My laugh is wry. “Good for me, because my answer would still be no.”
He leans closer, placing his nose millimeters from mine. Throwing my earlier words back at me, he says, “You mistake my meaning. I’m not giving you an option.”
I gape at him, taking in his serious expression. He’s not joking.
“But seeing that I sprang this on you, I’ll give you time to get used to the idea,” he continues. “Make good use of that time. I won’t be patient for long.”
Is he out of his mind? “You can’t be serious.”
“You better believe it, darling.”
My jaw drops another inch before I finally regain enough control over my stunned senses to shut my mouth and say through gritted teeth, “Go to hell.”
His smile turns calculated. “Are you sure that’s the way you want to play?”
I lift my chin even as my heartbeat accelerates to a harsher rhythm that throbs in my temples. “Take your hands off me.”
Surprisingly, he obliges, letting me go so suddenly I almost lose my balance.
Fishing a wad of cash from his back pocket, he slips it into the front of my T-shirt. “Make sure you eat. Something healthy. Just remember, you chose.” Brushing his lips over my ear, he says in a soft, low voice, “This comes with strings.”
Without another word, he turns and walks away, leaving me with wobbly legs in the broom closet.
CHAPTER 3
Leon
No woman has ever said no to me. The truth? Because I’ve never asked one out.
Usually, they name a price, and I pay. After I’ve taken care of our mutual pleasure, we part ways, both parties happy and satisfied.
My old lifestyle didn’t permit more. Being one of the most wanted criminals on the continent necessitated a life of being on the run. That was until Ian got himself arrested and Cas broke him out of jail. Now they’re settled in Zimbabwe, and I’m working hard on making a place for myself in the city. My brothers have already proven themselves. Ian, the oldest, is the mastermind behind the most notorious gang in history. Damian, the youngest, started his own diamond mine. A diamond fucking mine.
I’m the middle brother, the one who’s never fit in or belonged anywhere. I was too old to play Damian and my baby sister, Zoe’s, games, and even though there’s only a difference of eighteen months between Ian and me, Ian considered me too young to hang out with his adolescent friends. Yet Ian took me with him when he ran away from home. I never lied to myself about his motivation. He didn’t take me because he needed me. He did it because he felt sorry for me.
While Ian is a good thief, Damian is an unscrupulous businessman. I’m good with programing. I speak computer language better than my mother tongue. Gus Starley has been a valuable mentor. In many ways, he’s the father I never had. That’s why I can’t fuck up this thing with Violet. That’s why I walk straight from the kitchen where I left her to Gus’s office.
The door is closed, but the glass on the upper half allows for a view inside. He’s pulling on his jacket, getting ready to go home. When I knock, he waves me inside.
Twisting the knob, I push the door wide open and cut straight to the chase. “I’m taking Violet out.”
I’m not asking for his permission. I’m merely informing him out of courtesy. If it’s going to be a problem, we need to iron it out now.
He considers the statement with a tilted head. “You’re ambitious.”
He has no idea. “Is taking out your daughter going to be an issue?”
“Stepdaughter.”
That comes as a surprise. She doesn’t look anything like Gus or Elliot, who are both blond, but she carries their surname. Her HR file states Gus to be her father. There’s no mention of him being her adoptive father.
Picking up his briefcase, he continues, “I married her mother when she was a toddler.”
I take a moment to process the information, filing it in my head with all the other facts I’ve gathered about her. “I wanted to be upfront about my intentions.”
He crosses the floor and stops in front of me. “You’re working hard for the promotion.”
Damn right. Only one person will be made partner. With the program I wrote, my name will be stenciled on the door of the vacant office next to his. That’s a given. It’s only the first phase of the program, but the second part won’t take as long to develop. If Gus were following tradition, Elliot would’ve been his successor, but Gus believes in equal opportunity and earning one’s position, a standpoint I respect. Elliot is an average programmer and a lousy leader. The best man will win, and that man is me.
“You still won’t tell me what you’re working on?” he asks.