Page 81 of Mr. Romantic (Mister 2)

“Or I’ll remove you from it myself.”

I let go of her wrist and push her out of my way, walking into the outer offices towards the stairs.

She follows, screaming. “Don’t do that, Nolan!”

Typical temper tantrum.

“Nolan, stop!” She runs at me, throwing herself into me, so we both collide with the railing of the stairs.

I look down and see the front desk girls looking up, surprised expressions on their faces.

I turn back to Claudette and seethe as I grab her by the shirt. “Lower your fucking voice. You will not start a scene here in front of my employees.”

She gasps and makes a lot of noise, so I let go and just walk down the stairs, doing my best to calm myself as I shoot the girls at the desk a warning look. “Get back to work,” I say as I pass them and make my way into the lobby.

“Nolan!” Claudette yells, following. “You promised me!”

Jesus Christ, here it comes. A full-on tantrum. I’m done with her.

I just keep walking as she screams, “I’m going to tell everyone what you did that night! Because you promised me!”

She’s the one who promised. I never promised her anything. She’s the one who needed to agree to my stipulations. She’s the one who said she’d never do this again. She’s the one who broke our agreement today. And she is the one who will pay the price.

I push through the lobby doors that lead to the pool, her yelling still echoing out behind me. A minute later she’s outside too, but I’m already walking back to the private residence area, and when I reach my bungalow, I go inside and lock the door.

She pounds on it, screaming the entire time I’m packing.

I want to fucking kill her right now. I want to get rid of her so bad.

When I’m packed, I call the valet to bring my car, grab my bags, and walk back out. Claudette is still yelling. I try my best to ignore her as I make my way back into the main lobby, but she is not easy to ignore when she’s having one of her meltdowns.

We’re just passing the front desk when she grabs my shirt, trying to make me stop. I push her and she goes reeling backwards in an exaggerated way, falling down on her ass.

Her makeup is all smeared down her face from her fake tears and I go hot all over. “You’re fucking fired,” I say, my anger boiling over. “You better be gone when I get back on Sunday, because you’re fucking fired.”

“Don’t do this again, Nolan!” she yells, making the biggest scene possible. “Don’t do this!”

But I just walk out. My Carrera is waiting, so I throw my bag on the passenger seat, get in, and drive away.

She’s not going to ruin this day for me. No goddamned way.

My phone rings again, but this time it’s not Claudette. It’s Mysterious. I tab the accept button on the car navigations system.

“Yeah?”

“Where are you?”

“On my way to San Diego. But I’m heading to Boston once I get there. You have something for me?”

“In person,” Pax says.

“I’ll be at the house on Martha’s Vineyard, but I’ve got plans tonight, Pax. Plans that require privacy and seclusion.”

“I’ll call when I get in and we’ll set it up.”

Chapter Thirty-Two - Ivy

Wednesday. It’s finally Wednesday.