Page 3 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly

There was a bouncer at the door, despite the early time, but Bruce flashed him some laminate badge and the bouncer waved him through without question. They didn't seem like they knew each other but maybe that was because their jobs were so different, they didn't socialize all that much. Instead of leading her up the stairs, where Annie knew the break room was, there was already a small group of people at the bar, including Jericho.

Annie's eyes could look nowhere else but at Jericho. He was breath-taking, much more striking than the pictures taken by various media made him out to be, and that was saying something. It was an odd thing, to be in the presence of some sort of celebrity. He didn't look as tall as he was portrayed; he was just a normal person. A normal person surrounded by three incredibly tall, incredibly bulky men - probably his security guards. They made him look even smaller than he really was.

"And who is this?" Jericho asked, placing his eyes - a pale green color, Annie realized - on her.

"This is my sister, Annie," Bruce said, taking a step back.

Annie wanted to yell at her brother. He wasn't supposed to thrust her into the spotlight. Hell, Jericho shouldn't even know about her! She thought she'd hang out in the lobby, let Bruce do whatever he needed to do, and then they'd be done and could go to dinner. She hadn't expected Jericho to be hanging out in the bar with three bodyguards. More than that, she hadn't expected Jericho to notice her or want to meet her personally.

But there he was, staring at her like she was something strange and wonderful, wrapped in the same package.

On her end, Annie was surprised at how beautiful he was. He wasn't as tall as she thought he would be, coming in under six feet - maybe five foot nine, five foot ten if she was being generous - but his body was muscular and lean. He wore a suit, which wasn't unexpected of him. The only pictures she'd seen of him were in suits so it made sense for him to be in one now. It was more how it clung to his body like it was a layer of skin, but not so tight it looked tacky or inappropriate. His golden brown hair was slicked back and his eyes were big and captivating, a pale green color. His cheekbones were ridiculously high and just as sharp, and his mouth was small but his lips looked soft. He had a sharp jawline and a round chin. He wore a white collared shirt tucked into black slacks and a black leather motorcycle jacket over his shirt.

"Annie Brennan," he said, sliding out of his seat to walk toward her. He stretched out his hand, the look in his eyes never wavering. "Bruce's little sister. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Annie stared at his hand. Bruce nudged her hard, grabbing her attention. She didn't want to touch Jericho, didn't want him to touch her. Annie clenched her jaw but placed her hand in his. It was surprisingly soft and warm and when his fingers closed around hers, it covered practically all of her hand.

"Your brother talks about you all the time," he continued. His touch lingered a beat too long before he gently released her hand. His eyes still sparkled as he looked at her and Annie could understand why so many women fell for him regardless of his enormous wealth. "It's nice to finally put a name to a face."

She pressed her lips together and nodded in acknowledgment. There was really nothing else for her to say. In fact, she didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to offer him any sort of information he could use against her at a later time. She took his offered seat even though she wanted to stand, and bent her head forward so her long blonde hair covered her face. She liked the long hair, liked hiding behind it when it was convenient for her. She rarely wore it up, afraid if she did, people would really see her and she didn't like the feeling of such exposure.

“Will she be joining us?"

"I can stay here," Annie said. She didn't particularly want to know what was going on; she didn't want to know what business Bruce had gotten himself wrapped up in. She just wanted to be inside, somewhere dry, until Bruce was finished and they could leave.

"Nonsense," he said. "We'll have our discussions here." He stood behind a bar stool and offered it to her. "Would you like to sit? Let's get this started, shall we?" Jericho said, taking his own seat across from Annie. He did not offer a seat to Bruce and she couldn't figure out if that was on purpose or if he hadn't thought to do such a thing.

Regardless, Bruce grabbed his own seat and placed it next to Annie.

"It's been about a year since I lent you fifty grand," Jericho said.

Annie blinked. Before either could continue, she said, "He lent you how much? We did not spend fifty thousand dollars on our parents' funeral, Bruce."

"Annie," he hushed out of the side of his mouth, not even looking at his sister. Not because he was ashamed of her behavior, exactly. More because he wanted to keep his eyes on Jericho, which was probably a good idea since Jericho had lent Bruce fifty grand and was expecting him to pay him back.

"Don't Annie me," she snapped. "Why would you borrow that amount of money from Jericho? Not only is he your boss but he..." She cut her eyes over to the man in question, who smirked at her. His eyes somehow remained on her, not bothering to look at Bruce for any reason. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that and didn't bother to think about it all that much. She clenched her jaw to keep the rest of the sentence in: but he's a criminal.

"Sir, I apologize for my sister," Bruce said, staring at Jericho. "We typically go out to dinner and I was already on my way to pick her up when you called."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Jericho told Bruce but he kept his eyes firmly on Annie. "Are you saying that you weren't aware of your brother's debt?" He tilted his head at an awkward angle, almost like some sort of feline. The gesture was graceful and smooth.

"Yeah, she-"

Jericho cut a look to Bruce, one that clearly stared this was a warning and to tread carefully. "I was asking your sister," he said.

Annie swallowed. There was a small, rebellious part of her that felt flattered by his lack of dismissal, that he took her presence here seriously. But the more prevalent part of her was curious as to why he was being so nice, as though he couldn't possibly be being nice just to be nice. There was a reason for it, something he wanted from her. What that was, she didn't know.

"No," she said, shaking her head once. "I didn't know he borrowed that much money from you. I didn't realize I had to worry about that."

"You don't," Bruce said with a hint of exasperation in his tone.

"Hey," Jericho snapped, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't talk to your sister like this. Honesty is a good thing. It helps you learn about people." He turned his attention back to Annie. "So he didn't tell you about the loan? Interesting, because he said as an accountant, you would be the perfect person to assist him on some kind of payment plan in order to ensure I got back my loan in a timely manner."

Annie clenched her jaw. "You told him what I do for a living?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What the hell did you use that money for, Bruce? Because four grand covered the funeral expenses and a year later, you mean to tell me you spent forty-six grand and don't have anything to show for it?"

"That's what the meeting is for," Bruce explained.

"I'm sure Jericho called the meeting because you weren't paying him back," Annie said through gritted teeth. She crossed her arms over her chest, cutting her brother a look she hoped screamed absolute fury with him. "I'm sure this night is your fault because you couldn't, for the life of you, be responsible for anything. What did you spend that money on? Concert tickets? Parties? Going out to eat every damn day?"