Page 57 of It Kills Me

I waited until he finished processing all of my reports. It was a lot of data, so sometimes I sat there in silence for an hour, often more.

His assistant walked inside, a woman just a few years older than me. She wore a pencil skirt with her blouse tucked into the waistband. She had an ass like a nectarine and tits that seemed perky without the aid of a bra. I was a straight woman, but I’d noticed her goodies a long time ago.

My father hardly looked at her.

“Dante, I spoke with Kyle and arranged dinner for you two on Tuesday night. I also got those box seats at the opera.”

“Thank you.” His eyes remained on the screen.

She hesitated in front of his desk, like she hoped for more enthusiasm than that. “Is there anything else you need before I go?”

“No.”

She hesitated again before she turned and left the study. “Goodnight, Scarlett.”

“Goodnight, Hannah.” The two of us got along well and I imagined we could be friends, but I didn’t want to make things complicated with my father. He seemed to regard her only professionally, but Axel insisted he was sleeping with her. I didn’t know what to think, and I’d rather not think about it at all.

My father clicked on his mouse furiously before his eyes finally shifted to me. “Check your numbers again. Nine thousand, three hundred and twenty-two euro is missing. Small enough that we wouldn’t notice, but also small enough that it could be a clerical error.”

“Oh, let me look through everything again.” I opened my laptop once more and got back to work, even though it’d been a long day and I was eager to go home and have a bath. “With this many numbers being pulled from so many sources, there’s a good chance I messed up somewhere.”

“But you can’t mess up, Scarlett.”

My eyes lifted to meet his.

His stare was hard. “In this game, there are no mess-ups. You understand me?”

I remained still, surprised by the way he spoke to me, when he never spoke to me like that…ever.

He didn’t backpedal and kept up the stare.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

He nodded in satisfaction. “Just remember that if you mess up and don’t catch it, someone’s going to die. Your work matters.”

Great, more pressure. “I just said it wouldn’t happen again.”

The harshness in his eyes receded. “I apologize. I just have high expectations for you.”

“I know.”

“I’m leaving for the weekend.” He announced it without preamble. “Be back Monday morning.”

“Where are you going?”

“Croatia. I have a meeting.”

“It’s beautiful there. Have fun.”

“We’ll see.” He powered down the computer. “Send me your new reports through the encryption service. I’ll check them on the plane.”

“Sure.”

He rose from the desk and walked past me.

“Dad?”

“Yes?” He turned back to me.