Chapter 19 #2
The tension was thick in the room as we waited for Jameson to answer.
A part of me wanted him to say that he cared, that I wasn’t just an employee, that maybe some of his feelings might have been involved, but there was no indication of it as he waved us away, his emotions shut completely down in the blink of an eye. “As long as security goes with—”
“Which we always make sure they do.” Callahan lifted a brow like he was waiting for more of an excuse.
There was a moment of long silence before Jameson seemed to concede. “Hades can go, then.”
Hades shook his head while keeping his stare on Rosy. It was deadly. “I think that’s a bad idea. Archer can.”
Another jaw tick from Jameson, but he didn’t look up. “Fine. Him and a team.”
“Great. Tell them to stay back,” Olive concluded, starting to back out of the room like we needed to keep our eyes on them.
Hooking an arm in mine, Pink led me to the door, and we were almost through it when I heard, “Ms. Darling, a word with you first.”
“Shit,” Pink grumbled, “almost made it.”
He got up to walk past me, and his arm brushed mine as he said, “In the study. Now.”
I guess that meant I had to follow him. Freaking jerk. If we’d been alone, I’d have sat my behind down on the couch and waited for him to realize I wasn’t a dog who was told what to do.
And when Malek didn’t even follow him, I lifted my chin. “Mr. Knight, even my students know how to ask nicely.”
Callahan, I swear, covered his laugh with a cough as his brother turned around, shoulders tense and eyes with murder in them. “Please, Ms. Darling, get your ass in the study before I drag you to it.”
I scoffed, literally scoffed in his face, and I think the whole room tensed.
I didn’t care. Just because I taught good manners to my students didn’t mean I had to have them all the time.
I didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone, but I did take it upon myself to stomp my way loudly down the hall.
I only paused when we passed the living area and laid eyes on Mrs. Knight laughing with Valerie and Franny.
Both of them glanced over at me while Franny continued to laugh and draw on a sheet of paper.
“Ms. Darling, good to see you. You look … nice.” Valerie’s eyes swept over me, and I instantly wanted to shrink away from the doorway.
My dress was probably too short and way too tight for Mrs. Knight to be assessing.
And Valerie was in a pressed polo, all pastels and proper etiquette aesthetic.
Her hair was in a soft bun, and the blonde highlights were perfectly blended like she had all the time in the world to make herself look the part.
“You off for the weekend? You must have plans somewhere.”
“I do,” I answered cautiously, not sure what to say to her or Mrs. Knight. Both of their eyes held judgment that I wasn’t ready for.
Franny glanced up and gasped in delight. “You’re wearing your favorite color, Ms. Darling. You look like a princess. Right, Daddy? Are you taking out a princess tonight? You could dance with her until midnight like Cinderella does with her prince.”
Jameson cleared his throat and looked physically pained.
He wanted nothing to do with this moment, and neither did I.
Still, he answered. “I wish I was taking her out, Fran.” His stare felt heavy as he met mine.
“She’s going to dance with her friends. But no prince better dance with our princess, right? ”
Franny chuckled and nodded, going back to drawing.
Mrs. Knight’s eyes stared inquisitively at me, but Valerie’s were daggers.
“Franny?” Valerie’s tone was sharp. “You know that dress’s color is quite bold, a bit bright for around here.
” Her insult hit right where it needed to as she raised her eyebrows at me and her lips curved condescendingly.
“Sorry. I know you’re probably going into the city dressed like that, right?
I just want Franny to understand the community here. It’s quite a respectable neighborhood.”
She crossed her arms, and I saw that emblem flash, reminding me that somehow she was part of the Diamond Syndicate. Whether it was generational grace or she worked for all of them, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I wasn’t a part of it. I was in a borrowed dress and on borrowed time here.
Yet, I saw how Franny chewed her cheek, absorbing the divisive comment and information. Valerie was constructing a box that Franny thought she’d have to fit perfectly into, but I wasn’t about to make her feel that way.
Maybe if it was just me, I would have shrunk back. But not for that sweet girl. “Probably time for Paradise Grove to respect more than outward appearances though, right? It takes more than an outfit to make a princess, right, Franny?”
She smiled. “Heart-in-pinkie promise?”
“Of course, and remember that when someone makes you feel less than, Franny. Friends love you for who you are, not for what you dress up to be.”
I turned and walked off before anyone could say another word, because I wouldn’t act out in front of Franny no matter how bad I wanted to.
I heard Jameson behind me as he closed the door to his study. When I turned to meet his eyes, they were cold and unreadable. I didn’t care. “She had way worse coming, and you know it.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what I’m going to say, Mia.”
“What? I’m out of line? Not to talk to your girlfriend that way?”
His eyes snapped open to hold mine under their glare. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Oh. Then maybe future fiancée? From how she’s sitting with your mother?”
He clenched his teeth. “She’s my child’s psychiatrist. You’re her nanny and teacher. You two should be getting along.”
I scoffed at that. He didn’t know I’d heard them banging, so I couldn’t throw it in his face even if I wanted to.
