“Repeat that shit,” I ordered.
“She told me to leave her alone after I was just trying to ask her a couple of questions about the accounts she used to manage.”
“And she had to fucking tell you to leave her alone.” My voice dipped deathly low as I decreased the space between our bodies. “Which means you were fucking harassing her. Did you touch her?”
His mouth flapped open and closed.
“Did you fucking touch her?” I bellowed.
He jumped and held up his hands, cowering away from me. “I was just trying to talk to her. She’s the one who made— Ahh!” he screamed when I slammed the employee handbook across his face.
His head snapped right and upward from the impact of the five-hundred-page manual. But I wasn’t done. I held the manual in front of me and slammed it into his stomach. The force of the hit made him curl over, and a second later, whatever he’d had to eat that morning spilled out of his mouth and onto the floor.
I frowned in disgust. “I should make you lick that up,” I said, standing over him as he remained on all fours. “You’re lucky I didn’t know about that shit earlier.”
I moved to the door, but right before opening it, I said, “It would be in your best interest to leave this city. Because if I ever run across your fucking face again, our next conversation won’t end so nicely.”
With that, I opened the door to find Joseph standing there. “Make sure Vincent gets home okay,” I said before exiting the room.
“He looks worse for the wear,” Joseph said with humor in his voice.
I looked from him to Vincent, who struggled to lift himself to his feet. “I did as he asked. Never laid a hand on him.” I held out the manual.
There were more ways than one to hurt someone without ever touching them.
CHAPTER31
Brutus
“Oh, and I forgot to tell you this,” Mia said, excited as she sat in the passenger seat of my SUV. She pressed her palm into my forearm. I glanced over at her and smiled because she was so damn beautiful. The ring in my left pocket felt like it weighed a fucking ton.
I wanted nothing more than to have it on her finger already. It’d been a month since the break-in. Three weeks since I questioned Vincent, who turned out to be telling the truth. I verified with the hotel and their security staff that he was there that night. He forgot he’d been there with a woman he hired to spend the night with him.
But that wasn’t my business.
Since he left Townsend Industries, the fool had the right sense to pack up and move out of the city. It probably helped that I had the security footage from the hotel sent to his girlfriend along with the bill paid for by a credit card in her name.
Satisfied that the break-in wasn’t by Vincent still left me on edge. Who the fuck else could it have been?
“We’re starting a book club,” Mia exclaimed, pulling my attention back to the conversation. “A few of my customers asked me about it. And then last week when Patience stopped by, I told her about it, and you know how much she loves to read.” Mia clapped because she was so excited.
“I think she’s going to try to join. It’ll be like two nights a month.” She threw me a pointed look. “And before you ask, no. We are not readingThe 48 Laws of Power.”
I chuckled.
“What day and time are you having the book club?” I asked after sobering up.
“I think Thursday nights at like seven-thirty to eight-thirty or something like that. After the shop closes for the night.”
“No.” The one word reply tore from my throat.
She pressed her hand against the base of her neck. “No, what?”
“Having an after-hours club,” I replied as my hands tightened on the steering wheel. “If the book club ends at eight-thirty, you probably won’t get out of the shop until nine. It’ll be dark.” I knew how Mia liked to talk. Especially when it came to books. I loved it about her, but this was about safety.
“It won’t be that late,” she insisted. “Besides, there will be a group of us. It’s been a month since the break-in, and we have the cameras now. I’m sure no one will try anything.”
I shook my head before she could even finish her statement. “It’s not safe. I already have Rick going in with you or closing with you on the days I can’t be there.”
