Sold To the Grizzly Don (Alcee and Bruno) novel Chapter 3

“Susana,” Alcee groaned into her cell phone as she knelt under the desk of one of the administrators from the upper management floor, “I don’t have time for this.”

“Make time.”

The constant demands of her friends on her time was something they fought about constantly. While they were under the protection of their family, she was without and they seemed to always forget she was putting her life at risk each time she stepped outside her front door. Life wasn’t so easy when you were an ex-principessa and the streets knew the Mariani Don didn’t care if you lived or died.

“Can’t. I’m working overtime tonight.”

“Ditch it.”

“Unlike you who still has her trust fund,” she grunted as she adjusted an HDMI cable and sighed, “I need to work.” There was always a terrible fear her money would run out and she’d be struggling to provide for Antero.

“You have money in the bank!”

“There are savings in the event something happens, and I lose my job or get sick or suffer an accident or all of the above. My nest egg protects me and my family. My job keeps us fed and housed.” She backed out from under the desk and shoved back up her glasses which slipped down her nose. She plunked herself down in the chair and booted up the computer on the desk and waited for it to come back on.

“Alcee, you need to live a little.”

“Look, I’m working right now. There are six more computers I need to get set up before I can go home at the end of the day. I would very much like to focus on my task.”

“You work too hard. This isn’t good for you.”

“I work exactly hard enough to keep me alive and out of my father’s crosshairs, Susana.”

“You owe me.”

“How? On what planet does me declining a dinner invite which is a double date, a blind date for me, turn into me owing you one? This isn’t adding up.”

She was smirking to herself at the thought when one of her counterparts came grumbling in her direction. “What’s up, Tank?”

Tank was one of the military-trained IT guys and in command of their department. He reported directly to Kylen. He also lived up to his name in terms of size but he was usually a gentle soul, happy to sit behind his desk and plug along on a keyboard.

“All the fucking bigwigs are upstairs. Kylen let me know the CEO is moving from his office in Europe to New York. He let me know now, as in right this minute instead of, you know, giving me a heads up so I could prepare for this shit.”

She felt her stomach drop to her feet. She’d jinxed herself by even thinking of the Lozano family.

“The CEO?”

“Torquato Lozano.”

Fuck. She was going to puke. She was going to projectile vomit all over the desktop she’d put together.