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It was all a matter of waiting. It seemed as if that was all I did nowadays.
Maybe the phone call from earlier in the morning meant what I thought it did, or maybe I was fooling myself.
Focusing back on Rey’s statement, I said, “Sometimes we have patrons who choose to run and others who object to that behavior.”
“Fuck. I knew I shouldn’t have let you take the shift. Why didn’t you call us when everything went down?”
“Because I had my hands full. Just be happy it didn’t turn into a shutdown as I dealt with in Danika’s situation.”
“Then I’m sure you know your queen isn’t engaged?” Nik focused on me in his knowing way.
“Can anyone claim a queen?”
Nik smirked. “A King can.”
At that moment, the conference room opened, and Devani walked in with a contingent of three women and one man as representatives from Maya Ratna Holdings.
Immediately, my blood and body stirred. The woman before me carried herself not like the Solon weapon but a corporate shark ready to battle. Good thing she’d come as one of the debt owners and not as opposition.
She held my gaze for the briefest of seconds as she strode to her seat across the table from my brothers and me. Something I could only describe as worry flashed in her dark eyes before she schooled it away and replaced it with her cool, collected confidence.
“Tell me again that you haven’t claimed her,” Nik whispered. “A blind man could see what’s between the two of you.”
“It doesn’t count unless she accepts it.”
“So what? You’re giving up?”
“It’s all or nothing.”
“Everyone says I’m the one most like Arin, but they have it all wrong. It’s you. You’ve always followed his playbook. So I take it you plan to make her come to you? And if she doesn’t, you’ll walk away?”
“As I said, all or nothing.”
Once everyone took their seats, we made the preliminary introductions and began the meeting.
“As per the brief my assistant sent you—” I gestured to a set of documents in front of us, “—we thought it only fair to disclose that Rex Consolidated is one of the financing subsidiaries of King Holdings.”
Alana Tran, Maya Ratna’s CEO, smiled. “I should have figured it out with the name Rex. That is Latin for king. Am I correct?”
“Our father enjoyed using every version of our name for his businesses.” Nik returned her amusement.
“You’ve put me in an awkward position, considering my relationship with some of the parties joining your meeting today.” Devani leaned forward in her chair.
“Business is business, Ms. Patel. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have bought the other half of the debt for these businesses.” I lifted a brow.
I still couldn’t figure out what she gained by acquiring outstanding loans and bonds for Shah, Joshi, and his circle. I had my reasons, but she had none as far as I knew.
“Out of curiosity, how did you learn about us?” Alana asked. “We work very hard to create an invisible footprint.”
Before I could respond, Devani answered, “Lilly Lennox.”
“King,” Rey corrected. “She’s a King now.”
Alana glanced at Devani, shook her head, and then muttered, “She was ours first. Where’s her loyalty?”
Well, well, even in her company, she had Solon agents planted. Then I scanned the other members of Devani’s team. I should have noticed how they sized things up when they stepped into the room.
The cop eyes. Solon, all of them.
