Page 17 of When She Unravels
“Ah. Well, I just got here.” The prospect of being homeless makes dread solidify at the bottom of my belly.Think, damn it. Convince this man!“This place is gigantic. I’m sure you can always use some extra help. People must come and go all the time.” I’m fishing. Deep water.
“What do you want to do here exactly?”
I smooth my palms over my lap. “To be honest, I don’t have any specific skills per se.”
“You don’t say,” he interrupts before taking another sip of his whiskey.
I pretend I didn’t hear him. “But I’m the hardest worker you’ll ever meet.”
At this, his serious demeanor cracks, and he barks a laugh.
If he wasn’t laughing at me, I might take a moment to appreciate the rumbly sound, but I’m too busy trying to keep my composure.
“Why is that funny?” I ask.
He swipes his hand over his mouth and skewers me with a no-bullshit stare. “Principessa, you don’t look like you’ve worked a day in your life. What do you know about hard work?”
His words may as well be a punch in the gut.
I swallow down the burn in my throat from his insult and force the next words out of my mouth. “That’s a presumptuous thing to say. You don’t know anything about me.”
“No, but I’ve got eyes and a brain. What I see is that you like to show off your key assets.” His gaze licks over my chest. “You seem to think that’s all it takes for you to have men do whatever you say. Maybe it’s worked back home, but unfortunately for you, in Ibiza, beautiful women are a dime a dozen. If I hired all of them, I wouldn’t have a night club. I’d have a harem.”
Embarrassment coats my skin with heat. “That’s unfair.”
“Life’s unfair. If I was wrong about anything I just said, you would have learned that lesson by now.” He looks away from me, signaling his dismissal.
A foreign feeling starts to build inside my chest.
No. No way. He doesn’t get to dismiss me like that. I’m not going to let him. I’ve let others walk all over me my entire life, but that ends now.
I don’t even know what I’m doing as I slam my glass down on the table with a loud clank to draw his attention back to me. I’ve never stood up to a man like this, never dared to, but it must be my desperation snapping my backbone into place.
“I know life is unfair,” I say angrily. “It’s unfair that men like you get to look down on women like me because of misguided first impressions. Must be nice to have the privilege to shit all over people trying to find honest work.”
He scoffs. “You don’t need honest work when you’ve got a trust fund. Those flats on your feet cost over a thousand euros. Did Daddy get tired of footing your bills? Maybe you should consider reconciling with him before trying to live out some half-baked attempt at independence onfucking Ibiza.”
“Bold statement for someone who’s Daddy probably bought this club for him.”
De Rossi’s expression tightens. “My daddy’s dead. This club is the product of my own blood, sweat, and tears. Which is why it irks me when spoiled little girls like yourself walk in expecting everyone to give them exactly what they want for just putting their tits on display.”
I shoot up to my feet. “You’re a pig.”
He stands up and steps into my space. “No, I’m a wolf. And you’re a sheep that wandered into the wrong pasture.”
My hands curl into fists as I crane my neck to look at his face. Does he think he can intimidate me by unfurling to his full height and towering over me? What De Rossi doesn’t know is that I’ve lived my whole life surrounded by men far more terrifying than him. Physically, I might not be his match, but if he thinks he can make me cower with his words alone, he’s about to be very disappointed.
“I’m no sheep,” I say, enunciating every word. “And I don’t want you to give me anything for just showing up. I want a fair chance, that’s all. Let me work here for a week as a trial. If it works out, hire me. If I don’t meet your standards, I’ll leave when the week is up.”
He trails his bottom lip with his teeth. “Why would I agree to that?”
“Because if you don’t, you’re just a judgmental jerk who gets off on putting other people down. Don’t you want to know if you’re right about me? Or are you scared to be proven wrong?”
“Hardly.”
“Then take the deal.”
A beat drops, and the crowd below us erupts in excited shouts, but De Rossi is still as he considers my offer. I peer into his eyes. Now that he’s finally shut that unbearable mouth, I am once again aware that he’s a very,veryattractive man. He really doesn’t deserve those damn cheekbones or that broad forehead or those lips that seem like they’d be surprisingly soft to touch.
