Page 12 of Tamed

Of course, I wasn’t going to fire her. But she was so easily rousable, I couldn’t resist. “I can do whatever the fuck I want,” I said mildly. “I’m the CEO. And if I want to fire you, I will.”

She looked like she was going to say something — probably something she’d regret since she was very much a shoot first, ask questions later kind of woman — then her mouth compressed as if she was physically biting back whatever it was that she’d been going to say.

Pity.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked instead. “Presumably it’s something important since you’re making me miss my lunch break.”

I almost smiled. She’d always been a sassy little thing and at ten that had been delightful. She had no fear of me, said whatever she thought and loved it when I teased her. But as she’d gotten older, the sassy comebacks had become sharper, more biting, and very intentional. Pushing at me since Ten’s long absences meant she couldn’t push at him.

I’d let her back then, because that’s when Ten’s grip on her had tightened and she’d rebelled against it. She’d needed a safe space to vent her anger and someone to sharpen those claws of hers on. Someone who wouldn’t take it personally.

Yet she wasn’t a teenager now, and I was no longer prepared to be her safe space. I had boundaries for all my staff, and she was no different just because she was a family friend. She worked for me, which meant she needed to give me some fucking respect.

I’d allow her a couple of swipes, but if she thought she could keep on pushing, she had another think coming.

“Sit down, Isabel.” I made no secret of the fact that it was an order and one to be obeyed. “I have less than zero interest in your fucking lunch break.”

Her chin firmed, emerald sparks glittering in her eyes. Yeah, she did not like that.

Too bad.

I stared at her until eventually she looked away, red lashes veiling her gaze, her color still high. She put the dirty cloth very deliberately on my desk, before smoothing her plain black skirt aggressively. I knew her. I knew that she’d be imagining her hands around my throat or perhaps punching me in the face.

But she didn’t say anything as she turned and sat in the chair. She crossed her legs, her hands clasped in her lap, and looked at me with exaggerated interest. “There, I’m sitting,” she said acidly. “And I’m all ears.”

Oh, she was pushing it. Yes, she was, the little witch, sitting there in her demure white blouse and plain black skirt, stockings and low-heeled black pumps. Plain clothes, yet expensive, because of course Ten was a rich man and there was nothing but the best for his daughter, no matter how much of a pain in the ass she was.

Her hair though, that gave her away, all those red curls she’d inherited from Juliana. They were always escaping no matter how she tied it, curling around her ears and falling down her back. Disobedient and unmanageable, just like her.

Even now those little curls were feathering around the sides of her neck, and I had the oddest urge to take one and pull on it gently. Or perhaps…not so gently.

Get it the fuck together.

I shifted in my chair, ignoring the inappropriate thoughts. They had no place here, not given what I was about to tell her. Which was the truth about her mother.

Over the course of the past couple of hours, I’d decided she needed to know and even though it wasn’t my place to tell her, I didn’t give a shit. Ten had made this whole situation immeasurably worse and since he’d given me responsibility for her, I was going to make my own decisions about what was best for her.

I couldn’t put more security on her without an explanation, especially when she found her existing security measures already chafing, and I wasn’t prepared to lie to her.

She was desperate for information about her mother, any fucking idiot could see that, and since I’d known Juliana, and since Ten was being a prick about it, I’d be the one to tell her. Ten was going to be pissed, but he could suck it up. He should have told her years ago, but he hadn’t because he’d wanted to protect her.

I got it. I understood. Isabel was all he had left of Juliana, but still. I should have told her years ago when she’d first asked me about her, yet I hadn’t because I’d respected Ten’s silence on the matter. Not now, though.

A kid should know where they came from, even if where they came from was a place they didn’t ever want to go back to. My own parents being a case in point. After all, there was a reason I was where I was now and not murdered by my fucking father the way the rest of my family had been.

Knowing your past was a lesson. It helped determine your future and it was wrong to deny any kid that.

“I called you up here, because your father is concerned,” I said without preamble. “I talked to him this morning and he thinks you need extra protection.”

Isabel let out a sharp breath and opened her mouth.

“It’s about your mother,” I went on before she could speak. “It’s about who she was, which is why your father is being an insane prick about your security.”

Isabel shut her mouth, her hands clenching in her lap. “Okay. Presumably you said that because you’re going to tell me who she was. Or are you and Dad going to continue being insane pricks about it together?”

The angry flush in her cheeks hadn’t faded and sarcasm edged her tone. I noticed that her knuckles were white.

Fucking Ten. The man could run a huge company like nobody’s business but was apparently useless when it came to being a decent father to a young woman. Not that I could talk, having never been anyone’s father. Then again, I had opinions. Isabel was important to me, and he’d mishandled her badly.

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