“How are you going to do that? He’s…dangerous. He might try to hurt you to get me back.”
“I’m not worried about him hurting me. You shouldn’t either.” I glanced around the room with a frown. I hated leaving him on his own, especially so soon after I’d met him. His honesty was questionable at this point.
“Are you going to hurt him?”
Did he have feelings for this pimp?
“I won’t unless he provokes me. Rest assured. If you want to go back to your lover—”
“He’s not my lover.” His voice sounded testy.
I quirked an eyebrow.
“He’s not. I wouldn’t have slept with him if…” He shrugged. “Whatever. It’s nobody’s business what I do.”
“I’m not judging you.”
His eyes flashed. “It seemed like it.”
“Then my apologies.” I let out a sigh. “We have a lot to talk about, Kit, but we can do that tomorrow. For now, I need your word that you won’t snoop around my house and you’ll still be here in the morning. If you’ve thought about it and changed your mind, I’ll take you wherever you want to go, and we need not see each other again.”
He rolled off the bed, took off his headband, and put it on the dresser. “I’m not a thief if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Too bad. We might have use for that specific talent.”
He spun around and peered at me with wide eyes. “Really?”
I smiled. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Make yourself at home.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” He still didn’t know the full extent of what this job entailed. Until we could trust him, he would do smaller jobs with me.
I walked toward the door and stopped with my hand on the jamb. “Bait?”
Silence for a beat. Then he caught on. “Yes?”
“My partner and I are honest employers who would never cheat you of anything. We rely on people we can trust, and any betrayal comes with a very steep price. Good night.”
I closed the door softly behind me and pulled my phone out. I punched in Liam’s number as I hurried down the stairs.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I’ve found him.”
“Who?”
“The guy who’ll replace Chad.”
“No way. When did that happen?”
“Just now. Thing is he’s a prostitute and—”
“Are we that desperate?” Liam groaned. “You want to trust a prostitute in our operation? We’re not exactly Barney and Friends.”
“When you meet him, you’ll understand. Can you monitor our footage inside the house? I want to know if he snoops around or if he talks to anyone.”
“Sure, because I live to kneel at your feet.”