“Seriously, though, man. Layla doesn’t need your money. Someone like her would fit into your world. Hell, she’d probably be so happy with the security and future you’d provide that she wouldn’t care about your side piece in a whore’s apartment.”
Ash and Nate call it a whore’s apartment.
I call it protecting my investment.
“Drinks. After work. The two of us. Don’t try and set me up with anyone, dickhead. Now get out of my office and actually earn your keep around here.”
Satisfied and looking much less stressed on my behalf, he stands and gives me a nod. “I’ll have Deborah set up a lunch through Layla’s assistant. So you two can catch up. When you’re swimming in more money at your wedding, you can thank me.”
“I like to make it and spend it, not swim in it. Go, before I hire someone ten times more qualified than you at half the price.”
He laughs all the way out of my office.
As soon as he’s gone, Deborah peeks in to let me know the apartment keys will be ready later that afternoon. Before she leaves, I make an impulsive decision.
“I’d like for you to set a lunch up for me one day soon,” I say, straightening my tie and boring my stare into her. “Layla Reynard.”
Her smile kicks up on one side. “Already one step ahead of you. Nate said you might be interested in meeting with her.”
Meddling bastard.
“Interested might be a stretch. Necessary is more like it. That is all.”
She vacates my office, and I suck in a steadying breath. Though it annoys me Nate pries and thinks he has a say over who I fuck, he’s right. Ash is a plaything. Nothing more than a distraction from all the hard work I do. We’re a transaction. I pay her, and she performs. The fucking end. There’s no room in my life for love or commitment.
The only thing of value to me is my name and the stacks of endless green bills that we sit on high above everyone in the sky. It’s unfortunate Ash will one day come to understand that, but it will be inevitable. As inevitable as the day Mother talks me into marrying someone of our caliber to strengthen and solidify our fortune.
As a Constantine, duty is required of me.
What I pay for behind closed doors is the reward I give myself for doing my part in this family.
“This is yours.” I walk into Perry’s office where Ash is planted in a chair beside him, the two of them looking at something on his computer. “You’re welcome.”
Perry stares at the key on his desk, a frown of confusion marring his features. Ash, however, knows exactly what this is.
“I told you I don’t want that,” she snips, her neck turning splotchy red.
Her embarrassment is cute, and I’d love to exploit it if I weren’t annoyed at her stubbornness.
“It doesn’t matter what you want.” I shove the key toward her, leaning over the desk to glower at her. “You’ll take it, and you’ll use it. It’s yours.”
“Your condo key?” Perry asks, making me wince.
“No,” I clip out. “It’s for an apartment. Her own apartment. So she doesn’t have to worry about those douchebags retaliating for her playing bumper cars with their Audis and then telling her daddy that they’re monsters.”
“Smart thinking,” Perry says with a nod of his head. “Those dickheads—”
“It’s a whore’s apartment.” Her voice is shrill as she trembles with anger that’s unfairly now pointed at Perry. “I thought I could at least count on you to side with me.”
“He’s my brother. Why in the hell would he side with you?” I pin her with a dark stare. “We’re Constantines and you’re—”
“The paid help. Yes, Win, you’ve made that abundantly clear.” She stands up and starts past the desk, but I step in her way, not allowing her to throw her tantrum alone.
“Move, asshole.”
“I’m the asshole,” I growl, “for getting you an apartment to keep you safe? You’re being a brat, and you know it.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and glares up at me, her hazel eyes gleaming in defiance. Only Ash fucking Elliott would throw a fit over something like this. The girl will let me toss thousands of dollars at her to do dirty shit for me or buy her an armored vehicle, but a nice apartment close to her job is the threshold of what makes her a whore.
Unbelievable.
“Are we done here?” Her nostrils flare. “If so, I’d like to leave.”
Perry shifts in his seat, clearly uncomfortable at our heated discussion. I hold Ash’s stare for a long minute before I give her a nod.
“We’re not done discussing this, Cinderelliott.”
“Oh, Constantine, we so are.” She shoves past me, her sweet scent swirling around me in her wake.
“Trouble in paradise?” Perry asks once she’s gone.