Page 100 of Moros

It was the kind of look that wondered if I was tricking her. Eventually, she licked her lips and jabbed me playfully at the center of my chest with a finger.

“I’d like to spend some quiet time with you.” Ryanne smiled up at me. “Once you’ve ordered dinner, I need you to come back to me.”

Smiling, I kissed her left cheek, then her right.

I stared into her eyes for a bit then pressed my lips to the center of her forehead.

“Give me a few minutes.”

“Mhmm.”

“Anything specific you want to eat?” I wanted to know. “Spring rolls? Green, red or massam curry?”

“Anything that’s yummy. I only ask for a bowl of some sort of soup.”

“Okay baby.” I kissed her shoulder before leading her to the bed.

After pulling the streets back, I helped her in, pulled the sheets up to her shoulders and kissed her nose.

With eyes on Paul, I went by the land where Musk used to stand. The land was cleared of all signs of the previous building, and the construction company had started moving their equipment on site to start the new build.

It felt strange being there with nothing but an open lot.

And while the insurance company was footing the build for the rebuild, it still angered me this was a duplicate and not the original.

Still, I was thankful no one was hurt.

I was grateful the building had been empty and my staff had been safe.

Now, they were all scattered throughout the city, working at other places to make ends meet. While I gave them all a little extra something, hoping that will help them until they’d found a new gig, it still saddened me.

My team had been a good one.

They loved Musk almost as much as I did.

Boss said they loved it at Musk because I’d been a good boss. People worked there for years—through university. Others who had to leave for whatever reason, always came back if I was short-staffed and required a few extra hands.

And because Paul was a greedy bastard, that family was gone.

I was sick of losing people.

Walking over to the makeshift construction office, I met with the boss and after a conversation, I signed some paperwork and left.

On my way back home, I received a call from a private number. At first, I thought it was Tex, but knew better.

Tex tend to just pop up on the screens in my dashboard and smirk at me when I cussed. Pulling over, I sent Tex a message to start tracking the calls coming into my phone. Once he replied that he was on it, I answered.

“Yes?”

“I need you to back off.” Torez Sloan spoke.

I smiled.

It was a shitty situation, but I couldn’t help myself.

“It’s the audacity for me,” I said. “We’re pass that, Torez. The day you lit my bar on fire—we fucking booked it pass the place where I would have backed off.”

“Look, it’s nothing personal.” Torez screeched. “That’s just business.”