Page 26 of Bossy Ex's Brother

I glared at him. I knew what he said was technically true, but it didn’t mean I liked hearing it from his mouth. It made me feel something suspiciously close to jealousy.

I held back my emotions, feigning indifference when I asked, “And what about it?”

Brandon shrugged, but the side of his lip quirked up slightly. “Nothing. I just never thought you were the kind to go after your brother’s leftovers.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Indifference, be damned. Anger spiraled through me, not because of the insult to my character but more so the insult to hers. “What, just because she dated him, she’shis leftoversnow? Well, if that’s the way it is, I guess we must all be tablecloth stains at this point, considering the number of women we’ve slept with.”

Brandon had the decency to look embarrassed. “I didn’t mean it like that, boss. I swear I didn’t. I just remembered that Lorenzo used to tell me about her all the time, and now she’s in here making out with you….”

“They broke up fucking years ago,” I snapped, feeling the urge to punch my second-in-command in the face. “After he betrayed us and ran away to wherever the fuck he is. She’s notsupposed to sit around twiddling her thumbs and waiting for him like the fucking virgin Mary. She’s entitled to move on and fuck whoever she wants. Including me.” Especially me.Onlyme.

I tried to quell the possessive voice, but it would not be subdued. It spoke loud and clear.

Only me.

“Alright, I’m sorry,” Brandon said and then smiled. That was when I knew what a farce this entire thing was. He’d said what he said to get a rise out of me, and it had worked. Damn it.

“So, you really like her, huh?” he asked, and I glared at him. He laughed but quickly dropped his laughter when he saw my face.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I like her too.”

I glanced up at him, trying to hide my expression.

“Not in the way you do, of course,” he rushed to add. “More in a friendly sense.”

“Well, too bad,” I countered. “Cause you’ll probably never see her again.”

“You fired her?”

“Yup.”

Brandon nodded like he expected that answer. “Shame.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Shame?” I’d never heard Brandon say that about any of our previous managers, no matter how much he liked them. And Lord knew the man was a sucker for pretty girls, but he’d never let it get in the way of business before. One previous manager even thought the key to getting whatever she wanted was appealing to Brandon’s sensitive side and sleeping with him.

Brandon taught her a lesson she’d never forgotten.

So the fact that he thought Jane leaving was a shame meant he thought she was actually doing a good job, which was fucking confusing to me. She’d been here less than two days and had already messed up.

“Yeah,” Brandon explained. “She had some pretty good ideas about leveling up this place.”

“The Diamond doesn’t need leveling up,” I retorted. “None of my clubs do.” We were already pretty successful on almost every front, which wasn’t easy on this side of town.

Brandon nodded.

“I thought so too until I heard what she had to say,” he said. “Plus, we have to admit there is some merit in making more money and building our business on morelegitimateclienteleso that we no longer have to entertain assholes like Damien Black anymore.”

The idea did have some appeal. “How does she plan on doing that?”

Brandon shrugged. “You’d have to ask her. She had a whole folder of ideas, but I don’t think I got it all.”

Ah, so that was his true aim for doing all this. He wanted me to call her and offer her the job back.

Not a chance in hell.

“She can’t work here,” I told Brandon. “Not if she can’t keep a cool head and do what needs to be done. She handled that situation entirely wrong.”

Brandon nodded. “Fair enough. But at the same time, it was her first day. And she only acted in defense of another employee. And it’s not like Black was just saying words. I didn’t catch the whole thing, but one of Capo’s guys told me that he essentially tried to force her into giving him a lap dance right there. Or worse.”

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