I barely dodged some asshole who pulled out in front of me and had a car nearly sideswipe me, all before I even made it to Dante’s Las Vegas home. I finally did sigh when I pulled my car up to the gate, giving myself a moment’s reprieve before I had to deal with whatever Dante needed to be dealt with.
Asher and Apollo were waiting for me when I walked inside the estate. Asher was wearing that same weary expression I’d imagined when we talked on the phone just a little bit ago. That look made me stop dead in my tracks, my eyes darting to Apollo who kept his face impassive. That was unlike him.
He also had quite a shiner coming through, his eye swollen and bruised. Whoever had done that had a nice right hook.
“What’s going on? Who died?” I joked.
“Hopefully no one dies over any of this,” Apollo said, a small crack beneath his facade.
“Uh, yeah, I really don’t know how to respond to that,” I said as I walked up to them.
Asher and Apollo looked at each other and then back at me. They wore twin expressions, part exasperation and part apprehension. Sometimes it amazed me that, after all we’d seen and done working for Dante, we could still find new things to be exasperated and apprehensive about. Life was funny that way.
“Honestly, we don’t either and we were sent to do the dirty work,” Apollo said.
Asher glared at his brother and shook his head.
“What?” Apollo whined. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
Ignoring his brother and turning back to me, Asher said, “Okay, so here’s what happened.”
And then he told me. When he’d finished, I had to question my hearing. There’s no way Dante would have sent the twins to kidnap some woman just because he thought she was pretty. He was far too rational for that. He would impress women with his money and status, and it never took long before they were falling at his feet, head over heels in love with him.
However, I saw the fear laced in their words and knew it had to be true. But it also left me wondering why they’d brought me in if the woman was already here.
When I asked them, Asher said, “Dante wants you to keep an eye on her. Sadie isn’t exactly endeared to us since we were the ones that, um, picked her up. And you’re more likely to win her over than Brix is. Women warm up to you a lot faster. They think you’re sweet.”
I thought back to Brix awkwardly flirting with women in the past and, yeah. He made women uncomfortable a lot of the time, at least until they got to know him. But it probably didn’t matter how sweet women thought I was; a woman who’d just been kidnapped was going to need a lot more than a few hours to win over.
“C’mon,” Apollo said, “let’s head upstairs before she starts punching people again.”
Asher just laughed and I bit my tongue.
Inside the elevator, the twins told me it would be my job to keep an eye on her until Brix relieved me from duty in the morning.
Once on the top floor, they pointed me to the room Sadie was locked in and waited for Dante outside. I hesitated just a moment before knocking on the door. I listened as the lock was turned and opened the door, quickly shutting it and locking it behind me.
“Ah, Kane, thanks for joining us,” Dante said, slapping me on the shoulder.
I nodded at him, surprised by the slightly crazed glint in his eyes. This woman must have been the modern day equivalent of Helen of Troy to have this effect on a guy like Dante. Then I looked over at Sadie and began to see the reason for his uncharacteristic madness.
Sadie was absolutely breathtaking. Even completely disheveled, her clothes rumpled and curly hair askew, she was gorgeous. She looked like she was biracial like me, which could have been another reason Dante wanted me to keep an eye on her first. In a roundabout way, I would be familiar to her.
Dante glanced at Sadie and said, “Sadie, this is Kane. He’ll be keeping an eye on you.”
She rolled her eyes. “You mean he’s my prison guard.” She wasn’t exactly wrong about that.
Dante ignored her. “I’m not sure if the twins informed you, but Brix will be taking your place at dawn.”
I nodded. “They did.”
“Good, good,” he said, clapping his hands together. Then he looked between me and Sadie expectantly.
I walked up to her with my hand extended. “Hi, I’m Kane.”
Sadie slapped my hand away and looked at me like I was insane. Honestly, I was starting to feel like I was.
“Alright,” Dante said, “Kane, why don’t you help get Sadie settled into her suite?” He unlocked the door and turned to me.