“That’s no excuse.”
David bowed. “Of course, sir.”
“I’ll deal with him. Please, let me know if he does anything else.”
“Of course.” David raised his eyebrows. “Should I have Judy plan for a huge dinner this evening?”
“No. I’d rather avoid my guests tonight.” I walked off. “But tell Judy to plan a nice brunch tomorrow for everyone.”
“Okay, sir.”
I stormed out of the garage, heading for Ru’s room. Enough was enough. He’d cock blocked me as much as possible. He’d made Simone feel uncomfortable and lied to her about me. Now he was breaking things in my house and being rapey with the maids.
Is that what happens when you’re having a tantrum? You think you can take your anger out on my staff? You think you can disrespect the women that work for me?
I wished I hadn’t let Simone go to him by herself. He was probably drunk and mad. I didn’t want to think of what he would try with her in this state.
But as I headed toward the west wing, she appeared in the hallway walking in my direction.
I stopped. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “He’s asleep. I knocked on his door a few times and heard him snoring, so I decided to let him rest.”
I remained seething, staring off in the direction of his room, ready to wake his ass up and toss him out of my house.
“What’s wrong?” A worried look hit her face.
I hated her expression like that. “Nothing.”
I didn’t know why I didn’t tell her everything. On one side, she didn’t need to be more stressed. On the other, I didn’t want my kicking her manager out to cause an argument. He had to go. There was no doubt in my mind, but how much did I want to unload on her?
“Gio?” she whispered. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head and grabbed her hand. “We can talk about this later.”
She moved her hand away. “Talk about what?”
I sighed. “I don’t want you to worry about this, but your manager has to go.”
“Okay. Of course. This is your house.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What did he do?”
“He damaged some vases in a drunken fit.”
Shock hit her. “Ru?”
“According to David, and as long as I’ve known my butler he’s been trustworthy.”
She covered her face with her hands and wiped as if she could get rid of everything rising around us. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he broke stuff.”
“It was just some vases, but that’s not what’s pissed me off. According to David, Ru has inappropriately touched two of my maids.”
Her worried expression shifted to disgust. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No.”
“Ru?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “I’ve known him for five years and I would’ve never thought he would be the type to do that. But then, I guess I’ve never really known him at all. All this week, he’s been acting so different.”
“He’s had you hidden in Brooklyn. There’s been no one around you to threaten the relationship he thinks you both have.”
“Relationship? No. He knows that there’s nothing between us.”
“You admitted that he was probably attracted to you.”
“Yes, but—”
“He bought a building to keep you away from me, princess. He was blowing up your phone the whole time we were in Salt Lake City like you were his wife and a maniac had stolen you away. What more do you need?”
She said nothing else.
Sighing, I pulled her in and wrapped my arms around her.
“This is crazy.” She leaned her head against my chest. “Just when everything is going great, he has to...”
“Be more possessive of you.”
She leaned away from me. “Let me handle all of this.”
I gritted my teeth.
“He’ll probably wake up in the morning. I’ll let him know that he must leave that afternoon. He’s my guest. My manager. My problem. If I wasn’t here, he wouldn’t have come here and caused all this trouble.”
“I would rather handle him myself.” I pictured my hands around his neck.
“I think there will be less conflict and problems if I do it.”
“I don’t trust him around you.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “He’s not going to hurt me.”
I still didn’t like her dealing with him on her own. “Okay, but if he’s been drinking, I want you to leave and come get me. A normal guy doesn’t get drunk and start grabbing women’s behinds. That’s a creepy guy that gets drunk and does that. If he’s doing it while he’s intoxicated, it just means he’s letting the beast out of its cage.”
“Whoa. Whoa. I don’t think Ru is a sociopath.”
“So, you’re telling me that’s normal behavior?”
She gazed down at the ground. “No. You’re right. It’s just hard for me to wrap my head around it. I’ve always felt so safe with him.”
I tightened my hold on her. “Hey, relax. Maybe, I’m over exaggerating because I’m fucking tired of his shit.”
“I know. I shouldn’t have let him come.”