Page 41 of Heart of Stone (Dark Billionaires)

Mattie: Because I can help her set it up if she’s unsure.

“Are they difficult to set up? I’ve never done it before,” she asked worriedly, dragging her new laptop towards her. She hacked away at the security sticker with her blunted nails. Within seconds, she’d peeled it off and was opening the box.

“It shouldn’t be,” Warren said mildly.

“Ooh,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t expect it to be white.” Kate held her new laptop as though it were as fragile as a newborn. An excited smile broke through. “Thank you. I love it.”

The laptop was a breeze to get up and running, and in a few minutes Kate had logged onto social media and sent over a friend request to Mattie. He responded immediately.

Mattie: Do you want to playWorld of Warcraftwith me?

“Can I get that on this laptop?” Kate asked.

“That was literally the most expensive laptop in the shop. If it can’t runWorld of Warcraftthen I’m sending the friggin’ thing back.” Warren paused. “Do you really want to play with him?”

Kate nibbled on her lip. “It did seem like fun.”

Warren tucked her under his arm, sealing their embrace with a kiss. “Then let’s get it downloaded.”

8

Warren

“Youwanttheunderlyingprofit margins for each of the product lines?” Jensen asked, jotting down notes for the minutes of the board meeting.

Warren nodded. “If they can get them down to each individual product, that would be even better. Their current reports aren’t even close to good enough. No wonder they needed a fucking buyout.”

“Noted.”

“I’d like to add that to the agenda for our next board meeting too. They have eight weeks to get the first report ready for us.”

Jensen looked at Aldous and Rhys. “Any other business?”

Rhys shook his head.

“Not of that sort,” Aldous replied unhappily.

Warren readied himself for a fight. “If this is another attempt to persuade me to hand everything to the police th—”

Aldous held up a hand. “It’s not that. It’s Mum’s sixtieth next month.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Rhys whispered under his breath.

“Auntie Alison is sixty?” Jensen sat back in his chair. “Holy shit.”

“Do you know, I would have thought she was closer to fifty?” Warren said, mildly impressed.

Rhys rolled his eyes. “No wonder she welcomed you into the family.”

Warren’s grin was smug. “It’s not my fault her biological children were defective.”

“Speaking of defective, how’s your new prosthetic going?” Rhys bit back, running his tongue across his teeth, bared in a smug grin.

Mid-sip, Warren inhaled half of his Coke in an attempt not to laugh. He choked out a cough, tears running from his eyes from the fizzing in his nose. “Sounds like you’re itching to do another shot from my prosthetic,” he bounced a Cheshire cat smile right back at Rhys.

Rhys clapped a hand over his mouth as he retched involuntarily. “Don’t!”

Even Jensen smirked as Rhys staggered to his feet, holding his hand securely over his mouth.

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