My chest heaved rapidly as I took small steps in his direction. I hated everything about this nigga. From the way he carried himself as if he were a God to the way people bowed at his feet. Even before he took over for his family, I wanted him dead.Marrying his sister would bring me one step closer to making sure it happened.
“You have a lot of fuckin’ nerve coming into my place of business trying to check me aboutmyfiancée’. What I do in my home doesn’t have a damn thing to do with you!”
“It does when my sister cries about how her husband-to-be is disparaging her at every turn. How the fuck does it look, you being married to her and still out here flaunting with all these bitches?” he shouted as he pointed behind me. “You think I care about the white bitch? Or the anorexic hoe you damn near beat to death a few weeks ago? I know what this life consists of, just like my sister. Doing it is one thing, but parading these whores in public is something else. That’s not what we do, and you know that shit. Either you do right by Noemi, or this arrangement is off, muthafucka!”
Standing chest to chest and nose to nose, we both waited for the other to make a move. We wanted a reason to kill the person standing in front of us. He was going to die, maybe his sister, too, but it wouldn’t be today.
“You know what?” I nodded and took a step back. “You’re right. Noemi didn’t ask to be treated like this, but understand the predicament she has me in. There’s no intimacy with us, and as a man, you know?—”
“I don’t know shit.” He held his hand up, cutting me off and frowning in disgust. “I have a wife and love the ground she walks on. I haven’t looked at a woman since we’ve been married, and I never will again.”
“Oh, so I guess you’re so perfect, huh?” I scoffed. “When you were with Ari, you fucked off with plenty of women.”
He chuckled. “I was with a hoe, and I had a thing for them, too. Just ask your sister.”
He paused, letting the weight of his words seep into my pores. I swear, this nigga has to die. Before I could shift mybrain to formulate a slick reply, he continued to rub the truth in. “Star knew her place, though. She never tried to make herself known and knew better than to play with me. Seems to me like the women in your life don’t respect you, bro.” He patted my shoulder before stepping around me. “Get them bitches in check and make shit as right as you can with yourfiancée’.It’s bad enough she has to marry you; I’ll be damned if you treat her as if she’s just any other broad. She’s a Boudreaux—act like you know.”
As I watched him leave my office, he stopped and glanced over to the mantle, which held a few of my degrees and a photo of my father and me. Walking over and removing the silver frame from its spot, he eyed it before turning to me.
“Old man Gourneau wouldn’t be pleased with what you’re doing here.” He smirked before placing it back down. “Running around the city, tarnishing the family name, and not keeping your women on a leash… fuckin’ white hoes on his desk. The shit is so disrespectful, Chandler. I’m sure he’s looking up from hell disappointed as fuck.”
I said nothing as the door clicked shut after his exit. Kicking over the nearby chair, I snarled as I contemplated running out of here and gunning him down before he made it to the elevator. Fuck Rosier Boudreaux and all those fucking flunkies he rolled with. He and his family would soon feel the same hurt he caused me and mine. I had to play nice and make things right with Noemi, though. Not marrying her wasn’t an option anymore. My plan would be a success if I followed through, and then everyone would bow down to me, knowing I’d defeated the Boudreaux empire.
Noemi had no choice. She may be a Boudreaux right now, but she would be a Gourneau when she and her family died.
“Claire,please hold all of my calls and visits, if you don’t mind, please. My personal line will ring if it’s an emergency.”
Nodding that she understood, I continued past her desk to my office. Business was booming at Boudreaux Enterprises, and while I worked remotely most of the time, I enjoyed being onsite. Today was my first day back in over three weeks, so I knew there would be a lot of people in my face with unnecessaryconversations. I’d started my day with a phone call from Jordan, and I was too high in the clouds right now to have someone ruin my mood. The knock on my office door before I even powered up my desktop let me know it would be short-lived.
“Where in the hell have you been?” Jules all but yelled as he stepped into my office, not waiting for me to give him permission to enter. I didn’t try to hide my aggravation as I rolled my eyes at him. “We have been trying to see you for weeks, Mimi.”
So much for having a good day.
Rolling my eyes, I answered dryly as I unpacked my bag while my computer loaded. “As if I don’t know that. I have been busy and taking some much-neededmetime.”
“Is that right?” I snapped my head up as Rosier waltzed his ass into my office. “With whom?”
Heated, I picked up my phone and buzzed my office floor’s receptionist.
“Miss Boudreaux?”
“What part of ‘I didn’t want to be disturbed’ did you not understand?” I snarled as I eyed my brothers. Unfazed by my anger, they took seats in the sitting area and got comfortable. “That was for everybody.”
“Jules said, and I quote, “This is his shit, and unless I wanted to be dangling from the ceiling like a spider monkey, I would move the hell out of his way.”” I could hear the nervousness in her voice, and a small giggle slipped through my lips. “I don’t know what that means, and I don’t want to find out, Miss Boudreaux.”
“And Rosier?”
“Ma’am, his name is on my checks. One look from him, and I got the hell out of the way.”
Sighing because she was right, I let her know that it was fine. I placed the phone back on the receiver, folded my arms,and mugged them both. They had some nerve scaring the poor lady to death, knowing how everyone aimed to please so they wouldn’t lose their job—or worse, end up dead.
“This is our place of business, and I’m not obligated to speak on anything outside of that.” My eyes danced back and forth between them both. “If this isn’t work-related, will you please go?”
Hearing my voice crack caused their expressions to soften. With his eyes on me, Rosier stood from his seat and stepped my way. Pulling me from my desk chair and into his arms, I wrapped mine around him and cried silently.
“Nigga, I’m telling Mama on you. Got my sister in here crying and shit,” Jules stated with a hiss from behind us. “I’m telling you, Mimi… all you have to do is say the word, and I will have that nigga in a kennel with Elana.”
Snorting in an attempt to stop my laugh, I pulled away from my brother and wiped my eyes. Peering up at a stoic Rosier, I smirked at him. “Gabby is going to kill you about the mascara on your shirt.”
