Her gaze yanked upward, “Easy for you to say.” She took a step backward and waved her hand airily. “I’ll find my way back.”
Like hell. He couldn’t have her walk the floor alone. Not in that dress and looking like she’d been thoroughly seduced and in need of someone to step in and pick up where they left off.
Sevastyan took her hands in his, holding her hostage while he found out what the hell was going on. “Just tell me what the hell has your panties in a wad, Roman,” he demanded in an impatient voice.
“I’ll be fine. I shouldn’t be here to begin with.” She tried to take her hands back but he didn’t let her go.
He tipped her chin with a gentle touch until all she saw were the irises of his eyes.
“You don’t go anywhere without one of us with you at all times. End of argument.”
The hesitant crease of worry between her brows deepened.
“You’ll want to hear this face to face. Trust me,” Roman assured him.
She backed away from him, and he felt the iron curtain of regret fall into place between them. “This should never have happened.”
Roman stepped from the elevator and joined them wearing a snarl that made him appear every bit the lethal man he knew him to be.
Seraphina side-stepped him, her gaze pinned to the floor.
Roman lowered his voice and angled away from Rhia. “We need to speak. Now. It’s about your father and hers. Shit is about to get very fucking ugly.”
Fuck.
Roman turned to Rhia and kneeled in front of her, his hand already going for hers. Fucking man was a bleeding goddamn heart.
“If it’s any consolation, baby, I’d like to be tied to your bed. Screw these three.” He tossed her a rueful grin and rose to pull Sevastyan to the side.
Matteo and Lucian placed a kiss on either of her cheeks before joining them.
He threw the curtain to the side and looked over his shoulder. “Wait for me here.”
Roman fired up his tablet and pulled a document on screen. “I reached out to a friend of mine in the police department. Asked her to do some more digging on Rhia now that we have her real name.”
Roman flipped the tablet around for him to see. One thing about his men, they made friends easily and knew how to exploit those contacts. Usually, a free VIP pass to the club loosened a lot of lips. Most thought money or even knowledge talked and carried the most power. The truth was sex was the most valuable currency on the planet.
“According to my contact, your sweet little liar over there is the one who reported her father’s death.”
Son of a bitch. Well, that explained the haunted look in her eye tonight.
“Our new personal assistant was the one to find her father the night of his death. Who knows, but she could have witnessed his death. And who committed the crime. Which could tell us who killed your brother. Think she’s tied up in whatever got her father killed?”
“No.” He’d seen enough tonight to know she had nothing to do with anything her father was tied up in. “She’s hurt, hunting for something, but after what I heard tonight and the anger in her eyes at the thought of someone hurting another, there’s no way she’s involved with this shit.”
“After what I heard, I agree. I had to ask to see where you were at.”
Sevastyan nodded.
“That means we’re almost back at square one and the clock’s counting down on us. Cold fucking cases rarely get solved. How much longer are we going to do this? You know I’m with you, brother, but how long?” Lucian looked back toward the curtain where Rhia waited for them. “How long—”
“There’s more,” Roman cut Lucian off. Your father has men walking our floors. They think I didn’t pull records, they’re here. Reporting back. Watching.”
He half expected that to happen and wondered what took the old asshole so long. “Let him watch.”
Matteo cursed savagely. “Your father sees us with Rhia and he’ll turn curious. He’ll take her off the street one night walking home from work just so he can fuck with you. Pull whatever information he can from her. Then dump her. You know he will.”
Sevastyan snapped his head around so fast the bones in his neck cracked. “Like that will fucking happen.”
Sevastyan could see that.
“What’s our next move? We can’t exactly haul her over our shoulders and lock her away in the dungeon,” Roman stated coldly.
Sounded like the safest place until they could sort all this out. “We’ll keep an eye on her from a distance for now. Do his men know about her as of right now?”
Roman shook his head. “But either way I don’t think it will take long for him to find out.”
Sevastyan considered his options. He could lie or be upfront, and both options left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Tucked in a small alcove that didn’t offer much on lighting, he watched the curtain of the private box peel back and Rhia slip away from him.