Page 233 of Roberto

But every time I looked in my rearview mirror, I would see that damn Toyota.

Then – on the fifth night of stalking me – Roberto got bolder.

I had a standing order for my security team to let me know when the Camry showed up each night, and if anything out of the ordinary happened.

Something out of the ordinary happened.

My head of security called me to the surveillance room. Once I walked in, I immediately saw why.

On the exterior camera feeds, Roberto was walking around the building, apparently looking for a back way in.

My stomach did a flip-flop.

Not only was henotlosing interest in me, his obsession seemed to beincreasing.

My head of security looked troubled. “You want me to take care of this?”

I knew exactly what he meant by ‘take care of this.’

“No,” I said. “Don’t do anything yet. Just let me know if it escalates.”

As I left the office, I realized the situation had become a problem and that I should probably tell Lau.

But the old man beat me to the punch.

When I came in the next afternoon to drop off the money, Gongsun leered at me like usual – then casually mentioned, “Mr. Lau wants to see you.”

I left Accounting and went to Lau’s office with a queasy stomach.

When I walked into his office, he was reading his computer printouts. He heard my footsteps, glanced up at me, and gave me that fake grandfatherly smile.

“Ah, Ms. Chan. So good to see you. Please take a seat.”

I sat down and waited for Lau to circle around the desk and perch above me like a fuckin buzzard –

But he didn’t.

Instead, he stayed seated with his hands casually folded on his desk.

“I understand you and Mr. Rosolini had a falling out,” he said sympathetically.

My stomach went from queasy to the verge of vomiting.

I knew exactly what was going to come next:

Lau would order me to start seeing Roberto again.

To startfuckinghim again.

WhatIwanted wouldn’t matter one bit.

“Yes,” I said in a tremulous voice, “but – ”

Lau held up one hand to stop me. I immediately went silent.

“I understand he’s following you,” Lau continued.

I frowned.

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