Steel resolve, Belle.
But all the fortified determination in the world doesn’t hold back the cold warning from chasing me all the way to the dark floor.
Five
Belle
Ihit the elevator button and wave to the front receptionist for the murder-for-hire department of the Constantine empire.
Like I said, its head, for now, is my dear sweet cousin with a penchant for the mysterious, Sapphire Constantine. Her father was a one-time undertaker and now she’s stepping into the role as a way to pay back a debt she believes she owes after her father took off with the money he stole from a contract.
It was a mess that left my cousin with nowhere to live except my spare bed for a long time.
I keep telling her she doesn’t owe the family shit. If anyone owes anything it’s the deadbeat who abandoned her, but she’s not listening.
I slap the newspaper down on the table in front of us and giggle when the blue-eyed beauty jumps.
“Damn it, Belle. I nearly had a heart attack.” Sapphire grips her heart.
“I did it.”
She picks up the paper and turns a curious eye on me. “Did what? Should I be worried?”
“Totally a point-of-view answer. Check out page eight, top half.”
I watch as my best friend’s eyes grow wide with surprise.
“So you applied to be a janitor at Club Sin?”
I sit up, laughing. “Right? Could they have been any vaguer? But I gotta say. When I walked my size five Choos into the hiring office I was pleasantly not greeted with a mop bucket or broom.”
“What were you handed instead?”
“Three gorgeous military men. Navy by the looks of the tattoo on the arm of the one named Aziel. I didn’t get a good look. They were too busy kissing me.”
“Landed as in?” My mouth drops open as the puzzle pieces start clicking together. “You hussy! You’re killing me here.”
Since Sapphire’s ‘office’ lacks walls and is more of a table pushed into the back corner of the death-dealing floor Polaris spots us and comes over.
“What are we gossiping about?”
“Our friend here has hooked up with three guys.”
“Navy men,” I correct. “SEALs I suspect but I still need confirmation on that.”
Curiosity piques in Polaris’ expression and she slides half her cute, little ass over the edge of the table between us. Both she and Sapphire are glued to my next words.
“This stays between us.”
“Always,” they both assure me.
I lean forward. “They are looking for a girl to take the stage with them and I think they are going to pick me.”
Sapphire sits up straighter and I can tell she is stunned from the way her mouth goes back to hanging open. Polaris mirrors her.
“You what?” Polaris starts and Sapphire picks up right after that.
“You can’t do this. If anyone finds out who you are it could come back to the men. Harlon’s enemies would hurt you and use it to blackmail him the second they see you on that stage. It’s like handing them a live grenade with laser tracking aimed at your brother.”