Page 75 of Between Never and Forever
“Not when I have a sister and brother-in-law who are better than everyone in the fucking world.”
“Hey.” Bane turned to me. Suddenly, his eyes held fury and something maniacal. “Careful how you talk in front of the little one.”
Cade busted out laughing. “Yeah, Dex. Careful. The next generation of the Armanellis are most important.” He looked at Bane Black. “And the Blacks’ generation will be quite important too.” With that, he was gone.
Bane stood immediately from the conference room chair and frowned at me. “You sure you’re good?” he said and narrowed his eyes like he was trying to pry open my damn mind.
“You think I’m not?”
“You need to figure out your love life. It’ll hinder our casino if you can’t. I know you normally never miss anything. I’ve assessed your security measures for years. I wasn’t about to go into business with someone I didn’t research. And I don’t want that changing because your mind is elsewhere.”
I hummed. “Maybe you should have gone into business with Cade then. Has he missed anything?”
“Cade’s technically not in business with anyone but his family now. You heard him.” He smiled slow. “You know this. You also know what he missed.” We all did. He’d almost lost my sister because of it. “Don’t make the same mistake as him.” His words held a sense of foreboding.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not focused. And when you’re not focused, people take advantage. You own a place that now makes billions of dollars a year. I funnel even more through this casino. People who have power don’t like that. They don’t like that I’m intercepting their business or potentially hindering other businesses.”
“If you’re talking about laundering, we’ve had a handle on—”
“Platinum Casino took a huge hit when we invested and opened our doors here. They’re not happy, Dex. You think they’re so squeaky clean they wouldn’t somehow try to hurt our business?”
“They would be stupid to do so.”
“I didn’t claim that they were smart. All I said was you’d better focus. Protect what’s most important.” He leaned in. “And I don’t mean that girl.”
He left me reeling.That girl…like she was only that and notmygirl. My fiancée. The woman who broke my heart but still had the pieces in her grasp. Control of emotions slipped faster and faster, gaining momentum down a slope that wasn’t stoppable. I wouldn’t allow it. I wouldn’t fall off the cliff again.
I pounded a number into the phone. “Mitchell, I want that fucking contract in my email by the end of this week.”
“Oh, Keelani has it. She said she’d discuss it with you.” His voice shook over the phone. It’s how I knew the fucker was lying.
“She’d better.” I hung up, not willing to deal with that now.
I went to work instead. I had Penelope cater in some food to the conference room for me, not willing to go back to my place, where I could smell Kee everywhere, hear her tiptoeing around that room, feel her presence but never see her step over the threshold to talk to me.
Penelope set the food down on my desk once it arrived. “Dex, I’m putting your first few events with Ms. Hale on the calendar. How would you like the next event handled regarding your engagement? I’ve got a few options for—”
“Keelani and I will handle it.” I wasn’t sure how, but I knew we would even if we’d been avoiding each other now for damn days and still her words about wanting experience were clamoring around in my head. Could she handle that type of experience with me? Could she want who I was now instead of who I’d been?
“Like you handled your engagement post too?” She glanced up from her phone with pursed lips. “That was surprising, Dex. I can at least help you with the next location of—"
I frowned. “That’s not going to be public.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not… We’re not…” I narrowed my eyes at her.
Penelope was quick to figure things out, and her blue eyes searched mine so hard I felt like she was using a jackhammer to break through my thoughts. “You’re not what, exactly?”
“We don’t need attention.”
She lifted a brow and leaned back. “Interesting, Dex. Isn’t this all for attention?” she murmured.
“It’s for something. I’m not sure what yet.”
She smiled and went back to her phone. “Don’t expect to avoid the paps if you go outside of HEAT territory. They’ll be circling, and you’re both well-known.”
