Chapter 5 She is not happy

ZANE

"Boss... You're not paying any attention to anything I've been saying," my assistant's grumpy voice slices through my thoughts.

My eyes snap to his, and I note the frown plastered on his face from where he sits across from me in my office.

I don't counter his accusation.

He's right.

I haven't been concentrating on our discussion because my mind has been occupied for the last couple of minutes by thoughts of a certain gorgeous black-haired woman with a sharp tongue.

A woman who I believe is too gorgeous for the asshole she's choosing to settle down with forever in two months' time. An asshole who apparently does not satisfy her in bed.

The asshole in question is my little brother, Sebastian. And the woman I'm referring to is his fiancée — a woman who has caught my rare interest for a very long time.

Dahlia Sterling.

I never once made a move on her before now because she was engaged to my brother. However, after learning about the underlying problems in their relationship, I'm forced to step in because I can't stand by and watch a young woman suffer because of my brother's shortcomings.

Three nights ago, I kissed Dahlia at my club. In fact, I almost fucked her right against the bathroom counter — almost showed her what she's been missing out on while being too devoted and loyal to my loser brother, who can't even perform his primary duty of sexually satisfying her.

But she stopped me before I could continue.

More like, she ran away from the undeniable attraction between us.

I felt it too. That's the reason I made my advances that night, even after restraining myself for the last six years.

Yeah, six years.

That's how long I've known and had a secret crush on Dahlia.

I've watched her from a distance, barely restraining myself whenever I saw her being openly intimate with Sebastian at family gatherings and other events. With how Sebastian flaunted her in my face, I thought they were genuinely happy together.

And despite how much I disliked their union, I felt happy because Dahlia was happy.

All I want is for her to be happy.

However, after discovering her therapist's card the other night at the club, I realized I might have been wrong.

Maybe she isn't happy.

Their relationship might not be as sweet and romantic as I imagined. Hell, Dahlia is obviously going through hell.

The therapist's card revealed far more about their relationship than I ever knew, and as someone who rarely misses anything, I'm pissed I didn't know Dahlia had been suffering in silence all this time.

"Boss?" Derek snaps his fingers twice in my view, recapturing my attention. "I don't know what you're thinking about currently, but I need you here, please. Undistracted. This is important." He taps the file on his side of the desk.

Narrowing my eyes at Derek, I inhale a lungful of nicotine, blowing a trail of smoke into the air.

My irritation is evident as I demand, "What is it?"

"Don Fuego is offering numbers for the Casa Club," Derek says, pushing the file across to me. "He needs your reply before the end of today."

Is this what this motherfucker just deemed as important?

Without bothering to read the file's contents, I assert, "Tell him I'm not interested in selling my club."

Derek frowns. "But why, boss? You've got tons of others that fetch you more money than the Casa."

I scoff, shaking my head. "I have to give you a reason now why I don't want to sell my own club?"

"I didn't mean it like that, boss. I'm just curious."

"Kill that curiosity and pass the fucking message to Fuego." I glance at the wall clock before redirecting my gaze at Derek. "It's almost the end of the day. There's my reply."

Drawing the last puff of my cigar, I exhale smoke before rising to my feet.

"He's open to other options, boss. Like the sex club you newly launched downtown. He's willing to pay a good price for it."

I grab my suit jacket from the chair, draping it over my arm with a cigar butt stuck between my lips.

I glare at my assistant, and he reluctantly apologizes, picking up the file. "I'm sorry. I'll let Fuego know you're not interested in his offer."

"You do that." I kill the cigar before tossing it into the ashtray. "I've got somewhere to be, D. Now get the fuck out."

I grab my car keys as he stands up, forcing a placating smile onto his face. "Want me to drive you to your destination, boss?"

"No."

"Well, should I inform the chauffeur?"

"No, I'll drive myself."

"Hmm, okay."

We both make our way towards the exit, and before I leave, I inform my secretary to clear my schedule for the rest of the day.

I have a feeling that where I'm headed, I'll be spending quite some time there, even though I wasn't invited by the person I'm going to see.

But what else am I excellent at if not making unexpected, unpleasant surprises?

On my way to Will Owen's Entertainment, I stop by a florist's shop to get a bouquet of Dahlia's favorite flowers — lilies.

Tossing the bouquet onto the passenger's seat, I continue my journey. Throughout the ride, the only thing occupying my mind is the heated kiss we shared three nights ago.

I still remember how her lips tasted against mine, soft like marshmallows and sweet like cotton candy. I remember how her body felt warm in my arms when I held her. Her delicious vanilla and jasmine fragrance. How her pulse at the base of her neck throbbed against my palm when I had my fingers wrapped around her neck.

The tension between us.

The undeniable pull.

The electrifying charge that pushed us toward starting something forbidden.

I remember all of it, and the memory sends blood rushing to my cock.

I miss her.

I think I'm done staying away.

The only reason I ever did before was because I thought she would never see me the way I saw her. It's because I believed she was happy with Seb.

But the knowledge I now have about their relationship has contradicted everything I once thought I knew.

And I see no reason to back off from my pursuit anymore.

Their relationship is already crumbling. It's only a matter of time before it disintegrates completely.

And I'm more than happy to help quicken the process since I'm done being the understanding older brother.

Once I arrive at Will Owen's Entertainment, where Dahlia works as a financial journalist, I head straight to her office upstairs.

I can only imagine the shock that will cross her face when she sees me.

Before she ran away the other night, she made me promise I wouldn't tell Sebastian what happened between us. She also tried to make me act like the kiss never happened.

But I'd be damned if I played along with her pretense.

When I arrive at the upper workspace where Dahlia's office is located, my eyes linger on her for a minute as I watch her working intently behind her computer.

She hasn't noticed me yet.

With the way she's typing aggressively and is so engrossed in whatever the fuck she's doing, you'd think this is her temporary escape from reality.

Well, maybe it is.

Maybe she's overworking herself because she doesn't want to remember the other night.

Maybe she doesn't want to remember me.

Maybe she doesn't want to remember that she betrayed her fiancé by kissing his own brother.

Well, it's too bad I'm about to break her out of her delusional haze.

I'm already here, and I can't leave without stating why I came.

So, with a menacing smirk, I raise my clenched knuckles and tap gently on her door, my gaze anticipating her reaction.

I watch her causally lift her head from her computer.

However, the moment Dahlia's grey eyes find mine from across the room, the atmosphere shifts instantly as she stiffens in her chair, freezing like a statue.

Just as I imagined.

My grin widens, and I taunt, "Well, hello there. Isn't this a surprise?" Then I waltz into her office, "Missed me?"