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Her eyes lift to mine, and I know my gut is right. There’s something wrong with her. Besides the annoyance with me, the typical light in her lively green eyes has dimmed. “What?” she hisses.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.” Her lower lip quivers ever so slightly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You just don’t seem like your usual bubbly self.” I shoot her a smirk, but not even the corners of her lip twitch.
“I’m here for an interview, Dante. I can’t fuck this up. I need the job.”
I look up and scan the entrance foyer for the redhead in the skirt suit. The Valentino name goes far in Manhattan, even when it’s spoken from my lips. King Industries has funded and donated to nearly every important enterprise in the city. Including Palestra’s holding company. “Is that redhead the girl in charge? I can put in a good word if you want.”
She stares up at me incredulously. “It’s really not necessary. And no, that’s Maisy, she’s the one that got me the interview, but she’s just the HR assistant.”
“Then I’ll find the head of Human Resources.” I attempt to stand, but Rose’s hand closes around my tattooed forearm.
“I don’t need your help, D.”
“Dio, Rosa, just let me do something—”
“To make up for walking out on me the other night?” she grits out. “And don’t call meRosa. My name is Rose.”
My eyes chase to the floor, and I release a frustrated breath. “I already told you I was doing you a favor. Just leave it at that. Now, I promised Stella I’d look out for you while she and Luca are gone, and the last thing I need to do is fuck that up. My future sister-in-law has more than enough reasons to hate me.”
“Well, she shouldn’t have asked you to do that. I don’t need a babysitter.” She jerks the pen from beneath the metal clip and starts to scribble on the questionnaire.
I slide my hand into her purse and grab her phone.
“What are you doing?” she barks, and the girl at the desk glances over before clearing her throat.
Before Rose can steal it back, I input my number and press send. “There, now you have my phone number.”
She snatches her cell back and tucks it into her purse. “I’m deleting it as soon as I’m done with this.”
I snort on a laugh. Feisty little thing. I sit there for a long minute, but her pen strokes only become more agitated with each second I linger. With an irritated grunt, I finally stand up and grab my duffle bag. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
I can’t help the wicked chuckle that rumbles my chest. Maybe it wasn’t just a good thing forherthat we didn’t screw. I have a feeling that little firecracker and I would’ve been nothing but trouble.
* * *
Tony glances up at me from the chair in the corner of my office at King Industries like a lost puppy. The guy is struggling without my brother to dote on. I should have just sent him away with Luca and Stella, but a part of me was hesitant to lose my brother’s righthand man. He knows almost as much as Luca about the illegitimate side of the business and because of my estranged relationship with myfratellinoI’d fallen behind on the inner workings.
“You want to come with me to the Red Dragon?” I offer.
His dark eyes sparkle as he glances up from his twitchy fingers. “Yeah, sure,capo. What’s the plan?”
“First of all, don’t call me that. Dante is fine. Save thatcaposhit for Luca.”
“Right, sorry,ca—Dante.”
“And the plan is to talk to Jianjun Zhang to see if we can come to a civilized agreement. The leader of the Chinese Triad should be more levelheaded than his nephew. I need those bounties removed from Luca and Stella’s heads.”
Tony slides to the edge of the chair and clucks his tongue. “I don’t know, D. We killed his son only a few months ago. You really think he’s going to go for this diplomatic crap?”
I shrug.Hell, no. “You know my brother likes to do things the gentlemanly way, so I’ll give it a try.” Then if things go south, I’ll fuck shit up.
“Whatever you say,ca—” Tony cuts himself off when I shoot him a narrowed glare.
