What the fuck!
As if this is her house or her table to say when anyone can or cannot eat. Especially since her brother has been stuffing his fucking face before anyone else has even picked up their glasses. The arrogant and classless bastard even picks up his wine glass and holds it to a toast, to which no one pays him any attention.
He admittedly didn’t pay anyone attention throughout dinner. Conversations were at a minimum anyway with Cristian, who of course, finished dinner before anyone else, chatting away his bullshit. His plans for expansion are ridiculous and his dreams of running the Romano empire were fruitless. Nothing more than an entitled child’s pipe dream. The asshole didn’t even want to put in the work. Many times he heard Cristian openly indicating his hopes of having Kings’ allies doing the grunt work for him.
Because that’s what bosses do. They have other people do the dirty work.
That’s sarcasm by the way.
Kings didn’t get this high up the food chain by not getting their own hands dirty.
Cristian needs to be taught that lesson. It makes him wonder how the fuck Pietro raised his son, the heir to his empire. Cristian is nothing more than a joke in a tailored suit. Come to think of it, something must have happened for Matteo Romano to be appointed head of the family otherwise Cristian would have held the title.
His attention yields to Ariana. Not for the first time.
She’s currently splitting her dessert with Jazzy who seems far too happy to be getting extra sugar for the night. The two seem to be genuinely enjoying each other’s company and it tugs at his heartstrings. He knew a heart exists within him…somewhere. He loves his family profoundly but this is the first time that Jazzy is this way with anyone outside of his family.
“Jazzy,” he cuts in with a bit of jealousy. Jealous of Jazzy or jealous of Ariana. He hasn’t quite figured that part out yet. “After that last bite, you have to get ready for bed,” he tells her. “You have two tests tomorrow.”
“Ugh! I know, Dad!” she snarks at him with her cute little pout. “Can Ariana go over my homework? Please? That way, you can spend more time with…”
Her eyes dart over to Isabella.
“Ms. Isabella,” she finishes. Isabella, who didn’t say more than a few more words to Jazzy throughout dinner.
“Ariana is my assistant,” Isabella retorts like a petulant child. “It would be nice to ask me for permission.”
He sees Jazzy’s lips tighten together at the scolding.
Who the fuck does this wench think she is? It was merely a child’s question. There was no need for the scolding or show of power.
“Of course, she can,” Stella replies immediately. “You can take Ariana up and show her around your room and your wing too when you’re done.”
Isabella seems ready for an immediate retaliation but Stella immediately gets out of her seat with a loud scraping of her chair, cutting Isabella off from her protest.
Her nostrils flare and he can state with confidence that Isabella is already writing a raincheck for payback. He’d like to wish her good luck with that also. Stella may seem prim and proper but no one fucks with her without repercussions.
Ten minutes later, he watches Jazzy lead Ariana away from the table in a fit of giggles.
All he wants to do is run after the two to find out what they are doing and what they are talking about. The feeling that he needs to know everything is tempting him even as his eyes follow Ariana’s back until he couldn’t see her anymore.
Everyone else retreats to their office. Hopefully, it won’t take long before the Romanos take their leave. He’s done being the proper gentleman and he’s done entertaining the notions of the two. The longer Isabella stays close to him, the more he wants to shove her off a bridge. They may have to stick to this deal but there’s no fat chance in all of fucking burning hell that they’re going to get their hands on anything with Kings’ name on it.
Chase’s obnoxiously loud laugh forces him to focus on the conversation. His brother is holding his side as if he’s laughed until his six-pack is possibly aching.
“You’re fucking delusional,” Chase says to whatever it was Cristian said.
“We’ve already set everything up,” Isabella now adds in.
“Then I guess you’re going to be the ones that disappoint these business partners of yours. We don’t do business with organizations we don’t know and we sure as hell don’t lend our product out,” Derrick adds.
“We’re not just anyone,” Isabella purrs. “We’re going to be family soon. Besides, you’re only sparing your product, which will be recompensed nicely. We, on the other hand, are putting our names on the line, backing up your quality.”
He couldn’t help but join in on Chase’s laugh at the audacity of this nonsense.
“And?” he asks catching on. “That makes no difference. Whatever this becomes, our business is our business. You will have no say in it. You will do well to learn that now before anything is set in stone. It’s not too late for you to back out of this arrangement if it doesn’t suit you.”
Isabella pierces him with her soulless eyes. Calculating or not, if he’s blunt like this, then there shouldn’t be any future misunderstandings where the business is concerned.
“Darling,” she purrs after she regains her composure and straightens up. “Uncle Matteo and Don Bobby Lamont of the Midwest Famiglia are already expecting this deal to go through. They are waiting to see the outcome.”
OH FUCK ME!
“What the fuck?” Rory hisses.
“You made a fucking business deal using our resources and connections without consulting any of us first?!” Derrick practically howls.
“Both will be highly disappointed, Isabella. I hope you’ve prepared an explanation. Especially since we’ve not announced any type of engagement or involvement with any Romano yet,” he adds as calmly as possible.
His fucking fingers are itching to throttle the bitch though.
“I think you all should take your leave now,” Rory suggests. His brother stands up from his seat and he can tell that Ro is pissed the fuck off.
“Leave?” Isabella asks with a scoff. “We’d plan on spending the night.”
Without a fucking invitation? Yeah. That’s going to fucking happen.
“You weren’t invited,” Stella’s voice echoes through the room before she steps in with Ariana following closely behind her.
Her head is down again and the confidence and air of happiness she had when she was with Jazzy has seemed to vanish.
“I’m sorry but we weren’t expecting an overnight stay and have no rooms prepared,” she adds with her usual good nature.
He hears a clip and sees both Chase and Rory unclipping their holsters. Stella steps over to the desk to stand by her husband.
“If you want us to further discuss this business deal then you can’t stay here. We don’t discuss business with outsiders,” Stella tells the two.
Cristian seems to get the hint that Chase and Rory aren’t fucking around and the coward quickly steps out of his chair first. He ushers his jaw-dropped sister out of the office.
Isabella strongly handles Ariana, digging her nails into her arm while pulling her hair as they leave. No doubt, the bitch is taking her frustrations out on her pet.