Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
At all.
“Explain to me this vulnerability that you feel it’s your job to fix,” I order. My voice is calm but with every syllable I utter, even I can hear the anger boiling to the surface. It’s annoying because I usually like to lull my adversaries into a false sense of security and make no mistake about it, Victorio is the enemy in this scenario.
The other man rubs the back of his neck and shifts in his seat. He’s uncomfortable. I don’t bother telling him that it’s only going to get worse. The thought does lift my spirits—at least fractionally.
“Boss, I can’t tell you that.”
Of all his responses, I didn’t expect that one. Victorio is about my size. He’s deceptively slim, yet very adept in martial arts. I’ve seen him take men down that were three times bigger than him without sweating. With his dark hair and Italian descent, he’s also entirely too pretty to have around the girl who is now to be my woman. I’ve never been insecure when it came to my appeal with women. Money seems to make sure that’s never an issue. Still, I know I have flaws.
“Emilia is mine. I expect you to tell me everything when it comes to her. If you can’t do that, then you and I have a problem, Victorio. I don’t know how Maxwell dealt with you as an employee, but you do not want to be a problem when it comes to me.”
Victorio lets out a breath. “Fuck,” he hisses. “I gave her my word.”
It’s apparent he’s warring with himself, but I don’t give a fuck. He owes no loyalty to anyone but me and Maxwell. I can see he’s been allowed too much freedom. That needs to end. He’s a bodyguard. That’s it.
“That’s your mistake. Your loyalty is to me—not Emilia.”
“What if I don’t see it that way?”
I must give the man credit. He’s got balls. I’m not giving him an inch, though.
“Then, it’s time your employment changes.”
“I can’t break her confidence. She’s like my sister. You may not like it, sir, but she has my loyalty.”
I study the other man. I wanted to beat him bloody, but the sister remark stops me—barely. He could be playing me, but I don’t think so. I’m a pretty good judge, and my gut is telling me that Victorio is on the up and up. Still, I can’t allow his bond with Emilia to grow.
I let out a breath and go back to leaning back in my seat, appraising him.
“Report to my home after your replacement shows up.”
“My replacement?”
“You’re being reassigned.”
“Reassigned? Because I wouldn’t tell you Emilia’s secret?”
His response jars me. I suppose it’s inevitable that a woman keeps secrets, but for whatever reason, I didn’t expect it from Emilia. That was my mistake, and it won’t happen again.
“It’s good you have honor, but I won’t have men watching over what is important to me if I can’t trust them to tell me everything. You should consider yourself lucky that you’re merely being reassigned and not fired. Now, get out. We’ll talk more later.”
“Who is going to watch over Emilia?”
I had been gathering the file I’d been working on when he came in. I stop that to look at the man now. “That’s not your concern—as with anything with Emilia. She belongs to me. I’m not the kind of man who lets what belongs to him go. That means, where she’s concerned, you’re out of luck, Victorio.”
“It’s not like that, Mr. Petrova.”
“Then how is it?” I snap, anger more than evident now. Fuck this shit.
“She’s like my sister! I told you that.”
“You better explain more, because right now, I’ve gone from reassigning you to putting a bullet in your head for disrespecting me.”
The man doesn’t pale, which I give him credit for. I think he knows enough about me to know that I’m not kidding. Still, I’ve always sensed that Victorio doesn’t have designs on Emilia. If he did, he’d be dead. Up until this point, he’s just pissed me off because she likes him.
“She has scars,” he finally says, and he bites the words out which shows me he hates letting that information out.
“Scars?” I murmur. I wasn’t aware that Emilia was in any type of accident. That seems like something her father would have told me. I don’t really give a fuck. Emilia is beautiful, but even if she wasn’t, that wouldn’t bother me. She has a spirit that calls to me. It shines from within her. If life has taught me anything, it’s that physical beauty is fleeting. Hell, I know what I look like. In the looks department, Emilia could do much better. It doesn’t matter. I’m who she is getting.
“Not physical ones,” he mutters, confusing me all over again. “My sister was in an accident. Now she suffers from severe anxiety because of it. It can get so bad that she goes into panic attacks.”