23. Chapter 23
Dario
Whistling, I toss my keys to the kid at the valet. He eagerly hops in my vehicle and pulls it out of the parking area. I’m in a great mood today and hope he takes it for a little joy ride.
My smile grows as I step into the building where I get to tell my beautiful bull the good news.
I stride past Lindsay’s desk, and instead of batting eyelashes, she’s glaring at me.
Strange… but perhaps she’s going through something.
I’ll send her flowers or lunch later. Perhaps both.
Maybe Jasmine will want to join me in picking them out.
I hop on the elevator and press the button that will deliver me to my former attorney.
When the doors open, it’s your typical Tuesday at a law firm, I suppose.
Some people carry files as they make their way to the copy machine.
Men in suits stand in the hallway acting like they’re conducting business, but they’re actually talking about the women they hooked up with and their golf handicaps.
The smell of coffee lingers in the air, and it only adds to the permanent smile affixed to my face.
Where there’s coffee, there’s Jasmine.
I follow the smell down the corridor to her office, but it’s empty. I glance around, and something about it feels different. Shaking my head, I take off for where I’ll likely find her, but she’s absent from the break room, as well.
The two men I had a run-in with are standing there with Jasmine’s prick of a boss. They’re laughing about something, and I hear the word bitch muttered.
“Gentlemen,” I say, and I find joy in watching two of the three men put down their coffee mugs as their faces drain of color. “Have any of you seen Miss Baker?”
Gaping mouths and wide eyes answer me, along with one sinister laugh. “I’m afraid your girlfriend isn’t here,” Jasmine’s boss answers. Tom? Tim? Taj? Doesn’t matter.
My mind immediately begins to wonder where she could be if she isn’t at work. While I can tell Jasmine hasn’t exactly hit her stride at the office, I do know she’s passionate about her career, and very few things would stop her from coming in. “Is she sick?”
Her boss laughs again. Claude, maybe? “She isn’t here because she doesn’t work here anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
He glances over at the two men beside him and motions to me with his thumb. “Here I thought the Carusos were a smart bunch with all their millions.”
“Billions,” I correct him.
“Whatever," he sneers. "Your girl was fired.”
A warming sensation comes over me when I hear the words my girl, but then I stiffen as I recall the last word in his sentence. “Fired?”
“Fuck.” The man rolls his eyes. Rod? “I don’t know why you’re acting all surprised. You’re the one who wanted her canned.”
I stare at him, certain I heard him wrong. “I wanted no such thing.”
“Jorgensen told me about your phone call right before he asked if I thought we should keep her on. Of course, I said no. Her work is mediocre at best, and we all know the reason you kept her around. The bitch had no business being here. Though…” He sighs. “I am going to miss those tits.”
He laughs, but it quickly turns into a gasp as my hand wraps around his throat. “You don’t fucking talk about her or her tits; do you understand me?”
The man whose name escapes me gasps under my grip, and I’m not sure if it’s him I should kill or Jim Jorgensen himself. I drop the piece of shit I’m holding down to the ground, stepping over his lumpy-ass body and heading in the direction of the man who fired the woman I want.
The display on my dashboard lights up as I speed through the city. I groan seeing Gio’s name, not wanting to speak to him right now. There’s only one person I care to communicate with, and I’m terrified I’ve ruined any chance I have of making that happen.
“What do you want?” I ask, finally growing tired of the incessant ringing.
“Jim Jorgensen was found dead in his office.”
I smile. “What a shame.”
“The call I got said he was strangled. You know anything about that?”
I shake my head and remember he can’t see me. “Sure don’t.”
Gio sighs. “Does this have something to do with the attorney?” I remain silent, and Gio sighs again. “I hope she’s worth it.”
I click the phone icon to hang up on my brother. Jasmine’s worth it. She’s worth everything. I only hope she thinks I am, too.
My heart is pounding at the same volume as my fist against the door. “Jasmine, please. Open the door.”
There’s no answer, but I know she’s home. Her very annoyed neighbor came out to ask me what was going on after the first fifty times I shouted her name and confirmed he had heard her slam the door closed almost an hour ago.
“Jasmine, if you don’t answer the door, I’ll break it down.” I wouldn’t actually break it down. That takes a lot of force, and I’d rather keep my shoulder in place and bruises away from my flawless skin. I would, however, break in.
Fortunately, I don’t have to rely on espionage, as the door cracks open wide enough to be stopped by a sliding chain lock. “Go away, Dario.”
