Twisted Hate: An Enemies with Benefits Romance

part of the Russo empire.” A self-deprecating note crept into his tone.
Of course.
It suddenly clicked. I read a recent magazine profile of The Russo Group,
the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate.
Dante was the CEO. According to the profile, he was also rumored to
have one of the most ruthless security teams in the corporate world. There
was an urban legend that his head of security once caught someone trying to
sneak into his house while he was away for business. The unlucky thief
ended up in a month-long coma with two broken kneecaps, a mangled face,
and every rib shattered.
The thief had refused to name names, and there was no hard evidence
tracing it back to Dante, but his reputation stuck.
No wonder Josh was so confident Max’s associates wouldn’t fuck with
him.
We made more chitchat for a few minutes before I hesitated and said,
“I’m sorry to hear about your grandfather.”
Enzo Russo founded the Russo Group sixty-five years ago. He was a
bona fide business legend, and his funeral had dominated the headlines a few
weeks ago.
Dante didn’t seem distraught over his grandfather’s death, but it felt like
the polite thing to say considering how recent the funeral was. Plus, I’d been
there when he received the news in Christian’s library.
An iron blanket fell over his sculpted features. “Thank you. I appreciate
it.” He glanced over my shoulder. “Apologies for cutting our conversation
short, but my fiancée has finally arrived.” He sounded less than thrilled. Was
there anyone in this man’s life he did like? “Please, enjoy the rest of the
party.” He nodded at us and strode off, his tall, muscled frame cutting a
striking figure in the crowd. At the end of the hall, a beautiful Asian woman
watched him approach with a half nervous, half defiant expression. His
fiancée, I assumed.
“I would pay to see someone try to steal from him,” I said. “Good job.”
Josh smirked. “I try. How do you know him?” He sounded more curious
than concerned.
“We met at Christian’s house when I asked for his help with Max.” I
spotted a server bearing down on us with a tray of champagne and quickly
shook my head.
“Right. Is it just me, or do all rich people know each other?” he asked.

---

“I wouldn’t be surprised. They live in a small world.” I eyed the painting
again. Unlike the others, it lacked a plaque engraved with its name, artist, and
origins. “So, does this oh-so-precious piece have a name?”
“Apparently. Dante was already familiar with it when he bought it.” Josh
took my hand again as we walked to the next painting. “It’s called Magda.”

---

58

---

JOSH
T
HERE
WAS
ONE
BRIGHT
SPOT
TO
THE
WHOLE
MESS
WITH
THE
PAINTING
: I 
SOLD
it to Dante for a shit ton of money. It wasn’t enough for me to retire on, but it
was enough to pay off my med school loans, splurge on nice dates with Jules,
and build a comfortable nest egg for the future.
I was pretty sure Dante had undervalued the art during our negotiations,
but fuck it. I was just happy to be rid of the damn thing.
I pushed open the door to the clinic, my steps lighter than it had been in
months. I’d just finished a nine-hour shift, but Jules only had a few weeks left
at LHAC, and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before she
started her job at Silver & Klein.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was the group clustered
around Jules’s desk, oohing and aahing over something.
“Is this a workplace or is this a party?” I quipped, coming up behind
them. “What’s going on?”
“It’s lunchtime, Josh.” Ellie tossed her hair over her shoulder. “We
deserve a break. Right, Marsh?”
Marshall stared at her with a besotted expression. “Absolutely.”
Poor guy. He was so smitten with her he would’ve jumped off a bridge
had she asked him to.
Then again, I felt the same way about Jules, so I wasn’t one to talk.
“Hey, Red.” I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and resisted the urge
to kiss her.
Everyone at the clinic knew we were dating now, but we still kept things
professional when we were in front of our coworkers. No PDA, though I
couldn’t resist sneaking a kiss every now and then when we were alone.

---

“Hi.” She smiled up at me, and it should be fucking illegal how that one
tiny thing made my chest swell.
“Hi.” I smiled back.
The air between us thrummed with electricity, and I wished, not for the
first time, that we were alone instead of surrounded by a half dozen
coworkers.
Everyone around us sighed—some with dreaminess, some with mock
exasperation.
“I knew you would make a good-looking couple.” Barbs beamed, her
eyes glinting with smugness. “No one believed me.”
When we broke the news of our relationship two weeks ago, she’d been
so ecstatic she baked a giant blueberry pie and brought it in the next day.
According to her, it was to celebrate her first love match at LHAC, even
though she wasn’t responsible for us getting together.
Then again, she was the one who pushed me to see Jules in the kitchen
during Jules’s first day here, so maybe she did deserve a little credit. If I’d
found out about Jules working here another day, another way, I might’ve
never offered a truce, and we wouldn’t be where we were now.
Plus, Barbs had been less insufferable than Clara, who gave me the
world’s biggest shit-eating, I told you so grin when she found out.
“In that regard, I carry all the weight in the relationship,” I drawled,
earning myself an elbow jab from Jules.
Barbs’s grin widened. “Funny, she said the same thing.”
“I’m not surprised.” I smoothed a hand over Jules’s hair. “Poor thing can
be delusional.”
“Look in the mirror, Chen.” Jules sniffed. “That is, if it hasn’t already
cracked from facing you every day.”
My laugh joined everyone else’s. “Touché, Red. Touché.” I leaned over
her shoulder and looked at her phone. “What are you guys all staring at,
anyway?”
“She’s showing us pictures from her friend’s proposal.” Barbs’s gray
curls quivered with excitement. “Look at that ring! I’m surprised the poor girl
didn’t topple over from the size of it.”
I shook my head as Jules scrolled through pictures of Alex and Ava’s
proposal on her phone.
Alex had officially proposed over the weekend. The bastard couldn’t do
anything halfway, so he flew Ava to London for a “special photography

