Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“Here,” says Mrs. Hall, the secretary, as she sets down a cardboard box. “Mr. Hudson requested that I bring you this.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry that you no longer want to stay,” she says quietly.
I turn to look at her, feeling confused. “I’m sorry… what?”
“Well, Mr. Hudson said that you just don’t think this line of work is for you.” The middle-aged redhead gives me a confused look. “He said you were moving to a different firm.”
Oh my god, he lied about firing me.
“Yeah, I suppose so,” I respond, deciding not to go there. “I’ll miss you all.” I start piling my things into the box, a pen clattering inside a coffee mug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She pats my shoulder before slipping away, leaving me there in silence. My brain is spinning, and I consider picking up my phone and calling my dad.
Did he orchestrate this? Is he the one who’s having me fired?
I swallow the anger that comes with the assumption. I don’t think he would do something like that. Yet he also made it clear that I had no choice but to join the family business—his business.
Picking up the box and hugging it close to my chest, I make my way out of the office, pushing open the glass door with my back. Unsurprisingly, Philip and Gerard are sitting on a bench a few feet away.
Maybe they gave it away.
“Ouch,” Philip looks up at me, his dark eyes dancing with amusement. “You look like hell, Liz.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, sniffling as I head for the car—the one they now chauffeur me around in. Mr. Hudson probably would have noticed that, too, if he’d kept a close eye on me.
“You get fired?” Gerard asks in his heavy New England drawl.
I shoot him a side-eyed glare. “What do you think?”
“Probably a yes,” he chuckles, shaking his dark head of hair at me. “I just wasn’t sure since you don’t have much shit in that box.”
“I guess I just don’t have much shit,” I snip at him as he opens the back passenger door for me to slide in.
“You want us to get you some ice cream or something? Let you drown in your feelings?” Philip snorts as he climbs into the driver’s seat.
I roll my eyes. “Shut up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Take me home,” I say, leaning back in the seat and setting the cardboard box in the middle seat with a thud. “I mean my apartment,” I add, just to clarify. I might have lost my job, but I wouldn’t be running to my dad—not yet, anyway.
“You really not gonna just go see your dad?” Gerard turns around in the passenger seat, giving me a perplexed look. “He didn’t have anything to do with you getting sacked.”
“You don’t know that,” I snap, shaking my head. “I don’t know anything about my dad, apparently.”
They go quiet, obviously deciding not to press. Whenever I asked them questions over the last two weeks, they left me dry, not allowed to answer anything. My dad is trying to get me to come to him. I know I will have to eventually, especially now that I have no way to pay the bills.
Ugh.
The car moves through the city quickly, navigating the midday traffic until they reach my apartment complex. It’s not in the nicest part of town, but the crime rate isn’t as shattering as some areas, and that’s good enough for me. Besides, I now have two bodyguards literally living with me.
“Home sweet home,” Gerard jokes as we pull into the parking lot.
I’m just about to make a snide remark when my eyes land on a car that doesn’t fit the standard of those usually parked at the complex. My breath hitches as I take in the black Mercedes in front of my first-floor apartment.
“Looks like you have a visitor, Miss Massino,” Philip laughs, parking beside the car.
“Looks like it,” I agree, my heart now hammering in my chest as my mind brings back Troy kneeling between my thighs. My mouth grows dry as I push open the door.
This is not my day.
CHAPTER 6
Troy
“Why are you in my house?” Liz demands as she slams her apartment door behind her. Her dark hair is in a cute half updo, with a few strands slipping free and framing her face. “Well?”
I raise a brow at her, surprised by the ferocity. “Your father is worried about you. I was worried about you.” That is the truth, though I’ve had no problem keeping an eye on her. I know she’s safe, but now that she’s been laid off, it’s time for her to give in.
“You could’ve just called me,” Liz snaps, folding her arms across her chest. It pushes her ample breasts up, giving me an eyeful of cleavage through the V-cut in her blouse.
“Do you really think you would’ve answered?” I reason, drumming my fingers on the arm of the leather chair I’m sitting in. “You didn’t answer your father’s calls.”