He gave me a deep chuckle. “No worries. Anyway… what did you think of the girl?” His eyes lit up.
The girl…
Jia Marchesi…
Like Ethan said, she wasn’t involved and I didn’t need to involve her, so while she had the kind of face I wasn’t likely to forget I wasn’t thinking about her because I wasn’t supposed to. Out of sight out of mind.
“She’s twenty six,” I replied and he gave me an incredulous glare.
“Okay, and when last I checked, that was well past the legal age.” He raised his brows. “Also, do I have to remind you of the nineteen year old.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “She told me she was twenty five.”
“And back then you were thirty two.”
“Wes. Mission to focus on right?” This was so not the time to be talking about women.
“Right.” He chuckled and motioned to the cascading steps that led up to the Marchesi. “Mission and mission’s pretty little daughter just walked into view.”
I followed his gaze and saw them.
There they were. Live and in living color before me.
Giovanni and Jia Marchesi stood outside the entrance to The Grand Marchesi.
Giovanni looked every bit the foreboding king I expected to see. Tall in height and personality just from sight with his silver streaked hair and bad ass older tough guy appearance. He reminded me of someone like Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone rolled into one. From here I could tell he had a nasty streak though and that was just from looking at him at a distance.
Jia was petite next to him, and I cursed myself from diverting my attention from the guy I was supposed to be checking out to checking her out.
That image Ethan had shown us didn’t do her any justice. The real live version was the kind to steal a man’s breath away. She had a body made for sin. Serious sinning. The type I shouldn’t be looking to enlist myself in.
The petite, willowy frame was eroticized by her large, fully rounded breasts I was certain she would have gotten a lot of attention for. Along with that hair that looked brighter under the lights. It was like looking at an erotic version of Tinkerbell.
They seemed to be arguing. Giovanni said something to her and a frown creased her pretty face. He walked off and she chased after him. He got into the back of a limo and drove off leaving her standing there mid-speech.
“Trouble in paradise,” Wes commented. “These rich people always think they have problems. I’ll bet she wanted a new handbag.”
I continued to stare and shook my head.
It wasn’t that.
She wiped away a tear from her cheek and then another.
Whatever it was caused her to cry and I doubted it was a handbag.
Whatever it was, was none of my concern, yet as I watched her that desperation reached out to me. Luring me to find out what was wrong.
“Xander…” Wes called me. He said my name like he’d said something else before. I didn’t hear a word.
“What?”
“You’re thinking something.”
I was… I just hadn’t brought my thoughts to the forefront of my mind.
I gazed back to her. She was still standing there on the steps. Still there looking on, watching the spot where the limo had been.
Looked like there was trouble in paradise and I was about to add to it.
Sorry beauty, your father just became a job to me. A threat. That meant I had to take what he had and eliminate him.
I watched her turn and walk in the opposite direction toward the parking lot.
A few seconds later when a yellow Porsche pulled out with her inside a really bad idea formed in my mind.
A really bad idea.
“Wes, how about I see you later,” I said to him.
“What?”
“Go. I’ll catch up with you later.”
He frowned and got out of the car.
I gunned the engine and followed the beauty in the yellow Porsche.
No harm in doing some data gathering, even if the object of my attention looked like an erotic version of Tinkerbell.
When she parked up outside a club called the Glass Bowl that air of this being a bad idea came back to me.
I was kind of hoping she’d go home or somewhere like that. Not a club.
I parked a distance from her, watching. The minute she stepped out and handed the car over to the valet eyes were on her. Of course she would have eyes on her. Even if people didn’t know who she was, that body of hers commanded attention. Mine was no less different to all the other men looking at her.
I got out of my car, deciding I’d continue to follow her.
I’d come this far, no point turning back.
Work was work as long as I remembered she was off limits.
Chapter Five
Jia
Great.
I frowned and released a slow sigh as I read the text Anya sent me.
The club lights bounced off my phone but I could see clear enough from her text that she wasn’t coming.
She was standing me up again for the second time in the last five days. Both times were when I needed her the most. Although this time I really did feel like I’d hit the bottom of the fucking barrel and I’d either go crazy or allow crazy to get me.
Pa was driving me insane.
I was sure now he was hell bent on destroying my life. I really needed someone to speak to and my damn best friend had chosen to be with her stupid boyfriend.
That fucking Mike deserved to have his dick chopped off. He was always cheating on her and I didn’t understand why she couldn’t value herself enough to end it with him. It was a constant cycle. He’d cheat and she’d find out. They would argue. I’d get my hopes up that she’d dumped his ass, and just when I thought she would, she’d take him back.
That was Anya in a nutshell and I was sure this was another round like that. Yet, when Armand cheated she was the first to tell me not to give him another chance when he asked for it.
One rule for me and another for her.
Although, she was definitely right to warn me away from Armand.
She’d never liked him and I was just blind. When he was trying to get with me, he wasn’t as vile as he’d been last night. He was nice, but that was men all over. Nice until they got what they wanted, then they’d show their true colors.
I scanned over the text again:
He wants to talk. Sorry I can’t make tonight.
That was what it said and it only just came after I’d been at the Glass Bowl for an hour and had two cocktails. I wasn’t drunk but maybe on the verge of tipsy, and I wouldn’t have had that last drink if I’d known she wasn’t going to show. I didn’t like drinking while out by myself. Things could happen, and things had happened to people who drank too much when they were out by themselves.
Things people wanted and things they didn’t want.
If something happened to me tonight that I didn’t want, chances were no one would know since Pa had sent me home.
He’d called half an hour ago and I didn’t answer.
Usually I checked in with him when I wasn’t at the hotel. Always. It was practically a rule.
After the way he spoke to me and practically fled from me earlier I’d decided I didn’t care about his stupid rules. I was making a stand because I needed a break.