Page 221 of Embriagado

“Well, hello to you, too, mon poussin.”

I was immediately on alert at the sound of Dion's voice. “Why are you calling me?”

“Well, forgive a man for trying to be polite.”

I gritted my teeth. “Polite? You wouldn’t know the first thing about manners, so why don’t you just cut to the chase.”

“Me-ow. Someone woke up on his bad side today. Tell me, is there trouble in paradise? Has lover boy been naughty⁠—”

“I’m hanging up.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll get to my point,” he laughed. “I called to see if you’d like to raise your bet for tonight’s fight.”

My brows knitted together. “What are you talking about? There’s no fight tonight.”

“Of course there is.”

I got up from my chair, feeling as if someone had just kicked me. “That can’t be.”

“And yet, here I am, looking at your sweet boxer getting ready for his fight.”

My heart galloped in my chest as my alarms went up. Why on earth would Santiago go there after this morning? Nerves twisted my gut, and I swallowed down the worry that crept to my throat.

“He’s there?” I rasped, barely finding the voice to speak.

“Oh, yes, he’s here. Wanna say hello?”

The mockery in his voice didn’t help, but ignoring it, I took in a short breath.

“I’m on my way to you right now. Don’t start before I get there⁠—”

“I don’t think so.”

“What?”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but since when do you give me orders?”

I clenched the phone tighter. “Listen⁠—”

“I’ll start the fight when I feel like it. And you, well, if you don’t want to miss it, I’d suggest you hurry your skinny ass over here.”

He then hung up, and I was left to stare at my phone, ready to break it, when a knock came at the door.

“Not now,” I snarled, but the door opened anyway. “I said, not now!”

The second one of my men walked inside, I was more than tempted to throw my phone at his head. But then, he opened his mouth and spoke, and the words that came out made no sense.

“What do you mean there are issues on the fourteenth floor?” I hissed, annoyed.

“Exactly as I said, sir. We have trouble with one of our clients, and you’re requested up there.”

Holding myself back from exploding, I forced a smile. “How could there be issues when no one should be there to begin with?”

Yes, it was a Saturday, but we didn’t host clients every weekend, only once or twice a month, and tonight wasn’t one of those times. Thus, as far as I knew, the fourteenth floor should currently be as empty as an old maid’s bed.

But rather than explaining himself, this moron of a guard shrugged and stood still, clearly leaving me with no choice but to go and check it out for myself. He followed me to the elevator, where I pressed today’s code and waited for the door to close. The entire ride up, I tapped the floor with my shoe, eager for this misunderstanding to be over with so I could deal with the real issue—my boxer.

Why on earth would Santigo go there on his own after making such a fuss? I thought this morning would be the last I’d ever hear from him, and yet, that foolish man kept on surprising me. My thoughts came to an end the second the elevator doors opened, and I walked out into the red hall.