Page 4 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

For now.

The prince nodded at Igor.

Igor said right away, “I’m delighted to let you know that you’ve been accepted for provisionary employment.”

“Oh, thank God.” The girl half-slumped in relief, saying, “I thought he wouldn’t want me because I wasn’t cool enough, and you know how most times cool kids think they can only stay cool by hanging out with cool people—-”

The prince slowly turned to Igor.Is this truly the best girl we can hire at this point?

Igor nodded.This is the best girl among the small sample group of females who are certain not to fall in love with you.

“And they don’t think about their individuality and—-”

Igor coughed.

The girl froze.

Then very faintly, she said, “I j-just babbled, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did, but we can choose to forget it.” Igor’s tone was efficient. “Thank you for coming, Ms. Cornwall. You will be under evaluation on your first thirty days, after which we will assess your performance. You will be offered a permanent position in our staff if you pass.”

WHEN IGOR CAME BACKafter escorting the girl out, the prince said idly, “She’s different, isn’t she?”

“In a good way, I believe.” Igor took his usual place, standing at the side of the prince.

Leaning back against his seat, the prince remarked, “She calls me ‘prince.’” While hewasknown as the Prince of Darkness, no one had really called him that to his face.

“Which youareone,” Igor pointed out.

He rolled his eyes. “Not by blood or appointment, and you know that.”

“The people on the island think differently.” When the prince had turned eighteen, he had received a posthumous bequest from Rodrigo amounting to millions of dollars, all of which he had used to build new infrastructure on the island he had grown up in as well as set up livelihood programs for victims of gang-related crime.

The prince shook his head. “I’m just giving back what was theirs from the start.”

“Not many others would.” Igor’s tone was unusually cynical, but both of them knew he spoke the truth. Seeing the prince’s expression turn grim, he changed the subject, saying, “I believe you’ve made the right decision with the girl.”

“Do you?” The prince’s tone was unreadable.

Igor nodded firmly. “I am certain it has not escaped your notice that the last five women we dismissed had all made the mistake of thinking you were in love with them.”

The prince let out an inelegant snort.

“Exactly, sir. Ms. Cornwall, however, is unlikely to do the same. After all, she is engaged to Mr. Grant Bennett—-”

“Who, according to you,” the prince interrupted in a lazy drawl, “is my opposite.”

“Yourexactopposite, sir.”

The prince raised a brow. “Did you really need to emphasize that?”

The older man’s expression remained bland. “Ms. Cornwall has been fortunate enough to find herself a good man to love, and I believe that Mr. Bennett is equally fortunate to have someone like Ms. Cornwall as his fiancée. It would be a pity if her employment with us would cause problems in the relationship.”

“Is that your roundabout way of telling me,” the prince drawled, “I should keep my hands off her?”

“Your words, not mine, sir.”

The prince rolled his eyes. “She’s not my type, Igor.”

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