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He doesn’t finish the sentence. I grab him by the throat, lifting him into the air. “I warned you not to call me that again.”
“Put him down,” Father says, sounding bored.
I drop Ernesto back into his chair. He wheezes, glaring up at me, and rubbing his throat. “You’re a fucking psycho,” he says. “Father, discipline him. You saw what he did to me.”
“He warned you. You brought it on yourself. Hunter, get back to work. Ernesto hand me those contracts and my glasses. Let’s see how much you fucked up these deals of yours.”
13
Hunter
* * *
Toby is waiting for me when I get back to the office. Bex scowls at me as I walk past her desk, but I ignore her. I’ll spank that scowl off her face soon enough, but for now, I’ve got work to do.
I walk up the stairs to what was Melanie’s office. Toby is sitting at the desk with his feet on it. “Get those boots off that,” I tell him, shoving his legs sideways. “Show some respect to solid mahogany.”
“Been waiting an hour for you to get here. Got bored.” He gets up and walks over to the couch in the corner of the office. “Who rattled your cage?”
“I was summoned to see my father.”
“Wasn’t he happy about the Ivanov deal?”
“He knows we blackmailed the Russian prick to get him to sign.”
“So what?”
“You know my father. All those noble values of his and all that bullshit.”
“So he thinks you should have let him walk?”
“He thinks I should have persuaded him instead of blackmailing him.”
“You did persuade him. He’s still alive, isn’t he? He got paid, didn’t he?”
“Ernesto came to see our father. Called me baby brother.”
“I heard he was back from Australia. Heard he put Julia straight in the hospital when he got back.”
“You know what happened?”
“She got mouthy about him sleeping around while he was away. He gave her a slap, but she lost her balance and fell straight into his coffee table.”
“The marble one? Ouch.”
“Knocked her out good. She was in the hospital for about a week.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“You were dealing with Ivanov. The last thing you needed was a distraction.”
“Next time he hurts her, you tell me. Got it?”
“Yes, boss.”
I throw my head back and stretch my arms out. “We need to get this shit under control. I’ve only got two months until he makes his decision, and unless Julia backs out, I’m fucked.”
“She won’t leave him. She’s too scared.”