I can only see a sliver of her face, but it’s enough to feel like a punch in the chest. Her long, blonde waves are pulled up into a mess of a ponytail on top of her head.
There’s not a stitch of makeup on her face.
But what bothers me the most is that her hazel eyes lack their usual brilliance. Instead, she looks sad. Empty.
“Please let me in.”
“Why? So you can help me lose my home next?” Her voice is as bitter as her favorite beverage, and I can’t say that I blame her.
I rest my head against the front of the door and look at the floor as I beg for entrance one last time. “Please let me come in and explain.”
A second passes. Then two. And then the door shuts.
I take a deep breath, not entirely sure how to break in. That isn’t exactly my area of expertise, but I’m sure either of my brothers could provide the knowledge. Though that would mean just another thing on top of what I did.
Gio’s gonna be fucking pissed.
My head pops up as the door clicks open, and I see my fierce bull standing there with no fight left in her. “Jasmine, you look…”
She snorts, cutting off my sentence. “Horrible? Defeated? Unemployed?”
I was going to say gorgeous, but I have a feeling she doesn’t want to hear that from me right now. In fact, I’m fairly certain she doesn’t want to hear anything from me right now. I’m honestly surprised she opened the door, regardless of my persistence.
She has on a pair of flared black pants in some stretchy material that does wonders for her ass, which I can’t help but stare at as she turns away from me and walks toward the couch.
A cropped sweatshirt reveals a small sliver of skin over her soft stomach, and I have to bite my lip to keep drool from leaking out of my mouth.
I’m not sure why I find this attire as sexy as the fuck-ready dress and heels she had on at Inferno, but I’m not questioning it.
When she plops down on the floral monstrosity, she motions for me to join her. “You may speak. But the second you piss me off, you’re out the door. Do you understand?”
I nod at her authoritative tone and do as she says, taking a seat close enough to her I can inhale her sweet vanilla scent, but far enough that I’m not touching her without her consent.
“I want to start with it was never my intention to have you fired from the firm.”
She crosses her arms, causing her shirt to ride further up, and I have to lick my lips to keep from letting the moan escape that built up in my chest. “I will admit that I asked Jorgensen to remove you from my counsel.”
Jasmine’s lip quivers briefly. If I had blinked, I would have missed it. But then her jaw goes taut, and her voice is filled with malice as she speaks through gritted teeth. “Why would you do that?”
I sigh. “In hindsight, it was a really stupid thing. And I’m afraid if I admit the truth to you, things will backfire for me.”
“Gee,” she says dryly, “I would hate for you to have a bad day.”
I realize it’s sarcasm, but I still appreciate the sentiment. “You made it very clear to me our relationship would never be anything other than professional so long as I was your client.”
She sits silently, so I continue, “I thought if I removed you from my legal counsel, we could break that barrier. Then, you might let me take you out to dinner. Or to Inferno. Or to bed.”
I smile at her, a smolder known to melt the panties off any other woman. I should have known it wouldn’t work on her. Jasmine, my beautiful anomaly, balls her hands into fists, and her cherub cheeks grow red.
“But you didn’t only have me removed from your counsel, Dario.
You got me fired from the fucking firm. The firm that I read about and dreamed of working for.
The firm I worked really fucking hard to land a position at.
The firm I moved halfway across the country to work at.
Now I have nothing. I’m going to have to go back home, humiliated and jobless. ”
My head snaps up. “Why would you have to go back?”
She snorts derisively. “There’s no way Jorgensen will give me a recommendation after I’ve been let go for unprofessionalism and a violation of legal ethics. Not all of us are billionaires. I need this job to afford this place. To live.”
The fury coursing through me has me wanting to wrap my hands around her boss’s neck and squeeze the life out of him all over again. “You don’t have to worry about Jim Jorgensen. He won’t say anything.”
She rolls her eyes. “If he doesn’t, Todd sure will.”
I crack my knuckles at the thought of that weasel.
I should have watched him struggle against me as I crushed his windpipe when I had him in my grip, but I was too concerned with murdering the man who put Jasmine out of a job.
Though if I think about it, perhaps I should wrap my hand around my own neck.
Soft skin brushes my wrist, relaxing the fist I’ve formed. “Calm down, macho man.”
“What’s his fucking problem, anyway?”
She shrugs. “Take your pick. I’m a woman. I’m a woman who is more competent in our profession. I’m a woman who doesn’t worship the ground he walks on. I’m a woman who denied his advances. Then there’s the more obvious reason.”
My nose scrunches up. “What’s the more obvious reason?”
Jasmine sighs. “You.”