Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
But then again, I’m sure Dawson won’t let me out of his sight. He would never miss an opportunity to torture me.
When we pull up outside of the club, Dawson stops me before I can approach the door, grabbing my arm tight in his hand.
“Listen, you need to stay by me and keep your mouth shut. Don’t make too big of a scene about anything in here, you got it?” I nod and wrinkle my eyebrows, not fully understanding what he means. “There are a lot of people in here we’re going to meet, but there’s one person you’re not to talk to. His name is Malik. He’s not the kind of guy you say no to. Understand?”
“I’m just an assistant. It’s not like anyone’s going to care about me,” I say, shrugging it off.
“Promise me you’ll stay away from Malik,” Dawson says again, squeezing my arm tighter and staring in my eyes.
“Okay, I promise,” I say, pushing his hand off of me.
With that, we walk toward the entrance, and the bouncer lets us in without asking a single question. It’s still relatively early, so I’m surprised by the amount of people wandering around the club. I would expect most nightclubs to really take off around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., but this one is already packed to the brim with people holding drinks and dancing in the middle of the room.
As we walk through the crowd, I catch the attention of several men who stop and stare at me, licking their lips and winking when I meet their eyes. Dawson notices it too, and he holds my wrist tighter as he leads me through the crowd.
When he had me wear the bikini at the pool party, he was amused by everyone looking at me. He had fun watching how much I squirmed at the attention of all the men staring at me. But now, seeing the same looks in their eyes, he stops and glares at them, daring them to toss me a second glance before he reaches out and hurts them.
After pushing our way through the crowds of people, we reach another room toward the end of the nightclub guarded by yet another bouncer. Dawson says something to him that I can barely hear over the loud music, and we’re both ushered through the door. A long, bright red hallway guides us toward a set of double doors at the end.
Dawson pushes them open to reveal a room full of older men sitting around with glasses of whiskey in their hands. I look around the room for any familiar faces, spotting Henry right away. He waves at the two of us, and Dawson leads us over.
It doesn’t take me long to realize I’m the only woman here. Every man in the room is staring at me, and I feel my cheeks burning once again. Dawson must have known this would be the case, which explains his frustration.
His words replay in my mind, and I completely understand why he’d be angry about other men looking at me.
“Look at you,” Henry says as he approaches, looking me up and down with satisfaction in his eyes. He pulls me away from Dawson and wraps an arm around my shoulder, gesturing to the array of men sitting around the room and staring at me. I look over my shoulder at Dawson, who is clenching his fists at his sides. “There’s someone I want you to meet!”
Before I can say anything, I’m being guided away from Dawson. He follows behind without saying a word, and I look ahead of me toward a group of men clustered together. One of them in the center is older, with deep wrinkles set in his forehead.
“Malik, this is Harper, Diana’s daughter,” Henry says, gesturing to me. I immediately realize this is the very person Dawson made me promise I wouldn’t talk to. But it seems like this might be the reason I was brought here, so I’m very confused about what to do.
Malik stands up and approaches me, grabbing my hand and delicately kissing my fingers. “You are a vision,” Malik says as he holds my hand and looks me up and down, his gaze trailing over every inch of my flesh slowly.
A nervous pit forms in my stomach, and I can’t help but wonder what it is I’m doing here. Dawson walks around us and takes a seat at a table nearby. I catch him watching the exchange with a sullen, angry look in his eyes.
Is he angry that Malik is talking to me after I promised I would stay away? Or is he just mad that his father is leaving him out of whatever business deal he’s making here? Clearly, whatever’s happening is Henry’s business, and Dawson has worked very hard to be at his father’s level. Then one day I come in, and I’m given an elite position within the company without any training, and I’m now an important person in this meeting.