“Excuse me,” I murmur, making the guy fitting the carpet look up at me. I don’t acknowledge I know him, and he returns the favor by scooting out of my way so we can get past.
They follow behind without giving the carpet fitter the time of day as I stand and wait for them to let me in.
“Well,” Zodiac snaps when I don’t immediately move.
I lift my hands to show they’re empty. “You guys took my stuff. If you give it back, I’ll let you in.” Zodiac looks as if he wants to rip my head off my shoulders, but before he can do or say anything, Kai reaches into his pocket, pulls out my keycard, and leans over to open the door. His arm brushes against my breast, so I step back and keep my face blank. He’s trying to get a reaction out of me, heating my body to melt the ice around my heart, but he’s not going to win.
I don’t react to him at all. I don’t need to. I’ve moved past the betrayal I feel from him, now I’m just angry at myself when I damn well knew better.
“Here, Red,” he passes me the key and hands me my phone from his back pocket too.
I reach out to take them from him. He holds on for a moment, refusing to let go until I look up at him. Whatever he sees makes him flinch slightly. He releases my stuff, so I shoulder my way past him into the apartment, heading straight to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, about the only thing I have in there, and a couple of painkillers from one of the kitchen drawers. I need something to ward off the headache pounding at my temples.
Sending out a text for Danny, I wait for him to reply as the two unwelcome assholes take a seat on my sofa.
I watch Kai take everything in. He hasn’t been here since the night he showed this place to me. And nothing much has changed. Zodiac, however, just watches me with his icy gaze. I stare at him for a second before turning away, in case I turn to stone. He doesn’t bother looking around because he knows exactly what it looks like in here with his cameras and a nasty habit of coming and going whenever he chooses. The dickhead hasn’t figured out that I have my own cameras in here now, allowing me to watch him watching me.
I resist the urge to shiver at the thought. Thank Christ this isn’t the place I lay my head at night, or I’d never sleep.
“No personal touches, no throws or throw pillows or scented candles? No woman’s touch at all. It doesn’t feel much like a home, does it?” Zodiac says, drawing the attention of Kai.
“It’s no more impersonal than his place. I’m never here, so what does it matter?”
“I gave you a perfectly good apartment building—” I cut him off, making his eyes flare at my blatant disrespect.
“But you didn’t give me a curfew, and if I’m here, I’m not out there making you money,” I add, knowing I need to back off before things escalate any further.
“So the security footage?” Kai prompts, looking between Zodiac and me.
My phone chooses that moment to ding with the needed files. Not taking any chances, I forward copies with audio to Kai, and by default, Jude, having figured out early on they must have cloned phones. I send the one without sound to Zodiac before placing my phone back on the counter with a c u l8ter xx text. Anyone looking would assume I was likely banging my head of security on the side, but the actual message is a code we use. The c u l8ter means the phone is compromised, and the kisses represent how many potential threats I’m with.
“Now, I haven’t had a chance to debrief Kai here, but it’s safe to assume since you’re not bleeding that he’s pretty confident this footage will clear your name. I’d still like to hear your version of events before I watch it,” Zodiac tells me, almost daring me to argue.
“My driver, Ben, and I were exiting the elevator when bullets started flying. Ben took one in the shoulder. I closed the doors, checked to make sure my man was okay, and grabbed my gun. After making sure Ben was still alive, I opened the