The casino in Nemesis was busy as usual. Dressed in their best, patrons clustered around their preferred gambling tables. Almost everyone had a cocktail in their hands, and everyone raised their voices over the next table over. It was deafening. Eliza had to focus on the matter at hand to keep a headache at bay.

Her eyes scanned over the crowds to a large table near the bar. Ares sat there, in the leisure suit and trilby she first saw him in, surrounded by five women. One was their target. The others were an unfortunate twist in their plan. Ares didn’t seem to mind in the slightest as the women nearest to him squeezed their bodies as close as they could to his. The sly look on his face as he stared at the girls made Eliza roll her eyes in disgust. He was giddy to be the bait.

All of the women wore dresses with no backs and a deep v that showed off their cleavage. The dresses were long, but each had at least one slit that went up to the middle of their thigh. All of the dresses were a different color that matched their heels perfectly. It was clear they were in a group together. Their target, Mae Valen, wore a blood red dress with a black swirl design reaching up to her hips from her feet. Her nearly white hair was perfectly curled around her shoulders, a stark contrast to her tanned skin. She was as beautiful as her image in the database. Eliza scowled as she pictured the way Ares’ eyes lit up at the sight of her.

Ares looked over at Eliza to see that dark scowl on her face. It was clear she was upset to see him surrounded by a bunch of beautiful women. He knew she wasn’t immune to needing someone in her life and seeing the dark aura surrounding her only satisfied his thoughts. The women who couldn’t keep their hands to themselves didn’t stand up to the force called Eliza. But he couldn’t resist making the scowl on her face darkened further.

Mae Valen gently turned his face toward her, which he smoothly sent her a sultry smirk. Her eyes darkened lustfully. “How long would a man like you be in town?”

He took his hat off to brush his hair out of his face then put it back in place. “I’m not sure, darlin’. I go wherever the wind takes me.”

Mae leaned close to his ear, “Do you think the wind could be leading you upstairs later?”

Ares’s eyes drifted to Eliza. She stood up, showing off her black dress that covered her modestly, but showed off her curves. Her eyes avoided his table as she walked by on her way to the bar. He hoped she was getting a drink to drown that darkness growing in her.

He leaned close to Mae, hearing her gasp as his lips neared hers. “That’s something you’ll have to wait and see, sweetheart.”

Eliza watched Mae visibly shiver from whatever Ares said to her. She took her shot of vodka and ordered a second. She needed something stronger to drown whatever bubbled up in herself watching Ares shamelessly flirt with their bounty head. She’d never admit it out loud, but she hated seeing him so close to a bunch of women who only saw him as a pretty face. Eliza knew he was a lot more than that, even if she was mildly irritated by his presence. But the way Mae so casually took his hat, placed it on her head, and ran her long, perfectly painted nails through his hair pissed Eliza off. It didn’t get any better when Mae pulled him out of his seat to lead him to God knew where. The other four girls pouted. He blew them a kiss and followed Mae, sending Eliza a look as well. As much as she hated to follow and see what Mae had in mind for her partner, she had to straighten up and do her job. Mae Valen needed to get what was coming for her.

Her second shot slid down her throat easily. She left a few bills on the bar and shimmied off the stool. She tugged on her dress to straighten it out, fluffed up her hair for some volume, and took some deep breaths to prepare for getting Ares away from the demon woman. Eliza hated everything about saving Ares from Mae, but she walked toward the elevator with determination. She managed to get a peek of the two in the elevator doors before they shut. Eliza balked witnessing Mae push Ares against the wall and force her lips on his. He didn’t seem to mind too much.

Eliza waited for their elevator to stop before hopping into the second elevator. Of course, their destination was on the top floor. Mae Valen didn’t do anything simply. Eliza started working on a plan to get close to the bounty head. There was probably a private party where she could sneak into. Considering her outfit, she couldn’t quite get away with being an escort but if there were enough high-class men up there, she could make her way inside. The elevator dinged and Eliza stepped out with confidence. Her walk made her hips sway perfectly to the soft beat of the club music a few rooms down. She belonged there as far as anyone else could tell.

The guards waiting at the doorway leading to the party area simply nodded at Eliza. To add to her persona, she gently ran her fingers along one guard’s arm as she walked by. That would secure her reason for being there. She rubbed her fingers on her dress once she passed them.

Her walk hastened marginally as she searched the area for Mae and Ares. Neither could be seen on the ground floor, but Eliza noticed a spiral staircase leading up to a more private area of the suite. If they were anywhere, they’d be in a secluded area. Mae’s room was most likely up there. Fortunately for Eliza, guards were not watching the staircase, so she swiftly made her way up after she slipped her heels off. Few people were in the lounge area, many doing a multitude of drugs and getting frisky with whomever they found nearby. Mae and Ares weren’t there either. Several doors surrounded the area, leading to somewhere Eliza didn’t know, but she had a feeling Ares was with her behind one of them.

