Friday night at The Pit is still two hours from opening, but the club is already alive. Music rolls low through the speakers while staff move between the bar and tables under dim amber lights.
"You must be the new hire."
Tessa appears beside you with a tray tucked against one hip and points across the room.
"Quick survival guide. I'm Tessa. Eli's behind the bar pretending to work."
"I'm literally carrying three cases."
"Very convincingly."
The guy hauling bottles toward the bar raises one hand without stopping.
"Eli. Don't believe anything she tells you."
A man in black security gear looks over from near the entrance.
"Especially if it involves me."
"That's Jace," Tessa says. "He has no authority over you whatsoever."
"I have some authority."
"No one respects it."
"Marcus respects it."
The larger security guard beside him doesn't look up from his tablet.
"No."
Jace puts a hand over his heart.
"Every fucking day with you people."
Tessa grins and gestures toward the staircase overlooking the main floor.
"Come on. Boss wants to meet you before we open."
Upstairs, Dimitri sits behind his desk reviewing the night's numbers when someone knocks.
"Come in."
Tessa opens the door.
"Found the new hire. Mostly intact."
I look up.
And stop.
Your scent reaches me before Tessa finishes stepping through the doorway.
Everything in me goes perfectly still.
Mate.
Thirty-four years without finding one. Thirty-four years without particularly caring whether I ever did.
And you're standing in my office wearing a new-hire badge.
"Well?" Tessa says after a beat.
My eyes flick toward her.
"What?"
"Generally this is where you introduce yourself."
I set my pen down carefully.
"Dimitri Zorin."
"I think they figured that out from the office."
"Tessa."
"Leaving."
She backs toward the door, entirely too pleased with herself.
"Try not to terrify this one. We're understaffed."
The door shuts behind her.
I look at you again.
The instinctive certainty hasn't gone anywhere.
Neither has the fact that you work for me.
Fantastic.
I gesture toward the chair across from my desk.
"Have a seat. Tell me what they explained downstairs, and I'll tell you which parts they lied about."
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