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We had a unique place in the world, the ability to move seamlessly from one society to another. Me more so than my brothers.
I was the polished one. The Columbia graduate. The face of King Holdings, the legitimate aspect of our family business. Well, as legitimate as the other fuckers who were born into the upper crust acting as if their shit smelled like roses.
I picked up my tumbler of scotch, sipped, and then said, “Sometimes you have to play the game before you go in for the kill. If I didn’t deal the way I do, we wouldn’t have the new acquisition in our portfolio netting us a hefty profit.”
“Speaking of.” Nik lifted his glass and gestured to the building coming into view as the car rolled to a stop in the driveway of the Carina Hotel in Manhattan.
The Carina was one of the many hotels under the Argo Hotel and Real Estate Group, the conglomerate I’d mentioned acquiring a few seconds ago.
“This is some property. It’s going to piss certain people off that we are now in the hotel business.” Nik smirked.
“We’ve always had our hand in the hotel business. The Carina and its sister locations are only the first in New York. And if our family ventures threaten people, that has nothing to do with us. Business is business. I don’t make decisions based on personal feelings.”
I’d learned long ago to set emotions to the back of my mind and use cold, hard logic when taking any course of action.
“Shah won’t view it as anything but personal.”
I clenched my jaw. I hated thinking about the piece of shit who’d abandoned and then murdered my mother.
Wasn’t it enough that I fucking saw a resemblance to the fucker in the mirror every damn morning?
With how high-profile my life was, it always made me wonder how the hell no one noticed how much we looked alike.
“New York real estate is about who has the means and the ability to deal and to move the fastest. There are always multiple players around any card table. If he lost sight of his competition, that’s his problem.”
“You want me to believe you don’t enjoy the fact you stuck it to him while making us richer?”
I smirked. “There are always benefits to being the true bastard of the King brothers. Sometimes I get lucky and can take something from the fucker who made me a bastard.”
“Since you brought up the bastard bit—” Nik’s eyes narrowed, “—we need to discuss the will.”
Fuck. The night was just getting better and better.
The last thing I wanted to discuss was the will of my biological grandmother, Ashok Shah’s mother. Sara Shah had left everything to her grandchildren, specifying the eldest as the heir to the majority of the billion-dollar Shah fortune. A fortune Ashok Shah stole when he filed a false will upon Sara’s death.
Why hadn’t I taken my own damn car and met everyone at the event?
Because I’d probably have skipped the whole thing, and Nik knew it.
“I want nothing to do with the will or the money. My net worth is more than all of you fuckers.”
Only one person could put all of us to shame. The reason I’d rather have spent the evening monitoring the underground poker club I owned with my brothers than attending this fucking fundraiser.
“It’s not just about you. Danika and Jayna deserve their inheritance.”
Of course, he’d hit me in the one place I was the weakest. Danika and Jayna.
Not only had they married into the King family, but Danika was also Nik’s wife, and Jayna made Kir a less piss-and-vinegar version of himself. The two women were my only living biological family. Well, the ones who I claimed and claimed me back.
Danika was the daughter of Ashok Shah’s sister, Reka. A sister he’d disowned for not following tradition. And Jayna was my half-sister, the daughter of Monica Shah, the heiress the asshole had thrown my pregnant mother aside to marry.
Nik damn well knew I’d do anything for Danika and Jayna, but those two never needed anyone to play interference for them. They wouldn’t have any problem holding a knife to my throat to get my attention.
“Why aren’t they coming to me about it? Neither of them would appreciate you playing messenger boy for them. Tell me I’m wrong.”
A flicker of annoyance passed over his face. Good. He deserved that.
“Let’s say this is a warning before they strike. Something is brewing in Shah’s world, and the ladies have decided it’s time to act.”
