Red

CHAPTER 9.

"Are you finished?" he asked as smoke continue to dispense between his lips. His voice didn't raised, didn't get angry. It just got cold.

It was so cold that it burns.

I clenched my jaw at that and straightened my spine as I showed him that his daughter's nanny wasn't a push over. "I said what I said."

A humorless smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Good," he murmured. "At least you speak with spine. Most people only grow one after they die."

I blinked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," he continued calmly, "you don't understand whose house you're standing in, nor the consequences attached to your fucking mouth. You're reacting and clearly not thinking. And people who react without thinking tend to end up six foot deep."

My stomach tightened as I realized he's warning me. "You threatening me?"

"Threatening?" His brows lifted slightly, as if the word disappointed him. "No. No Cara. I don't threaten. I just state realities. Threats are for men who need to scare people. I don't."

"You're so full of yourself."

"Or," he said, leaning back as if he were lecturing a child, the blunt hanging from the corner of his mouth, "you're simply used to men who can be manipulated with your attitude and rudeness. I'm not one of them."

My neck tilted back, pulse stuttering there as I mocked. "Oh, please. You think I'm trying to manipulate you?"

"I think," Lorenzo said quietly, "you walked out here clearly with a attitude problem and believed it makes you dangerous all because I ignored your presence. It doesn't."

He closed the laptop, one finger tapping the lid and I glared down at him, Stunned at the audacity of this man.

Lorenzo puff a huge coil of smoke into my face, staring at me deeply, his head tilted, testing me, staring me down. Waiting and watching if I was going to back down as his smoke clamp over my face, burning my lungs and my nose.

I straightened my spine from wiping my cheeks, forcing the tears back. Refusing to let this bitch have dominance over me. He might have had it with his men but Aurora. I was about to let him see that Aurora the nanny was the Red version of a bad bitch. So I whispered in my mind about the job. Stay focused.

The cloud rolled over my face.

"Seriously?" I hissed, waving it away, taking a step back but keeping my stance firm. "You really think choking me with smoke is going to intimidate me?"

He didn't answer. He just let the smoke linger, eyes fixed on me.

A single eyebrow rose. The corner of his mouth twitched almost subtle.

"You are bold," he said, voice dropping lower. "Your boldness is... admirable. But it will cost you. And I'm afraid I'll be the cost behind it."

I matched his stare, my voice dropping lower too, mocking him. "Then I guess I'm ready to pay it."

He exhaled, the smoke forming a ring that hovered between us. A tiny smirk appeared on

We stared deep into each other eyes for the longest time, and I swear I thought the fucker was gonna shot me but he only picked up a paper and hand it to me.

Without much thought I took it from his hands and stared over the list that consisted of what Xamuela was to do and not do.

She was a damn three year old toddler why the hell did she needed these unnecessary things.