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)
Every time I took a bite, I looked at her, thinking she was beautiful with that messed-up hair and makeup. I liked it when she looked roughed up like this, like she’d spent her night rolling around in bed with me.
Her eyes lifted to mine sometimes.
And then she smiled.
It made me forget all the bullshit…just like that.
8
SCARLETT
I sat in the armchair in front of his desk while my father worked on his monitor. The system was more than password protected—it required his thumbprint and a secondary secret passcode to override the thumbprint. So the thumbprint was just a trick, and at that point, the entire system would shut down and require a manual reboot.
He wore trousers and a collared shirt, the sunshine coming through the window behind him.
I waited until he finished processing all of my reports. It was a lot of data, so sometimes I sat there in silence for an hour, often more.
His assistant walked inside, a woman just a few years older than me. She wore a pencil skirt with her blouse tucked into the waistband. She had an ass like a nectarine and tits that seemed perky without the aid of a bra. I was a straight woman, but I’d noticed her goodies a long time ago.
My father hardly looked at her.
“Dante, I spoke with Kyle and arranged dinner for you two on Tuesday night. I also got those box seats at the opera.”
“Thank you.” His eyes remained on the screen.
She hesitated in front of his desk, like she hoped for more enthusiasm than that. “Is there anything else you need before I go?”
“No.”
She hesitated again before she turned and left the study. “Goodnight, Scarlett.”
“Goodnight, Hannah.” The two of us got along well and I imagined we could be friends, but I didn’t want to make things complicated with my father. He seemed to regard her only professionally, but Axel insisted he was sleeping with her. I didn’t know what to think, and I’d rather not think about it at all.
My father clicked on his mouse furiously before his eyes finally shifted to me. “Check your numbers again. Nine thousand, three hundred and twenty-two euro is missing. Small enough that we wouldn’t notice, but also small enough that it could be a clerical error.”
“Oh, let me look through everything again.” I opened my laptop once more and got back to work, even though it’d been a long day and I was eager to go home and have a bath. “With this many numbers being pulled from so many sources, there’s a good chance I messed up somewhere.”
“But you can’t mess up, Scarlett.”
My eyes lifted to meet his.
His stare was hard. “In this game, there are no mess-ups. You understand me?”
I remained still, surprised by the way he spoke to me, when he never spoke to me like that…ever.
He didn’t backpedal and kept up the stare.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
He nodded in satisfaction. “Just remember that if you mess up and don’t catch it, someone’s going to die. Your work matters.”
Great, more pressure. “I just said it wouldn’t happen again.”
The harshness in his eyes receded. “I apologize. I just have high expectations for you.”
“I know.”
“I’m leaving for the weekend.” He announced it without preamble. “Be back Monday morning.”
“Where are you going?”
“Croatia. I have a meeting.”
“It’s beautiful there. Have fun.”
“We’ll see.” He powered down the computer. “Send me your new reports through the encryption service. I’ll check them on the plane.”
“Sure.”
He rose from the desk and walked past me.
“Dad?”
“Yes?” He turned back to me.
“Everything alright? You seem to be in a foul mood.”
His eyes remained glued to mine for several seconds, just watching. “Yes, sweetheart.” There was still a bite to his voice, but he forced it to leave his throat. “I have tickets to the opera when I return. Would you like to join me?”
“Sure.”
I was soaking in the tub when his text appeared on my phone. Where are you?
In the tub.
Let me rephrase my question…why aren’t you here?
I didn’t realize we had plans.
Don’t play dumb with me. We’re supposed to have breakfast together tomorrow morning.
Sorry, it’s been a long day.
Soak in my tub. With me.
That was the only thing that could entice me to get out of this tub…that big, sexy man. Will there be spaghetti?
Whatever you want, Pretty.
I dried off then headed over to his place, an entire building that had a great view of the Duomo from his master bedroom. When I pulled behind the iron gates, there were men stationed on the property, but they didn’t look at me after I checked in. I parked my car in his underground garage and took the elevator to the bottom floor.
The second the doors opened, he was there.
Standing in his gray sweatpants without a shirt, his hands in his pockets, a playful smirk on his lips.