Chapter 104

‘’Joanne’s here, I don’t need two of you tending, get upstairs and take the rest of the night off.’‘

‘‘No! I won’t go upstairs and twiddle my thumbs till four a.m. I’m happy down here and I don’t care if your new toy is here, she’s not capable of replacing me and I don’t intend to let her.’’ I have a stubborn determination too, and he can back off and get a grip if he thinks he can send me to bed like a child. That woman may be sharing his bed but over my dead body is she also going to be sharing this club. We built this and we run it together without interference. I am done being bossed around, pushed and trampled on by this arsehole.

‘’Since when has disobeying me ever been in your best interests?’’ Low tone, I’m in the danger zone. I really am sick of this little control method nowadays, so instead of sinking back like I normally would I flash my own little fierce at him.

‘’Is this because other men dared to touch me?’‘ I flash at him, tossing back my hair over my shoulder with a manicured talon.

So fucking transparent it’s unreal.

I honestly think I should book him a shrink appointment myself; this control thing he has going on was maybe sexy in the early days of meeting him, but when it’s rammed down your throat at every turn and his tight leash of possessive is around your neck, it gets old very fast.

‘’Yes. Now get up the fucking stairs.’’

Well he isn’t denying it anyway, and he did lose his cool very fast. I swear Carrero is unravelling the longer I know him. That cool controlled mask slips more often with every passing week, and I wonder if he’s brimming on an almighty breakdown. Maybe I do get to him too, in the same way he riles me, as he is certainly not the calm composed Carrero of the early days anymore.

I slam my clipboard into his chest with an aggressive air, pushing it at him until he takes hold. Anger spiking and having a tantrum of my own, lifting my chin and tossing my locks back in an air of outright attitude.

‘‘You have an uninvited guest, someone not on the list and the body count is off. Go get your new girl to figure that one out, if she has the brains.’’ Alexi’s arrogant look drops to one of blank as he flits his eyes down to the board instead, flipping it back to look at the names.

‘‘What?’’ He scans the list and then looks back at me with a furrowed brow. ‘‘You’re sure?’’

The change in mood and manner highlights that he’s at least listening and taking this seriously, so I too pipe down and move forward so surrounding ears do not hear. Putting our differences aside when it comes to something in ‘’our’’ club being off. We take security seriously and an imposter is never a good thing in this kind of business.

Our issues with one another will always come second to making my baby run perfectly.

‘’It’s hard to take a head count when everyone’s disappearing and moving around the rooms, but I am certain we have one extra that’s unaccounted for, and I don’t know who he came in with. One of your members didn’t detail a guest.’’

‘’What does he look like?’’ Alexi moves closer, voices hushed as he gets in against me, dipping his head close to mine to make sure no one picks up on the issue we are discussing. He is a man who likes to always look like he has everything in hand.

‘’Small, blondish hair, rugged and definitely not like he has the cash to afford a membership here. He’s dressed casually too, and he’s avoided me directly. I haven’t seen him in half an hour, I’m still trying to see which party he is sitting with, but he’s either gone into one of the rooms or left. I can’t assign him to a name on here.’’ I look up at Alexi’s serious face, close enough to notice he’s switched to a new aftershave. Not that it’s important, but I noticed.

‘’No one’s left. I’ve checked with Mico about departures before I came over here, none of the guests have gone out.’’ Alexi seems pensive; all focus on this little issue, he hates not being in control and knowing every detail, so this will be his focus until he roots out the imposter.

‘’Well, as I am being sent to bed it’s your problem now, good luck.’’ I turn on my heel to leave him. Hating that I am walking off from a problem, but the upper hand today feels great. I high five myself as I know he will be rethinking my departure when he needs his quick - eyed redhead to scope out the guests. Smug that I get to annoy him, even if it is in some minor way.

I plaster on my superior smile and walk slap bang into brunette as she practically throws her glass of red wine down the front of me with a dramatic collision.

‘‘Honest to fucking God.’’ I gawp, jumping back as the cold liquid seeps in and soaks my naked legs uncomfortably, the red fluid running down the full length of my pale dress, spreading and ruining the delicate fabric like a massive blood stain and pooling in my shoes until I shudder in both disgust and with reaction to icy cold liquid. I glare up at her in full fury, the urge to rip her head from her shoulders consumes me, and my body turns into a boiling pit of molten lava as I try and get a grip on my clenched fists and urge to throat punch her.