Page 48 of His Pretty Little Duet

Then Vinny flips the table over, sending it and the glasses on top, hurtling to their feet, liquor splashing across their clothes, the glasses shattering on the marble tiles.

I stop laughing and tsk my friend and colleague for his outburst. "Vinny, please. That's not how we treat our guests."

He walks through the glass to get another drink, muttering, "Sorry, Boss."

I rise to my full height. The silence in the room is so crisp now, a bullet hurtling through the air would be explosive. I do nothing for a moment, while their muscles shake against the fight not to show any emotion.

Exhaling calmly, I smooth down my jacket. "I'm glad to hear you don't do business with Dustin Nerrock anymore, Bulan. I know you two were very close. Your wife and his wife are related, no?"

Bulan's eyes are wide. "Half-sisters."

"Well, I doubt you want to fuck the girl then. She is your niece. Nerrock's daughter, with Nerrock's grandson inside her womb. As for cutting ties with him, I hope it hasn't affected your family too much, not with the news of your wife's very ill father," I remind. "That is a tragedy."

I walk around the broken table, over the glass, the crunching beneath my shoes like an echo of consequence, and I can't help remembering the night in the kitchen when I mindlessly scooped her into my arms.

Fucksake, I care.

I care about her.

Everyone's attention is on me. My guards have their hands hovering above each weapon. "I am beginning to feel offended, and you don't want me to feel offended. So perhaps you don't know why you are here. Not to use my wife as a tour guide. Not to drink my liquor or to ask me for my girl." Themywasn't a mistake. I mean it to my core.Mine.

I continue, "Not to ask me for anything. You are here—" I grip the arm rest either side of Bulan's chair and lean down until I am inches from his face. "Towoome.Do you know what that small word means? It means to persuade, to gain my love. Sicilians are full of love. And in case you have forgotten, this is theCosa Nostra.Not thePreman.We are the federal police. The taxi drivers. We are the pilot who flies you back to Indonesia. The man who delivers your fruit on his bicycle every day. We are everywhere.

"And this here, in Australia, ismy thing.So, you, my friend, are here to make certain I trust you. To convince me to do business with you in lieu of going straight to Saudi Arabia where you attain the stock for half the price you charge me." I smile at him. "A kindness on my part, but now that we are such good friends, I feel the rate should drop considerably."

My message seems to sink in, his entire demeanour changing, stooping, like a puppy when it meets a full-grown dog for the first time, stomach to the floor, simpering expression.

He exhales. "Let's start again."

Vinny sits back down, nursing his newly poured scotch. "Now, that's better."

I nod. "What a good idea."

After our discussions, where deals are met and agreed upon, I am still not convinced I have Bulan on my side, given his family ties, but I do believe their organisation will be working for mine. If not, if I get one more unorganised crate, I'll cut them off and dispose of a few party members for good measure. It means little to me as I have a connection in New Orleans. The Bratva. Jimmy would have never worked alongside the Russian Bratva, but I'm not the elitist Sicilian he was. Dimitri seems every bit the businessman I am. A man of his word. And he is keen to try his hand at the diamond trade, of which I have an abundance of stock that needs clearing.

He has weapons.

We will see.

I retire after the last black limousine rolls down the driveway to escort them back to their hotels. Instead of strolling to my room, I find myself stopping outside hers.

Bolton is stationed beside it, but he bears me no attention, as is his directive. I have become banner blind to most of the soldiers in this house, having them everywhere and silent, seemingly nowhere.

It's two a.m. now. Insomnia, my old friend, doesn't leave me tonight, and I seem to be eager for her company again. For her caring little questions that I answer honestly for whatever damn reason, I do not know.

"You know, for a man that never wanted children, you make a very attentive father," Aurora says from beside me. Bolton stands up and walks further down the hall, out of earshot.

I turn to face her, shaking off her statement. She knows that isn't what is happening here... "Where is Lorna?"

"In my bed, waiting for me."

Knowing we are alone, I shake my head once. "Bulan will race straight back to Jakarta with the news of Dustin's heir...This"—I nod at the door—"is a bad idea. For?—"

"For you, " she cuts in with a meaningful smile. Leaning on the wall beside me, Fawn's door in front of us, she says, "I've seen you with women, Clay. For the past two decades, I have seen every aspect of your affection for them. I've seen you swoon them,eye-fuckthem?—"

"Charming."

A husky chuckle leaves her. "Charmthem. I have seen you almost,almostlove them." Aurora's face softens. "But I have never seen you look at a girl the way you looked at her tonight."

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