t too happy to hear from me.

 

“Hey,” he said. “You gonna be done with that gig soon? We really need you back in the club, man.”

 

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. It felt stickier than usual; I wondered if using that frou-frou soap in Katia’s shower had been a bad idea after all.

 

“Soon,” I replied. “We gotta catch this asshole first. I can’t leave her alone until the guy is behind bars. And even then, I have a feeling she’s gonna be freaked out for quite some time. You should know that better than anyone.” I rolled my eyes, even though Troy wasn’t there to see me. “Chicks get really freaked out about these kinds of things. She’s probably gonna hire someone full-time after I’m gone.”

 

“So, if you ain’t coming back yet, why’d you call?”

 

“I need you to do more research and try to figure out who this guy is,” I said quickly. “We need to find him soon because Katia’s getting really fucking freaked out. Some sicko actually snuck into her condo this morning and took pictures of her in bed.” I held my breath, wondering if I should say something about the fact that I was in those pictures.

 

Troy won’t care. He knows who I am.

 

“That’s fucked up,” Troy said. I could just imagine him shaking his head and lighting up a cigarette. “He actually got into her condo? Where the fuck were you?”

 

I chuckled nervously. “That’s the thing… I was actually in bed. With Katia.”

 

Troy didn’t reply.

 

“Hey,” I snapped. “Are you still listening? Did you hang up?”

 

“Dante,” Troy said slowly. “What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s a fucking package, not a fucking chick! You don’t get to screw your goddamn customers!”

 

I narrowed my eyes. “Fuck you. If you got a look at this chick, you’d get it. Trust me, she’s fucking hot.”

 

“I don’t give a shit. You’re the goddamn president of one of L.A.’s biggest MCs, and you’re sleeping with this bitch? She hired you! Do you know how easy it would be for her to put it out there that you fucked her? It would fucking ruin our reputation. Forget about making money, asshole!”

 

His words stung, but I should have expected them. After all, he wasn’t exactly wrong.

 

I groaned. “You don’t have to worry. It’s just a fuck. And besides, asshole, you don’t get to go around giving me orders. It’s my club, remember?”

 

“And who’s the one holding everything together until you get back?” Troy spat. “Me. That’s right. I’m cleaning up all of your goddamn messes around the club. I don’t fucking expect that to influence your decisions though. Heaven fucking forbid you keep your dick in your pants for once!”

 

I rolled my eyes. “Troy, you ass, this isn’t going to matter. She’s cool. She’s not gonna fucking sue me for sexual harassment or any of that shit. Besides, she’s loaded. She doesn’t need any more money.”

 

Troy sighed. “Whatever, man. I don’t wanna hear this shit anymore. You want me to get started hunting for this guy?”

 

“Yeah. Look, I’m gonna take her and her personal assistant out to dinner. Why don’t you meet us there? Enchanted Wild. Does eight-thirty work?”

 

I could tell Troy immediately wanted to say something about how I shouldn’t be fraternizing with Katia outside of her condo, but he held his tongue.

 

“That should give me enough time to get a decent start,” Troy finally said. “I’ll look around and see if I can’t figure out who this asshole is. He’s obviously clever if he actually got inside her fucking condo. And he likes fucking with her more than anything else.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

Troy sighed again. “Because,” he said, sounding as exasperated as an elderly man, “if he was gonna hurt her, don’t you think he woulda done it while she was asleep? He could have just grabbed her and walked away.”

 

I frowned. “That doesn’t seem right,” I said slowly. “I think he was surprised to see me in bed and realized that he could blackmail her for more. If he’d grabbed her, she would have screamed. And I would have killed that fucker, right then and there.”

 

“You’re thinking about this too much. Trust me, these guys aren’t like that. They’re the type of men who just want one thing and one thing only. And I’m guessing this one guy’s thing is seeing Katia squirm and act all frightened and hissy. He probably doesn’t give a shit about actually hurting her. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some bored kid.”

