I open the door. Sure enough, it’s Julian.

“It must be really important, since you were supposed to come see me half hour ago—” he stops, his eyes widening. “Katie?”

Fuck.

“What the hell is Katie Harris doing in your hotel room?” he asks, turning his frown back to me. “Is there something you need to tell me?”

“Come in. I’ll explain.” I usher him inside and close the door.

I look at Katie, sitting on the bed in the hotel bathrobe, and I cringe. It looks so much worse than it is, or rather, worse than it needs to be. My heart thumps as he glares at me, waiting for an explanation. The only problem is, how do I tell him?

“Fre … Adam, why is Katie sitting on your bed, in a bathrobe?” he asks, keeping his voice even.

“There’s an explanation,” I begin. “I promise.”

He shrugs and sits down. “Then let’s hear it.”

“It’s a long story,” I warn.

“It always is,” he mutters. “Just tell me Lily isn’t here?”

I glance at Katie. Julian’s eyes widen. He curses, then he laughs and shakes his head.

“Fuck,” he growls. “Why is she here? The wedding? Oh God.”

“She’s not going to do anything,” I promise him.

“Where is she?” he asks.

“My apartment.”

“Fuck.” Julian frowns. “I’m pretty sure Alberto is suspicious. If Alberto realizes my ex-girlfriend is here …” He laughs uneasily. “God, I don’t even want to think about that.”

“What makes you think he’s suspicious?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Nothing, it’s just a feeling. It’s probably nothing.” He sighs and stands up. “I need Lily out of Vegas, Adam. She can’t be here.”

“I know,” I promise him. “I’ll take care of it.”

“How are you going to do that and still be here for the wedding?” He shakes his head. “If there is a wedding.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing,” he mutters.

I sigh. “Then we need to get to the apartment. Now.”

I frown at Katie when she stands up.

“What?” she asks.

I raise my eyebrows. “You’re wearing that?”

She flushes when she realizes she’s still in her bathrobe.

“Give me a minute.” She walks over to her clothes and snatches them up, then disappears into the bathroom.

“Are they even dry?” I call out after her.

“Dry enough.”

“Are you coming?”

We’ve just pulled up outside the apartment complex. Julian shakes his head. I frown at him, not in the mood for any games.

“Why not?”

“Because I just saw Alberto and Louis walk in there.”

“Fuck,” I mutter. What are they doing at my apartment complex, at almost midnight? “They do know. I just can’t figure out how.”

“Does it matter?” Julian snaps. “I can’t go in there. Hell, you can’t go in there, either.”

“I don’t have a choice,” I growl. “Stay here. Both of you.”

“What are you doing?” Katie asks when I open the door, her eyes full of fear.

“Just trust me,” I say.

I go in via the back entrance, taking the stairs up to the fourth floor. I walk out from the stairwell, breathing hard, just in time to see Alberto and Louis walking toward my apartment.

They’re too deep in conversation to notice me and their voices are too low for me to make out what they’re saying. I watch as they walk in the direction of the room where the girls are. They stop in front of my apartment. My heart pounds.

“Alberto,” I announce. They both turn around as I walk toward them, a wide smile on my face. “What are you two doing here?”

I shake my head, like seeing them is a happy surprise. You’d think we’d run into each other in the store, instead of outside my apartment, at nearly midnight, where I’m hiding his future son in law’s ex-girlfriend.

“Frederick,” Alberto says, glancing at Louis. “Fancy running into you here.”

“Outside my apartment?” I query. “What are the odds. I’m just here to feed my fish. Why are you here?” I add, praying neither Darcy or Lily raise their voices.

If I have any chance of getting the girls out of here unnoticed, I can’t give Alberto any reason to want to hang around.

“You have fish?” Louis frowns at me.

“Two of them,” I confirm. “I had three, but as it turns out, Gerald isn’t too fond of other males.”

“You didn’t say what you were doing here?” I remind them.

I keep my tone light and curious, but what I get in return is a cool stare.

“I was just visiting an old friend, but as it turns out, they’re not home.”

“Or maybe they’re sleeping?” I suggest. “Since it’s nearly midnight and all.”

“Maybe.” He nods to Louis. “Either way, we should be getting back.”

I nod. “I imagine you still have a long night ahead of you. With the wedding tomorrow and all,” I add when he gives me a strange look.

“Yes. I’m sure we will. Good luck with your fish. They can be so fragile, can’t they?”

I watch them as they walk back to the elevator, my hands clenched into fists in my pocket. I hold my breath until they walk inside. As the doors begin to close, Alberto looks me right in the eye. I stare right back, until they’re gone, then I walk over to the window and wait.

When I see them walk to their car, I stalk over to my door, opening it without knocking. Darcy looks up, her eyes wide. She smiles, but it quickly fades when she senses my urgency.

“We need to leave. Now.”

“What, Lily too?” Darcy asks, confused.

“Yes.” I keep myself half out in the hallway, my eyes on the elevator. “Fast. We need to get out of here. Where is she?”