---

exhibit” and popped the question at the gallery where they reconciled.
Their wedding was scheduled for next summer, but preparations were
already in full swing, with Jules, Stella, and Bridget as bridesmaids. Ava
couldn’t decide who she wanted as her maid of honor, so she chose to forego
one altogether.
“Now this one should be framed and hung.” Barbs leaned over and tapped
on the screen when Jules reached the last picture.
In it, Alex knelt on one knee while Ava had one hand clapped over her
mouth. Her eyes were glossy with tears. The entire gallery had been stripped
and redecorated for the proposal—twinkling strings of lights clipped with
Polaroids Ava had taken of the two of them together, a table set with candles
and flowers in the middle of the room, and blue rose petals scattered over the
floor. The blaze from the open ring box was blinding even in two-
dimensional form.
It was also the only photo I’d ever seen of Alex where he looked visibly,
wildly nervous.
I rubbed my hands together. Man, I couldn’t wait to hold this over his
head the next time I saw him. A nervous Alex, immortalized for all eternity.
The universe loved me.
Everyone oohed and aahed over the picture a while longer before they
finally dispersed to their desks, and Jules and I entered the empty kitchen to
“get more coffee.”
The minute the door closed, I cupped the back of her neck and drew her
to me for a proper greeting. She tasted like caramel and coffee, and I savored
her sweetness for a minute before I pulled back.
“Hi.” My lips brushed hers with the word.
“Hi.” Jules’s smile settled in my chest like a ray of warmth. “Is this how
you greet all your coworkers, Dr. Chen? Because it’s highly inappropriate.”
“Only the infuriating, pain-in-my ass ones.” I nipped her bottom lip
lightly in punishment for her sass. “A kiss is the only way to shut them up.”
“Don’t let the nurses know, or you’ll have a mutiny on your hands.
They’ll be pissing you off left and right.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not interested in any nurses. Besides…” I rubbed
my thumb over the nape of her neck in small circles. “No one pisses me off
like you do.”
Jules melted into my touch. “You’re such a charmer.”
“It’s one of my many excellent qualities,” I drawled. “Anyway, how’s the

---

wedding planning going? Ava turn into Bridezilla yet?”
“Josh, she literally got engaged four days ago. She’s still in Europe.”
Alex had extended their trip so they could visit France and Spain after
London.
“Hey, I’ve never been a bride. I don’t know how these timelines work.”
Jules let out a good-natured sigh. “It’ll be a while before we get into the
swing of things, but…” A blanket of hesitation fell over her face. “Speaking
of brides, we’re getting to that time in our lives. Bridget’s married. Ava is
engaged.”
“Yep.”
“Do you…want to get married anytime soon?”
My thumb stilled on her skin. “Do you?” I watched her carefully for a
reaction.
We’d only been dating for a few months, but now was as good a time as
any to discuss our expectations for the future.
We stared at each other for a second before we blurted out our answers.
“No, I’m not financially ready yet—”
“I still have to finish my residency and take my boards—”
“There’s so much I want to do before—”
“So many places to travel—”
Our words jumbled together in our haste.
Jules laughed, covering her face with her hands. “Oh, thank God. Not that
I don’t want to get married and have kids eventually, but now…”
“…Is not the right time,” I finished. “Totally agree.”
I already knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with, but
marriage came with financial responsibilities neither of us was equipped to
handle at the moment.
Besides, when we did have our wedding, I wanted it to be her ultimate
dream wedding. I wanted our honeymoon to be fucking epic. Those things
weren’t possible when I was constrained by my residency, and Jules was
navigating her first years as an attorney.
“There’s too much of the world to see first.” I rubbed my thumb over her
hand. “And I want to see it all with you.”
A blush of pleasure climbed up her neck and over her face. “Is that a
promise, Chen? Because I’ll hold you to it.”
I smiled, wondering how the fuck I ever thought Jules was anything other
than my perfect match.

---

“It’s more than a promise, Red. It’s a guarantee.”

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EPILOGUE