his grip, tugging me even closer. My breasts graze his chest, and through the heated skin, I swear I can feel his heart pounding. Pulsating. Raging.
He’s so angry, and I can’t resist this pathetic need to defend myself, even though I damn well shouldn’t have to.
“You sent Alexi after Tristan.”
He blinks, and I take advantage of the brief moment of distraction to pull away and stagger further into the closet, putting as much distance between us that I can.
“You told that whore to fuck my boyfriend, and then you took photo evidence as proof. For what? So you could get off on having both of us as your little pawns?”
“No.” He shrugs the insinuation off, his expression cold. “I sent Alexi to Tristan to find out what he knew. Your father had been coy on his role in their little scheme. As it turns out, I had a damn good reason to be suspicious.”
“My… My father?”
It doesn’t make sense. There are too many strings composing this twisted web. I can’t make heads or tails of it.
Domino advances a step, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. I can practically feel his restraint, causing a shift in the atmosphere like a building storm cloud just before the rain breaks loose.
“He was growing paranoid, Ada. Restless. A wild beast is always the most dangerous when it’s cornered. When it feels its life is on the line. By that point, it will resort to any option it can to free itself. Like using its daughter as a pawn to throw off suspicion for its connection to a potential crime spree.”
It’s my turn to blink, caught off guard by the word choice.
“What are you even talking about?”
He scoffs. “Silly little Ada. Of course, you wouldn’t take time from your shopping to educate yourself on something as trivial as your father being openly linked by the media to a sex trafficking ring.”
I swallow hard, bristling at the disgust in his tone. “My father was about to be indicted for some silly hit and run,” I say. “They didn’t even have strong evidence against him. He was just being set up to take the fall so his enemies could run roughshod over his reputation.”
I’m parroting exactly what my father told me—what he ranted and raved about for the last month before this mess even began. He needed me to use Tristan as a way into the prosecutor’s case, though he wasn’t assigned to it. Somehow, he still knew enough information to make those shitty, unmemorable nights with him worth it to my father. Enough that he kept pushing me to meet with him.
And maybe, I liked the attention. I liked knowing that, despite having someone as beautiful as Alexi to screw around with, he still desired me—even if it was because of my proximity to my father. I still won.
It’s so silly now to think about that. I feel my cheeks flame, and I almost miss Domino’s reaction to that statement. Rather than look shocked or satisfied that I at least knew something about the case, he frowns.
“What was the man’s name?”
“What?”
“The man who died, what was his name?” He makes his tone flat, speaking deliberately slow.
“I don’t know. Some jogger, I think—”
“Some jogger.” He laughs, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Try some businessman that authorities had been trailing for six months as part of a sting operation to catch the ringleader of a sex trafficking ring that stretches from Terra Rodea to halfway across the country. That man dies and so does the investigation and the only link they had to finding a mastermind. Unless they could put pressure on the suspect who might have wanted that man dead, even if they had flimsy fucking evidence.”
“My father?”
“Bingo, as they say, Ada-Maria. I know you rarely left that mansion of yours, but I would think you’d have access to the internet, at least.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Think.” He takes another step, and I hit my shoulder on a shelf in my haste to retreat. As the wall meets my back, I realize that I’m trapped. There’s nowhere left to go. “Who stands to benefit if you happened to be kidnapped—let alone murdered—in a violent raid on some fancy restaurant? Maybe the man desperate to prove to the police and the world that he isn’t connected to the same ring that might have stolen his only daughter? It’s a sloppy plan, but desperate times call for desperate measures, Ada. Tell me