“Of course, why would I trust you?” King snapped.
Evie felt as if a hole had been drilled in her heart. Setting the file down, she began getting dressed, giving herself time to get her emotions back under control. She finished putting them on then walked across the room to him. Without saying a word, she went into the bathroom, picking up her thong and throwing it into the trashcan, then putting on her heels.
“What are you doing?” Ignoring him, she slid by, walking back through his bedroom. He grabbed her arm in the hallway.
“Let me go.” Her deadly-calm voice had him dropping her arm.
Evie went to the couch, picking her purse back up. “Get yourself out of the mess with Ramos. I don’t care how, just do it. I checked them out. Ramos plays dirty. He’s the type to try to use Lily against you. Let him do his deal or let the Predators deal with it. Either way, go back to Treepoint and visit Lily until the deal’s over.” Evie went to the door, opening it and closing it behind her.
Once in the elevator, she shut down every emotion she had, shoring the barricades she had let crumble last night. She had known better; she couldn’t believe she had fallen for his lies. He had told her he wouldn’t let her fall, yet she felt as if she was in a downward spiral she wouldn’t be able to recover from.
Going out into the daylight, she started walking down the city street toward Penni’s apartment when she heard a car come up behind her. She didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
Henry pulled up, rolling the window down. “Get in, Evie.”
“Go away, Henry. Please, just leave me alone.”
The man nodded and the electric window slid back up. Evie continued walking, her feet becoming sore and tired, but she refused to ride in his car or have anything to do with King again.
The car followed her until she stumbled into Penni’s apartment building.
Penni was sitting at the table, jumping up when she saw her. “What happened?”
“Nothing. I’m fine. Make sure you lock the door when you leave for work and inform the concierge that if someone comes knocking on the door without permission, I’ll call the owner and complain about him not doing his fucking job.”
“Okay, do you need me to get you something?”
“No. I’m going to lie down for a while. I’ll see you tonight.” Evie shut her bedroom door before Penni could pry any further.
Limping into the bathroom, she started to run water into the tub before getting undressed and climbing inside, hissing in pain as her blistered heels were engulfed in the warm water.
Evie drew her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She lay her head down on her knees as tears fell from her eyes. Evie couldn’t remember the last time she had cried so hard. Keeping the water on, she cried until her sobs turned to hiccups.
After a while, she turned the water off and got out of the tub. Wrapping a towel around herself, she went to her dresser, pulled out one of her own t-shirts then took a pair of fresh underwear and got dressed.
She went back into the living room, relieved to see Penni had left.
Going to her purse, she took out her phone and checked the messages. There were three from King and one from Shade. She touched on Shade’s message.
“Going hunting. See you soon.”
* * *
“Pull up the security tapes from my apartment this morning and get out,” King said, walking inside his security room.
Trey pulled up the requested tape then slid his chair back before leaving the room.
King sat in the chair, forwarding the tape to where he wanted it, then pressed play, watching Evie walk into the room. King saw her accidently knock the folder over then she was about to set it back down when he saw her turn toward him in the hallway. King pressed stop, looking at the expression on her face.
She had laid it out for him to see and he had ignored it. He was too used to the betrayals he had suffered through the years.
She hadn’t even glanced at the papers in the folders.
Regret filled him at what he had said; he had deliberately pushed her away.
Last night had been the best night he had ever spent with a woman. Hell, the last few weeks were some of the best he’d had in his whole life. Now, he had destroyed her fragile trust with a few well-placed, cruel words.
He took his phone out, calling her, and it was no surprise when she didn’t answer his call. He texted her a message instead.
“I’m sorry. Meet me to talk.” He sent the message.
It pinged back an hour later with her response. “Fuck off.”
Chapter 19
“You’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes.” Evie turned away, putting her dirty dishes in the sink. “I’ve been here long enough.” Too long, Evie thought.
As soon as Rabbit had called her and told her Ramos and Moran were heading out of town, she would board her plane.
Rabbit said Ramos had agreed to King’s cut, so there actually hadn’t been a confrontation between the two men. Evie was relieved King wasn’t gaining a new enemy who was trying to move into his territory; he would be able to hand over the reins for the city to the Predators without conflict.
“I have to go to work. Dinner tonight?”
“Sure, I’ll even pay,” Evie offered.
“Sounds good to me. I’ll be back around six.”
When Penni left, leaving her with nothing other than time on her hands, she decided to pack. Taking out her cases, she laid them open on the bed. One by one, she emptied the drawers then the closet, leaving out only what she would wear tonight and tomorrow.
When she finished, she looked down at the filled cases, which held the extent of her possessions. She reached down to a case and pulled out a thin t-shirt, a skimpy blouse, a modest dress, her leather skirt, and one by one, she tossed them to the floor. Evie went into the kitchen and grabbed a trash bag, gathering the clothes into a pile then stuffing them into the bag.
She had almost nothing left, which was what her life felt like at the moment.
Grabbing her purse, she went out the door, locking it behind her. Then, after catching a cab, Evie went shopping.
It wasn’t much fun without Jewell, Bliss or Raci, but she picked out the clothes she would need for the next few months. When she finished, she caught a cab back to the apartment. Going through the lobby with her shopping in tow, she didn’t take the offer of help from the concierge.
After getting in the elevator, Evie looked down at her watch. She had just enough time to get showered and changed before Penni arrived back from work. She got off the elevator, juggling her bags while searching for her keys. Finally, she found them at the bottom of her purse.
She was so occupied trying to unlock the door with the bags, she didn’t notice someone coming up behind her until it was too late. A blinding pain struck at the back of her head, forcing her to her knees, the bags drop
ping from her hands. She was jerked to her feet by a pair of rough hands and then dragged to the elevator.
Dazed, Evie was slow to react; the doors of the elevator were closing before she was able to begin struggling.
“Stay still, or I will hit you again.” Evie felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of her skull as the button to the elevator was pushed. “It doesn’t matter to me if you’re still alive or not as long as King thinks you are.”
A rough hand jerked her out of the elevator then into a black SUV that was waiting. Shoving her inside, she fell face-forward into the vehicle.
Evie managed to sit up in the seat with no help from the man who had shoved her inside. He was in his early thirties with brown hair, and the ugly expression on his face let her know he didn’t care if she got to their destination breathing or not. She didn’t try to make conversation.
Clearly, she’d been lied to about the deal and had been taken to hold over King until it was completed.
She and King had obviously not been discreet the last few weeks. King had been seen with a variety of women over the years and no one had gone after them. His sister had been killed when he was younger, and since then, King had not become close with anyone.
The only reason Evie had been taken was because she was convenient. It was easy to snatch her and blackmail King. However, if Lily had been near, she would have been the target.
Evie’s stomach sank. Her kidnapping, whether she lived or died, had sealed King’s fate.
* * *
King was in his office when he received the call from Rabbit, passing along Ramos’s orders—stay out of the deal. When it was over, Evie would be released. After disconnecting the call, he called Ice.
He had learned a hard lesson several years ago; they had no intention of giving Evie back. She would be used whenever they wanted to use his city. If he didn’t comply, she would die.
King went to his security office, calling in reinforcements from there, as well. Afterward, Henry was waiting for him outside. They knew the location of the meeting, and because he was having Evie tailed, they knew where they were keeping her. She was tied up in the same building where the drugs were being sold.