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“O-okay.” Beth rose more gracefully than the situation should allow, picking up her laptop. Her steps were sure as she rounded the desk and sat. The only thing that gave away her nerves were her shaking hands and the tears sliding down her cheeks. “I just need to send off this email, and everything will be processed by the end of the week.”
“Great!”
As I watched her type the email that put us one step closer to Luca coming home, I dug deep, searching for the guilt that should have been front and center. I mean, holding your ex at gunpoint and blackmailing her mother should elicit some remorse, right?
Listening to the click-clack of Beth’s typing, I realized I didn’t give a single fuck. This was for Luca, my future, and no one was going to mess with that. No one would come between me and the man I loved.
“There—” Beth cleared her throat. “All done. You can put that away.” Her eyes darted to the gun resting on my lap.
“Oh! Yeah. Sorry.” I chuckled, checking that the safety was still on, and dropped it in my purse. Slapping my knees, I stood. “I guess I’ll get going.” When I got to the door, I turned to take one last look at Beth. “If something should happen and everything isn’t in place by next Monday, I’ll be back.”
Beth wiped under her eyes and gave me a jerky nod.
I opened the door, and as I left, said over my shoulder, “Make sure you get one of these cinnamon rolls. They’re to die for.”
Florence sat at her desk, happily taking a bite of her treat. She covered her mouth and mumbled, “Have a good day.”
“You too.” I grinned and floated out of the office.
Tommy silently pushed off the wall and joined me at the elevator. “Everything go okay?”
“Easy peasy.” The elevator arrived, and we stepped inside. As the doors were closing, Beth stepped out of her office. Our eyes met, and I watched as the last bit of her affection drained away. Her hands fisted at her side as I smiled and waved, wiggling my fingers as a final fuck you.
The doors closed, and Tommy let out a low whistle. “You making enemies?”
“Nah. Just setting things straight.”
Tommy left me in my office to call Marco while I went through Ashley’s notes on casino floor plans.
“Axel has the tables framed out, and Scott has finalized the chair and stool designs.” I clicked through the pictures Axel had saved to the project.
“Perfect. Once I’m back in the office, we can pick the art for the hotel rooms.”
“There’s no hurry. Stay with Malcolm as long as it takes for him to be back on his feet.”
Ashley laughed. “It’s only been a day, and he’s sick of me.”
“Well, he’s just going to have to deal.”
“Exactly. If you don’t want me to smother you, don’t get jumped in an alley.”
The casual joke pulled a surprised laugh from me. “Ashley!”
“What? He got released this morning, and we had a nice long talk. Apparently, this kind of shit has happened before, but I never knew about it because we were just friends.”
Luca’s words came to mind, but they wouldn’t help Ashley right now. “Are you okay?”
She huffed. “Yeah. Just pissed off, which I guess is better than terrified. Oh! And I had to deal with our parents.”
“Ouch.”
"Yeah. As you can imagine, I'm feeling a little irritated." A door closed, and a gust of wind muffled Ashley's words. Even though she'd stepped outside, her voice dropped to a whisper. "His mom is staying with us for a couple of days."
“No.”
“Yes!” she hissed. “And she didn’t even ask. I love Dee, but she's rearranging our kitchen and has already commented about the sheets in the guest room."
I swallowed back a laugh. There was no reason to draw her anger toward me. “Do you want to come into the office? Take a break?”
