The Exposé 4 by Roxy Sloane Page A

some reason, they’re all about
Dax.
    His
strength. His determination. The way he never backs down.
    The
way nothing else mattered when his body was slamming hard into mine.
    I’ve
only just begun to know him. I can’t give it all up yet.
    I
feel myself fading, everything in my line of sight going dark at the
edges, and I slump to the floor. I can hear a banging noise, as if
from far away, but when I open my mouth and try to yell, to tell them
I’m right here, nothing comes out.
    The
last thing I see is figures moving through the flames. Firefighter
yellow. Muffled calls.
    Then
everything is black.

 

CHAPTER TWO
     
    DAX
     
    ‘ You
don’t care who you destroy. You won’t feel so powerful
when someone you love gets hurt.’
    The
note is waiting for me in the mail when I get into the club office,
just like the other two. Anonymous. Cryptic. But this one sends a
chill straight through my body.
    It’s
a threat.
    I
leap up. “Griffin!” I yell. A moment later, my office
door swings open and my head of security looks in.
    “What
is it?”
    “Another
one,” I growl, shoving the paper at him. I reach for my
cellphone and dial Zoe’s number, but there’s no response.
She left my apartment just a few hours ago; we have plans for dinner
tonight. Our first official date.
    The
phone goes straight to voicemail.
    This
is Zoe, leave me your number after the-- BEEP.
    I
hang up and speed-dial again, calling my friend Maria this time. She
answers on the third ring, and I hear noise in the background; Luca
playing nearby.
    “Are
you OK?” I demand. “Where are you?”
    “At
home.” Maria sounds confused. “Why, what’s going
on?”
    “Nothing,
I don’t think.” I force myself to sound calm. The last
thing I want to do is cause unnecessary panic, especially coming so
soon after her last encounter with one of my business rivals. Then,
she wound up in the hospital. It was technically an accident, but it
would never have happened if some brute hadn’t shown up to give
her a scare. All to get to me.
    What
else might happen this time?
    “There
might be a situation here at work,” I tell her, trying to be
vague. “I’m going to send Griffin over to look after
you.”
    I
make eye contact with him across the room. He nods.
    “You
don’t need to do that,” Maria laughs. “We’re
fine.”
    “Humor
me, okay? He’ll be there in half an hour. Don’t answer
the door until he calls. And lock the windows too. You have the
security system turned on?”
    “Dax,
this really isn’t—” she tries to interrupt me. I
cut her off.
    “He’s
on his way.”
    Maria
pauses. She knows better than to try and stand in my way when I’m
determined like this. “OK. I hope you work it out, whatever it
is.”
    “It’s
probably nothing,” I lie. “I just want to be sure.”
    I
hang up. Griffin heads for the door. “Call me with updates
every hour,” I instruct him, grabbing my jacket. I follow him
out. “Anything suspicious, you let me know.”
    “Will
do, boss.” Griffin is curt. He did time in the military, Navy
SEALs, so I know Maria will be in safe hands. “What about you?”
    “I
need to reach Zoe,” I dial her again. Voicemail. Dammit.
“There’s no answer. I’m going over to her place.”
    “You
taking protection?” he asks.
    It
takes me a minute to realize he means a gun.
    I
think about it for a second, then shake my head. “No. It won’t
come to that.”
    Griffin
raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t argue. “Good luck,”
he says.
    Luck
won’t come into it. As I get in my car and break every speed
limit on my way to Zoe’s apartment, I think again about the
anonymous notes and how much is at stake.
    They
arrived out of nowhere several weeks ago, and despite assurances from
Griffin that the person behind them would show their hand, there have
still been no demands, just cryptic threats.
    If it
was Nikolai, my main suspect, then he would have made a move by now.
I already know his agenda: using my knowledge