“The video? Are you fucking kidding me?”
I gun the engine harder than necessary when the light we’re stopped at turns from red to green. His laugh makes me even closer to fulfilling the promise. The only thing stopping me right now is the cleaning bill.
“Yes, the video. The guys were in an uproar when I stopped in last night, and when Wren offered, I watched.”
“Of us in the breakroom?”
His silence makes me want to grind my teeth together before breaking his nose with my fist, the cleaning bill be damned.
“You watched video of me in my office?”
“Hey, all of those cameras were your idea, not mine.”
“And if I were fucking her?” I seethe, my cock somehow making himself known in my jeans. He doesn’t seem to hate the damn idea. “How long would you have watched then?”
“All the way up to the money shot.”
He’s smiling at me, and I can’t help but grin.
“That would never happen.”
“Because she’s your ex’s best friend?”
Because Annalise Grimaldi would never get on her knees for a man, much less let him paint her perfect face with cum.
“We don’t exactly get along,” I explain. “We never have.”
“Thin line between love and hate.”
“You’re ignorant,” I mutter as we pull up past the valet guy standing in front of the building that houses Altieri, Inc.
“To be continued,” Flynn says as he opens his door.
“Sir, the keys?” the young guy prompts when I walk right past him. “Sir, you’ll be towed.”
“Touch my truck and see what happens.” The boy swallows hard, but the quick nod of understanding tells me that pickup will sit there unmolested until I return.
“You are in a super shitty mood,” Flynn mutters as we walk inside the building and arrow straight to the bank of elevators. “Oh, this shit is swanky.”
“Her father is in a load of trouble. This time next month, he’ll probably be begging for change on the street or locked up in jail awaiting trial rather than living the high life.”
“The rich are always greedy.”
I grunt my agreement as the elevator closes and takes us to the very top of the building. Facing my ex-father-in-law isn’t even close to the top of my list of fun things to experience all over again. The last time I came inside this building, I asked for Dani’s hand in marriage. I know if I closed my eyes and focused, I could still hear the sound of him laughing me out of his office.
“Sir!” The lady at the front reception desk isn’t pleased when I walk past her. “You can’t go back there!”
“It’s okay, love,” Flynn says, staying behind to keep her busy. “He’s just gonna chat with an old friend.”
His accent gets thicker when he’s trying to calm someone down. She isn’t impressed.
“I’ll call security!”
Ignoring her, I walk straight back to Jeno Altieri’s office. He seems more frustrated than surprised when I shove open his office door. He also looks thirty years older than he did the last time I saw him, and I imagine that has more to do with the heat he’s facing than actual aging.
“I thought I’d never have to see you again,” he mutters when he looks up at me.
“Believe me, the feeling is mutual.” I don’t step but a few feet into his overly large office, and I never take my eyes off of him.
“Why exactly are you barging in here like the damn police?”
“I hear that may have happened a time or two recently.” I can’t help the small smile that tugs up the corners of my mouth with knowing the man is in trouble. He’s always been too flashy to avoid detection for long.
“Get to the fucking point, Black. I’m sure security is already on the way up to forcibly remove you from my property.”
“And how much longer will you own the property?” I take a few steps closer and find joy in the way he slinks back.
I’m not the scrawny guy I was nearly two decades ago when I came here for the first and only time.
“Deacon,” he growls, but there’s more fear in his voice than anything else. “I didn’t think the feds were hiring lowly security businesses as muscle these days.”
I’m not surprised he’s kept tabs on me over the years. I knew deep down he always saw me as a threat to his empire, or at least to the one and only heir he managed to have, but hearing it from his own mouth makes me damn near fucking giddy.
“Tell me about the Russians.”
Clear confusion draws his brows in and before he can even open his mouth, I already know coming here will be fruitless.
“I don’t have any business with the Russians.”
I turn to leave, no longer interested in wasting my time with the idiot.
“Wait!” he screeches. “What’s going on?”
“Does the name Nikolay Petrovich ring any bells?”