Page 33 of Roberto

“Everybodyknows her. Or knowsabouther, anyway. She’s a stone-cold bitch.”

I didn’t like him calling her that. It made me angry for some reason.

“She wasn’t a bitch,” I said. “I assumed she was a worker and propositioned her, not realizing she owns the club. She had a right to be offended.”

Han’s laughter slowly died off, though he kept smiling in a grim sort of way. “Is that what she said? That she owns the club?”

“Yes,” I replied, unsure why his attitude had shifted.

“…huh,” he muttered.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Han suddenly snapped back into friendly mode. “Ahhh, don’t let her ruin your night.” He waved his arm around the room. “There’s a ton of hot women at De Sade. Get whichever one you want.”

“No. I’m good.”

“Comeon.”

“I’m serious. I’d like to leave.”

“But – ”

I stared him straight in the eyes. “Take me back to the hotel.Please.”

I said ‘please’ likeDon’t make me tell you again.

Han shook his head and sighed, then turned and headed for the stairs.

What Icouldn’ttell him was that there was only one woman I wanted…

And if I couldn’t have her, I wouldn’t settle for anyone else.

It was her, or nothing.

And since I couldn’t haveher…

‘Nothing’ was what it would be.

17

An hour later, I stood at the window of my penthouse looking out over the lights of Hong Kong.

Despite my irritation at Mr. Lau refusing to return my family’s money, I had to admit he’d given me a luxurious suite in his hotel.

Unfortunately, I was too distracted to pay much attention to my surroundings.

After I’d locked away the $227,000 check in an electronic safe, I took a bottle of scotch from the penthouse’s bar and proceeded to get drunk.

I kept rerunning the scene with Mei-ling in my head, picking apart every mistake I’d made and coming up with other possibilities.

But more than that, I kept imagining her eyes… her hair…

How her body would look as I slowly unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor.

The way her mouth would open in pleasure as my fingers gently brushed between her legs.

I’d seen plenty of other men become obsessed with women. It was practically a national pastime for Italian males.

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