and my heart fucking lurched in my chest. I didn’t suffer blubbering emotional women. Even if one of my Dolls comes to me with a tear-worthy issue, I took care of their problem expeditiously but left all the emotional shit kicked the curb. Tears on Wren, though—fuck, I was in trouble.
“Please. He doesn’t have the money. I don’t even have the money—”
I held my hand up for her to stop. “He asked you for help?”
“He’s my baby brother. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”
Man, that was so fucked up. It was the man’s duty to look after his sister, not the other way around. Locking down my emotions, I said to her, “He has a week to get me my fifty thousand.”
“And what happens if he doesn’t?” The steel was back in her voice even though tears sat silver and voluminous in her eyes. “What then, huh? Will you beat him again or worse?”
“Or worse,” I replied darkly, without a touch of remorse. “Nobody steals from me. Nobody gets to think they’ve pulled one over on me. Nobody survives this breach of trust.”
Roughly, she swiped the tears from her eyes and straightened her shoulders. Fuck, she even thrust her chest out a little, drawing my attention to her breasts. The air-conditioner kicked in then, sweeping the room with a gust of arctic air and causing her nipples to pebble. No fucking bra. I fucking liked this woman.
“You’re a goddamn mobster.” She hurled the words at me like they were daggers instead of syllables.
Pushing up off the desk, I got to within an inch of her body, her breasts almost brushing against my pecs. “You’re fucking right. I am. Now, get that fine ass of yours out of here, Little Bird, before I bend you over my knee and spank that defiance out of you.”
I braced for the slap. I was not prepared for the lust that surfaced in her gaze. So she liked it rough, did she? I filed that little nugget of information away for later because I knew there would be a later. Any woman who could stand up to me, defy me like that, was a woman I wanted to get to know.
She retreated on shaking legs, throwing one last filthy glare over her shoulder at me just before she shut the door. I ran a hand through my hair and blew out a breath. Turning to the window, I watched as Wren walked toward the entrance to the club. Her head was held high, her walk confident.
Fuck, I wanted to break her.
Behind me, the office door opened. “Who was that, boss?” Dagger asked. “A new Doll?”
I rounded on the guy, barely containing the anger I had at him for not being at the door to stop her from coming in. But then I thought about it. If he’d stopped her, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of meeting her. So instead of chewing the bastard out, I smiled at him. “She was Hawk Montana’s big sister.”
Dagger’s expression didn’t change. It hardly did. The only emotions I’d ever seen on his face before were blank and blank. There wasn’t a damn thing I could tell him to do that he wouldn’t see through.
“What did she want?”
“She wanted me to forget about the fifty thousand he owes.”
“In exchange for what?”
“Nothing. She came in here with no fucking bargaining chip at all.” Which either meant she was incredibly smart or incredibly stupid. Stupidity didn’t seem to fit Wren. There was calculation in her eyes, an old knowledge that understood how this world worked. “I want you to find out what you can about her.”
“You got it.” He glanced at his watch. “Closing time soon.”
I did the same time check. So it was. Three o’clock rolls around quickly.
“Get that information. I want to pay her a visit tomorrow.”
“Yes, boss.”
Dagger left, and I returned to my desk. I would see my Little Bird again, and I would take what I wanted from her without any complaint.
4
Wren
I nudged Hawk with my foot. He groaned and rolled away, giving me his back.
“Wake the fuck up, Hawk,” I snarled. I was running on only about four hours of sleep, thanks to his barging into my apartment beaten and bloody. Then, there was my visit to Bane. The man who was even sexier in person.
Before I got sucked into those thoughts, I walked into the kitchen to get some coffee. I made enough for both of us, taking the cup into the living room.