All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,261

body pleasure. It keeps me occupied when I’m not at work, so I have little to no time to think about Phil. Until I’m alone. Then my idle mind is the devil’s playground. That invisible clock, ticking in my head, constantly reminds me my time with Armando is short.

Movement through the kitchen window catches my attention. I look up from the sink to see a man crouching in the desert, behind Armando’s poolside paradise. What the fuck? I drop to my knees and crawl to the back door.

Through the French doors, beyond the perimeter fence, a figure with dark hair and dark clothing inches toward the property. Phil! My heart stops for several beats then rams against my ribcage.

My trembling hand snatches my cell phone from the counter, and I tap to unlock the screen. I press the avatar for Karina’s contact and lift the phone to my ear. I gnaw on my thumbnail as I wait for her to pick up.

“Hello?” she answers in a gravelly voice.

I swallow against the lump in my throat. “Rina?”

“Are you okay? What’s the matter?”

“I think Phil found me.” I peek from behind the counter and dart my eyes around the backyard. Nothing.

“You mean at Armando’s?” That’s got her attention. She’s far more alert.

“Yes, and Armando isn’t here. He said he’d be back around sunset.”

“That’s weird. Theo and Alex told me the same thing. But that makes sense. They’re working together to clear up this shit with Phil. I don’t know if they’re going to be fast enough, though. You know how long legal proceedings can take. We may have to find a place to lie low until—”

“I don’t want to get Armando in the middle of this!” I’m screaming now. Sweat beads on my forehead as my eyes roam everywhere, and my free hand twirls hair around one of my fingers. “If Armando gets hurt, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“This isn’t your fault, Zoe. Don’t start blaming yourself.”

“I can’t stay here.”

Karina’s breath is loud through the speaker as she sighs. “Yeah, I feel the same way about Theo and Alex. They’re trying to help, but they don’t owe me anything. Going against Phil in court is going to take a shit-ton of money and time, and I don’t feel right about any of this.”

I can’t wrap my mind around how this guy is everywhere all the time. I don’t fucking get it. “I have to move again. And this time, I think I need to leave Tucson.”

“I’m thinking the same thing. How about a trip to New Orleans?”

I run a hand through my hair. “What? You mean go back to Marcel?”

“Yep. He owns the Crimson Dungeon, and yesterday he said in a text to do just that. He wants to take care of Phil once and for all. The guy’s a millionaire, and I think he operates a little on the shady side. Since law enforcement isn’t doing anything to protect us, maybe we need a mafia-type solution. Besides, he owes me now.”

“What?”

There’s a long pause before she sighs. “I’m sorry, Zoe, but Marcel had me feeding him information about Club Toxic. Who the management was, the comings and goings of Lucius and Selene, the hours they operate, and stuff I thought was benign and wouldn’t really matter.”

“Huh? Why?” I don’t understand why he would want information about them.

“Why did I do it? Because I owed him. Why does he want the information? He said it was because he wanted to stay ahead of the competition.”

I can understand wanting to beat competition, but they live in different cities. Something isn’t right here. “You didn’t give him security codes or anything, did you?”

“No, no, of course not. I don’t know any of that stuff. He seemed more interested in how they ran the club. But then I started liking Theo and I felt like I was betraying you and…” Karina pauses. “I just got in too deep. I was going to stop and then all this happened.”

My breaths heave in and out as I move through the house to search the front. “Okay, we’ll talk about that later. What do you want to do?”

“That’s the part I need to figure out. Do you feel safe where you are? I need about an hour to come up with a plan.”

“No, but I can get an Uber to a populated place. That would make me feel better. Just give Armando time to come home. I don’t want to leave before I say my version of a goodbye