Page 52 of A Dirty Business
“They’ll look for her.”
“No.” His tone was so sure. “They reallywon’t. It’ll be assumed she vanished with reason. No one will look for her, not unless it’s you.”
A knot was in my throat, swelling up. “It’s so easy for you to make entire lives disappear? Just like that?”
“It’s not. It takes money, intelligence, and planning. A lot of planning. A lot of money. Your aunt is another sad story, but this time, she’s going to disappear of her own volition, not at the hands of him. Not this time. That’s all.”
His phone beeped, and he read the text. “She’s already decided. They’ll be gone by tonight.”
I sucked in my breath, rocking back by how much power was in that last statement.
An entire family, wiped out by his hands.
I started shaking my head, a sick panic beginning to fill me up. “What are we doing here?”
His eyes lowered, fierce. “You know what we’re doing here.”
Sex.
My body heated, instantly, but no. I shoved that down.
“No,” I clipped out, shovingeverythingdown. I was moving, going around him. “I’m leaving. This conversation is over.”
“Jess.”
He was going for my arm. I knew it and anticipated it, and a part of me wanted to let him touch me. Wanted to let him pull me in, because he could. The power he had over me was spiking all my blood in fear.
But I couldn’t. So because of that, I moved out of his way. “After this, we are done. Do you hear me?”
I went to the elevator and pushed the button. When it opened, I stepped in. Staring straight ahead, not seeing him, not anymore, I hit the button for the main lobby.
I’d find my own way home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
TRACE
It was a week later, and I was watching her.
I wasalwayswatching her, but I stayed away.
Still, I watched. I could do that much.
And as she was working, and I was standing in my private box, a conversation came back to haunt me.
“Was there collateral damage?”
Stephano had wanted to know more. He hadn’t been satisfied with the initial report of what had happened with Jess’s aunt and her abuser.
I had braced myself, steeling myself, and raised my chin up. “What do you need to know, Uncle?”
His eyes flickered just once before his own face hardened. “You killed the uncle?”
I didn’t answer that. “My men buried his body. He’s dead.”
His jaw clenched. He knew I was playing word games, something I’d been doing more and more lately. Anger flared in his gaze before he smothered it. “The aunt?”
“They’re gone. Ashton made his calls. She’d checked in with their local women’s shelter earlier that day. We think she left him.”