“Come on, Mr. Knight. She seems quite cozy in your house and with your mother and your child to be only that. But if that’s the story we’re going with, fine.
I don’t really care about anything else she might be to you anyway.
” It was a petulant thing to say, but I felt petulant.
I crossed my arms to try to hold onto my jealousy.
“Bullshit, Darling. I think you do care. Want to admit it now, or will I have to make you confess later?”
The fact that he thought he could was disrespectful enough for me to tell him, “Neither. I care about your daughter, Jameson. And she’s being fed a crock of shit by her psychiatrist, so I hope you’re considering that.”
“Now you’re definitely out of line,” he practically roared, probably because that hit too close to home for him. Because I was onto something.
“I’m out of line?” I stepped up to him and let him look down at me. I’d meet him bellow for bellow if necessary. “You just swore at me in front of your family, friends, and staff, then proceeded to threaten to drag me down the hall!”
“Swore?” He looked flabbergasted. “You should be happy it was only words. I’m the leader of arguably the most powerful syndicate in the world, Mia. I swear all the goddamn time!”
“Well, I don’t like when it’s directed toward me,” I told him. I was trying to not swear, and he could too. “So fucking quit it.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
“And you’re rude! God forbid I want to look a certain way while going out.”
“I didn’t say anything about how you looked—”
“Exactly. You didn’t. You stood there and let another woman tear me down in your daughter’s presence. So, I had to be the boss, I guess, and put another one of your employees in her place so that your daughter doesn’t take up being a mean girl.”
His hands slid into his pockets as if he needed them there. Maybe he wanted to strangle me at this point, but instead, he tried to take the higher road. “Valerie’s just prickly when—”
The low road was clearly where I was comfortable with him at this point.
I was so annoyed as I thought more about how disrespectful that woman had been and how he hadn’t done a thing about it.
“When she’s off the clock and being herself?
Or when she feels threatened? Either way, she’s instilling values in Franny that make your daughter uncomfortable.
Are you a father, or a fucking people pleaser? ”
“Jesus, Mia,” he whispered, but it whipped through the room with a vengeance. “Do you want me to lose my mind and control with you? I swear you do. I swear you enjoy lashing out at me.”
“I do what I have to for your daughter.”
He shook his head. “Valerie’s right that Paradise Grove is a certain way with women.”
“What women, exactly? Because Pink and Olive—”
“Live a different lifestyle,” he finished, his eyes blazing angrily toward me. “One I don’t want for my daughter.”
“Because they’re a part of the syndicate?”
“They’ve taken an active, dangerous role in it, and now you’re going out with them.” Jameson looked toward the ceiling and started pacing the study.
“And what? You’d rather me stay home and twiddle my thumbs like Valerie, listening to your every demand?
” I wrinkled my nose and scoffed, realizing that was who my parents wanted me to be, my old town wanted me to be, and who I definitely wasn’t.
“No thanks. I don’t think I’m that type of girl.
I tried that for the first few weeks I was here, Jameson.
It’s not who I am … not who your daughter is either. ”
He seemed to breathe out a sigh like he was expressing his demons. “You have no understanding of how dangerous Chicago can be.”
“So is that what you wanted to discuss with me when you so rudely commanded me in here? You’re upset that I’m going out because it’s dangerous?”
“Of course.”
“That’s it?” I asked, wanting him to care more about me, about what I was doing, about who I’d be doing it with.
His jaw went up and down for almost a minute, and then his voice rumbled out, “What else would I be pissed off at, huh? Enlighten me.”
“Nothing.” I ground my teeth together, because if he didn’t want to admit I was more than a distraction, so be it. “You have a great security team, Jameson. We’ll be just fine. Adamantem infractum manet, right?” I blurted out, and even my eyes widened at my boldness.
“Adamantem infractum manet,” he reiterated quietly, like the words tasted bitter in his mouth. “Be careful, and have a good night.”
“Great.” I started to walk past him, but he caught my arm at the last second.
His voice was dangerously low as he said, “Don’t do anything stupid in that pretty little dress of yours.”
Some sort of understanding passed between us then. He looked remorseful and concerned, whereas I felt uneasy that we were bickering like much more than boss and employee.
I looked down at the dress and rolled my lips between my teeth before realizing that even if we were bickering, I wanted his real opinion. “Be honest, is it too much?”
“Mia Darling”—he groaned my name, his guard finally down for a moment—“you’re killing me, baby. It’s murder waiting to happen.”
“What do you mean?” My eyes flew up to him.
“The dress you have on would make me murder men who look at you wrong. And they will. So, do me a favor and listen to what I told Franny.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t let any princes dance with you, my darling princess.”
“Jameson …” My heart beat faster, my mind falling victim to his words. I took a step closer to him, like I wanted to be by his side. Yet, he stepped back right away and dropped his hand from my elbow.
“Go. Now. Because in about one second, I won’t let you. And if you’re not home by midnight, I’m coming to find you.”