Page 59 of Arthur


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I meet Albert, Tommy, and Charlie at the boxing gym we own. Charlie runs it, so I’m not surprised to find him in the ring sparring with a younger lad. He pats him on the back and tells him to take a break. “So,” he says, leaning on the ropes, “what was so important you had to interrupt my day?”

I grab his ankle and pull his feet from under him. He crashes to the mat, and Albert laughs. “Remember who you’re talking to, little brother,” I say, patting his stomach hard. “Jolene was snooping around my office earlier,” I tell them. “She used the keys from my house to let herself in.”

“Why?” asks Tommy.

“I’m not sure, but she said something interesting. She mentioned her brothers being put into acid.”

Albert frowns. “We didn’t tell her that.”

“Exactly, we wanted to spare her the details, so how does she know?”

My mobile rings and I step away to answer. “Mr. Chai, how are you?” We’re about to sign the deal on his hotel. It’s in central London, a tidy little spot near our casino. It’ll make the perfect location should we want to expand, but the deal’s taken me a long time to work out with Mr. Chai being a pain in my arse.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Arthur,” he begins, and I hold my breath, “but I’ve had a better offer.”

“What?” I snap. “By who?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ve offered my original price.”

“Chai, we both know it isn’t worth that. Who the fuck would give you that?”

“I’m sorry.” He disconnects, and I stare at my phone.

“Chai just pulled out,” I tell my brothers.

Albert groans, covering his face. “What now? He’s been busting our balls for a deal for months.”

“He’s had a better offer.”

“Let me call my guy and see if we can find out what the fuck’s going on,” says Albert.

When he returns from the gym office, his face tells me I’m not going to be happy. “I think we underestimated our Jolene Hall,” he mutters.

I slam my hands against the wall. “Fuck.”

“She must have found the file in your office.”

I call her, and she answers with a sing-song hello. “Meet me at my office in the next ten minutes,” I hiss.

“It doesn’t work like that, boo. I have a meeting to sign a very important contract. I’ll pop along after.” She disconnects, and I have to take a few deep breaths to calm myself.

“Do we kill her slow?” asks Tommy.

“Very,” I mutter.

When I get back to the office, there’s no sign of Meli, but Rosey is spinning in my office chair. “Where’s Meli?” I ask.

“She had to pop to the post office or something. I’m here to take her home.”

“I can take her home,” I snap.

She holds her hands up in defence. “Okay, chill. What’s crawled up your arse?”

“Did you know Meli doesn’t want kids?” I blurt.

Rosey shrugs. “I don’t blame her. She probably regrets what happened between her and Grim.”

“Why would that make her not want kids?”

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