Page 27 of Secret Babies For My Brother's Best Friend

“Such bullshit,” I muttered under my breath as I slumped down at my desk.

“Extended lunch?”

I looked up to find Luca standing over me, arms folded across his chest and a stupid grin plastered on his face. Because, of course, we’d gone days without speaking to each other, and he’d choose that moment to show up and be all smug in my face.

I glared at him. “You can take it from my wages if you have a problem with it.”

A collective muffled gasp floated up from my surrounding teammates, and the air suddenly became thick with tension. I didn’t give a fuck. Luca Moretti couldn’t just go around acting like a merciless God without dealing with any of the fallout.

“Your wages are safe, Scarlett,” he responded, shifting to bury his hands in his pockets instead. “I was only making an observation.”

That slick, Italian charm was never far behind, but it wasn’t going to work on me anymore. Everyone else might fall for it, but lunch with Riley had been an eye-opener for me. I was a fool to think he could be anything more than the money-hungry shark I’d clocked him for at the start of all this.

“Well, I have to get back to work,” I said, turning back to my screen. “So unless you want to observe me do that…?”

Everyone around me sucked in their breath at the same time. I could feel them all tense up as they waited for hellfire to rain down on me. I don’t know where they got their fear of Luca from, though. Since I’d started there, I’d never seen him so much as raise his voice to anyone.

I glanced up at him, just to check that he was still there because he’d gone so quiet. He was. His electric eyes were fixed on me, his face frozen in a weird smile that I couldn’t quite read as friendly or hostile. It could’ve been both at the same time.

“Actually, I came here to ask if I could please see you in my office,” Luca finally spoke, his voice even and unbothered.

There was something chilling about how unaffected he seemed that made me feel like either he was the most laid back boss in the world or I was about to get my ass handed to me behind that office door.

I got up without a word and followed him, painfully aware of my teammates’ eyes burning into my back with each step I took.

“I take it you’re pleased with yourself,” he said as soon as I’d closed the door.

Luca hadn’t returned to his desk, but rather had taken a seat on the sofa next to his bar. I took it to mean that I should join him, and so I did. But I didn’t sit next to him. I took the spot at the opposite end of the three-seater and stayed on the edge of my seat, back straight and shoulders square.

“To what are you referring?” I asked innocently, knowing that it would only push more of his buttons.

I was right, and I saw the tendons in his jaw quiver as he bit down in a practice of quiet restraint. He was good, I had to give him that. Christopher called it BMT—Big Match Temperament—being able to keep your cool under the worst of circumstances to ensure a win. I supposed that’s what made him the billionaire while everyone else became fodder for the ever-churning industry that was capitalism. My anger spiked again, but instead of lashing out, I swallowed it back and tried to mirror his calm and collected demeanor.

Luca tried a different tack. “You can go around this office and try to point out the women I’ve fucked, Scarlett.”

My eyes widened with alarm. I was not expecting that.

“Uh… what?”

“You won’t be able to,” he continued. “Because unlike you, they conduct themselves with a certain amount of professionalism. And self-respect.”

Oh, he did not.

“Screw you, Luca. That’s not what this is about,” I seethed.

He threw up his hands. “Then what? Tell me why you’re acting this way. Why you’d disrespect me in front of my people, when I have done nothing but—”

“Because of what you’ve done, Luca!” My restraint was gone. As it turned out, I didn’t have much of it to hold on to. “You walk around this place acting like some untouchable superior being that everyone should bow down to.”

“I don’t expect you to bow.”

My agitation bristled. “It was a metaphor, dammit. What I’m saying is that your actions ruin people’s lives. They would’ve ruined mine too if it weren’t for Christopher.”

He sighed heavily, and his shoulders dropped. “Not the acquisition again.”

“Yes, the acquisition again,” I snapped. “It’ll always be the acquisition. Because there are over twenty people who are getting turned away from every single job they apply for. All because nobody wants to touch them after Chord’s dissolved their old firm.”

I knew I was angry but had no idea how much until the words came barreling out of me. My skin felt hot, and my breathing sped up. I could feel the blood pulsing in my ears, even. He had to see reason. There was no way he could sit across from me and not get how horrible he’d been.

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