1. All Rich Assholes are the Same
ONE
ALL RICH ASSHOLES ARE THE SAME
N adia hated casinos … No, she loathed casinos. Not only were they greedy businesses that preyed on the weak, but they were loud as hell and reeked of smoke. If Haley was in her hell, currently on the other side of Kansas City, Nadia was definitely in hers.
She came up to a huge security guard dressed in a basic black suit who appeared to have been expecting her since he immediately led her into the elevator and punched in a few buttons for different floors that seemed to be a code to take them straight to the top.
The guard wasn’t much for conversing, as the awkward silence filled the air for a quick moment.
Getting off the elevator, she followed closely behind the suited man.
Now, Nadia wasn’t the nervous type, but she was starting to feel like taking a meeting with a potential mob boss might have been a bad idea.
The guard knocked on a door with a heavy fist.
A dark voice sounded from the other side. “Come in.”
She watched him open the door, and it wasn’t until the huge man stepped to the side to let her enter the office that she was able to see into the room.
Oh God. Nadia swallowed.
“Thank you, Amo,” Dante dismissed him.
Nadia would have only moments until the guard left and closed her into his office for her to gather her thoughts and screw her head back on straight.
The man before her was definitely no Robert De Niro …
or Al Pacino. Even though he was an older gentleman, probably in his late forties, he was breathtakingly handsome.
Hell, if she was honest, his age was what made him even more so.
Any girl with daddy issues—and Nadia was one—would be risking it all for one night in his bed.
His dark, tanned skin glowed next to his expensive black suit jacket and white button-up dress shirt.
He only had a little bit of speckling gray through his pitch-black hair, but it weirdly made him hotter.
It was his piercing icy-blue eyes, however, that had her unable to breathe until the door snapped closed behind her and her time of being jumbled up was over.
“Mr. Caruso,” she got right to business, “thank you for seeing m—”
“I’m afraid we don’t have much time,” he said, looking at his watch before he waved to the chair in front of his desk. “Please sit, Mrs. Brooks.”
“ Ms. Brooks,” she corrected him.
There seemed to be a slight surprise behind those icy eyes of his before it quickly vanished. “I apologize, Ms. Brooks.” Again, he repeated with another wave, “Sit.”
Nadia couldn’t help but notice how he told her to sit like it was a command. It was glaringly obvious the man didn’t like to repeat himself, and even though she had only just met him, he appeared to always get what he wanted.
Taking the seat, she didn’t need to see the future to know that this wasn’t going to go the way she had planned.
Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to get out of his leather chair, or shake her hand, much less give her more than a few-second glance.
That last part might have hurt her womanly pride, but she had to remind herself that she wasn’t here for that.
Nadia was here for the children, and she wasn’t going to go down easily.
Seeing that time was an issue, she got right to it.
“I’m here on behalf of my charity, Moonbeam. We are—”
“Do you mind?” he asked nonchalantly, holding up an unlit cigar.
She, in fact, did mind, but before she could answer, he was already lighting the end; not that she had room for complaint as it was his office.
“No,” she grumbled out before continuing.
“We are looking to upgrade our facility.” She watched him blow out a puff of smoke as he stared at his rich cigar more than he was paying any attention to her.
Still, she managed to trot on. “With that, we can help house more at-risk teens throughout all of Kansas Ci …” She trailed off as she noticed him glance at his watch.
Fury rose inside her. “I’m sorry. Do you have somewhere to be? ”
“Actually, yes,” he answered with harsh honesty. “Your incessant calls have, unfortunately, driven me to finally accept this meeting. I specifically agreed to today because I’m taking my youngest son on vacation for the weekend.”
Unfortunately, all rich assholes are the same.
“Then, by all means, Mr. Caruso … let me get right to it.” But she did have to give him credit for the smart play of not letting this meeting drag along. “I’d like a generous donation from you.”
“Don’t you all,” he muttered under his breath before putting the cigar back to his lips.
Excuse me? Nadia opened her mouth to rip the mother-effer a new one when the door behind her flew open.
“Sir, Leo is in the car, waiting for you out front.”
“Sorry, Ms. Brooks, but it looks like this meeting has to be cut short. The yacht will be departing soon,” Dante said with a smile, putting out his cigar in the crystal ashtray.
Fucking prick. She wished she had said the insult out loud as she stood from her chair. She didn’t plan to waste another bated breath on him, yet she found herself turning to face him one last time.
“I can’t believe I was so wrong about you. Have a lovely vacation with your son, Mr. Caruso.” There was no hiding the disappointment in her voice. “I’ll see myself out,” she told the guard who had brought her up and was holding the door open as she passed him.
Having the final word made her feel better …
Slightly, at least. Of course, the vacation he’s going on is on his fucking yacht , she thought to herself as she walked back the way she had come.
While she was desperately trying to fight for her kids, who didn’t have a dime to their names, Dante was taking his probably just as stuck-up son on a vacation that most likely wasn’t a drop in the bucket of his wealth.
Nadia couldn’t believe she had found the unbearable man attractive at first. Hitting the elevator button, she began to lie to herself …
He’s freaking hideou—
Speaking of the devil …
I can’t believe she said that to me , was the only thing that had run through Dante’s mind for the last minute. He had also told himself that it was his son waiting out front that had him rushing to the elevator.
Seeing her shocked yet frustrated face, he could only imagine the words Nadia was saying about him in her mind.
The curve of Dante’s lip lifted up into a devilish smile that he could tell only infuriated her more.
Fueling her imagination gave him pleasure.
It had been a long time since a woman had shown him any attitude.
