Page 163 of Savage Bosses

Meanwhile, Mal rested his arm on the back of Madison’s chair with a smirk I wanted to wipe from his face; preferably with my fists.

I glared at my COO while relaying the recent development. “We’ve lost CL Holdings.”

“Shit.” He sat upright, and I suppressed my glee as he retracted his arm from behind Madison’s shoulder. “If they got cold feet, our expansion plans are going to suffer.”

“Which is why I’m cutting lunch short. Madison, you’re with me.” I turned around to head to my car, expecting her to be on my tail.

When I opened the passenger door and she didn’t pass me to get inside, I realized she intended to defy me. I slammed the door of my limited-edition Maybach and searched to find where she went.

She stood at the rear of the food truck talking to a Black woman wearing an apron while a massive line at the window grew. As I was about to storm over to Madison and explain why provoking me wasn’t a good strategy, they exchanged a takeout container for some cash. Madison took her sweet time coming to me, but no complaint reached my lips. I was too busy being put under the spell that her hips wove.

Working with her was bound to create problems if all she had to do was breathe to distract me from more serious concerns.

“Let’s go.” She opened the passenger door and settled in, leaving me feeling like she took something from me.

The sentiment ran circles in my mind until I pulled into one of the many spaces in the garage dedicated to my car collection.

“You know, when you first showed up at Kori’s with this car, I thought you did it to make a statement, but I was wrong. This is the real statement, isn’t it?” Madison asked as she let herself out of the car.

I bottled the response to tell her she needed to sit her ass down until I opened the door. She wasn’t my woman, and I wasn’t trying to make her mine.

“What statement do you think I’m making?” I followed her to the elevator and scanned the fob to call it.

“That you aren’t the same man I fe—used to know. Message received.”

I should have left things at that, but even after getting on the elevator, her response niggled at me. Her words festered into a wound I couldn’t ignore.

When the silence grew and got the better of me, the words, “How am I different?” burst from my lips at the same time the elevator opened.

She exited the lift. With a shrug, she said, “Everyone in the neighborhood knew you were one of the wealthiest men on the planet. Yet you lived in the same modest suburban home you bought when you had Ife and drove the same Lexus my whole life. Now, you have more cars than days of the week, and you live in a penthouse. Anyway, here. I figured you didn’t have time to eat.” She handed me the container from earlier.

“You bought me lunch?” I stared at the container in my hand, unable to understand why she thought to make the gesture.

Except for Ife, women bought me things as an investment. They always had a hidden motive behind their generosity.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be on your bill. I didn’t buy it to put the moves on you.” Madison walked further into the office. “Looks like they set everything up. We should get to work, but first.” She headed toward my desk and depressed the intercom linking my phone to Omar’s. “Omar, can you bring my briefcase in for me?”

“Anything for my future wife,” he said.

I compressed my lips, unsure what would escape if I mentioned their interaction.

“We’d have the shortest marriage in the Guinness Book of World Records,” she said.

Damn right they would.

I shook the thought from my mind. I didn’t have any business interfering with her and Omar.

But I should. To protect him from getting hurt.

Omar had been with me too long for me to let Madison waltz in and snatch him away. Thank God I came to my senses and shut the fuck up before I made a tense situation worse.

Once she had everything she needed, we sat around a small table with her files laid out before us.

I silently vowed to stay on topic. “To maintain this year’s growth strategy, we need to handle this murder investigation. What is your plan?” I dug into the jerk chicken japchae.

Kori’s food never disappointed.

“I’m a miracle worker, but solving murders isn’t my job. What we have to do is find you an alibi.”

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