“I want you to leave,” I plead with him.
He moves suddenly, pulling me into him. His mouth crashes down onto mine. The kiss isn't sweet and soft. It’s one full of claiming and need. I melt into him, unable to help myself. No one has ever made me feel more needed than him. Still, I can’t just agree. If he had handled this differently, I think I could have, but I’m over being used. I need him to understand me more.
He releases my mouth, taking a step back from me.
“Three days, Mackenzie,” he grits out. He looks like he’s about to pounce on me again, but he jerks around and storms off, taking a piece of me with him.
I stare at the door that he just exited, having no clue what I am going to do. The idea of taking off for a few days pops into my mind. I’ve finished the work Karin asked me to and turned over everyone I thought was cheating us out of our share of their profits. I did what was asked of me. I always do. That’s another reason why Karin’s willingness to let me go so easily hurts.
I gather my things before shutting down my computer all the way. If Sov wants to be high handed, so can I.
I call his three days and raise him more.
Chapter Nineteen
Sov
When have I ever waited for a woman? I scowl at the clock and then my blank phone screen. It’s been two days, and I’ve not heard from Mackenzie. Zero reports that she is keeping to the same routine of going to work and then returning at night to her condo. He is unable to get inside the building as it is wholly owned by Vieth, and Mackenzie must’ve placed some kind of ban on my men.
We are currently working on obtaining the floor plans and a method of entry. Service is always the weak area, but Vieth seems to have her own staff, which is causing a mild impediment. We will get around it.
I tap my fingers impatiently against the back of the chair in front of me as Parker measures me for my wedding attire. At least I’ll be prepared for this.
There’s a knock at the door, and then Josh appears. “There’s a bird outside that says she has information about Mackenzie for sale. Want me to send her away?”
“Did you ask what it was?”
“Can you raise your arms, sir?” Parker says, his mouth full of pins.
I do as he asks and wait for Josh to respond.
The man shakes his head. “She said she’s only talking to the head man in charge which I guess could be Zero, but I think she means you.”
“Let her in, then.”
A girl who looks vaguely familiar stumbles in. She straightens and then walks toward me, moving her hips in an odd, gyrating fashion. Maybe she has some kind of infection. I grimace and back away.
“She may be diseased,” I murmur quietly to Parker.
He snaps to attention and barks out a protection order. The two valets move into her path to prevent her from reaching me.
“Sov, it’s me, Milly.” The girl pats herself on her exposed chest. It’s midday, but she’s dressed as if she’s going out, in a low-cut sparkly dress paired with thin stiletto heels and nothing else. Whatever weapon she likes to use, she must’ve left it at home. There’s little to hide in her outfit.
Parker pulls the chair around and holds it for me. I take a seat and tell the valets to be at ease.
“I do not remember you. Did Karin send you?”
Milly’s face falls. She looks older in the bright light of my suite. I think her looks are designed to show the best during the late evening hours when things are disguised by the veil of smoke and strobe lights.
“No. We met at the ball. We connected, you and I.” She waves a finger between us. “I think I might be too far away, and you can’t see me from there.”
“Are you suggesting Charmont’s eyesight is not perfect?” Parker interjects with real outrage.
“What? No. I never said that. I just said—”
Beside me, I can feel Parker’s inhale of rage at being challenged like this. This could go downhill quickly, and Parker still has a number of pins to jab into me. “Yes, of course, I remember you now,” I lie smoothly. “The girl from the ball. Go on then. What is it that you wanted to tell me?”
“It’s about Mackenzie. She’s not a true Vieth. She has family. Her father is Kenyon Ward. He’s involved in everything from the arms trade to sex trafficking of minors. Her brother went to prison for trying to bring over a whole boatful of underage girls, but the conditions were so terrible they all died.”
Parker gasps. “I remember this.”