Page 24 of Devil's Deal

He stumbled into my office as Babyface, Dante, maneuvered his hulking frame in. “Cory, there’s a couple out here who are saying someone went through their things.”

“Applesauce.”

Dante’s face screwed up in confusion, and I waved him off. “Go ahead.”

“Yeah, the problem is, you see, my guys and me, we didn’t see anything. I’ve got a guy monitoring security footage, and he hasn’t seen any suspicious activity on any of the floors. I’ve been walking every floor, in the stairwells and all, and I haven’t seen anyone suspicious either.”

“Are they at the front desk?” I asked.

Harlow nodded. Sighing, I stood and ran a hand down my waistcoat, straightening out any wrinkles and preparing myself for another confrontation. “Then I guess I need to go speak with them.”

Dante stepped into my path, cutting me off from exiting. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Maybe you should let me talk to them. They’re pretty upset.”

Glaring at him, I stepped to the left, but he mirrored my motion. “Dante, get out of my way. This is my hotel, and these are my guests, so I need to deal with this.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know if Mr. Bosley would like that. Maybe you should let me handle this for you.” He nodded his head like he was answering his own question. “Yeah, I’ll handle it for you.”

Gripping his biceps, I stood up straight and stared into his eyes. “Dante, I appreciate that Bosley brought you in, and you’re here as a favor to him, but I don’t need anyone handling my business. For right now, consider me your boss.”

Quickly, I stepped around him and made my way to the front desk where an irate man in his mid-thirties was raising his voice at a pale and trembling Huey. Behind him, face fluctuating between scared and mortified, a woman around the same age was tugging on the gentleman’s shirt and begging him to calm down. “Excuse me. I think I can be of service here.”

That drew the man’s focus to me, as I spotted Bosley approaching from behind, looking like he was ready to rip someone’s head off. Shit. This was going to get out of control if I didn’t get a handle on it now. “Mr.…”

“Gregory. Lloyd Gregory. My girl and I came down to The Velvet Room for an early dinner, and when we returned to our room, our clothes were ripped out of the closet and thrown all over the place, and our toiletries were upended in the bathroom. I’d like to know what you’re going to do about this?”

“Okay, Mr. Gregory. I’m Cory, the owner of The Gin Mill. You have my sincerest apologies that this happened. Tell me, was anything stolen?”

He squared up to me. “I don’t know. I was furious and came down here to demand you do something. This is an outrage.” Behind him, the woman shook her head no.

Good to know. “Sir, I can assure you this is not a normal occurrence here.” Or didn’t used to be. “In fact, I have a competent security team in place.”

I pointed over at Dante, and he squared his shoulders and bared his teeth.Applesauce. That wasn’t helpful. He looked like he planned on beating the crap out of Mr. Gregory. Needing the focus back on me, I said, “I’d be happy to make this up to you. You said you’d already had a meal this evening, correct?”

“Yes, and when we got back?—”

“Yes, yes,” I said quickly, cutting him off. “What you found is just terrible. We’d be happy to help you set your rooms to rights, and while we’re at it, how would a massage be for you and…” I gestured toward his girlfriend since he hadn’t given her name.

He glanced behind him at the lady, then put an arm out, bringing her up to his side. “This is my girlfriend, Rachel.”

“Nice to meet you, Rachel.” I smiled at her warmly, and she flushed, seemingly pleased at being included in the conversation. “As I was saying, while we straighten up your room, I’d be happy to send you into the spa, Behind Closed Doors, to enjoy some of our services. Of course, they would be complimentary.”

Mr. Gregory grumbled under his breath as Rachel clasped his forearm, grinning excitedly. “Then, when you’re done, you can head on over to Discreet Delights for an evening cocktail or two. Unless you already have plans?”

“No, we ate early so that we could get dressed and go to the speakeasy. You have a jazz band in there tonight, right?” Rachel asked, beaming at my plan.

“Indeed, we do. So how does that all sound? You two enjoy an evening on us, while my security team works on figuring out who broke into your room.”

“Can we, Lloyd? That sounds fabulous to me.”

He glared around at the little audience we’d drawn. His gaze skimmed right over Huey, and I fisted my hands at my side. I had no problem offering them a night on me, but it ticked me off that one of my employees had been berated so thoroughly. He hadn’t deserved that.

When his gaze passed me and landed on Dante, he took a step back, and I resisted the urge to glance and see what face he was making now. Then his gaze focused over my shoulder, and he stumbled back. This time, I had to look.

I found Bosley scowling, but his face softened once our eyes locked. My heart warmed at his fierce protectiveness, even if it wasn’t entirely appropriate for him to be intimidating my guests. I turned back around. “What do you think, Mr. Gregory? Do we have a deal?” I held out my hand for a shake, wanting to seal the deal. We were drawing far too much attention from other patrons.

He went for it, gripping tight. “Sounds good. But we’ll clean up our own room.”

Harlow stepped up in between us. “Are you sure? I’d be happy to help.”

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