King of Greed (Kings of Sin #3) by Ana Huang

“Of course,” Aiden said. “We have no reason not to be. Right, Dominic?”

Dominic’s smile held no humor. “Absolutely.”

My gaze ping-ponged between the stubborn jut of Aiden’s chin and the dangerous glint in Dominic’s eyes.

I sighed.

This was going to be a long week.





CHAPTER 28



Dominic




“YOU’RE IN MY WAY.” I SHOULDERED PAST AIDEN WITH more force than necessary. Alessandra had warned us against passive-aggressiveness, but it wasn’t my fault if I bumped into her landlord while I was taking out the trash. The asshole was standing right in my path.

He stumbled before regaining his balance and pinning me with a hard smile. “Perhaps you should find an alternate route. There’s plenty of space around me.”

“It’s covered with trash.” I dumped an armful of ruined flowers into a giant Hefty bag.

“Then wait.” He resumed sweeping a pile of glass shards into a dustpan. “You’re not the only one working.”

My eye twitched. I’d been here less than three hours, and I already wanted to punch Aiden in his smug, bearded face. Alessandra said their relationship was platonic, but no landlord was this hands-on with his tenant unless he wanted something.

Thank fuck I was here to make sure he didn’t do anything sleazy. I would’ve helped Alessandra clean up regardless, but Aiden’s presence ensured I didn’t step foot outside the shop until after he’d left every day.

“No, but I’m the only one in this room working efficiently,” I said coolly. “How long have you been sweeping the same glass?”

“It’s not always about speed. Good work requires time and care,” Aiden said. “You could learn a few things about that.”

Red crept into my vision. It would be so easy to grab one of the bigger glass shards and—

“How’s everything going?” Alessandra emerged from the supply closet, looking tired but more optimistic than she had when we first saw the damage.

“Great,” Aiden and I chorused. He smiled at me. I smiled at him. We smiled at Alessandra together.

“We’re making a lot of progress,” I said, which was true. We’d cleaned up most of the debris over the past two days, and we could start arranging the furniture back to their original positions tomorrow.

Her eyebrows skyrocketed, but she didn’t question our over-the-top cheerfulness. I think she was just happy she hadn’t walked into a fistfight or, if I had my way, bloody murder.

Alessandra stayed on the main floor, so Aiden and I kept our mouths shut for the remainder of the afternoon.

My sweat-drenched shirt stuck to my skin, and my muscles ached from hauling giant stuffed trash bags out to the dumpster every hour. I worked out, but I hadn’t undertaken basic physical labor since I started Davenport Capital. The mindless tasks were grueling but oddly soothing.

Thanks to my temporary new schedule, I had to cram a day’s worth of client interactions and financial assessments into six or seven hours every morning. It was nice to show up at Floria Designs in the afternoon and not have to think about what I was doing.

My team wasn’t happy about the changes, but they worked for me, not the other way around. As long as our portfolios were performing well, which they were, they had no valid reason to complain.

“Here.” Alessandra handed me a glass of water at the end of the day. Aiden had left twenty minutes ago for a dinner reservation, and I’d slowed my pace so I could spend a little more time with her. “You look like you could use this.”

“Thanks.” My fingers brushed hers when I took the glass. A burst of electricity zipped over my skin, and Alessandra stepped back so quickly she almost tripped over a flattened cardboard box.

I wasn’t the only one who’d felt the charge between us.

“Things are shaping up,” I said huskily. “I think we’ll be done by the weekend.”

“I hope so.” A pink flush decorated her face and chest. She looked so fucking adorable, I almost grabbed her and kissed her again, but we hadn’t even discussed our kiss at the lagoon yet. The last thing I wanted was to push her too far, too fast. “Thank you again for helping me with this.” She gestured around the store. “You don’t need to.”

“No, but I want to,” I said simply.

Alessandra had supported me unfailingly through the years, and I hadn’t done the same for her. Not as much as I should’ve. I could scrub every inch of the store every day for the next ten years and it wouldn’t come close to what she deserved. It was why I’d helped her myself instead of hiring a crew to do it. She warranted attention, not delegation.

Our breaths fluttered in the air before they liquefied into silence.

Lawn mowing, dishwashing, working as a busboy. I’d spent the first half of my life serving others for figurative pennies. After I made my first million, I swore I would never clean up other people’s messes again, but I would happily spend the rest of my life doing just that if it meant Alessandra would keep looking at me the way she did now.

Like maybe, just maybe, the tiny flame of hope I’d carried around for us since our divorce wasn’t misplaced after all.



As predicted, we completed our cleanup efforts on Saturday. I’d developed a baseball team’s worth of calluses by that point, but it was worth it.