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Top-level players at the company. And people that Richard, as a silent partner, should have no business talking to. “He’s trying to undermine my authority,” I say, irritated.
“Seems like it,” Becca sighs. “I’d recommend you get back here ASAP and remind everyone who’s boss.”
That’s why I like Becca. She’s a straight-shooter, and I can trust her. She understands how business works.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.” I say shortly and hang up.
Uncle Richard…
The man is a constant threat to my power. My father’s older brother, he was always jealous of what Dad managed to build. Wolfe Capital was meant to be a partnership, and Dad offered it to him as a joint venture: fifty-fifty. But Richard sneered at Dad’s plans to go all-in on new tech stocks. This was the 90s, and Richard didn’t want to take the risk. So he went his own way, and then watched as my father grew the investment fund to a multi-million-pound powerhouse.
Of course, my father would never hold a grudge. His brother meant the world to him. They mended fences, he gave Richard shares in the company, and even named him a trustee in the will, so when he passed, Richard stepped in as caretaker CEO of Wolfe Capital.
Until I came of age and took my rightful place as head of the company.
It should have been the end of the story, right there. But I suppose Richard got a taste of power, calling all the shots, and now he still can’t let go. I’ve expanded our business and profits tenfold since I took control, but still, the man is nosing around in my business, whispering in the wrong ears, always out to claw back control.
If he was any other rival, I would have destroyed him a long time ago. Nobody else gets to challenge my power like this, not without paying a heavy price. But Richard is off-limits to me. Not just because he’s family, either.
Because he’s the one person who knows my secrets.
Secrets that would destroy me, if they ever saw the light of day.
So now I have to make sure that they stay buried.
7
AVERY
Travellingwith Sebastian is like a window into another world.
I know power. I’ve grown up in the Barretti mafia world and saw how Nero runs things. He can walk through any door in the city and have people leaping to serve his every demand. But that’s because they all fear him, watching with that look of scandal and worry in their eyes.
Sebastian Wolfe is different.
Peoplewantto serve him.
Everyone treats him like royalty, head turning when he walks into the room. Men look at him with admiration. Women gaze with desire. And he doesn’t seem to notice any of it. From the private jet to the airfield, to the sleek town car waiting on the tarmac, he moves in a bubble of wealth and privilege with total confidence.
A bubble I’m part of too, now.
I feel a tremble of nerves as the car glides through Central London, but I try to hide it, pretending to read a magazine. Sebastian’s barely spoken to me for the entire journey. He’s been on his laptop, barking orders into his cellphone. It’s kind of a relief, after the way things went on the island. The way he kissed me, touched me… I still feel it in my body, aware of his every movement and breath.
I’m in his territory now.
The island was just the beginning, a brief glimpse of his high-powered life. Now…
Now the real work begins.
I gaze out of the car windows at the unfamiliar city. I’ve never travelled much, New York City is more than enough for me, but now, I drink in the historic architecture, and new, gleaming buildings, side-by-side on leafy streets.
The car slows in a chic neighborhood, and I catch a glimpse of an impressive modern home behind huge walls, not that I expected anything different. Big windows face the street and there’s a newness about the structure, as if it was built in the last few years. Its natural stone exterior is a clean white color, and its modern design fits a man like Sebastian perfectly.
The driver pulls into an underground parking structure beneath the house, where there’s a collection of other expensive cars gathered. Aston Martin, Bugatti, Porsche…
I have a thing for cars, and I look at them hungrily before remembering that innocent little Avery wouldn’t know a thing about driving.
I turn away, as Sebastian marches to the elevator, and we swoop upwards.
