“I do.”
She blanks her face with one of her classic, and fake, smiles as she scans the room. “Just because we have a past… But no, Dex. You don’t know me.”
Our fathers were business partners before their deaths. They mixed the good and the bad. They blended the white and the black. They did it perfectly, handing Katja and me the tools to continue this legacy and yet…
Katja fucked it all up by kicking me out and pushing me away.
She changed the rules of our father’s contract, and for that… for that, she should be punished.
But Katja isn’t the type of woman you can simply ‘punish.’ She’s a woman who knows how to get what she wants and will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
“You aren’t as complicated as you think,” I say, taking in every inch of her body while she seethes in silence.
I’ve studied and watched her over the years we’ve been apart. I’ve damn near been her stalker, but that’s what I was groomed to do. To watch my opponent and figure out a way to defeat them, and she’s the one who chose to be my opponent instead of my partner.
“One of these days, the people in this room—in this city—are going to see you for the man you really are,” she says.
Katja knows high society and the wealthy like no one else. She lives and breathes the decadence, the elegance, and the opulence. This is her world, where I’ve always been a man who dances in the shadows.
“They see me. I’ve never tried to be anyone I’m not,” I counter.
Hell, Katja is right in saying that I don’t belong here. I’m the vampire that mistakenly got an invite to come inside, and now my job is to feast off the guests. I’m the devil on their shoulders hoping I can gather enough intel to defeat the angel on the other side.
I don’t apologize for who I am or what I do.
This life is a chess game, and I always win.
And whether Katja wants to admit it or not, we are the same in many ways.
“I have work to do,” she says. I can see she’s getting antsy conversing with me alone. She needs to work the room as I do. We both have a job to do.
Katja uses her information to gain favors, promises, and to climb the social ladder. I use my knowledge to blackmail, to sell to the highest bidder, and to make a lot of fucking money. I walk with the criminals, the monsters in the shadows, and the bad men that people are afraid of, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Maybe we should compare notes when the night’s over,” I suggest, taking a step closer to her, not liking the distance she’s created. “Or other things…”
She huffs as she reaches for a strand of hair and fiddles with it. She avoids eye contact with me for the briefest of moments, but I watch her swallow hard, stiffen her spine, and then stare directly at me with renewed courage. “I don’t get in the mud with pigs,” she says as sweetly as her icy demeanor allows.
Keeping my eyes locked with hers, I say, “I have a feeling you like getting dirty.”
As if she didn’t hear my last comment, she tilts her head ever so slightly and smiles. “Oh, Dex. I find it quite amusing that you actually think I… need you. Like I told you three years ago—I can take care of myself.”
Biting back the rising anger from her little reminder of just how easy it was for her to cast me aside, I calmly reply, “I disagree, my love. I think you need me very much.”
Her eyes narrow. “Really? How so?”
“The Whitney.”
“What about The Whitney?”
Not wanting to show all my cards and let on just how much I know, I offer, “I’ve noticed the awnings are fading, the exterior paint is chipping, and is the outdoor pool still closed down?” I pause to take in how her lips purse and her fingernails dig into her palms as she fists her hands. “Is it out of laziness… or… something else?”
“My contractor is simply busy on a remodel inside,” she snaps too quickly. Taking a deep breath, she regains the little composure she just lost. “But I do find it… sad,” she says in her sickly-sweet voice, “that you pay such close attention to a hotel that you have nothing to do with anymore.”
“Just stating the obvious,” I say as I put my hands in my pockets and shrug. “But you really should think of replacing the contractor you have.”
“I know how to run my business but thank you.” She lifts her chin slightly and glances around the room. “I do think, however, that you should focus more on that little motel you now reside at instead of The Whitney. What’s it called again?”
I don’t bother giving her an answer as I appreciate how flawless she is in her response. The woman truly is as skilled as the most ruthless assassin. Katja can take down her enemies by her sharp tongue alone. I love seeing her at work, even if I’m the current enemy.