Highest Bidder Collection - Lauren Landish Page 0,269

associate.

Everyone in my life is just an associate. And that’s never going to change.

“And what’s that?” I ask him as my lips kick up into a charming smile. It’s always there. Even though it doesn’t affect Charles, I can’t help the false expression. I’ve learned to play this role. It pays me well.

“Brooks is a problem,” he states and leans forward in his seat, grabbing a paperweight off my desk. It’s a small slate cube, heavy with sharp edges. He runs his finger down one side.

Although he’s not a threat to me, I can only imagine what he’d do with a weapon like that. I roll my eyes at what he just said and stretch my neck to look out of the large windows again as the sun sets behind us, darkening the room. I can’t take another person telling me I’ve fucked up. I get it. I need someone to offer me a solution to fix it, not tell me the obvious.

“No shit,” I say, waiting for his eyes to meet mine. It only takes a moment, and his movements stop.

“Are we offing him?” he asks me.

My blood turns cold, sending a biting wave through every inch of my body. It takes its time, slowly coursing through my veins. I don’t take death lightly. Ending someone's life isn't as easy for me as it is for Charles. He grew up around it, made a career of it; killing is simply a way of life for him. They all have it coming and for good reason, but he’s quick to take it that far.

I break the hold his dark eyes have on mine and stare at the large clock on the left-hand wall. It’s simple and modern, so there aren’t any marks on it. It's just a large white circle with contrasting black hands. The second hand sweeps by, rhythmically and perfectly. There’s no sound, but I can only imagine the soft tick, tick, tick in sync with my own heartbeat.

I click my tongue, feeling the smile fade for a moment before turning my attention back to Charles.

“Who did he give it to?” I ask him. Brooks had the money in his account. I know for a fact what Danny Brooks was worth when I loaned him the investment. It should have been a good return, had he done what he was supposed to do.

“A bookie,” Charles answers in a rough deep voice, setting the slate paperweight back down at my desk.

A huff of a humorless laugh rumbles up my chest.

“I’m guessing he thinks the bookie breaking his legs is worse than what you would have done to him,” Charles adds and then cracks his neck and settles easily into his seat. He’s probably right. Most of these men who work with contracts think I’d settle a dispute using the legal systems.

I’m sure Brooks thinks I’ll sue him. But that takes so much time and sets a poor example. It would tarnish my spotless reputation as well. I don’t set foot into courtrooms. I’m not interested in a lawsuit or having anything in the paper.

When someone doesn’t pay me, I make sure I get more than my money’s worth of retribution. I think back to the dozens of men who have tried to get away from me and their debts in the past. They can’t run though. They can’t hide behind the law, or in the shadows; I own both.

“So, what are you going to do?” Charles asks me, pulling me back to the present.

I sit up in my seat and lean closer to him, feeling that slick smile on my face. My blood heats and the resulting adrenaline fuels me. I speak slowly but firmly, staring hard into Charles' unforgiving stare as I say, “I want to know everything about Danny Brooks.”

Chapter 2

Arianna

“They had rabbits, dildos and pulsators,” Natalie shamelessly continues as she sets down her paintbrush in the cup of now-dirty water that sits between us. She’s got an asymmetric grin on her face as she rises from her seat to step back and survey her handiwork. “It was awesome,” she says and the smile doesn’t fade as she stares at her canvas.

I stop my brush midstroke to look at her, arching a questioning eyebrow. Even dressed in pale blue overalls with old paint stains all over them, Natalie looks beautiful. She has the kind of natural beauty that comes equipped with confidence. Her dark brown hair cut in a short side bob sways as she crosses her