Page 13 of Room Twenty-Four: Under Their Hands

“Violetta Winters…we are about to have a nice, long chat about your work habits, baby girl.”

Her blond brows lift and she eyes me like I’m speaking in tongues. “Excuse me. I don’t even know your name and you think you’re just going to waltz into my office, the office of the company I’ve built, and tell me what to do? Who the hell are you?”

Smirking, I stalk over, staring down at her as I bow. “I am Seth Santini. One of the men that you’re going to get to know very well soon, baby girl. After all, if you can’t take care of yourself, we’ll have to do it for you.”

She doesn’t seem to recognize my name but the paramedics sure as hell do. Both of the men back away quickly, their eyes bouncing around the room like they’re looking for an escape route.

I face them. “Is she alright?”

“Yeah.” One of them clears his throat and manages to get his eyes to somewhere close to where I’m standing. Still can’t look me in the face. Little pussy.

“She’s just had a panic attack. If she goes to the hospital they can maybe prescribe some anxiety meds for her but that’s about it except for taking better care of herself.”

I nod my head. Pretty much what I expected. “That’s not going to be a problem. She’s got me to look out for her now. Me and my brothers.”

If anything they turn even paler than they were. Both of them back up. But they manage to muster up the professionalism to look at Violetta and ask, “Do you want us to take care of anything for you? You want to go to the hospital?”

She sits up, her silk blouse wrinkled and pushed up slightly so that my greedy eyes lock on the bare, tanned skin of her rounded belly. She sees where my eyes are and yanks at the blouse, shooting me a glare that could melt most men into puddles.

Not me. I just chuckle.

She wrinkles her pert little nose and then she turns to the other men in the room and sighs, pushing her long, blond curls out of her face. “I’m fine. I’ll just try and take it easier for a day or two. I appreciate y’all coming here to take care of me.”

Both of them nod their heads and gather their stuff up, letting themselves quietly out of the sleek office. I don’t follow them. I won’t be leaving, even though she looks at me expectantly.

“I’m not going anywhere, princess. So you can just save that look. I’ll be staying here to take care of you. My boss is very insistent that we have to make sure our little one is safe. Consider me your guard dog. I’ll be here right under your pretty little nose, helping you with anything you need.”

She huffs and stands up, shivering and staring up at me when I pace over and grasp her arm gently to help her up.

“I can stand on my own.”

“I’m sure you can do many things on your own. But it doesn’t matter. I’m here now. Tomorrow, at Club Sin, all three of us will be there to take care of you. Very important since you don’t seem capable of taking care of yourself.” My voice firms to steel with each word.

“I can take care of myself fine.”

Alexia huffs out a strangled growl as she directs the men carrying an extra desk into the room.

“Alexia, what the hell is this?” Violetta stiffens, eyeing her assistant coldly.

“This is his desk.” She nods at me and I try to keep my grin from sneaking out. Violetta looks like she’s about to rip my head off and I don’t want to give her a reason to.

“And this is his computer.” She carries a small laptop inside and sets it on the desk. Then one of the guys hauls in a fancy desk chair. “And his chair. Good luck. You’re going to need it.” She giggles and runs out of the room, shutting the door and leaving us standing in a thick silence.

“I don’t need a keeper. I have taken care of myself for a long time. I’m fully capable of it.”

“Don’t care. You’ve got us now. And believe me when I say that all your issues with your board are about to go up like little puffs of smoke.”

She snorts and stalks around to the huge window that looks out over a parking lot and little islands of greenery. “I don’t know how you think you can take care of that. I’ve been pushing those guys to get them off my back for the longest time.”

“Because you might not know who we are but they will. Trust me. If you’re ours, no man will dare to mess with you.”

“That’s a big if! And seriously, who the hell are you?”

“I’m Seth Santini.” I wait to see if she knows the name. Nothing happens but her cute little nose crinkling again.

“I don’t know who that is.”

I snort out a laugh. “Wow. You really know how to gut a guy. Do you know Marco Mantoni? Bruno Bugato?”

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