Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“For fifteen minutes?”
Cara propped her chin up. “He had an important call to take.”
There was no call. I knew that as perfectly well as I knew Romeo had disappeared so he wouldn’t kill me in front of an audience.
“He missed the drill?” Senior gaped. “What the hell is wrong with him?”
“Such a poor example for our employees,” Bruce added. Why was this cretin even here?
Okay, fine, I had no real reason to be here, too. In fact, I regretted ever showing up.
Cara pursed her lips. “I don’t mean to overstep, Mr. Costa, but Romeo warned you that Steven is too inexperienced for the job.”
Senior spun to me. “Let me take you to lunch, Dallas, since my rude son is too incompetent to keep his own wife entertained.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Not only was it the (surprising) truth, but Senior also never really un-plastered his hand from my lower back, even though we’d reached the helicopter. If I had to guess, he kept it there for the sake of being seen like this, which I didn’t appreciate at all.
“Sir.” Matt jogged to us, stopping a few feet further than necessary when he spotted Senior’s arm around my waist. The only reason I hadn’t slapped it away was because I wasn’t sure if I’d overthought it. “We’ll need about forty people to drag the Humvee out of the ditch. We don’t have enough manpower. I’ve called for help.”
Senior jabbed a finger at the ditch. “That it cannot see its way out of a hole without assistance is a travesty in itself. A four-by-four can outperform this piece of junk.” He flashed me his teeth. “You really are a little troublemaker, aren’t you?” Before I could tell him to get his hands off me—was it really important if I was overthinking? I didn’t feel safe, and that was enough—he pinched my hip bone. “My, my, have you got meat on you. Much more than Morgan. I can see why he is so territorial of you.”
A terrible realization ambushed me. What a nasty, lecherous, horrible excuse of a man. Not a shocker that Romeo loathed his father so much. All the puzzle pieces fused together.
Senior and Morgan.
Morgan and Senior.
No wonder my husband almost blew my head off when I showed up looking like fair game. He didn’t want his father thinking I was fair game. Pain, desire, and truth were the DNA of love. He’d checked two of the boxes, and I’d desperately craved the third. Now that I had it in my grasp, I dreaded the consequences.
“Get your hands off my wife before I break them both in front of your entire staff.” Romeo’s icy voice chilled the air.
“Junior,” Bruce purred. “And here we thought you’d left to get your diaper changed by Cara and wouldn’t be gracing us with your presence.”
I whipped my head around, watching Romeo round the helicopter. He shouldered off his cashmere Burberry coat. Senior retreated from me as he draped it over my shoulders. Bruce, too, knew better than to stand in his way. I didn’t know whether he’d covered me up so I wouldn’t show my goods to his staff or because it was cold, but gratitude swam laps inside me, nonetheless. Not just gratitude but elation. Lord, was I screwed. The sight of his face restarted my heart, and the idea of not seeing it again …
He buttoned the coat around me like I was a small child, ensuring I was snug inside it. I swore he smelled of alcohol and blood. Anger slashed a deep line between his brows, the hard set of his jaw rendering him unapproachable. Still, I needed to try.
“Romeo, I’m so sor—”
“I’m not interested in your standard ‘sorry’ that usually follows despicable behavior, for which you never shoulder the consequences.” He turned to Cara. “Take my wife back to our house, and see to it that she doesn’t leave until I get there.”
Cara white-knuckled her keys. “Of course.”
It seemed obvious now that I’d figured it out. Cara knew what had transpired between Morgan and Senior. After all, she’d referenced it the day she brought my new wardrobe. Another obvious thing—how much Cara loathed me for the trick I’d pulled today. I couldn’t even blame her. I’d begun to dislike myself for all the punishment I’d inflicted upon her boss.
Cara led me to Jared’s car. I craned my neck, desperate to catch Romeo’s gaze, but he refused my attention. He kept his eyes trained on his father. The father he couldn’t punch the daylights out of right now, even though it’d be completely warranted, since he was vying for the CEO position.
In the background, bulky men unloaded from Jeeps, jogging toward the ditch. What a disaster. And it was all my doing.
I wanted to call Romeo’s name, but my voice perished in my throat.
Darkness seeped into me, cutting clean through my flesh and bones, straight into my soul. The realization something terrible had happened to my husband—and that it was inflicted by his family—gripped me like a rust-clawed demon.