CHAPTER 4
Henri
I tooka deep breath as I checked over the text message I’d gotten again.
E:Ricardo is headed your way. Heads up!
The intel from Emory, who much preferred the use of their initial, was much appreciated, though it was coming at a very inconvenient time. I needed my boss focused on work-related tasks right now. He needed to bury himself in the routine to push away the loss he was going through.
I knew he loved Stasia. There’d never been a moment when I hadn’t seen the affection shining in his eyes.
Her betraying him had to have hurt. She’d known what we were walking in to with Domenico. Had things gone her way, we’d have been led straight to our deaths.
That wasn’t something a person got over quickly. Work would help. It had kept me focused. I knew it would do the same for Pharrell.
Of course, this was one of those times when I could give advice, yet I struggled to implement it in my own life. I had a stack of paperwork on my desk that needed sorting, an email inbox full of requests, and plenty of non-paperwork related tasks to get done today.
And yet… I couldn’t focus.
Not after the bombhedropped on me.
Pip.
The asshole had shown up guns blazing, ready to make a mess of everyone in his way. I knew Pharrell liked him. Knew the history there since I’d been around from the start.
It still didn’t make me like him.
Pip craved the darker parts of life. He didn’t follow rules, and he didn’t respect boundaries. If he wanted something, he made it happen.
In all the years I’d known him, I’d seen him barrel through a situation without a care to the destruction he’d left behind.
The lackadaisical way he navigated life drove me mad. He didn’t even have a home, for fuck’s sake. Last I’d checked, he had several storage units spaced around the country. I suspected they were all full of weapons.
As far as an actual home though, there wasn’t a trace of anything. I’d dug deep enough to find it had there been one.
Then he had the audacity to level me with mind-blowing information.“Who says that I wanted to dominate you?”
I could hear the words on repeat in my head. Over and over, they taunted me. He couldn’t have possibly meant what I think he did. There was no way Pip… No! It wasn’t possible.
And of course, the asshole had left without a word after that. He’d taken in my hanging jaw and decided not to expand any further. It was just another way he could poke at me.
The phone on my desk rang, startling me from my thoughts. “Hello,” I answered on autopilot.
Normally, I’d check to see who it was to ensure I’d be in the right mindset for the conversation. But like I always felt after thinking of Pip, I was all off-balance.
“Good morning, Henri.” I immediately pegged the voice as Pierre.
“Good morning to you as well. How may I help you today?”
He chuckled at my direct wording. Through the years, he’d grown accustomed to my all-business mindset. That didn’t mean he didn’t find it a bit funny to have me jump straight into things instead of exchanging pleasantries.
“I’m working on the boss’s schedule today. There are a few things I need clarification on. Do you have the time to go over them with me?”
“Absolutely,” I agreed quickly.
Did I have other things to take care of? The list was never-ending.
But I knew going over Pharrell’s schedule would be enough to keep my mind off the man it shouldn’t be focused on.
