Page 73 of Waste of Worth

Those documents could very well be the proverbial gun to Dino’s head.

‘Why’ was the better question.

Why would Ben want them?

What good would it do for him to have them?

Dino was going to have to figure that out, and soon.

“I can’t just take time off whenever I feel like it,” Karen argued.

Dino chuckled, amused at how she tried to sound serious, but the excitement was still ringing through her tone as clear as a bright, sunny day. “Do you want me to pull the boss card, then?”

“The what card?”

“The boss card. I’m the boss. It’s my business. I can give whoever I want as much time off as I want, whenever the fuck I want. And why can I do that?”

Karen grumbled under her breath on the other end of the call.

“I couldn’t hear that very well,” Dino said.

“Because you’re the boss,” Karen muttered.

Knowing her, he could practically see her rolling her eyes at his teasing.

It felt good to do that, as simple of an action as it seemed. Most people had no problem lightening up with people and making jokes. It was safe to say that Dino was not most people and things like teasing didn’t come easy to him.

Unless it was with Karen.

Things with her always seemed almost easy.

Dino chose not to look too far into it.

“The boss card has been pulled,” Dino said gruffly, wanting to get out of his thoughts before they became a bottomless pit he couldn’t crawl out of. “I will be there after supper to pick you up, make sure your shit is waiting by the door that you want to bring, and no arguments. Think of it as a vacation.”

“Can I take pictures on this vacation?” Karen asked slyly.

Always the photographer.

Dino smiled to himself. “I hoped you would, actually.”

“Okay.”

His laughter echoed in the office long after Karen had hung up the call with a rushed ‘gotta go pack.’ He should have just told her that her love of photography was on the table from the beginning, where the weekend away was concerned. He doubted that she would have argued with him at all about it then.

Still, his chuckles continued as he leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a hand over his face. It was only when a throat cleared at the door did Dino’s amusement fade and he was brought back to the present with a bang.

Standing with his arms crossed and a curious expression was Theo.

Not far behind his younger brother, Dino could see another guy. He was younger than Theo, and unfortunately, not someone Dino particularly liked or trusted.

Dean Artino—Walter Artino’s son.

They were all a bunch of snakes slithering in the same pit together.

Ben had always liked to press upon Dino how he shouldn’t play with the snakes in other peoples’ families as he’d grown up, but Ben never stopped to look at the snakes within his own grass.

“What?” Dino asked sharply.