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Mr. Lucas answered, “The other attending partners will all arrive throughout today and will be here around 5:30 or so for cocktails. Tonight, there’s a party. Tomorrow we have our board meeting and then more members but non-partners will come. Tomorrow night, another party. A big one.”
Gan Chen entered at that point and strolled directly to our table, “Dario, could I trouble you for a quiet word?”
My heart skipped a beat.
Dare stood and squeezed the back of my neck and then moved out of the room with Mr. Chen. I felt panic rising. I felt nauseous.
No one would touch me. No one would dare. Would they? There were three strands on my throat, weren’t there? I touched my necklace and counted them. 1, 2, 3. Right? 1, 2 3. Yes, three.
I know he wouldn’t have wanted to leave me unattended, but he was sort of stuck. He couldn’t have dragged me with him, couldn’t have shown distrust.
I sipped my coffee and kept my eyes downcast. X to Y, Angie, X to Y.
Angie? Had I really just thought of myself as Angie?
Conversation continued around me as if I weren’t there, until Rafe leaned over and interrupted my wonky train of thought, which was stuck on repeat.
Angie?
“How are you, Felicia, darling?” he asked.
Not Angie; Felicia.
“I’m good,” I replied. Or rather, lied. I wasn’t fine. I was coming unglued.
“You’ve been missed. Patrons have asked after you.”
It felt like the food in my belly went rancid.
“We’ve had some disappointed patrons who have truly missed you. I just wanted you to know you leave behind a legacy. Girls will aspire to be like you. So, that they can be rewarded like you were.” He sipped from a glass of orange juice.
“Cleo? She
’s jealous; she has already been jealous of you for some time. She was enthralled by Donavan and he was enthralled with you, so she lost favor. From there, every opportunity to give you a hard time, she took. And then you getting bought? She needs a reality check with this insubordination. Mr. Chen is recommending to your Master right now that you be the one to punish her. She needs to see you’ve risen above her. If your master agrees to this, I hope you’ll make her punishment poignant.”
My throat went dry. I couldn’t swallow.
Dare returned and his face wasn’t happy as he came in and was even less happy when he saw that Rafe was leaned in toward me and speaking to me. Rafe must’ve caught sight of Dare’s body language as he suddenly but quickly moved back.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Dare demanded.
“I was just talk---”
“Get the fuck back, Ruiz,” Dare demanded.
Mr. Chen stepped closer to Rafe, “Rafe? Explain yourself.”
“He was told last time I was here that no one was to approach her. Did I fuckin’ say that to you, Ruiz?”
“My apologies, Sir. I would be more than happy to give you a play-by-play, every word that I uttered to your Felicia.”
“What is this shit? Your trainer bitch glaring at my wife and this fucking guy completely ignoring my orders about how I want my wife treated?” Dare inquired.
“Dario,” Delgado tried.
“And fuck you, too.”
Oh shit. This wasn’t good.
