Page 486 of Hate Mates

I really should have my head examined, if I ever made it out of here.

“Did you hear me?” Angelica clapped her hands together. “Signore Lazaro requests your presence at dinner.”

I let out a deep sigh. This woman really was insufferable. “Requests, or demands?”

She glared at me as if I had personally offended her.“Requires.”

My eyes rolled so far back in my head that I swore they nearly stuck there for a second. Of course, he wasn’t going to make this optional.

“You tell him that Irequireadvanced notice for dinner. I’m currently in a very important meeting with my accountant.” I picked my book back up and licked my finger to turn the page.

“Your turn,” Angelica shouted over her shoulder.

Four soldiers rushed in with guns aimed at my forehead. The book thudded onto my belly. “What the fuck?!”

Angelica smirked. “Signore said to use any means necessary.”

Two of the men grabbed at my arms, dragging me off the bed. I yanked hard away from them. “Alright, alright! Get the fuck off me.” I stood up. “I’ll go on my own.”

“You need to change first.” Angelica twisted her nose up at my night clothes.

I pinned my hands to my hips. “You’re getting me to go downstairs. Don’t push your luck, woman.”

She pushed her glasses up her long nose. “Hmph.”

I pushed past her and padded downstairs on bare feet. If he wanted me to come to dinner so badly, then why the hell should I have to inconvenience myself further by looking presentable? According to him, I was just a prisoner, and last I checked, prisoners didn’t have to dress up for bullshit dinners with their wardens.

From the dining room entrance, I could see that Lazaro was dressed in a white button-down shirt and dark slacks. He hadn’t changed after work—or whatever criminals called what they did for money.

He cut his food with a knife and fork and took a bite.

“Ah, being rude and not waiting for your guest to start, again?” I called out as I walked to the opposite end of the table. I wasn’t his guest, I was his prisoner, but that didn’t mean he got a free pass from my attitude.

His eyes burned trails down my body. “You’re dressed indecently, again.”

Aurelio pulled out my chair, and I took my seat. “Nice to see you, too, Lazaro.”

Lazaro stared at me and his butler, his angular jaw already clenching. Aurelio quickly and nervously poured me a glass of wine before exiting the dining room.

“Relax. He’s not ogling me like your little friends. He at least has manners enough to treat me like a lady, unlike you and your moronic gang of men.”

Not at all amused by my insult, he said, “I gave you a whole closet of clothes. Put on something appropriate when you come downstairs.”

I couldn’t contain myself and snorted at the ridiculousness of the notion as I placed my napkin in my lap. “Are you serious? You should have thought about that before ordering me down here on short notice.”

He cut into his food. “You talk like you’re busy. I know you’re bored up there.”

If only my eyes had been laser beams, I could have incinerated him with my glare.

“I have a proposition for you,” he said, his coal-dark eyes on me.

“Need an investor in your criminal business or whatever it is you do? Yeah, I’m fresh out of fucks. Ask someone else.” I didn’t care what he had to offer. Unless it was to get the fuck out of here, I didn’t want to hear it.

“You can have your belongings back.”

All my belongings from my apartment. All of my mother’s mementos. But...he’d sold them. Hadn’t he?

My ears must have been clogged. “What?”

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