“What the hell is going on?” I demanded.
“That means you haven’t been threatened. Yet,” Brogan snarled.
I laughed, lifting my glass. “There isn’t a day that goes by in which I’m not issued a threat of some kind. Now, tell me what you’re talking about. I know someone tried to kill you, Alexander. Does that mean you were threatened by the same person first?”
“This meeting has everything to do with what happened in my club, but there’s more to it,” he growled his answer, his anger showing in his pinched expression. “The bitch managed to do something no one has ever done before. Get close.”
Why did I have a feeling that meant more than just close enough to stick a syringe into his neck?
Sighing, I rubbed my jaw, watching as Brogan moved toward one of the leather chairs, plopping down as if exhausted. “Am I to assume that happened to you as well, Brogan?”
He snorted. “I wasn’t out of the joint more than twelve fucking hours when I received a threat and had an attempt made on my life.”
I glanced from one man to the other. It was obvious they’d talked more than what Alexander had told me in his short but terse phone call. “Any idea who?”
“A woman,” Alexander answered. “One sexy as hell dancer in my club. She made it past an extensive security check, working in my club for long enough my manager trusted her. I made the mistake of hungering for a taste. That almost got me killed.” He laughed as he headed toward one of the other chairs, sitting down but remaining on the edge. “She would have succeeded if I hadn’t had a shot of epinephrine with me.”
His severe allergic reactions had forced him to always keep at least one vial of the drug with him. “It restarted your heart.”
“You remember,” he huffed. “It was touch and go for a while. If the poison had been much stronger, I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
“And you?” I directed my question toward Brogan.
“Also a woman. She scratched me with a ring, the damn tip covered in poison. She failed only because my skin is so damn thick. But I laid there on a damn ice-cold balcony for over six hours in a delusional state. By that point, I knew the bitch was gone.” His upper lip curled. “She was damn good at convincing me she was a temptress and nothing else. I let my guard down even after the threat.”
“What were the threats you received?” Once again, I looked from one to the other.
“A single text line from a burner phone,” Alexander answered. “‘You will pay for your sins.’”
“Same here,” Brogan snarked.
“I assume you attempted to figure out who sent it.” I already knew the answer. Alexander likely scoured every illegal identification system he had access to in an effort to find out who’d been so bold and stupid to send a threat of any kind.
He laughed, rolling his glass from one hand to the other. “Of course I did. The woman obviously used an alias, but she covered her tracks like a pro.”
“So you’re thinking it was an assassin hired to do the job.” Processing what they’d told me was difficult, but something we’d all prepared for over the years. The fact it had taken this long for someone to seek retaliation fascinated me. However, red flags had already been raised.
“I don’t know what else to think.” Alexander seemed exhausted, rubbing his eyes then looking away. “We knew this day was coming.”
“We did. I think the fucker waited until I was released from prison on purpose. You’ve had nothing unusual happen?” Brogan asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, but I only returned to the country four days ago,” I answered.
“And you don’t remember receiving the same threat?” Alexander pressed.
I thought about it and shook my head. “I use different phones all the time. My personal cell phone is locked away when I’m working. I haven’t checked it since my return.” I made a mental note to do so as soon as I made it back to the house.
“She’s going to strike again. The only advantage we have is that she thinks the two of us are dead,” Brogan offered. “We need to keep it that way.”
“Then what the hell are you suggesting? Was it the same woman?” I took a gulp of my drink, refusing to relive the past. We’d made a second pact between us, one that was supposed to remain a secret.
“My beautiful blonde had lavender eyes. I remember that above almost anything else. You never forget the power of someone’s eyes as they are staring into your own.” Brogan had a faraway look.
“The redhead had lavender eyes as well. I’m suggesting that we hunt her down,” Alexander snarled.
“Same woman?”
They shrugged when I asked the question. “Mine was a blonde, Alexander’s a redhead. She wore a mask in my case.”