“In the room. I’ll get her.”

I wait impatiently, alternating between standing in the doorway and checking out the window to make sure the car is gone.

“Jesus, Lily, hurry up,” I growl.

“I’m going as quickly as I can.”

Her voice trembles. But that’s nothing new. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say something without a lip quiver or a voice tremor.

“Well, go faster,” I snap. “Or I can just leave you here for Alberto to deal with.”

“Alberto is here?” she whispers, her eyes widening.

I sigh. “He was.”

She crosses her arms over her chest.

“Why?” she whispers.

“Why do you think?” I laugh. “Now is not the time to be discussing this.”

“Where’s Julian,” she says. “I’m not going anywhere until I speak with him.”

“He’s downstairs. In my car.”

“I don’t believe you.” Lily narrows her eyes at me.

I laugh, because for once I’m not full of shit.

“He is, Lily,” I say. “Trust me. He came over here to speak with you, like you wanted.”

“Come on,” Darcy snaps. She tries to grasp hold of her arm, but Lily shrugs her off.

“He’s downstairs. I promise you,” I say.

She sighs. “Fine, I’ll go, but if he is not …”

“Well? Where is he?” Lily glares at me, her hand firmly on her hip, refusing to get in the car until I answer her. “You lied to get me down here? That’s low, even for you.”

I stare at the spot where Julian was sitting and laugh, then I glance at Katie, who shrugs.

“He said he had a suit fitting and would call you later,” she says uneasily.

Lily snorts. “At twelve thirty in the morning? Yeah, that sounds legit.”

I glare at her. “He is marrying into the mafia,” I remind her. “It’s not that outrageous, is it?” Lily frowns, my words instilling enough doubt in her mind to coax her into the car. “He’ll be back to talk with you. I promise.”

“Fine,” she frowns. “Where are we going in the meantime, then?”

I think about it for a second. “Back to the hotel.”

Katie’s eyes widen. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I guess we’ll find out, because it’s the only idea I’ve got.”

It’s after one by the time we arrive back. The parking lot is deserted and there aren’t many people around, which makes me nervous, but I’m clinging to the hope that Alberto is assuming I wouldn’t be stupid enough to bring them back here.

I take them up to my floor, then I quickly check the hallway, before I usher them down to my room. Once we’re inside, I breathe out. Now I just have to hope putting them in such an obvious place won’t backfire on me.

“Wait here.” I speak clearly, so all three of them understand. “Do not, under any circumstances, leave this room. Don’t call anyone, don’t answer your phone or the hotel phone and whatever you do don’t open the door. To anyone. Got it?”

“Are you going to see Julian?” Lily asks.

I nod. “Yes.”

“Can you tell him I need to speak to him?” she asks. “Please?”

“I’ll get him here. Okay?”

I’m still annoyed at Julian when I bang on his door. Not only because he made me look like a liar, but because he left Katie alone in my car. What if something had happened to her?

I shift my feet, nervous about what condition I’m going to find him in. Considering it’s the night before his wedding, which his ex-girlfriend is here to crash, anything is possible. He swings open the door and gives me a sheepish look.

“Suit fitting?” I frown.

“I’m sorry. I panicked.”

“And left Katie sitting alone in that car,” I snap. “I thought you were a better man than that?”

“Says the guy who’s been lying to me for the last week,” he retorts.

“Because I thought I could get her out of here without stressing you out,” I retort.

He sighs and rubs his forehead. “I’m sorry. I’ve got no right taking this out on you. I was just about to have a drink. You can join me if you want?”

“Sure.” I nod.

I walk inside and close the door behind me, watching him prepare our drinks. I don’t want one. I’m just working out the best way to convince him to speak with Lily.

“Lily wants to speak with you.”

Not quite the way I intended to broach the subject…

“Which is exactly what I don’t need right now.” He groans.

“Okay.” I shrug. “Your call, but it’s probably the only way she’s going to agree to leave.”

That gets a reaction.

He frowns. “I’ll think about it. Okay?”

I nod. I don’t need to point out that time is running out.

“Oh, Frederick? I need my car back.”

“Right. About that.”

He glares at me. “Where the fuck is my car?”

“You, uh, you might want to try tracking down a guy named Hamish.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he thunders.

“We picked up a hitchhiker—”

“In my car?” he interrupts, his eyes blazing.

“Well, yes. He turned out to be a little mentally unstable.”

“Unstable how?”

“Enough that he took off in your car. After masturbating in the back, while talking to me about shit like the weather.” I pause. “He also sucker punched me.”

Julian laughs. “Well this is fucking perfect. Then hand over the keys to your car.”

I silently reach into my pocket and hand them to him.

“Is there anything else I should know that I’m going to want to kill you for?” he grumbles, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Not that I can think of?” I ignore the uneasy feeling in my gut and pat him on the back.

“Don’t stress,” I say. “We’ll sort it out.”

He laughs. “Don’t stress? I’m getting married today. Why the fuck would I be stressed?”

I think that went well.