The effect he had on women was much like how Nadia had acted the moment she had met him.
She had been taken aback by his good looks, but he had been amused with how rapidly she had put it behind her.
His effect didn’t usually wear off so quickly, if ever.
Putting his eyes on the elevator door, Dante supposed the woman was good-looking, too, but it had been even longer since he had found a woman beautiful.
Yep, he was definitely not hideous. At least on the outside, but his insides sure are.
Ding. The elevator slid open.
He did his pretend polite wave again. “After you, Ms. Brooks.”
As if getting massively turned down wasn’t embarrassing enough, she clicked her heels inside the moving box that she was going to have to share with the man who had just brushed her off and took her meeting simply so she would never contact him again.
Dante, followed by his guard, entered the elevator with her, and then the guard punched in the code to take them straight to the bottom.
With the door sliding closed, Nadia slithered her eyes over to see him staring at his expensive watch again. It was everything she could do to keep her mouth shut, and it was only staying glued that way because she had still had the last word.
Putting his arm back to his side, Dante looked up at the falling numbers.
Nadia snapped her eyes to do the same, unable to wait for her release. Her eyes had wanted to drift back, swearing that she felt the icy gaze of his on her …
Don’t ask.
He wanted to.
I don’t care.
He did.
Don’t you dare ask.
He definitely wanted to.
I do not fucking care why she said that.
He definitely did, and if he was going to ask, he needed to do it now before …
Ding.
Oh, thank God.
Relieved, Nadia hurriedly stomped out of the elevator, leaving him in her dust. Well, she hoped, because she wouldn’t dare turn her head to see.
Nope, her head stayed firmly forward as she went through the casino.
Breathing in the cigarette smoke was a relief compared to the scent she’d had to endure in the elevator.
The confined space made her realize, with the slight hint of what smelled like whiskey and his expensive cologne, she didn’t hate the scent of cigar smoke.
Nadia was sure that scent would linger in her mind for days.
Finally, true freedom reached her when she swung open the heavy glass doors. Or so she thought.
She hadn’t made it a few steps on the sidewalk, toward her building that was only a few blocks away, when she heard her name being called from that commanding voice.
“Ms. Brooks.”
She was tempted to not turn around, but she found her body stopping and turning to look at Mr. Caruso, who stood beside the blacked-out town car that was parked in front of the hotel casino.
“How were you wrong about me?” He spoke loudly so his voice would travel over the noise of the city to her ears. “Because I can’t imagine what you expected from a man like me.”
Nadia could see his dark features become darker as she stalked up to him.
“Yes, I’ve heard the rumors about you, Mr. Caruso.
” She made no effort to conceal that she wasn’t scared, whether he was or wasn’t what those whispers were saying about him.
Frankly, she just didn’t care what kind of organization he was running, legal or illegal.
“But, depending upon who you ask, you’re considered a good man in the eyes of a lot people who live in this city. ”
He seemed to be stunned by her answer for a moment. “The company you keep may not be of your best interest, then, Ms. Brooks.”
“The only company I care about are the kids who walk the streets all alone at night and grew up without a fighting chance.” She paused for a moment, her warm brown eyes boring into his cold ones. “I was under the impression you helped a young man in that same position once upon a time …”
Dante’s jaw flexed into a hard position upon hearing just how much she knew about him.
Taking Salvatore Lastra off the streets when he had been just thirteen years old wasn’t something a lot of people in Kansas City knew about him.
Nadia had clearly done her research, and he didn’t know how he should feel about it … until he did.
She watched his jaw fix into position as every hair on her body stood in fear. Men never made their money by being nice, and Nadia was afraid she had just gone too far, especially with Dante, who didn’t try hard to pretend he hadn’t made his money outside of the law.
“Careful, Ms. Brooks,” he warned in a low tone before the curve of his lips went up in another slow smile, “you may find a secret about me one day that you wish you hadn’t.”
It wasn’t until he reached into his hidden suit jacket pocket and pulled out a checkbook and pen that she relaxed.
Oh, I don’t doubt it.
Watching him scribble on the check, she couldn’t help but think, as soon as she got the check in her greedy little hands, this would be the first and last time she would ever be in the presence of Dante Caruso. She would take all future checks via mail or not fucking at all.
“Thank you, Mr. Caruso,” she said sincerely, uncaring of any amount he wrote in that tiny box.
But when he handed it to her, she couldn’t help but notice it was the exact amount she needed from him.
One hundred thousand dollars. “Y-you have no idea what this means to us,” she stammered in disbelief, pressing the check to her chest.
Placing his checkbook and pen back in his pocket, he threw open the car’s back door as his smile disappeared. “Well, the IRS was going to take it from me, anyway.”
Nadia wanted to roll her eyes at him, but she could see past what he was trying to pull off. Keeping up his asshole facade must have been tiring.
“I don’t care,” she told him honestly, putting the check in her blazer pocket before holding out her slender hand. “Thank you, Mr. Caruso.”
He stared at her hand for a moment before he took it in his. “You’re welcome.”
All focus had been lost again as his hand touched hers and she went right back to how she felt when she had first seen him in his office. “H-Have a lovely trip,” Nadia told him genuinely this time, not wanting his contact with her dropped anytime soon.
If he felt even remotely the way she did, he was much better at concealing his emotions. “Have a lovely day, Ms. Brooks.”
She felt his grip loosen, and her heart sank until his grip suddenly tightened on hers again, this time in a death grip. Everything seemed to move in fast motion as she was then thrown into the back seat of his car.
However … it didn’t seem to happen fast enough.
BANG!