Page 44 of A Twisted Arrangement

“I sent him on a different job.”

Her eyes narrow on me. “You can’t do that. He works for me!”

That slipped out a little too easily. If I’m not careful, she’ll figure out just how closely I’ve been watching her. I repeat the lie that we’ve been feeding her for years. “Technically, he works for the Order.”

She huffs and walks up to the car. She looks stunning this morning, hair pulled back in a twist at the nape of her neck, herlight gray dress curving over her form perfectly, leading down long slender legs and tall black heels.

When my gaze finally trails up, it’s to see her warm eyes on me.

She smirks at the state of my hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this way.”

“The things I do for you.” I smile back.

Pink flushes her cheeks, and I soak in the way she reacts to me. I wonder if she flushes all over like that.

Before I can pull her closer and capture her pretty pink lips, she sneaks beside me and ducks into the car, making a point to click her seat belt so I don’t have the honor.

If she only knew how much the fire inside her made me want to fuck some sense into her.

The drive to her work is peacefully silent. She doesn’t push me to speak like other people do. Instead, she flips through her phone, acting like I’m not even there.

My grip tightens on my steering wheel. If she keeps this up, I’m going to have her pressed up against the window with her skirt around her hips.

Before I can make that a reality, we arrive at the front entrance to her work.

“I’ll see you at lunch.” It’s not a question.

“I have plans.” She shrugs, a smirk on her lips, knowing it’ll piss me off.

That digs under my skin. “With whom?”

“Work friends.”

Her intentional vagueness just has my curiosity growing more desperate.

“What kind of work friends?”

“Normal work kind.”

“Scarlet...” I’ve had about enough of this.

“You know, you’ve become awfully nosy for someone who didn’t care about what I did up until a few days ago. Maybe you should talk to someone about that.”

I want to correct her. To tell her just how wrong she is. That there hasn’t been a single second that I didn’t care what she was doing. All you’d have to do is see the trail of her exes who magically disappeared to know that I haven’t learned to control my impulses. I may have given her freedom, but even I couldn’t handle that.

“I’ll see you later.” I stop myself from reaching out to her and dragging her back into the car. It’s not like she needs to work anyway. Not when I own the law firm. If she wouldn’t kill me, I’d have her locked in the car and on the way back to my place. At this point, my willpower is on a single thread.

“Matthias, what’s that look on your face? I’m not kidding. I have lunch plans.”

“Don’t worry, I heard you loud and clear.” As it is, she’ll already be pissed.

Her eyes bounce around my face, appraising me as if she doesn’t trust a single word I say. Smart girl.

“Fine. And don’t come pick me up. You’re too conspicuous—it looks bad. Just send Oliver like normal.”

If she wants Oliver so badly, he might just have to disappear. He’s worked for me for a long time, but maybe I’ve let him get too close. My teeth grind together as I say, “I’ll let him know.”

The door slams shut with a loud clack, and she walks off without saying goodbye. I watch as she makes her way up the stairs, her tall heels carrying her easily, and don’t look away until the door closes behind her.

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