The Billionaire Deal

Chapter four

[Christian Castillo]

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I pulled off my mask, taking in the way her brows creased and her lips narrowed as she looked at me, mouthing my name slowly. Desperate for the crystal realization of my identity to be erased like a haze of an illusion. One. Two. A minute passed and her shoulders were squared, her brown siren eyes once filled with shock and hurt had been replaced with a defiant feistiness.

Her lips curved to a twitch as she stared at me in bourgeoning fierceness. I stay still, eyes trailing down every edge of her face like my brain trying to rehash the feeling of her just doing nothing but staring. I thought back to the earlier hours of the morning and the woman who had ambled past me to be her. Familiar.

I pulled my gaze back to her face, meeting her eyes mirroring mine. “Don’t tell me…you are Reyes?”

I could hear the silent dread woven into every word spoken. It was like before. I could read her like an open book because that was who she was. She wore her emotions on her sleeves no matter how long the sleeves were, her thoughts, her emotions, they were visible. It was an easy advantage.

I fixated my hands into my slacks, “Depending on what you are going to ask.” I love playing with my food before I eat it.

She chuckled dryly, “I’m fucked.”

“What did you expect causing a scene like that, Adelaide?” I stalked toward her, causing her to back herself against the rails.

“What does it matter to you, Christian?” It's the first time she has said my name, albeit with disdain.

“First name basis? Are we familiar now because of a little bump in the bar?”

I could tell who she was from the second I bumped into her. I knew her voice. It has been the same voice I had never forgotten for the past seven years. It haunted me and penetrated my thoughts, carrying with it the face of the speaker imprinted in my mind.

It was the same reason why I had put a tracker on her even after we swore never to come across each other. I couldn't give a f**k to what she swore to. I didn't feel guilty about any f*****g analogy she carried with her to sate the fierceness and hate she had for me. I could. I should. But not when I knew she existed and her presence infiltrated my reasoning.

Her siren eyes deeply narrowed, “My bad. Mr Castillo?”

“I could have been sealing a deal right now, making stuff happen if you didn't come up with your crazy little stunt and cause a disruption.” I snarled, suddenly losing the urge to play with anything or anyone right now.

“Oh, should I feel sorry that the Almighty Christian Castillo missed out on a business just because a regular disrupted his evening? She scoffed, turning to walk away.

“No. But you'll be losing your job the very second you leave my presence.”

She halted in an instant, coffee-brown eyes melting Antarctica.

“You destroyed my life, Mr Castillo.”

“Is that what you have been telling yourself for the last few years?”

“Few years?”

“You didn't strike me as one who wallowed in self-deprecation.”

“Courtesy of a certain arrogant prick, I became that way.” she retorts against my dry responses to her rage.

“You will watch your mouth, Miss Knowles,” I warned.

She heaved out a sigh, lighting up a cigarette and puffing out the smoke. “Are you going to threaten me with my job again?”

My eyes followed the way she dragged out each breath, one hand pushing back the strandy curls that fell in front of her eyes. She absently bites her lower lips when she blows a breath and I find my eyes trailing the philtrum shape of her lips. I find myself wondering if it will feel the same way as it did when her lips were on my skin, dragging out primal groans along with her rhythm.

Instead, I pulled the cigar from her mouth, crushing the nicotine beneath my shoes. She folded her arms, “ah, maybe you're going to give me a lecture on how smoking is bad for my health.”

My gaze is helplessly placed on her. It's the only part of myself I can't control this instant, “Would you want one?”

“I would rather die quickly this minute than spend any time being around you.”

“Watch your mouth, Adelaide,” I enunciated in a low tone, wanting to punish her for her insolence.

The thought of punishing her till all she will ever want is to have me imprinted in that little cunt of hers flashes through my mind and I painstakingly push it back, watching her tear her gaze off me and tuck back another lone strand of hair.

“Who and where is Reyes?”

“You’re not that much of a regular here, are you?”

She rolled her eyes, “I work here. Happy to hear that?”

“Are you always this rude, Ms Knowles?” I c****d my brows.

“Actually, I'd prefer you just call me by my name, Adelaide.” she gestured with her thumb, “Back in there, was a spur of the moment. I'd never want a stranger to call me by my surname.”

Stranger? The word amused me. I tried to twitch a smile at her which I'm sure must have frightened her with the way her eyes sparkled.

“What did you want with Reyes?”

“You love my life, don't you?”

“What?”

“You pry a lot into my life for reasons I don't seem to get. Although, after you ruined my life, I'm glad to announce to you that you'd be getting nothing else from me.”

Ruined? The thought of that word surprisingly pleases me.

“come previsto,” I said sparingly satisfied, “Mi appartieni amore, come puoi non saperlo nemmeno?”

She bucked her head, “What did you say?”

“You have a lot of interesting choices of words, Ms Knowles.”

“Adelaida.”

I pushed back the thought of her surname changing soon. It was just a matter of time. “Reyes could fire you from your job because of your sheer disrespect for his privacy. Not could—would. I wasn't bluffing when I said that the minute you walked out from me, you'd be jobless than you've ever been.”

“Reyes is my boss.”

“And you're still not smart.”

She hissed, dropping her shoulders, “I just want to talk with him.”

I leaned back on the rail, legs crossed and I tucked the muscles in my jaws. This was going to happen either way—our meeting. I wasn't gracious enough to not let Big guy inside the club take her out simply because I wanted to. It was for the same reason I had kept up with her profile.

She was reckless. Reyes was never going to hear any plea in her voice no matter what she said. Or how long she had worked with him. The fucker was the most heartless person I have ever come to know across New York. She didn't stand a chance.

Except…

“I could get you to talk with him.”

Her eyes gleamed, a smile pulling at her face in sheer hope. “You would do that for me?”

“I should make it up to you for being the cause of your…precariousness. Right?”

The smile tugged wider, “Who knew you had it in you.”

I nodded. I could ask myself the same question.

“On the condition that you make a deal with me.”

Her smile waned slowly, “What…”

“I am a businessman, Ms Knowles. Did you think I was going to be that generous with setting people up rather than running my company?”

She gulped, “No…but…I…”

“Do you want to have that meeting with Reyes, Ms Knowles?”

“Let me hear your offer.”

She was desperate. And I was once more, playing with my food. I wasn't going to let her off this easily, this was even the least of what I wanted from her. I was poking. Testing how much she would need me as much as I wanted her. This woman whom I swore never to come across? Whom I couldn't keep off my mind?

I was standing in heated proximity towards her right now, my hands clenched in the facade of each pocket of my slack, bunched up in restraint because one loose finger and I’d find myself touching her against my will. Her eyes weren't on me and I was tempted to almost hold her chin and let her siren gaze look through me like it was the only mirror she had ever seen.

Maybe I should actually stay away from her. Put a lot of distance between us. Watch her from afar as I have always done. Crave her presence from afar where it was safe to need without feeling the insanity of desire drive you through your inhibitions. To ruin her. Single-handedly destroy every individual who thought they were man enough to touch her. To need her as much as I did.

To be that insane.

“I need you to answer me whenever I call for you from any part of the world, Ms. Knowles.”

Her gaze snapped right at me, she searched my face for confirmation that I was kidding. I don't give her what she seeks.

“What?” she finally found her voice ridden in perplexion and disbelief.

“Deal, Ms Knowles? You're at no liberty to waste a second thought about it.”