Page 25 of Scent of Desire
“I have contacts everywhere, Hugo. Just make the calls.” I turned around to end the topic, facing my guests. “How do you think I’ve become the Devil?”
That was the thing about favors. They could be collected at any moment.
“Anything else?”
I was glad he asked.
“Did you know Mrs. Walton had a newfound passion for sewing?”
He snorted. “The point?”
“I want her to make something for me.” I tore up a piece of paper, writing down the instructions to follow. “Give her this.”
He seized the paper and didn’t bother to hide his shock reading it. With his eyebrows raised, he laughed sarcastically. “Shit, it’s madness.”
A vile, deadly smile inked on my lips. “And you haven’t heard the best part of it.”
The unpleasant noise of heels clapping on the floor interrupted us. That symphony made my ears whistle the divine judgment that needed to be done to her. I shut my eyes, breathing deep to prepare myself for the storm to come.
“Radcliff!” Melissa barged into my office, unannounced—which was bold and very regrettable on her part.
I wasn’t surprised, though. But for once, her timing couldn’t be more perfect. Too bad for her, she wouldn’t be able to assume the consequences of her actions.
“Huh, Melissa, we’re having a discussion here,” Hugo spat. “Don’t you have work to do other than dress up like a freak show?”
“Chill, Hugo. It’s not my fault you didn’t bang anyone today. I just need to talk to Radcliff,” she quipped back.
“For fuck’s sake, Melissa, you don’t have any—”
My knuckles cracked, and impatience seared my veins like a corrosive liquid.
“Hugo, let us alone. We’ll continue this discussion later.” I brimmed with hostility, turning around, tired of their childish behavior.
Melissa was glaring with glory, both of her arms settling on her hips. Hugo swallowed and nodded in frustration. He then took his leave, stomping the ground in heavy clomps.
“Melissa, I’m pleased that you’re here.” On my “pleased,” she furrowed her brows. No doubt, she wasn’t that stupid—she knew something was off.
She folded her arms, her sudden confidence vanishing. “Where is Christian?”
“Gone.” My lips curled in a thin line. “He won’t step a foot in my club, ever.”
“Why?” She raised her voice in a capricious shrill, with an overdramatic hand gesture. “Was it because I liked him? Are you jealous?”
“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Melissa.”
She threw herself on the sofa, her eyes studying me with a critical squint, attempting to read another meaning between my words. Then, they glimmered with twisted hope. “I don’t understand you.”
“Perhaps you’ll understand this?” I went to my desk to pick up a contract and dropped it on the table facing her.
She seized it with her manicured fingers immediately. Her venomous little eyes widened at first with excitement, but when she finally read what was written inside, her expression shifted to disgust with a grim and tight mouth, her stare blazing murderously at the piece of paper. It was priceless.
“What’s all this?” she yelled, shaking the contract before jerking it on the ground, as if that would help her case.
A ghost of a smile teased the corners of my lips. “A reassignment.”
She had spoken to Lily. She had given her access to that red room, knowing what would happen to her with those pricks. She had thrown her under the claws of sinners, hoping they’d break her with their vicious touch. I had warned her not to mess with her, and she went against my orders anyway. Her soul had always been twisted despite the fact that she was a lost one, and this time, she was beyond redemption.
“I already have a job here!” She rose up, hysterical. “I’m no bathroom cleaner, Radcliff! Can you see me doing that?”
