When the door closes, I’m tempted to slam theemergency stopbutton and ask herwhat the fuck,but I can’t do that either. I know for a fact the elevator is bugged.
I have a million fucking questions for this woman, starting withDo you have a death wish?But I can’t ask her a single one of them until we get out of here tonight.
“I’m sorry,” Memphis whispers from beside me.
Something seizes in my chest as I jerk my chin in her direction. She’s pale beneath the thick layer of makeup on her face. The thick layer that was her disguise as she tried to gather intel, probably to put me in prison with the rest of the Casso crew.
And I fucking fell for it hook, line, and sinker. No, I fucking fell forher.What a goddamned schmuck.
“Don’t say a fucking word about anything until I tell you it’s okay to talk. Understand me?” My words are sharp, no care to them at all.
She flinches, but I won’t apologize as easily as she does. It’s not just Teal’s life I’m saving today. It’s hers too.
As the elevator opens on the floor for the Upper Ten, I step over the threshold and block her exit. Memphis stares at me with genuine fear on her face as she swallows.
“Your mother expects you to take her to dinner tonight. Tell her you’re working, and you’ll take her tomorrow. No one gets the fucking night off today.”
I should want her as far away from the club as possible, but I’m not letting Memphis Lockwood out of my sight until I figure out what kind of voodoo she’s worked on me, and what the fuck I’m going to do about it.
Her mouth forms ano, like she wants to speak, but she nods rather than replying.
I fish her cell phone out of my pocket and toss it to her before I turn and stalk away. The elevator doors close with her inside as I brush past Grice without a word.
5
Memphis
Idodged a bullet. A really, really big one that should have had at least one of my names engraved on the side.
As the elevator doors open once more on the floor for the Upper Ten, shivers rack my body like someone just tap-danced over my grave. Maybe it’s my father’s ghost warning me, trying to protect me from my own recklessness. He always told me to be careful, more careful than I would ever think to be. He was right, and I should have listened.
Then again, look where his need for the truth got him. Like father, like daughter.
Shaking off the chill, I make my way toward the door, which Grice opens with a questioning look on his face.
“Everything okay, Ms. Carson?” His thick New York accent seems even more pronounced today. “Anything you need help with?” He shifts his weight as if anxiously awaiting some very bad news.Like Teal being dead.
Oh Lord.It’s not my place to say a single word, but the look on his face engenders so much empathy that I can’t go on letting him wonder.
“Tanya had to take care of something. Cannon asked her to work the late shift tonight ...after her sister is settled at her new place.” I whisper the last bit, hoping it will offer him some comfort.
Immediately, his shoulders relax and his entire posture changes. He glances up at the ceiling and makes a quick sign of the cross, like he just touched holy water at church.
When he meets my gaze once more, he smiles softly. “Thank you, Ms. Carson. I’ll be pulling a double today, so I’ll make sure to watch out for her coming back.” He swings the interior door to the club open and lets me walk through.
Cannon is nowhere to be seen, but Letty is running entrées out to a table seated for an early dinner and her brows jump to her hairline when she sees me.
I hurry toward the kitchen, intending to check on what else needs to go out, but Matteo, the club’s cigar sommelier, stops me next to the bar.
“Is Teal okay? We heard ... things.” Matteo’s normally precisely starched shirt has a few wrinkles, as if he rushed out the door in yesterday’s uniform because he was in such a hurry to get here, and his cheeks are paler than normal.
Apparently, everyone got the emergency call and came running in.
I nod in response, biting my lip, because I’m not sure what else I should say to him. Probably nothing. But that doesn’t stop me from saying, “Tanya will be back with Warren late tonight. I’m sure she’ll be able to give you the whole story.”
The warm hue of his tanned skin returns as he takes a deep breath. “Okay. Got it. That makes sense.”
“Matteo.”