Page 169 of Little Sunshine

“No.”

Confused, I looked at him, but he just stared straight ahead. When it opened again, Marco gestured for me to get out.

And even though the hall looked like something out of a horror film set in an abandoned hospital or prison, I walked out and followed him down a short hall.

We turned the corner just as Ash came out of a room. Before any emotion at seeing him could fully form, my focus dropped to his hands and the blood that coated them. My eyes darted along his body, searching for an injury.

“Not my blood,” Ash said, his expression and voice both locked down.

Giving me nothing.

“Maximo or?—”

“Not theirs, either.”

Like he was simply rinsing spilled marinara sauce from his hands, he went over to the sink and scrubbed them clean.

That’s not going to help the blood splattered on his suit.

No wonder he keeps so many backups.

I had to swallow down a hysterical laugh.

The placement of the random sink made me wonder how often of an occurrence it was. While he did that, Marco went into the room and came out a moment later with Cole.

And a man walking between them.

The guy wasn’t dead, but his nose was definitely broken. And possibly his fingers or hand, based on the way he cradled it.

As they passed, the guy darted at the last minute and reached for me.

Marco caught him in time and yanked him back. “That was fucking stupid.”

“Help!” the guy cried at me. “Help!”

“Wh-what are they going to do with him?” I stuttered when they were out of earshot.

“Log his info with security so he’s banned from all Black Resorts properties and then dump him onto the streets.”

I released a held breath but couldn’t relax. Not yet. Not when there was so much more to talk about. “Who is he?”

“Someone who fucked with the wrong business.”

I thought about Ash’s irritation earlier, and guilt made my chest go hollow. “The guy who sent the AI pictures?”

“What?” He didn’t give me the chance to explain before he shook his head. “Christ, Mila, if I was going to beat every business owner who lied, Vegas would be a ghost town.”

“Then what’d that guy do?” I asked.

“Groped a cocktail server. She almost broke his nose herself. I just finished the job. And three of his fingers since that’s how many times she told him to back off. It could’ve been worse.”

“How could it be worse than that?”

“Did you know there are twenty-seven bones in the human hand?” A cruel smirk curved his mouth, and it was like he was someone else. Not my tender, charming Ash. At least not the version he showed me. “If even the tip of a single one of his fingers would’ve grazed you, I’d have broken every last one.”

Since the guy had it coming for getting handsy with the waitress—and he was still alive—I moved on to what actually mattered. “I saw the news, Ash.”

The first show of emotion flashed across his face. Anger mixed with something else I couldn’t decipher before both were gone. “We’ll talk at home.”

---