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“Up two pounds?” she was saying coldly. “Must have been quite a night. Hope it was worth it for you. Looks like you’ll be skipping breakfast. No milk in your coffee either.”

My gaze flew to my wife. Her face was utterly stoic. And for some unfathomable reason, she didn’t speak one word of protest.

Why wasn’t she putting this shrew in her place? Well, if she wouldn’t . . .

“What the fuck are you doing?” I burst out at the stranger. “Who do you think you are, talking to her like that?”

“Excuse me, Mr. Castelo,” she spoke to me in a completely different tone. Her very demeanor changed. “I’m Asha. The handler. Just doing my job.”

“Well, you better rethink how you’re doing it.”

“How so, sir?”

I didn’t even know where to begin.

Wait. Yes, I did.

“Get. Out. Of. Our. Room. And do not enter it again. Without. Knocking!”

For her part she reacted quickly enough to suit even me in that moment.

I threw on my clothes from the night before and went on a bit of a tear, going through the apartment, gathering my wife’s entire staff.

Strangely, a teenaged girl was in the mix. She was studying me coldly, like I was the one who didn’t belong in my wife’s apartment.

I ignored her, focusing on Noura’s team: Asha, the loud handler. Chester, the too-friendly, eyes too warm on my wife security. Vincent, the quiet driver.

I went on a tangent, laying out some ground rules that I thought should have been pretty fucking obvious.

“Don’t walk into our bedroom without knocking. Ever. In fact, stay out of our bedroom alto-fucking-gether.”

That was for all of them.

“Don’t raise your voice to my wife. In fact, don’t even think of speaking to her with an ounce of disrespect in your tone. Don’t so much as look at her fucking funny. Noura’s the one in charge here. No one else.” I glared at Asha all throughout this part of my rant. It was for her. “And if I hear that you’ve been telling her what to eat—that you’ve been telling her not to eat.” I had to collect my temper before continuing. “So help me God, there will be hell to pay!”

Mouthy Asha didn’t have a thing to say to that.

“Is all of that crystal fucking clear?” I asked, making solid eye contact with each of them.

Why was the teenager grinning like a loon now? I ignored her again.

Asha’s eyes snapped at me, but she didn’t hesitate. “Yes, sir,” she replied firmly.

“Crystal,” Chester drawled. He was clearly holding in a smirk.

“Certainly,” Vincent agreed cheerfully.

I left them without another word, returning to my wife’s quarters.

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

Noura was just stepping out of the shower, toweling herself off. So clean. Not for long. I watched her for a time, wondering why she had nothing to say.

Finally I broke out with, “Why’d you let her treat you like that?”

She shrugged. It drew my eyes down to her barely covered, edible tits. “That’s just how she is. I was too tired to fight her today. Besides, I’m supposed to listen to her. It’s part of the arrangement.”