6. Vice Blackwell #4
The elevator stopped on the top floor, and I led her down the hallway toward the suite. I unlocked the door and stepped inside first, checking the rooms before she could say anything.
“I’m pretty sure your security has already checked this room,” she fussed from behind me.
“Oh, I know that, but I’m checking again.”
She dropped her bag near the couch. “Of course you are…”
The suite had everything she needed for the night. Bedroom, bathroom, living room and a small kitchen. Milan walked through slowly before stopping near the large bay windows.
“This is too much… This is damn near an apartment.”
“You complaining about having space now?”
“No. I’m saying I didn’t need all this.” She turned around and looked at me. “How much is this costing?”
“Nothing.”
“Vice.”
“What?”
“I’m not staying here for free.”
“You are tonight.”
“I can pay for my own room.”
“I know can.”
“Then let me.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I own the mothafucka.”
She stared at me for a few seconds before apparently deciding she didn’t have enough energy left to keep arguing.
“Fine. One night.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“No, I’m telling you. One night.”
“And I’m telling you we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“There you go doing that again.”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like what I say doesn’t matter.”
I looked at her. “What you say matters… That don’t mean I’m gonna agree with it.” She got quiet, and I could tell she wasn’t expecting that answer. I walked toward the door and stopped right before opening it to look back at her. “Get some sleep.”
“That’s it… You just bring me to your hotel and tell me to ‘get some sleep’?”
I ran my tongue over my lips as my eyes traveled up and down her body. When they averted back to her eyes, I asked, “You want me to tuck you in?”
She looked shy as she looked away, blushing in the process. Still unable to look me in the eyes, she said, “Goodnight, Vice.”
“A’ight…” I opened the door only for her to stop me.
“Wait…” she called out.
When I turned around, she looked toward the windows then the bedroom, before bringing her eyes back to me.
“You’re sure nobody can get up here?”
I nodded. “Yeah… I promise you’re safe here. You don’t have shit to worry about,”
“How?”
“Elevator access to this floor is restricted. Security knows you’re here, and nobody gets up without being cleared.”
She nodded, but I could tell she was still thinking about her apartment.
“They had security too,” she said in a whisper.
“I know…” Her eyes met mine and I understood what she wasn’t saying. She’d believed she was safe before, so now she was questioning this. I walked back toward her. “This ain’t your apartment, baby, but if it’ll make you feel better, I can stay here with you.”
She dropped her head only to bring it right back up to look at me. Her facial expression had changed a bit, probably because she wasn’t expecting me to say that.
She bit down on her bottom lip for a couple of seconds before speaking again.
“So, you say nobody can get up here?”
“Nobody gets close to this room without my people knowing about it.”
She looked toward the door then back at me. “Your people?”
“Security…”
“Oh, right.”
I stood here for another second or two before adding, “Nobody’s getting in here tonight, Milan. You’re safe.”
She looked at me, and this time she didn’t argue. “Okay.”
That one word told me she was finally done fighting for the night. I headed toward the door again only for her to call my name, stopping me in my tracks. When I turned back to face her, she gave me a one-sided smile as she said, “Thank you. For real this time.”
I nodded.
“Get some sleep.” With that, I stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind me. One of my security men stood near the elevators while another was positioned farther down the hall, exactly where they were supposed to be.
“Anybody comes on this floor, I wanna know.”
“I got you, Boss man.”
I headed toward the elevator, but before the doors opened, I looked back at Milan’s room.
This wasn’t supposed to be my problem.
A week ago, I didn’t know Milan Rivers existed. Now somebody had broken into her apartment because she’d witnessed something involving my cousin, and she’d called me when she got scared.
Whether she understood it yet or not, that made her my responsibility.
At least until I figured out who the fuck was after her.
The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside while pulling out my phone and calling Mace.
He answered on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
I pressed the button for the lobby. “What you got?”
“I’m still waiting on the full employee list, but somebody manually disabled those cameras.”
I stared at the numbers above the elevator doors as they started dropping.
“So they had access.”
“Looks that way.”
“Find out who.”
“Already on it.”
The doors opened, and I walked through the lobby toward the side entrance.
“And Mace?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to know everybody who had access to that building, those cameras and her apartment.”
“I got you…”
“Good.”
I stepped outside and looked back at the hotel. Nobody was going to get close to her again.