Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
That grin remained. “Because you aren’t good enough for her, Axel.”
It was the first time I’d actually felt insulted since I walked into that room.
“I know everything about the people I do business with—including you. You think your secrets are buried under stone?” He held up his hand in front of me and squeezed his fingers into a fist. “They’re right here in the palm of my hand.” The tendons popped up on his forearms. “Never shit where you eat. Never mix business with pleasure. Once business has started, it can’t be stopped, so stay the fuck away from my daughter if you want to keep your head. Do you understand me?”
I said nothing.
Then he shouted again. “You fucking understand me—”
“Fine.” Scarlett didn’t want me anyway. Said she would never sleep with people she worked with, obeyed these ridiculous rules her maniacal father had made. “Jesus Christ…”
He straightened then buttoned the front of his jacket, his face now calm, the veins in his temples no longer protruding through the skin. When he spoke, it was as if nothing had happened. “Good talk, Axel.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Enjoy the rest of the party.”
Russell sat across from me in the parlor, both of us smoking cigars and drinking brandy like obnoxious pricks. Smoke rose to the high ceiling and the coffered tiles up above. The windows showed the nightlife outside, the fire blanketing us with warmth.
He had his feet propped on the coffee table.
I didn’t care, even if his boots were covered with mud, but my butler detested it. Every time he entered the room, the skin of his neck tightened because he clenched so hard. But he held his silence and left the room, waiting for us to finish so he could fix the mess left behind.
“So.” Russell pulled the cigar from his mouth and let it hang in his relaxed fingertips, the smoke slowly leaving his mouth once his tongue had absorbed the smoky taste. “How’s it going with Dante?”
I pulled the smoke into my mouth to let it flow for a moment, to let the taste coat my tongue and give me some respite from my rage. I eventually let it out to travel up to the ceiling and out of the room. The furniture smelled like cigars, no matter how many times my butler vacuumed everything. “A fucking psychopath…”
“Dante?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“He seems more refined than the others—”
“It’s all bullshit. He’s a maniac.”
“What happened?” He was slouched in the leather armchair, like he could fall asleep on the spot.
“It’s a long story…”
“You got somewhere to be? Because I don’t.”
“Because you need to get a life,” I teased.
“You know I’m your only friend, right?” he snapped. “What happened?”
“He thought I was coming on to his daughter, so he threatened me to stay away from her.”
“Why did he think you were coming on to her?”
I hesitated before I answered. “Because I was.”
He smirked. “Sounds like Dante is in the right.”
“His daughter should have the right to be with whomever she wants.”
“And she wants to be with you?”
I hesitated again. “It’s complicated…”
“That’s a no,” he said with a chuckle.
“She wanted to fuck me the other night, but I said no.”
“Why the fuck would you say no?”
“Because she was upset about something, and that’s not how I wanted to get her.”
“That sounds romantic.” He brought the cigar back to his lips.
“I didn’t want to be her rebound.”
“Whatever. You get to fuck her.”
“Not my style.” I grabbed my scotch and took a drink.
“Does Dante know that?”
“It’s none of his business.”
“So where does that leave you and Dante now?” Russell asked.
“Our partnership has been profitable for both of us. It’s free money for me and more convenient for him. Operation can’t really be stopped at this point, even if I wanted to stop it.”
“Good,” he said. “Because it’s nice getting these bonuses.”
“You guys deserve it.”
“You know, most men would keep everything for themselves. You don’t.”
I took another drink. “Don’t make me blush.”
“So, what are you going to do about her?”
“She’s turned me down several times. I like the chase, but I’m done trying.”
“Or you’re scared of Dante…”
I smirked. “Trust me, I’m not scared of him. He looked like a toddler throwing a tantrum.”
“You think you don’t look like that?” he asked incredulously.
“Shut the fuck up, asshole.”
He chuckled then brought the cigar to his lips.
“She said she doesn’t mix business with pleasure, and neither does her father. Not sure where this rule comes from, but they seem intent on enforcing it.”
“Something must have gone down in the past.”
“I have no idea what that would be. Dante’s never been married. Scarlett seems too young to have had a relationship with such intense ramifications.”
“What about her mother?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about her.”
“Maybe something happened there.”
“Maybe…”
After a long pause spent in comfortable silence, Russell spoke again. “What do you have going on tomorrow?”