Eliza walked the perimeter, listening to the sounds from behind each door. Nothing. There were no giveaways to Ares’ location, and it worried her slightly. She walked around again, sneakily peeking into each room. The patrons behind her were so distracted and mentally gone she had little worries of being caught. Her palms were starting to sweat not know where her partner was. She was not going to lose someone else to Mae.

The third door didn’t open. The handle remained stationary when she tugged on it a second time. Eliza crouched down, pulling a lockpick from her hair, and made quick work of the lock. She felt the lock release. She only hoped it wasn’t too loud for whoever was behind the door. A single twist and the door swung open. Her intuition was right because she walked in, gun aimed, to see Mae straddling Ares. She was in nothing but the black underwear she wore that night while Ares’s button-up was no longer buttoned. Eliza kicked the door shut to grab their attention.

Ares eyes shot over to his partner and saw pure hatred in her glare. He glanced back at the woman still on top of him to find her smirking at their new guest. Things might have gone a little bit farther then he meant, but Mae came at him so quickly that he couldn’t keep up to slow her down.

“Well, well. Eliza Kane in the flesh. Funny seeing you here,” Mae said.

“I see you’re having fun, Mae.” The venom dripping from Eliza's voice could have killed the woman if she so chose.

The bounty head shrugged and rubbed her hands along Ares’ exposed chest. The grip Eliza had on her gun tightened a hair when Ares tried to sit up, but Mae forced him back down.

“I think it’s time for you to get off of him.”

“Oh, really? That’s a shame because I’m not going anywhere.”

Eliza resisted meeting Ares’ stare. She was going to have to give him an opening, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to do that. “Do you treat all of your men this way?”

“You know me,” Mae sneered.

“The only thing that’s changed is the size of that bounty on your head.”

Ares looked between the two women, “Wait, you two know each other?”

Mae bent over, pressing her chest against his to kiss him. “That is a story for another day.”

Eliza’s gaze barely shifted away from the scene, but Ares caught it before Mae took his attention with another unwanted kiss. Whatever history they had, it seemed to cut deep into Eliza seeing him with the mostly naked woman on him.

“Get up so I can get the reward, Mae. It’s about time your fun ended,” Eliza said, looking back as the blonde sat up again.

“I don’t think I will. You’re free to stay and watch if you want. I think we’ll be a little while.”

Eliza snapped. Like a cat, she pounced on Mae, knocking her off Ares and onto the floor where they wrestled for dominance. Eliza’s gun was dropped when she leaped, and Ares took the chance to roll off the bed, grab it, and aim at Mae. He was stunned to see Eliza’s fist connect with Mae’s face so hard that their bounty head stilled. Eliza’s chest rose and fell from the adrenaline as she stared at the unconscious woman.

“Still only takes one punch to take you down,” she murmured before standing. She grabbed a robe that was lying on the bed and started to dress Mae in it.

Ares lowered the gun and watched his partner mercilessly shove the woman’s arms in the robe sleeves. He’d never seen Eliza so furious and frankly, he didn’t want to see it again.

“We need to get her out of her without a fight,” Eliza said, synching the robe around Mae’s waist with the robe tie. “Do you think we could get out through the window?”

Her partner shook his head to focus. “Unless one of our ships can fly itself up here, that won’t be happening.”

“What if you carry her downstairs looking to get her to the hospital because she overdosed?”

“That’d work if she did drugs.”

Eliza snorted, “Of course she does drugs. She’s Mae Valen. Her drug intake is discreet.”

“How will you get down unseen?”

“The same way I got up here.” Eliza walked over to take her gun from Ares. She pulled her dress up enough to shove it in her thigh holster. “You need to get her down there now. Don’t let the guards take her from you and make sure to keep up the pretense that you two were mingling when she passed out on you. So, don’t straighten yourself up. It’ll be more realistic that way.”

He stared at her incredulously, “Mingling? Is that what you call it?”

“Just take her.”

Ares obeyed without any more questions. The way her voice was thick with irritation made him want to do what he could to make it stop. Especially after seeing her face when she came in the door.

“Take her straight to the police. I’ll meet you back at home.”

He nodded before he picked up the unconscious woman and rushed out of the room. Once he left, Eliza ran her hands through her hair, pulling at the roots, and resisted the urge to scream. Ares was unpleasant, but he didn’t compare to that woman in his arms. She could find all of Eliza’s buttons and push them all at once in an instant. Taking on the bounty was a risk if Mae had recognized her before Ares could distract her and telling him about it would have delayed their success. But Eliza wanted to see that woman finally get what she deserved. It was going to be a relief to see her behind bars.