“No need,” he cut in. “The meeting’s over. Kai has another appointment after this.” He flicked a glance at me. “Close the door on your way out, will you?”
Vivian frowned. “Don’t be rude. Look at his plate. It’s still half-full.”
“He can’t eat all of that. He’s on a diet.” Dante gave me a pointed stare. “Right?”
“Actually, I’m quite hungry today,” I drawled. “One should never let sushi from Masa go to waste, though I am curious about what Vivian brought. It smells wonderful.”
If looks could kill, Dante’s glare would’ve incinerated me on the spot. I returned it with an innocent smile.
After boxing and translation, provoking him was my favorite pastime.
“Burgers, fries, and shakes from Moondust Diner,” Vivian said, pulling the items out of the bags.
“Stay. There’s enough for all of us, and we haven’t talked since Monarch.”
I pretended not to hear Dante’s warning growl. I’d already blocked out the hour for our meeting. It would be rude to rebuff Vivian’s generous hospitality.
“If you insist,” I said. “I do love a good burger.”
I was going to pay for that in the boxing ring later, but I wasn’t worried. Dante and I were evenly matched, and it was worth it for the look on his face.
Vivian and I chatted while he scowled. She owned a luxury event planning company, and she had plenty of stories about wild requests and demanding clients, many of whom were mutual acquaintances.
I listened politely, asking and answering questions where needed, but I couldn’t stop my mind from straying to a specific connection we had.
Vivian and Isabella were best friends. Had Isabella mentioned what happened last week to her?
Vivian wasn’t acting any differently toward me, so I assumed Isabella hadn’t said a word to her friends.
I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or offended.
“By the way, I won’t be home until late tonight,” Vivian told Dante. “I’m going out with the girls.
We’re trying to break Isa’s man ban.”
My water went down the wrong pipe. I choked out a cough while Dante’s brows pulled together.
“What the hell is a man ban?”
“She hasn’t dated anyone in two years because of an…unpleasant experience with an ex,” Vivian explained. “We figured it’s time to break her dry spell.”
Absolutely fucking not. Her dry spell has been broken. By me.
My reaction was so sharp, so visceral, that it knocked the breath from my lungs. I had no frame of reference for the dark, irrational possessiveness coursing through my blood or the crimson tinting my vision at the mere thought of another man’s hands on Isabella. I was not a jealous person, and one kiss and orgasm did not a relationship make.
But it didn’t matter. When it came to Isabella, all my previous mores went out the window.
“Does she want to break the ban, or is this an intervention?” I checked my phone, my tone indifferent, but my muscles tensed in anticipation of Vivian’s reply.
“I’m sure she does. She said she wanted to at our wedding, but in classic Isa fashion, she drank too much champagne and fell asleep before it happened.” Vivian laughed. “Anyway, her birthday is coming up, so we figured it would be a good time to take her out.”
“Where are you going?” I asked casually.
Dante’s eyes cut in my direction. I ignored his laser scrutiny and focused on Vivian.
“Verve. It’s a new club downtown,” she said, seemingly oblivious to her husband’s growing suspicion. “Isa’s been talking about going since it opened.”
“Laurent’s place. I’ve heard of it.” The Laurents built their empire on restaurants, but they were expanding into other areas of hospitality. “I didn’t know her birthday was so soon.”
“December nineteenth. A Sagittarius through and through, as she’ll tell you,” Vivian said with a smile.
“Why the sudden interest in Isabella?” Dante asked. “Finally looking to give your mother the daughter-in-law she so desperately wants?”
I glared at him. Sometimes, I missed the days when all he did was scowl and punch people. Now he had jokes.
“No,” I said coolly. “I’m inquiring about an acquaintance I see quite often. It’s social courtesy— something you might want to brush up on.”
“Ah, of course. My mistake.” If Dante’s smirk were any bigger, it’d fall off his face. The bastard was having a field day. Payback for me staying and interrupting his alone time with Vivian, no doubt.
It didn’t matter. He could gloat all he wanted, but he had no proof I was interested in Isabella. It wasn’t like I was going to show up at Verve and drag her away from potential suitors like some territorial caveman.
I had more pride than that.
CHAPTER 17
Kai
A wave of heat, alcohol, and noise slammed into me the minute I stepped into Verve.
In my defense, I truly hadn’t planned on visiting the club that night. I disliked packed spaces, drunken foolishness, and migraine-inducing remixes, all of which nightclubs possessed in spades.
However, as a Young Corporation executive and publisher of Mode de Vie, the world’s preeminent fashion and lifestyle magazine, it was my job to keep a pulse on the city’s hotspots. I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t experience Verve myself, would I?
The deep bass of the latest hit song rattled my bones as I pushed my way through the crowd.
Everywhere I looked, I was assaulted with noise and people—women in tight dresses, men in tighter jeans, couples engaged in dancing that looked more like fornicating. No signs of Isab—of anyone I knew yet.
Not that I was looking for anyone in particular.
I made it halfway to the VIP lounge when one of the clubgoers bumped into me and nearly spilled her drink on my shoes.
“Oops! Sorry!” she squealed, her eyes bright in a manner that could only be attributed to drugs, alcohol, or both. She clutched my arm with her free hand and looked me over. “Oh, you’re cute. Do you have a girlfriend?”
“How about we find your girlfriends instead?” I suggested. I gently freed myself from her grip and steered her toward her friends at the bar （easily identifiable since they wore the same bachelorette party sashes as my erstwhile admirer）。 I flagged down the bartender. “A bottle of water for the lady, please.”
By the time he returned, she was already busy taking shots with some suit in an off-an-rack Armani.
I doubted she’d drink the water, but I left it there anyway. Being the only sober person in a club was like babysitting a room full of strangers.
I ordered a scotch for myself, already regretting my decision to come here when a familiar voice cut through the noise.
“Kai? Is that you?”
I turned, my gaze honing in on the brunette with glossy caramel hair and blue-gray eyes. My face relaxed into a smile.
“Alessandra, what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t take you for the clubbing type.”
Dominic’s wife returned my smile with a small one of her own. Objectively, she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met. She looked like a younger version of her mother, who’d been one of Brazil’s biggest supermodels in the nineties. But despite, or perhaps because of, her looks and marriage to one of the richest men on Wall Street, she always carried an air of melancholy around her.