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Sulli rolls over to face me. “My lips are sealed, Kits.”
Banks mimes zipping his lips and chucking the key, then he sits up behind Sulli and focuses on the phone that I answer.
“Connor,” I speak first.
“Akara,” Connor says, his voice smooth and even-keeled almost always. “Have you seen the news?”
I briefly glanced at tabloids on our ride home. No articles ran with the headline Bodyguards Fighting at Maximoff Hale’s Charity Event, but more time has passed. Is it out there now?
I push my hair back. “I’d like to apologize about the fight—”
“Not entertainment news. Financial news.”
My face scrunches in a frown. No, I can’t say I’ve been browsing MarketWatch or Bloomberg recently. Not my go-to channels, but I’m not a novice to those sources.
My dad worked in stocks. He used to have Bloomberg on the TV practically all the time. Even during dinner, he’d play the channel on mute in the background.
I motion to Banks.
He’s already grabbing his cell from the nightstand nearest him. He hands it over.
“I’m checking it now,” I tell Connor. On Banks’ phone, I pull up the financial site.
No.
Dismay constricts my face, and I zero in on the first headline.
Cobalt Inc., Fizzle, & Hale Co. Stocks Down in Wake of Familial Leaks
I reread it twice just to make sure I’m not seeing things.
“Akara,” Connor says.
“I see it,” I breathe out. “The Royal Leaks are impacting the stock market now.” Their companies are being adversely affected, and if my dad were alive, he would’ve seen this coming. He would’ve cautioned me about this screwed outcome.
Beyond my position as a bodyguard, my girlfriend is a shareholder of Hale Co. and Fizzle.
“It might blow over,” Connor says diplomatically. “The public is latching onto the website now, and we have the ability to make this go away. But time is running out. I need you to find the source in any viable way and shut it down as soon as possible—primarily for our children’s sake, secondarily for our companies.”
“Understood.”
“Daisy talked to Price Kepler tonight. Triple Shield will be trying to do the same thing.”
I slip my tensed fingers through my hair.
Wonderful.
So very wonderful.
I’m in a race with Triple fudging Shield.
“I’ll be upfront with you, Akara,” Connor says. “I don’t care who stops these leaks as long as they’re stopped, but I’d rather it be you.”
I hang onto his words in shock. I just showed my ass at the Winter Festival, and Connor Cobalt hears all. I’m certain he knows I punched one of my men. It looks…worse than bad.
Professionally, I might as well be writing with crayons. And guess what—you can’t cash a check written in Crayola. Childish, sure.
Enough to write me off, maybe.
But Connor didn’t.
He still believes in me. And he’s still rooting for me in this quasi-competition between two security firms.
I could say, it doesn’t matter who finds the mole as long as they’re found.
But I want to prove my men are the best. They deserve that recognition for all the sleepless nights, heartbreak, and sweat they’ve put into protecting these families. And I won’t screw up again.
“I’ll get it under control,” I promise.
“If you need any of my resources, I’m a call away,” Connor tells me. “Stay in touch.” We say a quick goodbye and hang up.
Sulli wraps the white sheet around her chest, sitting up. “I can’t believe my families’ stocks are taking a hit because of some dirty fucking mole.” She yawns into her fist but keeps talking. “And…I can’t believe my uncle is on your side of things. I thought he liked Price.”
I pass my phone from hand to hand. “I guess he likes me more.” I’m still stunned that he’d pick me over a bodyguard he’s known for literally decades. I think back to when I started security. And I say aloud, “Connor gave me a lot of advice when I was his bodyguard. Advice for Studio 9. My company…companies.” I tap my phone to my knee, remembering how I called him when I started up Kitsuwon Securities.
Having Connor Cobalt in my corner is like having a titan behind the ropes. Makes everything a little easier. Yet, I’m warring with his biggest advice to me.
The one where he told me to choose. Between being a bodyguard and a businessman. Price is a bodyguard and owns Triple Shield—he does both—but I know Connor is referring to me running an MMA gym on top of security.
Protecting Sulli comes before anything. That is written in stone. And I didn’t create Kitsuwon Securities Inc. for accolades or pride. I did it for SFO. For men who needed out from under Triple Shield, and everything we do is to keep these families safe. They’d say they don’t want the praises either.
They don’t need to be told they’re the best.
But it’s nice when that hard work is appreciated. None of them will turn down a pat on the back, and yeah, I want that for them.
