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“And she was still the best model there,” Conway countered. “What does that say about you? She can be beautiful without taking her clothes off. That’s what modeling is about. Get out. I won’t ask you again.”
Lacey’s jaw fell open, shocked that Conway would tell her off like that.
I was shocked too. Lacey was one of the biggest faces of his company. Whenever they interviewed her, she gushed about how wonderful Conway was. She was the biggest ass-kisser on the planet.
She stormed out again, her thick hair shaking from left to right as she made her exit. She slammed the door behind her, but she was too weak to cause any real damage. Her heels echoed on the hardwood floor, and the sound disappeared when she was finally at the end of the hallway.
I was relieved the confrontation was over, but I suspected it was only the beginning of much worse things. “Maybe you should use her. She has a lot more experience than I do.”
“Don’t want her.” He opened a black box on his desk and pulled out a diamond necklace. “I want you.” He placed it around my neck, his fingers grazing against my collarbone as he hooked the necklace around my throat. “She’ll get over it. Just ignore her.”
“It’s hard to ignore someone when they hate you.”
“I do it all the time.” He stepped back to admire me, and he acted like he hadn’t just kissed my body in vulnerable places. Maybe that was something he did with everyone, so it wasn’t meaningful at all.
“No one hates you. They all love you.”
“But they don’t really know me. They just know about my money. Lacey has been kissing my ass since the first day she got here. She doesn’t want me for me. She only wants me for the things I can do for her—and I don’t owe her a damn thing.”
“I still don’t want to cause trouble…put me in the second act. For a woman like Lacey, this is a career. For me, I just need the money. It means a lot more to her, and we both know she’s gorgeous.”
His fingertips moved up my neck until he gently gripped my chin. He forced my gaze directly on his. “She’s nothing compared to you, Ten. You have something she doesn’t. All the models here know it—and they’re threatened by you. As they should be. I’m putting you in my grand finale because it’s where you belong.” His fingers slowly slid down my neck and to my collarbone. “I won’t change my mind.”
9
Conway
My sister never called me that week, so I called her.
“Hey, Con.” She sounded rushed, like she was walking out the front door. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing tonight?” Anastasia was staying at my house for the next few weeks, so I wasn’t eager to be at my place in Milan. She was a nice girl, but I didn’t want to make small talk with her. I couldn’t put her up in an apartment or let her occupy my place while I stayed at my villa in Verona because she shouldn’t be alone, not after what she’d been through.
But I didn’t want to see her either.
“Why does every conversation we have feel like an interrogation?”
“I’m just making conversation.” I walked from my studio toward my place a few blocks away, but I was moving as slowly as possible.
“No, you aren’t.”
“Why won’t you just answer the question?”
“Because I don’t have to.”
“Maybe I want to hang out with you,” I teased.
“Yeah right,” she said. “Never in a million years.”
“I don’t know about that…” I actually liked my sister a lot. She was a bit sassy, but I’d rather have a sister with an attitude than one who was just stupid. “So, what are you doing?”
“You’re the richest man in Italy, and you wonder what I’m doing?”
“The more you don’t answer the question, the more concerned I am.”
She sighed into the phone. “Fine. I have a date.”
I stopped in my tracks on the sidewalk, turning into a protective psychopath quicker than the snap of a finger. “He’s not picking you up, right?”
“No. You and Dad taught me well.”
“How do you know him?”
“School.”
“Is he a student?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?” I demanded. “Full name.”
“Get over yourself, Conway. I’m hanging up now.”
I’d seen enough terrifying shit to know that any guy was a threat. It could all be staged so they could take her when her guard was down. I’d seen naked women stand on a stage while a bunch of bastards bid on their freedom. They took them back to their mansions and did unspeakable things. I would never let that happen to my only sister. “Where are you going?”
“Goodbye, Conway.” She hung up.
I growled and then called one of my guys. I had her phone traced, and the GPS coordinates were sent directly to my phone. It was a huge breach of privacy, but I didn’t give a damn. She was twenty-one years old and smart, but just a single mistake could change her life forever.
