Page 26 of The Devil's Deal

“I miss you too, Aunt Kirsten.” I release a weighty sigh. “I’ll figure out a way to make it out to you on the one day a week I have off, unless he forces me into a meeting with him, which kills most of my day.”

“I know we shouldn’t wish bad things on people, but I hope he gets his.”

“Yeah, you and me both.”

We laugh simultaneously, but she sounds exhausted.

“Go to sleep,” I tell her.

“I will, I promise. Right after I get some more words in.”

I shake my head with a grin. “Okay. Go write. I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Good night, honey. Love you.”

“Night. Love you too.”

I end the call, dropping the cell back on the desk. Hopefully, the men are behaving tonight. I don’t feel like dealing with the occasional dickhead.

The ladies at my club are all special to me. It’s my job to watch out for their well-being. They all have stories to tell. They’re all trying to earn a paycheck to feed themselves or their families. They deserve respect.

And here, they get it.

I make sure of it.

One of them, Joelle, who’s my age, has been my work friend since I’ve started. We don’t hang out when we aren’t at the club or anything, but before the clock starts, we sit back and enjoy a drink and girl talk.

Not that I have much to share in that department. Sex isn’t even on my radar. It’s been almost a year since I’ve had a good bang. All the men I meet are sleazeballs, and they’re not coming anywhere near me.

The last guy I slept with was a quickie in the bathroom of a bar I went to alone on my day off. He was in a suit and hot as hell, with his honey-brown eyes and lips made for kissing.

I won’t even blame it on the alcohol. This girl wanted him.

Badly.

The sex was pretty hot for a bathroom stall. And since then, it’s been crickets.

I have no desire to marry anyone. I’m not pulling any poor sucker into this life of mine. Nor will I have kids who may be forced to carry my father’s legacy and bad name. Not to mention, kids deserve a sweet grandpa, not an evil son of a bitch.

If I ever manage to escape his leash, which is crazy unlikely, maybe then there’s hope for a future.

But I’ll work here as long as I need to, just so I don’t have to marry anyone having anything to do with my father or the likes of him.

I’m about to rest my eyes when my door pounds with a loud knock.

Great.

Chapter Ten

Chiara

“Come in,”I say before the door opens.

Marco, one of my bodyguards, towers over the doorframe. The man’s six-eight and two hundred eighty pounds of muscle. The customers here know not to fuck with anyone when they see him come through, and the resting man-bitch face he has going only helps me.

But Marco is a big softie. The sweetest, kindest man I have yet to meet. And I don’t meet many of them.

Scratch that. I know none.

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