‘’Joanne’s here, I don’t need two of you tending, get upstairs and take the rest of the night off.’‘
‘‘No! I won’t go upstairs and twiddle my thumbs till four a.m. I’m happy down here and I don’t care if
your new toy is here, she’s not capable of replacing me and I don’t intend to let her.’’ I have a stubborn
determination too, and he can back off and get a grip if he thinks he can send me to bed like a child.
That woman may be sharing his bed but over my dead body is she also going to be sharing this club.
We built this and we run it together without interference. I am done being bossed around, pushed and
trampled on by this arsehole.
‘’Since when has disobeying me ever been in your best interests?’’ Low tone, I’m in the danger zone. I
really am sick of this little control method nowadays, so instead of sinking back like I normally would I
flash my own little fierce at him.
‘’Is this because other men dared to touch me?’‘ I flash at him, tossing back my hair over my shoulder
with a manicured talon.
So fucking transparent it’s unreal.
I honestly think I should book him a shrink appointment myself; this control thing he has going on was
maybe sexy in the early days of meeting him, but when it’s rammed down your throat at every turn and
his tight leash of possessive is around your neck, it gets old very fast.
‘’Yes. Now get up the fucking stairs.’’
Well he isn’t denying it anyway, and he did lose his cool very fast. I swear Carrero is unravelling the
longer I know him. That cool controlled mask slips more often with every passing week, and I wonder if
he’s brimming on an almighty breakdown. Maybe I do get to him too, in the same way he riles me, as
he is certainly not the calm composed Carrero of the early days anymore.
I slam my clipboard into his chest with an aggressive air, pushing it at him until he takes hold. Anger
spiking and having a tantrum of my own, lifting my chin and tossing my locks back in an air of outright
attitude.
‘‘You have an uninvited guest, someone not on the list and the body count is off. Go get your new girl to
figure that one out, if she has the brains.’’ Alexi’s arrogant look drops to one of blank as he flits his eyes
down to the board instead, flipping it back to look at the names.
‘‘What?’’ He scans the list and then looks back at me with a furrowed brow. ‘‘You’re sure?’’
The change in mood and manner highlights that he’s at least listening and taking this seriously, so I too
pipe down and move forward so surrounding ears do not hear. Putting our differences aside when it
comes to something in ‘’our’’ club being off. We take security seriously and an imposter is never a good
thing in this kind of business.
Our issues with one another will always come second to making my baby run perfectly.
‘’It’s hard to take a head count when everyone’s disappearing and moving around the rooms, but I am
certain we have one extra that’s unaccounted for, and I don’t know who he came in with. One of your
members didn’t detail a guest.’’
‘’What does he look like?’’ Alexi moves closer, voices hushed as he gets in against me, dipping his
head close to mine to make sure no one picks up on the issue we are discussing. He is a man who
likes to always look like he has everything in hand.
‘’Small, blondish hair, rugged and definitely not like he has the cash to afford a membership here. He’s
dressed casually too, and he’s avoided me directly. I haven’t seen him in half an hour, I’m still trying to
see which party he is sitting with, but he’s either gone into one of the rooms or left. I can’t assign him to
a name on here.’’ I look up at Alexi’s serious face, close enough to notice he’s switched to a new
aftershave. Not that it’s important, but I noticed.
‘’No one’s left. I’ve checked with Mico about departures before I came over here, none of the guests
have gone out.’’ Alexi seems pensive; all focus on this little issue, he hates not being in control and
knowing every detail, so this will be his focus until he roots out the imposter.
‘’Well, as I am being sent to bed it’s your problem now, good luck.’’ I turn on my heel to leave him.
Hating that I am walking off from a problem, but the upper hand today feels great. I high five myself as I
know he will be rethinking my departure when he needs his quick - eyed redhead to scope out the
guests. Smug that I get to annoy him, even if it is in some minor way.
I plaster on my superior smile and walk slap bang into brunette as she practically throws her glass of
red wine down the front of me with a dramatic collision.
‘‘Honest to fucking God.’’ I gawp, jumping back as the cold liquid seeps in and soaks my naked legs
uncomfortably, the red fluid running down the full length of my pale dress, spreading and ruining the
delicate fabric like a massive blood stain and pooling in my shoes until I shudder in both disgust and
with reaction to icy cold liquid. I glare up at her in full fury, the urge to rip her head from her shoulders
consumes me, and my body turns into a boiling pit of molten lava as I try and get a grip on my clenched
fists and urge to throat punch her.
This dress was the only good thing that came out of my Hamptons hell, and now she has turned it to
worthless trash. ‘‘Oopsy.’’ She smirks at me. Accidental maybe, but she’s more than happy about it and
gloating like a childish playground bitch.
‘’This dress cost more than you get paid a month, what the actual fuck?’’ I literally snap at her,
accusatory and hatred evident as Alexi’s hand cups my shoulder firmly and tugs me back to disengage
my crazy mode of ‘‘Kill Joanne.’’
‘‘Enough! Get upstairs like I told you and don’t come back down. Joanne, go do your job and get this
mess cleaned up.’’ He sounds as equally pissed at her as he does me, and she scuttles off like a little
obedient lap dog without a hint of rebellion. Obviously, my first assessment of her was right, she has no
backbone when it comes to Alexi. He will get bored of her faster than I can blink.
‘‘You’re paying for the dry-cleaning bill, seeing as she’s your disaster. I didn’t need any help down here
and this dress is irreplaceable.’’ I snap at him, completely distraught and enraged as I haul myself free
of his grip childishly. ‘’Don’t fucking touch me.’’ I grit it out under my breath as an afterthought in rage
because he’s a bully, a bossy shit, and I am done playing his stupid games.
He lost the right to touch me after what he did in the Hamptons, and he will never get it back. His touch
makes my skin crawl now. He lets me go but holds me still with those focused eyes and furrowed brow.
‘‘I’ll pay for the cleaning or a new dress, now don’t make a scene or I will publicly spank you.’’ He warns
in an equally hushed tone, but I just roll my eyes at him.
‘’Of course you will.’’ Sarcasm oozing with disdain and even I know that’s an empty threat. He might get
someone else to spank me, but this complete distaste for violence against women is a weakness for
him that he should stop emphasizing. It’s not honour or a code if that kind of trait is discovered by
someone like Santagato.
He just scowls and growls like a good old beastly monster, and I make a move before I encourage
some other form of discipline. I am still sore about that damned room and that god awful cross among
every other thing he has inflicted on me and just hightail it out into the corridor to work my way back to
the lift before he rethinks my free pass.
Wiping my dress in a completely useless manner and tutting and sighing at how ruined it is. The
security men are huddled in a little group laughing and joking by the back door and pay no attention to
me. The ones nearer the rear exit are gazing outside with the door open, and something going on back
there that is either entertaining or dramatic enough to gather them like gossipy women to watch.
I don’t stop to find out what and walk along the quiet empty hall to the left which houses the lifts,
concealed from the club and the door, pull out my card and swipe the nearest pad to get one to open. I
wander into the first one that slides open gracefully, turn around and then jump in fright when a figure
slides in beside me and covers my mouth with his hand before thrusting me against the wall
aggressively.
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