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Just as he’d hoped, Cole listened and told him he’d check and get back with him in the morning. He sounded positive, and he also told him about a position opening at Grant Real Estate Holdings.

"Thanks for hearing me out, Cole, and I'm sorry for bothering you like this." He'd shared what he needed to but didn't go into detail regarding Gio and their relationship. "I trusted people I shouldn't have." He said and left it there.

"I understand, Axel. I was in a similar tight spot several years ago before I met Michael. You can get painted into a corner pretty easily by trusting the wrong people.” Axel wondered what the story was there but did not ask.

“I’ll call back in the morning.”

"Thank you, Cole." With that, they closed the call, and Axel sat on the edge of the hotel bed wondering what his next move would be. Cole had contacts and influence, so he had a decent chance of getting an interview somewhere, and he'd just take it a day at a time. If he had to leave Pittsburgh, he would, but he loved this town and wanted to exhaust the possibilities first.

***

“He’s very good at what he does.” Cole began.

“What does he do?” Michael asked over lunch with his husband. They were at the Ciri Restaurant on the first floor of the Hadden Center.

“He’s a well-respected real estate lawyer who, if you look him up, was the business side of the Ardant Group. Gio Ardant is the face, the glad-hander, but his partner, Axel, was the brains."

“And now he’s desperately looking for work?” Michael cocked an eyebrow as he popped another shrimp into his mouth.

“He was careful with his words, but I think they had a falling out and Axel got the short end of the stick.” Cole leaned in as if he were imparting a secret. “Zak is doing a deep dive for me, but I've known him for a couple of years in regard to business; we never had a social connection, and I think that had to do with Gio."

“You like him?” Michael smiled.

"I do. I see myself in him, and if it weren't for you, I don't know how my life would have turned out. I want to help him." Cole drank his coffee and waited for a comment, and Michael smiled.

"He's qualified for the upper floors, but humans are never hired into those positions." Michael reminded. "The Master only allows vampires in those positions or spouses of Coven members."

Cole looked pained for a few minutes. “I don’t want to let him down. He needs the confidence boost that an interview with Hadden Corp would give him. He was tossed out. I don't know the details, but for him to call me means he's running out of options. You know what that can do to a person.” They fell silent for a few seconds as Cole’s mind continued to run scenarios.

"It will take me a couple of days to find him something elsewhere, but he needs this. Can you get him an interview, not a job, just an interview? Make it look legit and with someone who will listen and let him down easy. In the meantime, I'll find him something perfect and suitable." Cole finished with a satisfied smile.

"I think you may be reading too much into his request." Michael offered, then added. "Do you really think he needs that kind of support?"

“I do.”

"Okay, I'll get him an interview." Michael could not deny his beloved anything. Cole was his heart and his sunshine, and he loved him absolutely. “There’s a new development project forming, headed by one of the Master's top men from New York. He has control of the lowlands for expansion purposes. He’s hiring new people, so I’ll set up an interview for your friend, and it will look legit, as you say. Porter is doing the interviews, from what I understand, and he owes me a favor.”

"Make sure he treats him nicely and with respect, and make sure he lets him down easy," Cole stated, and Michael nodded.

“Yes, dear.”

CHAPTER TWO

Axel received the call from Cole at nine in the morning. “The interview has been set for two this afternoon. Can you make it?” He asked.

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“No guarantees the new department is going to deal exclusively with rebuilding the lowlands into something habitable and profitable. Hadden Corp has purchased the entire ten-block square."

“Sounds interesting. Who is in charge?" Axel asked.

“Kieran Lagarde, do you know him?”

“No, but I've heard of him," Axel responded. "Will he be doing the interviews himself?"

“No, Arlan Porter will be conducting the interviews. He’s looking for a real estate attorney, and that's what I scheduled you to interview for, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, that's my training." Axel was hopeful but also understood that he'd worked for Ardent Group for the last six years, and it was in no way on the scale of Hadden Corp. His work was good and thorough, but would it be able to stand next to the work of those dealing in multibillion-dollar projects? The biggest project he was a part of was just over two hundred million, which was a long way from the average at Hadden Corp.