Page 210 of Hate to Love You

She tried to convince me she was at the club. How cute.

But just as I’m about to respond to her latest message, my phone suddenly starts ringing. Only this time it’s not Abby.

It’s Ana.

Shit. That definitely can’t be good.

“Roman,” she says as I answer the phone. “What the fuck happened with Heather?”

“Who?” I ask, slightly confused.

“From Accounting?” Ana snaps.

“Oh, AccountTits,” I say, before I can stop myself.

Shit. I may have had a glass too many this evening.

“What?!”

“Nothing, what about her?”

“Apparently, she stormed into your CFO’s office, with a massive bandage on her chest and quit on the spot. She didn’t even give two weeks notice. I’ve only just had time to read the email.”

“Okay…and?” I scoff. “Why is that my problem?”

“It’s your problem, brother of mine,” Ana seethes on the other end of the phone. “Because she claimed that you were the one who maimed her, and she said that she wanted to file a police report about it.”

“Oh shit, really?” I snort, but immediately regret it when Ana starts yelling in my ear.

“What the fuck did you do to her chest, Roman?!”

“Nothing! It was an accident,” I say, trying to choose my words carefully so as not to implicate Abby. “She just had a little accident.”

“She had the word slut carved into her chest, Roman!” Ana continues shouting. “I understand if you want to do your scary mafia stuff outside in the real world, but Nikotech is supposed to be set above that shit. It’s supposed to function legitimately, which means you can’t just go carving words into whomever you feel like slicing up!”

“I didn’t!” I snap back. “It was one of the office girls.”

“Who?!”

Shit.

“Um, fuck, I don’t know, you know I’m not good with names.”

“Roman,” Ana growls. “I have worked so damn hard to build Nikotech and keep it above brow.”

“I know you have,” I nod. “And I support you in this—”

But my words are completely ignored as Ana continues on her furious tirade.

“...And I’ll be damned if I let you tarnish the reputation I am so carefully building because you feel like branding whatever bitch you’re currently fucking!”

“Watch it, Ana,” I growl darkly, my fist tightening. “I just told you that I didn’t carve up Heather. That should be enough for you.”

“Alright,” Ana scoffs. “Then you need to figure out who did and bring them to justice.”

“I will look into it,” I lie, sighing deeply. “But for the time being, I have a few other more pressing issues on my mind, and I don’t give a shit if that bitch doesn’t work for me anymore.”

“Yeah, well you should,” Ana snaps back at me. “Because she’s gone to Polina.”