To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,62
out of Max’s embrace and got him down. He ran out of the room, probably to investigate Ciro.
“Let me see you.” Max tenderly cupped my unmarred cheek, eyes intently examining where I was hit. “Who did this?”
“He said his name was Lieutenant Mancy.”
“He wasn’t a cop, not even a corrupt one. He got his hands on a uniform and a shiny badge.”
“How do you know that?”
He told me about Dorian being at the club tonight and everything they said to each other. That was how Max knew the company I had wasn’t really a police officer.
“Did you happen to see the studio?”
Max nodded. “Yeah, nothing wrong there, no broken windows. The guy just needed to get up here, and he knew you’d only open the door for me or a cop.”
I slid off Max’s lap and with his help, stood up. “Yeah, I should question cops in this town, honestly.”
Max huffed and we walked to the living room, where Ciro was sitting on my couch scrolling through his phone with one hand and petting Tank, who was asleep on his lap.
“Well, that’s a sight,” Max said. Ciro looked up, unfazed by the fact that a tiny dog was owning him.
“He’s adorable.” Ciro shrugged and continued to pet Tank.
“Have a seat and I’ll get you some water.” Max went into the kitchen and I did as asked, not really loving standing since I was a little dizzy.
“Get him painkillers too,” Ciro shouted without taking his eyes off his phone.
Max came out with a bottle of water and two Tylenol. I took them and rested my head on the back of the couch. It was peacefully silent for all of one minute.
“So, what happened?” Ciro asked. I lolled my head to the right, looking at him.
“A not-cop that works for Dorian came here and gave me a message.”
“What was the message?” Max took my hand in his, concern thick in his voice.
“He said to call off the PI that’s going through his life and that you and I have to break up, or Dorian will go to your mom and sisters and nephew and niece and probably burn their houses down with them in it. Honestly, I’m not sure what he’ll do, but I have no doubt it’ll be awful.” I said it all with no emotion. It was unbelievable to me that Dorian would stoop to murder, but maybe it shouldn’t surprise me at all.
“He said what?” Max’s voice was thunderous.
“I’m assuming the PI is yours?” Ciro asked Max.
“Yeah, he’s mine. I asked my friend Biggs to help, and he got me in touch with a PI. He’s already backed off because he found nothing showing that Lilac Springs was in any danger of shutting down. Any proof Dorian provided Sparkles with indicating the facility was in trouble was fake. That should shock nobody. As far as poking through the guy’s life, I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t want you finding out about Lilac Springs and is likely trying to scare you. Possibly that’s something you should heed at this time,” Ciro concluded and then looked at me. “So what are you going to do?”
I gave a little shrug. “The only thing I can do.” I turned toward Max. “I’m going to break up with you.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Max
“What the hell, Sparkles?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So, you’re what, going to let him, once again, control your life?”
Ciro sat expressionless, watching the two of us, never once stopping his petting of Tank.
“Whoa!” Sparkles looked at me with a fire in his eyes. “I never said that, why are you putting words in my mouth?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you said you’d be breaking up with me because of Dorian?”
Sparkles glared at me, and even though I knew he wasn’t at his best, there was no hiding how pissed off he was. “Did you not hear the part where I said he’d hurt your mom and the rest of your family?”
“Oh, I heard you. Did it maybe occur to you that I could protect my family? That maybe I could come up with a plan?” I knew he didn’t think me incompetent, but I was sure he’d seen Dorian do a lot of horrible things. Hell, he’d probably experienced them firsthand.
“I move into the new place next month. Maybe we can just keep our distance from each other until I’m out of here. That’ll give us time to come up with some sort of plan.” Sparkles