“Of course,” I say. “Sorry. I’m just… wow.”
I swallow hard. I’m relieved and sick to my stomach in equal measure. I’m relieved he won’t get away with it. Holy! The depths he sank to. I gave three years of my life to a guy that would do that? I gave everything to that guy. I gave him more than I had, so much that I lost myself.
And that Killian would not keep the money? That says a lot. And if I’m honest, if he did decide to keep it, it would’ve probably messed with me once I thought about it. It would speak volumes about his character. I’m glad that he’s not keeping it, though I hate that he’s out all that money.
“I want to pay you that money,” I blurt. “Even if it takes time for me to do it, I’ll-”
He shakes his head. “I’m not worried about it.”
“You can’t exactly hand it to the cops, right? Not without getting asked a whole lot of questions…”
“Sure I can. If I hand it to the cops and say he fucked me over for money working for me. I have an employment contract that he signed, Violet. And then he broke it and fucked off.”
I blink in surprise.
“I’m not runnin’ some mickey mouse operation, baby. He signed that contract.”
“My name wouldn’t come up? The… uh… marker arrangement?”
“That shit stain is stupid but let’s hope he’s not that stupid. If he is, we’ll deal with the stupidity then. But I probably won’t fork that cash over to the cops unless he does show that stupidity. It’ll get tied up with court and mean a lot of questions. I’ll find another way to make sure she’s okay. I already had a conversation with your super. Oh. And remember the gun he got his hands on?”
“Yeah.”
“He pawned that old lady’s diamond ring. That’s on security camera at the pawn shop. My private eye got that yesterday. Lots of shit stacking up against him.”
“Whoa. And wait, my superintendent?”
“Leave it to me,” he says. “Don’t want you worrying about any of it. Just know he’s not gettin’ into that apartment even if he somehow magically makes bail or gets away with this. Your super won’t let him in and if he’s spotted on cameras, he’ll be escorted off the property.”
“I’d really like to pay you back that money,” I whisper.
“Say that one more time and your ass is getting spanked. Forget that money, Violet.”
52
Killian
I was never worried about that money. It was a cost of doing business. That business being me making Violet my business. Though I’m not about to say that and cloud the waters here.
She goes quiet as I stretch the dough, staring at my hands, but I can see she’s somewhere else.
“Alana texted as I was coming up in the elevator. It’s her who’s over there packing up your pictures and some of your other stuff, so you know. I didn’t send just anyone in there.”
“Okay,” she says softly, worrying her lip with her teeth.
I can’t get a read on her right now.
“Wanna turn the stereo on?” I ask.
She nods and does that. And then she watches, fascinated as I finish stretching the dough and form it into a circle. After I spread sauce over it, she hops down off the stool and rounds the counter to help me put on the other toppings. She looks like she’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders, though, and now I’m wishing I hadn’t bothered to tell her he’s in jail.
I sat in my car across the street from the building and smiled at him as he was taken away in cuffs.
He saw me. And he looked like he was shitting his pants.
And he’s gotta know now, that he was dead wrong when he thought he got away with the shit he pulled with me.
Coming to her work when I told him to stay away. Showing up at my club with a gun.
With Raymond Iadanza, I didn’t even need to get all that creative. The stupid fuck did all this to himself.
The old lady was out there calling, “Danny? Danny, what did you do? I’ll bail you out, Danny. He’s a good boy, officer, it must be a mistake.”
Wes told me he found a niece of the old lady who’s gonna step in and help her get things sorted. I talked to her on the phone, and he’ll be meeting her tomorrow on my behalf.
“You put that shit on your half. There’s the line.” I point. “Do not cross it. I ain’t havin’ no part of that blasphemy,” I grumble, and this earns me dimples from her and a giggle as she places chunks of pineapple on one half of the pizza, going right up to the invisible boundary line I drew.
I kiss her and steal her last piece of pineapple from her fingers before it touches down on top of the pie.
“Hey!” She’s fake-outraged.
I kiss her breathless and then pop the pie in the oven.
“It didn’t preheat a whole hour,” she says.
“I know. It’s all right. It’s got shortcut cheese, a premade dough, and fuckin’ pineapple on it so it won’t be a masterpiece, but I’m starved.”
An hour later, we’re on the couch with the rest of the pizza on the coffee table while we watch a movie she put on that’s kind of idiotic, but she laughs her ass off and I can’t help but find her laughter infectious.
She ate three slices of pizza and moaned as she ate, telling me how good it was.
What matters most to me is that she’s not thinking about him. She’s not worrying about him sitting in a cell or about her apartment. She’s here with me, eating food we made together in that kitchen that I now know was picked for her. A kitchen I want to fuck her in.
I take her feet into my lap and give her a foot rub as we continue watching stupidity that I really don’t mind enduring because it makes her smile and laugh so much.
She moans at the foot rub and those moans make my cock harden.
As the credits finally roll, she gets up to take the leftovers into the kitchen, and I follow her in there.
I watch Violet wipe down the counters, thinking about the fact that I’m not done with Iadanza yet, either. I have connections inside. His life behind bars is gonna be no fuckin’ cake walk.
If he doesn’t go down, I’ll find some other way to make sure that a) he pays for fucking her over for all that time and b) that he never fucks with her again.
She made it clear she doesn’t want violence, and I don’t like it but will do my best to respect her wishes.
That said, all this doesn’t mean I’m done with him.
53
Violet
I’m at the kitchen counter, putting leftover sauce into a container when I feel warm hands slide up inside the front of my shirt over my belly. I look down and smile. Killian’s heat is at my back. His hands move up to cup my breasts while he takes my earlobe between his teeth and grinds into my backside.
Eyes drifting shut, my head drops back as I absorb the feel of his fingers slipping into my bra and yanking the cups down. I shiver as he suckles my earlobe and then releases it and nips my throat playfully. He’s hard and I’m ready to help him with that.
I draw in air and then blow out slowly before setting the ladle down and gripping the counter with both hands. I rotate my hips slowly in a figure eight, undulating against him.