 

After I hung up, a bad feeling came over me. I tried to ignore it and think about what Troy had said, but it just didn’t seem likely. The photos were one thing, but what about those creepy phone calls? The guy had called Katia at a time when he thought she’d be sleeping, and there’s little more alarming than being woken from a deep sleep to find out that someone’s been watching you. He must have done it on purpose like he wanted her to find out about those photographs as soon as possible.

 

And what the fuck was up with Troy, anyway? He knew how things worked. He knew he couldn’t be treating me like that. Even though he was my second-in-command, he wasn’t showing very much respect. It was like he’d completely forgotten that I’d picked him out of all the other men to be my vice president. Even if he did have a point about Katia, he’d been pretty fucking rude while telling me about it. I made a mental note to show him who was really in charge as soon as I was able to return to Heaven’s Veil full time.

 

I was just about to start patrolling the other side of Katia’s condo when my phone rang again. I sighed.

 

“Yeah, Troy? What’s up?”

 

There was a girlish giggle on the other end of the line. “It’s Katia,” a voice said seconds later. “Expecting someone else?”

 

“Nah,” I mumbled. “Is everything okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Katia said. She giggled again, and I heard Anya’s voice in the background. “Can you come in here?”

 

“On my way.”

 

When I got inside, Katia and Anya were standing in Katia’s walk-in closet. The floor was covered in clothes and heels and purses, I couldn’t even see the thick shag carpeting that Katia had installed over nearly every inch of her condo’s floor.

 

“Thank god,” Anya said. She rolled her eyes. “Dante, come in here.”

 

“We need your opinion,” Katia added. She smiled at me, and I relaxed. She looked so goddamn pretty when she smiled that I couldn’t stand it. If Anya hadn’t been standing right there, I would have wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. Just thinking about kissing her was enough to make me hard, and I tried to distance myself from all recollection of her perfect, silky body.

 

I chuckled under my breath. “You’re feeling better.”

 

Katia bent over to fasten a strap around her ankle, and I couldn’t help but follow the enticing swell of her breasts. Her closet smelled like vanilla and honeysuckle. My cock twitched in my pants as I watched Katia’s figure straighten up. Her breasts bounced as she jumped to her feet.

 

“Well?” Katia spun in a circle. “What do you think?”

 

“That’s… a damn outfit, that’s for sure,” I said. She was wearing a gold sparkly, high-waisted skirt and a cream silk blouse with no sleeves that made her look like an old Hollywood starlet.

 

“Should I donate it for the auction?”

 

I shrugged “Sure. I don’t know why you’re asking me.”

 

“Well.” Katia sighed. She wrinkled up her nose, managing to look adorable and curious at the same time. “Because I think I should donate it, but Anya doesn’t want me to.”

 

“She has to sign the front of it,” Anya explained. “Which would ruin the pieces.”

 

“But someone would buy it knowing it was Katia’s,” I said. I frowned. An idea had occurred to me, but I wasn’t ready to share it with Katia and Anya at the moment. I’d begun to think about her stalker, and just how easily he’d had access to Katia for all of this time.

 

As one of L.A.’s most famous beauty queens, Katia had done a lot for the community. She’d been involved in charity, philanthropy, and tons of things that were very well publicized. She had her own page on Wikipedia, and she was the kind of girl who got a lot of attention. She’d told me once that she always kept a tub of petroleum jelly in her purse so she could slick it on her teeth before exiting a car. She knew that wherever she went, she was going to wind up being photographed.

 

And the whole charity auction was probably another kink in the weird design of Katia’s stalker. He was someone who could attend events like these, watch Katia, stake out her every move. And for auctions where she was getting rid of her clothing? I shuddered to think of the creepy asshole who would drive the bidding war up just for a piece of something that Katia had owned.

 

I hoped she’d never decide to auction off any of her lingerie.

 

“So?” Katia pouted and turned. “Dante, what should I do?”

 

“Don’t auction it,” I said darkly.

 

She frowned. “Why? Don’t you like it?”

 

I sighed. “I’ll tell you later.”