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Entirely, utterly doomed.

“Come back,” he said again. “Take your time, figure it out, and then come back.”

She didn’t know how to say no to him. Not when he looked at her like he was right then.

“I’ll come back,” she promised.

She simply didn’t know what she would be coming back to. That was the part that scared her the most.

FIFTEEN

“Is Antony finally tired of you using his home and office as a meeting place, or what?” Andino asked when he strolled into his uncle’s office.

He didn’t miss the flash of warning in his uncle’s eyes from where the man sat behind his large desk. “A bit early for him, that’s all. Thank you for finally answering my calls and deciding to show up here to see me.”

Andino shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

Dante scowled. “That wasn’t meant to be my gratefulness, Andino.”

“Yeah, I know.”

And his response remained the same.

Dante glanced at his brothers who had each taken a seat on the couch against the far wall. Specifically, he looked to Andino’s father. “Is there anything you want to say to your son before I get started here?”

Gio looked up from the watch on his wrist, and passed Andino a glance. To someone else, it may have seemed dismissive, but to Andino, he saw the struggle warring in his father’s eyes. It probably had something to do with the words Gio had told Haven when they approached her at the club, but Andino couldn’t know for sure.

“Not at the moment,” his father settled on saying.

Dante nodded. “Fine.”

Andino shoved his hands into his pockets, and rocked on his heels. “How about we just get right to the yelling portion of this meeting, and get it over with first?”

A dry, dark chuckle echoed from his uncle. “That’s amusing. You have jokes today, Andi.”

“Gotta keep the humor alive.”

“And yet, I find absolutely nothing about this situation funny.”

“That’s a shame,” Andino returned. “Humor helps me get through life.”

“What’s humorous about a man disobeying his boss, and forgetting his duties time and time again? Go on, tell me.”

Ah, there it was.

That heat and anger.

That barely contained fury.

Dante was just spectacular at hiding it. That was, until he no longer wanted to hide it. Then, it came rushing out of the man like flaming lava ready to destroy anything in its path. It was kind of predictable in that way, really.

“You had no right to approach Haven—”

“Ah, wrong,” Dante said, lifting a single finger in the air. “I had every right to do whatever I wanted to do as you can’t seem to follow the simple directions I give you, Andino. You know what you were told about your personal affairs, and that woman specifically. Do not act like that was left for you to decide when it was not.”

Andino tightened his jaw in an effort to keep his cool. “And I told you that you had your one choice about this whole boss business, and you made it already. The rest is up to me. You don’t get a say.”

“This is not the same.”