Chapter 11: What He Sold

Dane took his hand off my phone and sent his men back to the cars.

"Monday," he said at the door. "Kate, you have till Monday. Think about a ride."

The tourists on the boardwalk lowered their phones one by one and went back to their ice cream.

Lucy took the keys to my father's truck out of my hand before I had said a word.

"Go," she said. "I've got Norman."

I took a cab.

The elevator to the top of the Gilt opened on a dark penthouse, and there was a light in the bedroom.

Malachi stood in the middle of it with a black duffel bag open on the bed.

He was putting a folded shirt into it, and his hands were slow.

The N on the inside of his wrist caught the lamp.

"You're packing," I said.

He turned.

"Dane gave me until noon tomorrow to be off the floor," he said. "It's his building now."

"You're leaving again."

"I'm leaving this room."

"That's what you said last time."

He put down the shirt.

"Ask me," he said. "Whatever you want. I'll answer."

I walked all the way into the room.

I was shaking, so I said it fast.

"My father's debt has been frozen for four years. Since the week you left."

"Yes."

"Dane says you signed something in his father's car. The night I stood in your empty room."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Claimed Hard by My Best Friend from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.