HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Adrain

10 voucheré

I dropped my phone the moment I saw the message deliver, my smile still on my face, only for it to fade slowly. Felix was looking at me, sideways, like he was trying to read something off my face that I had no plans of explaining.

“You good, sir?” he asked, starting the engine

“Drive,” I said, because that was easier than answering.

I kept thinking about her laugh, the way her face changed completely whenever something actually amused her, such an innocent smile for someone that crazy.

I got home a little after six, just enough time to shower off the weight of the day and change into something less corporate for the two meetings ahead.

None of the locations worried me, I had sat across from men in far worse places, a senator’s dinner and a rich kid’s night out were nothing in comparison.

My only real concern, the one thing pulling my attention away from getting ready, was Bianca. I checked my phone for what felt like the tenth time since leaving the office. The message I had sent her still hadn’t moved past sent, no delivered mark beside it yet.

Then I remembered she had mentioned going out with her friend tonight, and that somehow made me calm. Her phone was probably buried in her bag somewhere, not that she was ignoring me. I held onto that thought because it was easier than the alternative.

I straightened my collar one last time in the mirror, grabbed my jacket, and walked out of the house. The car was already waiting in the driveway, engine running. Felix and one of the other men took the second car behind mine, the routine we always followed whenever I had more than one stop in a night and no patience for delays in between.

I pulled my phone out again once we turned onto the main road. The message now showed delivered. “Okay, she should reply soon,” I told myself, though some part of me wasn’t sure if I believed that or just needed to. I put the phone away and looked out the window instead.

We pulled up outside the restaurant a few minutes later, all glass and warm yellow light, the second car arriving right behind mine. Felix was already at the door by the time I stepped out, scanning the room the way he always did out of habit. Senator Rile was seated when we walked in, his wife beside him, his daughter scrolling through her phone.

“Adrian,” the senator said, standing to shake my hand, his grip was firm in that practiced political way. “Glad you could make it.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said, taking my seat, even though every part of this dinner felt like a formality neither of us needed. We talked about infrastructure funding, about a bill that would either help or hurt three of my current projects depending on which version made it to the floor.

His wife asked polite questions about my company, the kind people asked when they already knew the answers and just wanted to seem engaged. His daughter looked up exactly once, when I mentioned a number with too many zeros in it, then went right back to her phone.

It took less time than I expected. Twenty five minutes, maybe less, before the senator was satisfied enough to shake my hand again and tell me he would, in his words, make sure the right people saw this the right way.

“Smooth, Felix said once we were back outside, walking toward the cars.

“Smooth. I agreed, though my mind was already somewhere else, doing the math on how long we had before the next stop. 1 checked the time, quarter to nine.

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Chapter 45

10 vouchers

The Ryns boy doesn’t like waiting,” Felix said, glancing at his phone. “His assistant already called twice asking if we were still coming.”

“We’re still coming.” I said. “Tell them ten sharp.”

We left for the club about an hour after that, enough time for the night to breathe between one performance and the next. The place came into view a few minutes later, all neon and noise even from outside, the kind of spot that thrived on being seen rather than actually enjoyed.

We arrived just before ten and found a table near the back already set aside for us, far enough from the heaviest part of the crowd to talk, close enough to see most of the floor. Felix and the other men spread out the way they always did, present without making it obvious, I took my seat and waited.

A few minutes passed before the Ryns boy walked in, two women trailing close behind him, both dressed like the night needed them to compete with him rather than enjoy themselves. He didn’t apologize for being late, didn’t even seem to register it as something worth mentioning. He just dropped into the seat across from me like we had already been mid conversation.

I didn’t care enough about the two women to ask who they were, and he didn’t bother introducing them either, so we just talked, the kind of business talk that didn’t need an audience. Halfway through, he pulled out his phone and called his secretary without a thought for the hour, and a few minutes later my own phone buzzed with the first part of the file she had

sent over.

I was still waiting on the second half of it when he said, “That is a very hot woman,” nodding toward something past my shoulder.

I turned to look, more out of habit than interest, and felt the floor shift slightly under me. Bianca, standing near the bar, laughing at something, her head tilted back, she had changed out of her office clothes into something dark and fitted that caught the shifting lights in a way that made my chest tighten without permission.

“Isn’t it?” he added, watching my face for a reaction I had no intention of giving him.

I just nodded. forced something close to a smile, and looked back down at my phone like the conversation hadn’t just rearranged something inside my chest. The secretary sent the last file a moment later, and the notification landed on my mail at almost the same second, giving me the perfect excuse to check my phone again without it looking like I was checking anything else. I used it to look at the message I had sent Bianca. Delivered, read now, no reply, she had seen it and said nothing…

“You can leave with the driver and the other men.” I texted Felix.

His reply came fast. “Okay boss.”

I watched him gather the rest of them without a single question, the moment they were out, I moved to another seat, one with a clearer line to the floor and far less chance of being noticed.

From there I watched the Ryns boy finally stand, his two women still attached to either side of him, and head for the exit, his part of the night apparently over before mine had really started. From there I also watched Bianca, still near the VIP section, swaying slightly to whatever was playing, alone for the moment.

I wondered who she had come with, scanning the space around her for a familiar face, until I caught Amanda grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the main floor, both of them laughing about something only they understood. “These two are friends?” I thought, trying and failing to fit that piece anywhere into what I already knew about either of them.

They danced like that for a while, just the two of them, easy and unbothered, but it didn’t stay that way for long. A few guys drifted closer, one of them found his way nearer to Bianca specifically. Expensive watch, expensive shirt, the kind of confidence that came from knowing exactly how much money sat in his account. I looked away for a second, just a second, telling myself it was nothing.

When I looked back, his hands were already on her waist. I tried to stay in my seat and let it be nothing but I couldn’t. Before

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