NOT GOOD ENOUGH

ROB

Jason turned fully toward me. Smug little smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth like he was glad I showed up.

“Perfect,” he said, like this was an invitation he’d been waiting on.

I took two steps in, slow and deliberate. “You were saying something about it being on sight?”

He chuckled and rubbed his jaw like he was weighing whether to swing first or wait. “Yeah, I was. You thought you could lay your hands on me and that would be the end of it?”

“I thought I was being generous.”

My fists curled at my sides. I saw the way his jaw tensed. He wasn’t joking anymore. His eyes flicked to Bianca, like she was his audience. Like he was showing off.

Bad idea.

“She’s not yours, Rob,” he said, voice louder now. “You don’t get to guard her like some wild fucking dog and pretend you own her.”

Bianca stood up sharply. “Jason, shut your mouth—”

“No,” he snapped. “Let him hear it. I don’t care if you don’t like it, Rob. I’m not scared of you. You think just because you’ve been around longer, that you knew her since childhood, that gives you the right to claim her like property?”

I stepped forward.

Bianca moved fast, slipping between us with both hands up like she could hold back the rage by will alone.

“You need to leave,” she said, eyes flicking to Jason.

Jason didn’t move. He was breathing heavier now, the tension in the room thick enough to choke on.

“I came here for work,” he said. “I stayed because I was curious. Now I’m very fucking interested. And there’s nothing stopping me from seeing where that goes.”

My jaw clenched so tight my molars ached.

“Say that again,” I said.

Jason turned to me with the confidence of a man who didn’t understand the kind of danger he was in.

“There’s nothing stopping me from having a relationship with her.”

Bianca’s hand was on my chest now. Warm. Steady.

My heart was beating so loud I couldn’t hear anything else.

Except that sentence.

That arrogant fucking sentence.

I took a step forward and her palm pushed against me, firm but not enough to stop me if I really wanted to move.

“You think I won’t kill you?” I asked quietly.

Jason laughed but there was a flicker of something in his eyes. He saw it now. The line I was about to cross.

“You going to do that in front of her?” he asked.

“Wouldn’t be the first time I handled a problem in front of an audience.”

Bianca shoved me hard.

“You two need to fucking stop.”

Jason turned to her. “You really want to be around this kind of man?”

“You’re not exactly sunshine and roses, Jason.”

He scoffed. “At least I don’t stalk her.”

I lunged.

Bianca grabbed me with both hands, barely managing to push me back.

“Rob,” she growled. “Don’t.”

I was seeing red. Not metaphorically. Everything around me was bleeding color.

“Say that shit again,” I said to Jason, my voice low and shaking.

He didn’t.

He was quiet now.

But his mouth still moved.

“Touch me again and I’ll press charges.”

I smiled.

“I’m not the kind of man who leaves evidence.”

Bianca’s hand was trembling on my chest now. She was still trying to calm me down, but there was something different in her touch.

It wasn’t just fear.

It was disappointment.

That’s what cut the deepest.

I stepped back.

Let the rage cool in my chest like lava settling beneath the earth.

Jason adjusted his collar and turned toward the door. “We’ll talk later, Bianca. Preferably without your attack dog in the room.”

I didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

Just memorized his walk.

His voice.

The back of his skull where I was going to put my bullet.

Bianca let out a long breath when the door closed.

Silence fell between us like a storm had passed and left debris.

She didn’t look at me right away. Just walked slowly to her desk, picked up the blunt with a shaky hand, and lit it again.

I leaned against the wall, jaw aching from the tension.

“He’s going to come back. He’s going to start working here,” I said eventually.

She inhaled, exhaled.

“I know.”

“You going to let him?”

She turned, her eyes sharp.

“He’s the new CEO now, he can do whatever he wants. I don’t belong to anyone, Rob. Not you. Not him. If I let him back, it’s because I want to. Not because you hate it.”

She looked like she was thinking hard. Today had stressed her the fuck out. I had to fix it.

“Do me a favor and keep your paws off my boss,” she said, her voice sharp. “The detective already has his radar on the mysterious, hot woman from Italy who’s too ambitious. That woman being me. Adding Jason’s dead body to the pile won’t exactly help my case.”

The fact that she even had to say that out loud, like I needed a reminder not to kill him.

Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him more.

He dared to stake his claim on her. Like she was up for grabs. Like she was anyone’s to claim. My jaw clenched so tight it ached, and my blood simmered, boiling just beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to explode.

Even if I don’t kill him now, there are other ways to make his pathetic existence a living hell. And believe me, I know every single one.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

Blood bloomed on my tongue.

“He’s not good for you.”

“Neither are you,” she said.

And that was the truth.

But I wasn’t going anywhere.

Let him try.

Let him keep pushing.

Next time, I wouldn’t hold back.