Page 39 of Pain and Pleasure

He gives me the code and opens the door to my office, allowing me to step inside as he guards the outside of it. The lighting in the room is low but there are large floor-to-ceiling windows lining the wall to my right, overseeing all of downtown LA. I walk to it and I am mesmerized by the twinkling lights and busy streets below me. This is something out of a dream and I'm living right in it.

Though I've dreamed about being in a kitchen baking most of my life, I have to admit I've often let my mind drift to a powerful setting like this. Especially when I served at such a low wage for asshole customers and even more asshole managers. I've always wondered what it felt like to be on top, to oversee something. And now I find that the view is amazing from this high up.

My desk and chair are both large and modern looking, black in color and adorned with two large, matching bookshelves on the wall to the left of it. There's a door to a bathroom by one of the bookshelves, but my eyes are locked on all of the security footage displayed on the large back wall, several expensive monitors lined side by side, showing me every view on every floor.

It's a lot to look at, but it's comforting to know there's heavy surveillance here. Each screen holds about ten camera views, covering the majority of the square footage in this entire building. It makes me think back to the night when Ricky and I came here to celebrate my birthday. Dante admitted that he knew about the boy that hit on me when I found him in my apartment that night. This is how. He's been watching me this closely since then. It should make me feel uneasy, but I feel safe with that knowledge. Safe that he's been there with me for this long, even if he stayed in the shadows.

I look around at the wide-open space. There's a whole wall that's empty and would look great as one of those grass walls with neon lighting. There could be some plants on the desk, maybe some side tables and a few armchairs. There's a lot to make this room more like me for the time that I'll spend in it. I don't mind being used as bait after all.

I take a seat at my desk, glancing at the files before looking back at the security monitors on the wall. I looked to the portion of one of the screens that oversees the bar on the first floor, spotting the man that stared at me on my way up here earlier. I look for a remote and find one on the desk. After some messing around, I find a way to zoom in on the man. I can only see the back of his head, but I get a strange feeling the longer I look at him, almost like he's familiar.

I wait silently until the man turns around and I get a good look at his face through the camera. I stare at him until for some reason, I think of my father, and the harder that I think, I start to remember where I've seen this man before.

He was the driver for Juan Carlos when he took me to my mother's house weeks ago.

My eyes widen and I rush to find my cell phone in my purse that I threw on the desk. I call out for Benjamin as I dial Sergio's number. He enters just when Sergio answers the phone.

"The man at the bar, he works for my father."

Benjamin calls for backup in his earpiece as I hear Sergio yell out to a guard and they begin making their way towards the bar. I stare at the monitor as I watch the man spot both Sergio and the guards, his hand going to his hip. I immediately feel panicked as I watch the man reach for a gun but he decides to flee instead when he realizes more guards surround him.

He runs in the direction of the exit but is immediately tackled by two guards near the door. I drop the phone in my hand as I watch the guards pull the man away, everyone's attention now centered on them. I hear my phone buzzing on the desk and look down to see Dante calling me.

"Hello?" I say and I hear Dante's sigh of relief.

"You're okay. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Keep the door locked and the cameras on. We don't know who else could be there."

"Okay. Just be careful," I say, my eyes still looking at the monitors, feeling a lot more terrified than I thought I would be.

"I'll be there soon, Emmie. Just stay put."

I nod as he hangs up the call, the phone hanging in my hand as my eyes stay glued to the bar on the first floor. After weeks of my father not showing his whereabouts, he makes his presence known when I come to the club. It's almost as if he's been tracking me, tracking me from inside of Dante's house somehow. I feel an uneasiness creep into my stomach as I realize just how unsafe I really am.

I'm being watched from all angles.

18

Esmeralda

"Emmie?"Dante calls from the doorway.

It's the fourth time he's called my name since he's opened the door, but my eyes are glued to the security monitors. I turn slowly to look at him, my hands still clutching my phone after we hung up our call nearly twenty minutes ago.

Dante walks in the room and kneels before me when he reaches my desk. His hair is tousled, and I notice the stubble of his beard is growing even longer. I like him like this. Wild and unhinged looking. What I don't like is the situation that's made him this way. The ever-impending threat of my father.

I reach out and run my fingers along his jaw. His eyes narrow, but he's leaned into my touch.

"What're you thinking, mi ciela?" he murmurs.

His hand reaches up to catch my fingers that run idly along his jaw.

"That I like you with a beard," I say, absent minded and lost in his presence.

No matter the threat that's at bay, he brings a calmness to me when he's near. He smiles at me, and it makes me less worrisome about the man he has captured downstairs. The man that's clearly been sent by my father to stalk me.

"I'll keep that in mind." He pulls my fingers to his mouth and gives them each a quick kiss.

"I have to go downstairs and question him, Emmie. I need you to stay here while I send Benjamin back up, okay?" he says, waiting for my nod.

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