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“You don’t trust me?” Sam’s scowl deepened and he rose to his feet. “How many times have I tossed you some cash so you could stay legit? How many times have I helped you out?”
“How many times have you nearly gotten me arrested? How many times have you tried to drag me into Bey family business after I told you I don’t want to be?” Danielle rose to her feet as well, knowing that if she let Sam keep the height advantage he’d taken, he’d try and use it to bully her.
“Think about it, Dani,” Sam said, suddenly changing tactics. “I wouldn’t get you in trouble—and I wouldn’t put you in a position to end up on the street because your new boss suddenly gets arrested.” Danielle rolled her eyes.
“You’ve almost gotten me in trouble a dozen times,” she pointed out. “I love you, Sam—but you’re a criminal just like everyone else in that family you run with is.”
“I get paid to do a job, just like you,” Sam countered. “I get paid well—unlike the jobs you used to get before this one.” He sighed and shook his head. “You know I’ve taken care of you before in the past—and if you did end up getting fired from the other job, instead of getting this new one, I would have made sure you had money for food, that your rent was covered. You know that, right?”
Danielle met her brother’s gaze. She did know that he was right about that; if she went to him, desperate and broke, he would make sure she was able to eat, and he would help keep a roof over her head. But he would also expect her to help him out in return. If she were desperate, it wouldn’t be that difficult.
“I don’t want to jeopardize my job, Sam,” she said. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had and might be the best one I’ll ever have in my life. I have millions of dollars at my disposal to help out in the community, to make things happen for people who could never dream of it otherwise. Don’t ask me to do something that could fuck that up.” Sam held her gaze and then nodded.
“Just think about it,” he said again, his voice calmer, quieter. “I promise you that if we did approach him with something specific—if I approached him with something specific—it wouldn’t be laundering or anything like that. It would be legitimate. I wouldn’t go risking your job.” Danielle sighed.
“I wish I could trust you on that,” she said. “But considering the company you keep and the people you work for, I just can’t.” Sam shook his head slowly.
“Promise me you’ll think about it,” he insisted. Danielle knew that he wouldn’t leave the apartment until she did.
“I’ll think about it,” she said. She was tired; even before the situation with her brother had come up, she’d had a busy day. “Now don’t you have somewhere you need to be? Work you need to do?” Sam grinned and stepped around the table to hug her and give her a kiss on
the cheek.
“Let me know what you decide,” he said. “I’ll be in touch.” For one of the few times in her life, Danielle wasn’t looking forward to hearing from her brother again; but she told herself that maybe—in a day or so—it would occur to Sam how crazy his request had been. He might text her to say that he was sorry for trying to get her involved in things that could bring trouble to her. She could only hope for that.
Chapter14
“My brother knows I’m working for you now,” Danielle said as she sat down across from Victor, on the other side of his desk. Victor raised an eyebrow at her pronouncement.
“What brought that about? Or were you just ready to tell him?” He didn’t suspect that was the case.
“He went to see me at my old job and found out I hadn’t worked there in a month,” Danielle admitted, smiling wryly. “He doesn’t know about...anything else. Just that I’m managing your charity work.” Victor nodded.
“What was his reaction?” Danielle grimaced.
“He wanted me to try and get you involved in business dealings,” she said distastefully. “I told him no, but he made me promise to think about it.” Victor mirrored her dismayed expression.
“I appreciate you being upfront about it,” he said with a little smile. “It couldn’t have been easy for you to deal with him.” Danielle shrugged.
“He can’t make me do anything,” she said. “He’s my brother—he’s not my dad. He might have helped me out from time to time, but he did it because we’re family—and I’ve helped him out too. So we’re on equal footing as far as I’m concerned, and I don’t owe him anything like that.” Victor nodded approvingly.
“I’m glad you don’t feel obligated to him,” Victor said. “Are you worried something else might come up?” Danielle considered that for a moment and then shrugged again.
“If it does, I will just have to deal with it,” she replied. Victor smiled a bit more broadly.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Victor said; his heart beat a bit faster in his chest as he spoke. He had hoped to talk to Danielle about the revelation he’d had before, but her news for him had forestalled the mission. Over the weekend they’d been apart, he had thought about what he had in mind, and what he should do about the situation between them—and he had decided that the only way to resolve the situation was to confront it head on.
“What’s up?” Danielle picked up her notebook and pen, ready to take notes. “Did you get a tip on a charity or something?” Victor shook his head.
“It’s about us—I’d hope you don’t need to take notes,” Victor said, keeping his voice as light as he could. “I want to talk to you about the other part of our working relationship.” Danielle’s eyes widened slightly, and she put her notebook aside, looking at him with a bit of trepidation.
“What did you want to talk about?” Victor pressed his lips together and tried to think of all of the good sentences, phrases, words he’d come up with to handle this particular moment between them—and for a moment his mind went blank. He took a quick breath and decided that it was stupid to even plan the conversation anyway.
“I like you,” Victor said. It sounded so simple—so juvenile—and yet it was the simplest way he could say what he wanted to say. “More than as my employee, more than as someone I have fantastic sex with pretty much daily.” He smiled slightly and saw Danielle’s cheeks light up with a blush. “I want to see you outside of work—more than just on the anniversary of the day you started here. On a normal basis.”
“You want to...to start dating me?” Danielle looked at him and Victor couldn’t read the expression on her face.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I want to see you regularly.” Danielle raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly.
