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I don’t like coming here. I have better things to do than sit and drink and listen to men claim things they don’t own and lives they don’t live.
But it is a necessary evil.
My car is waiting when I walk out, the heavy steel door held open by Victor as he waits for me. I slide into the backseat and he takes the front. The ride is as silent as it always is.
I don’t discuss anything in the car.
I don’t discuss anything outside the walls of my office. Not if I can help it.
There are too many ears listening. Too many eyes watching.
Most of them willing to turn on me with any information they might glean.
Because there is no such thing as loyalty in this world.
And even if there is, it comes at a price.
Sal, the driver I’ve retained almost my entire time in New York, pulls up in front of my building and tips his hat at me with a smile. He’s worked for me long enough that he doesn’t expect one back and immediately turns to face the windshield.
Victor opens my door and follows me inside. The silence from earlier carries through the elevator ride up to my penthouse, but the minute we step out, Victor starts to speak. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“That’s not your decision to make.” Victor is new to the position he holds. New enough that he believes he has input on what I say or do.
“Frederick is itching for a reason to take control from you, Andre. You can’t go around doing shit just to piss him off. Not yet.”
I keep walking, ignoring him as I stalk through the shadowy rooms.
Sebastian would have gotten the hint by now. Sebastian would have realized it wasn’t his place to tell me what was best.
Unfortunately, Sebastian is no longer here.
I change trajectory, taking a short detour on my way to the office, where I will spend the rest of my evening going over the possibilities of what could come next.
And what I can do to make sure all those possibilities work in my favor.
I pull a tumbler from one of the glass shelves tucked into the corner of my den and immediately splash in what remains of my favorite scotch.
“He wanted that woman, Andre.” Victor’s eyes are serious when they meet mine as he leans across the bar between us.
I allow myself the smile I resisted earlier. “I know.”
I could see it in Frederick’s eyes when he looked at her. The lust. The desire.
And I decided to take it from him. The same way I took New York.
And the same way I will take anything else I want.
Possession is power, and power is the only thing that matters.
Because there is nothing else.
“He’s going to try to punish you for it.” Victor clearly believes he’s telling me something I don’t already know.
Something I’m not already anticipating.
And looking forward to.
“Good.” Every time Frederick comes for me is another opportunity to prove I’m better than he is. It’s another chance for me to show him, and anyone else who might think they should challenge me, what a bad idea that would be.
