Page 5 of Empire of Temptation

She nodded and Table Seven let her go. Then Anne Marie held up her hands. “You know what? Fuck this. I’m done.” It took only a second for her to throw her keycard on the counter. “Good luck with this asshole, Val. He’s the reason no one wants to work here. He’s verbally abusive and completely incompetent.”

I tried to stop her, calling, “Wait, Anne Marie. Don’t go.”

But she was already gone, the kitchen door flapping behind her. I rounded on Tony. “Are you kidding me right now?”

He shrugged. “Eh, she’s a bitch. Whaddya gonna do about it? Besides, you’re better off.”

That was the second time he’d called Anne Marie a bitch, and I hadn’t liked it either time. And I one-hundred percent believed Anne Marie’s assessment of him. Now everything made sense. “You’re fired.”

His jaw dropped open. “You’re firingme? I’m the only thing holding this place together. Without me, you’re fucked, Val.”

“I don’t care. I’m tired of the late tickets, the sloppy plates, not following directions. You are costing me both customers and good staff.”

His expression twisted with fury as he slapped the metal counter with his palm. “Fire me? Fuck off! I’m the only person willing to work here. You’ll never find another chef.”

“You fired Tony?” The kitchen door swung closedbehind Christina as her eyes darted between Tony and me. “You can’t fire him, Val.”

“Why? Because you’re sleeping together and you know your father won’t approve, so this is the only way you can sneak around to do it?”

I heard Table Seven mutter, “Madre di dio,” but I kept my gaze on Christina. She lifted her chin like the belligerent teenager she was. “Don’t be such a bitch. He’s the only reason I stayed. The tips are literal shit.”

“If you don’t want to work here without him, then go. Both of you, just fucking go.”

Tony whipped off his apron and threw it on the floor. “You’re gonna regret this, Val. Come on, baby.”

My last remaining waitress threw her order pad and keycard next to Anne Marie’s on the pass. “Yeah, you’re fucked, Val.”

The two of them marched out the back door, letting it slam shut behind them. Mike, one of the two line cooks, walked over and turned off the burners on the gas stove. “What should we do, Val?”

“Can you or Pete take over tonight?” Maybe I could wait tables. God knew I’d filled in many shifts before. Then the evening wouldn’t be a total loss.

Mike and Pete exchanged a look. Neither looked particularly enthusiastic about taking over. I suppose I couldn’t blame them, considering they hadn’t been working here long.

Mike scratched the side of his neck. “I don’t know. Tony was still teaching us.”

I nodded, even though I wanted to scream about the unfairness of all this. But it wasn’t Mike and Pete’s fault that they weren’t ready. It was like this place was cursed.

Do something. This is your responsibility.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I needed to close tonight. Maybe for the entire week, until I hired another chef and more servers. “Why don’t you two take off? I’ll send the customers home and we’ll figure all of this out tomorrow.”

Ignoring Table Seven, who for some reason was still standing in the kitchen, I went to the back. John, my dishwasher, was busy loading dirty plates into the rack, his head bopping to the music blaring from his ear buds. I flicked the lights to get his attention without scaring him half to death.

He took out his ear buds and grinned over his shoulder. “Hey, Val. Everything okay?”

John was in his late twenties. I knew he’d been in jail a few years ago for stealing a car, but I didn’t judge him. None of us had it perfect in this life. He was an excellent employee, and I’d pushed him for months to go out onto the floor as a server. He claimed he liked washing dishes best because no one hassled him back here.

“We’re closing early tonight. And we’ll probably be closed for a few days.” I swept my arm in the direction of the kitchen. “Almost everyone just quit.”

“Oh, shit. What did I miss?”

“It’s not worth explaining. Bottom line, I should’ve fired Tony a long time ago.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, wiping his hands on a towel. “Him fucking Christina wasn’t ever going to end well.”

Did everyone but me know? “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought everyone knew.”

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