Shattered Rose He Held On Tight novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Customer Service with Benefits

Seeing Sterling’s disdain for takeout, Claudia thought seriously for a moment. “How about I hire a maid to cook for us?”

Even paying one twenty grand a month, she could skim a nice cut as the middleman.

“I don’t like strangers in the places I live.” Mr. Romero refused coldly.

The two of them sat staring at each other on the sofa for five long minutes. Finally, Sterling sighed, reached out to cover her bright, innocent eyes with his hand, and gave the verdict: “Order groceries. I’ll cook.”

Half an hour later, Claudia sat back in satisfaction, watching the handsome man roll up sleeves and work in her tiny kitchen.

It was a little upside down–her benefactor cooking for her–but both accepted it easily enough.

The only problem was: “Are you sure you can handle it?”

his

She remembered how much blood he’d lost the night before. With the calm menace on those men’s faces when they’d come patch him up, she half–worried he might keel over in the kitchen and turn her dinner into a death row last meal.

Sterling cast her a knowing look and stuffed a washed tomato into her mouth. “You want to test whether I can? Then test it properly.”

“…Test what?” Claudia blinked, slow to catch on.

When it clicked, she shot him a glare, cheeks heating, then stomped off to the living room to

watch TV.

Sterling chuckled softly.

From the open kitchen, he watched her pick up hér phone again. He remembered. “While you were sleeping, someone kept calling. I answered.”

So that’s why her phone had been powered off when she tried to order takeout earlier.

Claudia whipped around. “Mr. Romero, you do know it’s rude to answer someone else’s calls, right?”

He stirred the pan with practiced ease. “But your phone wouldn’t stop ringing, and I couldn’t sleep. And someone was impossible to wake up.”

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9:40 Tue, Oct 7

Chapter 17 Customer Service with Benefits

Then he put on a look of innocence. “Besides, I took all the scolding for you.”

Claudia flipped through the call log.

Seeing the names, she only sighed.

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So her mother hadn’t vented enough that morning and had sicced the entire family on her- each of them calling in turn. Even Lydia’s loyal mutt Quade had chimed in. Word of her sending Lydia to the ER had spread quickly.

She didn’t need to hear the recordings to know exactly what was said.

If Sterling had been her employee, she would have chalked it up as workplace injury.

But since he was her capitalistic benefactor-

“So, did you curse them out back for me?”

“No,” he said simply.

“Then how is that any repayment? If I don’t get payback, what am I compensating you for?” Claudia spread her hands in mock exasperation.

Sterling’s eyes glinted with amusement. “So if I curse them back, you’ll repay me?”

“Mm–hm.” She answered without thinking.

Clint hung up the phone with the expression of an old man stunned by technology.

All his years as an assistant, he had never received such a childish order.

Yes–childish.

What kind of boss got angry and retaliated by hiring people to call and curse his enemies out?

Normally, anyone who crossed Mr. Romero didn’t escape without broken bones at the very least–often bankruptcy or ruin.

Clint simply couldn’t comprehend it.

This gentle indulgence was bizarre, like humoring a child.

But orders were orders. He found a few smooth talkers and had them call through the list Mr. Romero had given him, hurling insults at each.

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Chapter 17 Customer Service with Benefits

No timeline was set, so… three days of round–the–clock cursing seemed sufficient.

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+8 Pearls

At the same moment, in different places–Lydia in her hospital bed, Zane and Jasper at her side, Clarence in Altrix City handling the burned house, the Lancaster couple at a dinner party, Quade drinking in a bar–each of their phones began ringing…

Claudia hadn’t expected Sterling’s cooking to actually be good. He looked like the sort who never touched mundane chores, a prince of cold detachment. The brief glimpses of his ruthless side had made her think he handled killing more deftly than chopping vegetables.

But the dishes on the table–one of them even a grilled chicken suited to her taste–won her over completely.

People succeeded for a reason. Not only did his body heal unnaturally fast, he was better at household chores than she was.

Sharing a meal at home with someone like this–it had been a long time. The atmosphere carried an unexpected warmth.

After eating, Claudia dutifully cleaned up the kitchen. When she returned, drying her hands, she found Sterling lounging on the sofa, curling a finger at her like one might beckon a dog.

She dragged her feet over. “What?”

“Come see the proof. I don’t want you wriggling out of paying me back.”

Clint had worked quickly. In the time it took to finish dinner, he had already sorted through a few of the choicest recordings.

Sitting side by side, Sterling tapped play.

Wilson’s voice blasted from the phone, roaring with outrage after being cursed out like never before.

Claudia gaped.

Wilson–pampered for years in high places, accustomed to deference–had never in his life been directly cursed at.

Send Gifts

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