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Nico raised a finger unconsciously to the bump that still existed on his nose and rubbed his finger over it, an old habit. Shrugging off the memories, he poured his coffee into a small white cup ringed with an intricate gold design.
“Is that my excuse to pretend you don’t exist?” Nico said drily, bringing his coffee to his lips and sipping.
“You know, your good nature and easygoing disposition are what I love about you,” Dion joked. He grabbed a cup from the cupboard above the stove and poured himself a coffee from the briki without asking. That was how they were—no niceties, no need to ask permission. It was the precise reason they were not only friends, but business partners. “I thought you were supposed to be in the office today?”
Nico grunted. “I couldn’t get any work done there. It’s too noisy.”
“Even after you paid a small fortune to have your office soundproofed?” Dion clearly wasn’t buying it. “Look, I get you have this whole people-hating thing going on, but the staff are concerned. You’re around less and less. Rumors are circulating.”
He rolled his eyes. “About what?”
“That you’re sick. I overheard the assistants gossiping the other day, and one of them speculated that you’d been diagnosed with cancer.”
“Where did that come from?” He placed the coffee cup down and raked a hand through his hair.
Nico and Dion owned and ran Precision Investments. Their opposite personalities made for a good partnership since Nico worked best behind the scenes, focusing on the numbers and leaving his charming friend to deal with staff and clients.
But Nico’s visits to the company head office had become less frequent over the last year. Some days he couldn’t stand the thought of dealing with people, of answering their questions and making small talk about shit that didn’t matter. Dion had nicknamed him “the beast” at first, like that cursed prince who’d locked himself away in a castle and refused to speak to anyone. It had started as a joke. But one day working from home had turned into two, then three. Last week he hadn’t made it in at all, instead holding his meetings over the phone from the solitude and comfort of his home office.
“Who knows.” Dion shrugged. “But the point is, people are starting to talk. We need to nip this in the bud, because the last thing we want is people losing confidence in the company.”
“I thought the whole point of this partnership was to grow my portfolio and allow you to reel in some bigger fish, not that I would have to deal with bullshit rumors,” he said. “I was perfectly happy trading on my own.”
“Yes, but remember that thing I told you about how many hands make light work. You wouldn’t have gotten to where you are now so quickly if we hadn’t partnered up.”
Dion had a point. While Nico was good with numbers and predicting stock trends, Dion was good with relationships and people. He could grease the wheels for Nico’s business dealings, smooth over any bumps created by Nico’s aggressive tactics. The two men played their strengths off one another to a profitable advantage.
“I’ll take that silence as your agreement,” Dion said with a smirk. He cradled the porcelain coffee cup in his hands and leaned against the marble kitchen countertop. “All I’m saying is that our staff need to see you around. If they wanted to work for an absent boss they could have gone with one of the big companies. The whole point of them being with us is that we don’t make them feel like numbers.”
That was Dion in a nutshell, always thinking about the people.
“I can make it so they wish I was more absent,” Nico muttered. “My presence is both a blessing and a curse, you know that.”
“You’re not half as much of an asshole as you’d like to think.” His friend shook his head. “Look, I know the last year has been rough—”
“It hasn’t been rough.” He did not want the conversation to continue down this path.
“Whether you admit it or not, Kosta’s death shook you up.”
Nico’s hands tightened around the edge of the kitchen island, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. “No, it didn’t. The day I walked out of his house, the old man was already dead to me. Last year was nothing more than reality catching up.”
Lies. Nico knew it, and Dion knew it. Kosta might have cast Nico out of his house—and his life—over a decade earlier, but he remained the only father figure in Nico’s thirty-two years. He’d been more than a boss and a mentor, he’d filled the gap in Nico’s heart for a long time. That was, until Nico had made the mistake of overstepping the boundaries of his employment. Of thinking that he was one of them, when he wasn’t. But the news Kosta had passed away from a heart attack at only sixty-two had rattled Nico to his core. Since then, a dark cloud had followed him around, waves of grief catching him unawares in quiet moments.
“I know more than anyone, and your bark is worse than your bite,” Dion said. “Don’t bullshit me. I know what he was to you.”
