Page 202 of With Us

Sammy flipped through his notebook. “There’s a new fighter everyone’s been talking about. Brodie. I’m gonna go check him out tonight. If he’s as good as they say he is, I’ll try to get him to do an opening fight. Otherwise, we’ll stick with Jose and Paulie.”

“Good deal.” I looked between him and Susan. “As you know, Ben is no longer part of the family. That leaves me short-staffed on my end. I appreciate you both picking up the slack.”

Susan made a spitting noise before straightening her suit coat. “Fuck him. We’ve got it covered. This is going to be a good month.”

Sammy seconded her thoughts. “Economy is bouncing back, and people are swarming to the fights. It’s gonna be a goodyear.”

Nodding, I smiled. “I hope so.”

They packed their things and said goodbye, leaving me in the big conference room.

As I put my jacket on, I heard someone in the hallway and turned around. “Did you forget—” I started before seeing it wasn’t Susan or Sammy.

Thank fuck Dahlia’s not going to be here for a while.

Dahlia

Riding in the elevator, I tried to pretend I wasn’t blushing and avoiding looking at the mirror. It was just me, so I wasn’t sure why it mattered. But every time I saw it, I remembered the way Theo had fucked me on my knees in front of it.

It was a good memory, and one I hoped to repeat before we met with the wedding planners.

After everything that’d happened with Ben the previous week, we’d postponed the meetings. I wasn’t supposed to meet Theo for another hour, but I’d had to get out of the house. The quiet wasn’t my friend.

Reaching his floor, the doors opened to an empty reception area. Rosa wasn’t at her desk. I peeked into Theo’s office to find it empty, too.

I stood around for a minute before pressing the up button on the elevator.

Nothing happened.

I tried again, but the displayed floor number stayed one above me.

The only people who used that elevator on a regular basis were Theo and Amato people. Everyone else used the public elevators, and those didn’t go to that floor.

What the hell?

A quick call to security confirmed that the emergency stop button had been used. The sheepish sounding man admitted they’d assumed I was in there with Theo.

Even if Theo were discussing Amato business, he’d never do anything that’d prevent me from being there. He may have suggested I leave, but he’d never lock me out.

Walking into Theo’s office, I entered his password to unlock his private drawer. Moving the pictures of me to the side, I paused when I saw a folded note. Unable to resist, I opened it and smiled to see he’d kept the note Mar and Kat had written on my behalf.

I grabbed the extra set of keys before closing the drawer. Feeling silly, I almost put them back.

Either he’s fucking around on me, or something else is wrong. I don’t think it’s the former, but either way, the end results will be the same.

Someone is going down.

After opening Luc’s office and grabbing the baseball bat he had on display, I walked to the end of the hallway and unlocked the door, taking the steps to the next floor. I unlocked that door, easing it quietly closed behind me.

I’d barely taken a step before I heard Theo say, “This is a mistake.”

Staying as silent as I could, I crept down the hall. I peeked into the conference room to see a man’s back. Only part of Theo’s legs were visible as he sat in a chair, the man blocking the rest of him.

“No,” the man said. “You killing Ben was the mistake.”

I pressed myself against the wall, and took out my phone, quickly texting Luc and double checking it was on silent.

Me:Help. ASAP. Conf. room.

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