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“Nix, please,” she corrected.
“Right, Nix,” he amended.
“It’s not what you can do for me. It’s what I’m about to do for you. I’m here to warn you about your meeting with Tapping Industries this Friday,” she said. No one knew about the deal that he and Finn had cooked up with Tapping Industries. That was their big project—the merger that could launch their company to the next level.
“How the hell did you find out about our deal with Tapping?” he questioned.
“Your Uncle Rock told me,” she breathed. Shit—if Rock knew about their deal, he’d try to stop them any way he could. Sending in a sexy blond was a new low for his uncle, but he wouldn’t put it past him to do much worse.
“Our meeting is over, Ms. Ryker,” he spat. Damion stood and left the conference room, leaving the sexy blond sitting at the table still, her smile firmly in place. Yeah—she was there to stir some shit up. Mission accomplished.
Nixon
Nix wasn’t sure what her next move should be, but Rock Greed wasn’t a very pleasant man to work for when he didn’t get what he wanted. And he wanted the deal between Pride Enterprises and Tapping Industries to fall through. Nix’s job wasn’t to question her boss, it was to get the results he wanted. That was why he sent her to talk to Damion Pride. Well, that and Rock said she was, “Just his type.” He told her to use her feminine wiles to get his nephew to agree to listen to her proposal and that pissed her off. She was more than just a pretty face and great body. She worked hard to get where she was in the business. Her father was Jackson Lust and that meant something in the Deadly Sins Syndicate. It gave her a leg up, even if she didn’t use her father’s last name.
After Nix graduated from college with her master’s in business, she decided to legally change her last name, opting to use her mother’s maiden name. The Syndicate was notorious for taking out whole families to shift the balance of power within the organization. Her family was one that they eliminated, and she had a pretty good idea which families were responsible for her parent’s deaths and her exile from the Syndicate. She had no choice but to change her name from Lust to Ryker, not doing so would have ended up with her meeting the same fate as her poor mother and father.
“This is bullshit,” she whispered to herself after Damion Pride left her sitting in the conference room by herself. She couldn’t leave there without getting him to at least listen to her proposal. Rock had promised her a hefty sum of cash if his nephew agreed to his terms. He wanted to go into business with Pride Enterprises but with the way Damion threw a tantrum and left the room, Nix didn’t see that happening.
She got up from her seat, deciding not to let Damion Pride get away with his bad behavior. She was going to find him and give him a piece of her mind. Then, she’d find his handsome business partner, Finn Envy, and talk to him. He seemed to be more reasonable and less of a hothead when it came to matters of business.
Nix wandered out into the hallway and found Finn leaning against the wall with a sexy smirk on his face. “I take it that the meeting didn’t go very well?” he asked.
“Um—no,” she said. “Not only did it not go well, but I’ve also discovered that your business partner is an asshole.” Nix wasn’t sure if Finn would consider her bold remark as overstepping her place, but she didn’t give a fuck. Walking out of a meeting, just because you didn’t like what the other person was saying, was an asshole move.
Finn held up his hands, “I completely agree with you and your assessment of my partner. You just took him off guard. He said that Rock sent you and well, he and Rock have history.”
“Well, I’d hope so since Rock is his uncle and all. That doesn’t excuse his bad behavior or the way he just got up and left me sitting in that room, alone,” Nix defended.
“You’re right,” Finn agreed. Sure, he was probably just placating her, but it did help to hear him say the words out loud. “I’d like to set up another meeting and this time, I’ll be sitting in on it. Does that work for you, Ms. Ryker?” he asked.
“It does. Thank you, Mr. Envy.” She pulled her jacket on and was ready to leave when Damion poked his head out from his office at the other end of the hallway.
“When you get a minute, Finn, I’d like to speak with you,” he said, completely ignoring her.
Nix couldn’t help herself; she walked down to where Damion stood, just outside his office, and pointed her finger into his chest. “And if he says something that you don’t like, you’ll just get up and rudely leave the room, right?” she taunted.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t like what you were saying. That’s not why I got up and left. I will not entertain anything that my uncle has to say, even if he did send a pretty messenger.” Calling her pretty was meant to throw her off her game, but she wouldn’t allow that. No, she had been called pretty, sexy, gorgeous, and every other adjective a man could come up with on the fly. That didn’t make her want to give in and give him what he was asking her for. She wasn’t one to have her head turned by a compliment and she wasn’t about to start now.
“While I appreciate your compliment, Mr. Pride, I think you’re not giving your uncle’s proposal a chance is a bad move on your part,” she assessed.
“Oh, how so?” he asked. She could tell that he didn’t care to hear her answer, but she was going to give it to him anyway. “Am I supposed to look past the fact that he treated my father like he was disposable? Have you ever had anyone treat you that way, Ms. Ryker?” he asked. “I won’t work for my uncle, ever.”
Sure, she had felt disposable, many times, but she wasn’t about to share that with him. Damion didn’t deserve to know her in that way. “He doesn’t want you to work for him, Damion. He wants to work with you—as equal partners.”
“He’d never treat me as an equal,” Damion spat. “I know him too well. Let me give you some advice,” he said, looking her over. “Leave the Greed Syndicate while there’s still time because when I’m finished with my uncle, you’ll find yourself in need of a job.”
Nix barked out her laugh. He was such an arrogant asshole. “You live up to your name, Mr. Pride,” she hissed. “Just remember the old saying about pride coming before the fall.” She turned and walked back down the hallway, having said everything that she needed to say. Damion just stood by his office door; his mouth gaped open at her as if he couldn’t believe what she had just said to him. Nix guessed that not many people ever talked to Damion Pride like she just had, but then again, she wasn’t like most people.
* * *
Nixon thought about heading back to her office, but she decided that she needed to blow off some steam first. She pulled her cell phone from her bag and called her best friend, Ella Laxton, to see if she was up for a lunchtime run. Usually, they found time to slip away during their day to have lunch or coffee, helping to break up their overly long days.
Once in a while, one of them would have a shit day and call the other to work out. Last time, it was Ella who called to complain about her boss—Jett Greed, needing a run during their lunch break. Honestly, Nix felt guilty for introducing her friend to Jett, but his father, Rock, was going crazy over how to get Jett more involved in the Syndicate. Jett had all but stopped showing up to work every day and Rock was at his wit's end. Since Rock was her boss, his crazy mood swings became her problem, and the thought of having to deal with her boss driving her mad until he figured out what to do about Jett, wasn’t ideal for business. That’s why she was in the Syndicate—to become the businesswoman her father always pushed her to be. She had it in her, she had family connections, even if she didn’t use them, and she had the drive. Nixon wasn’t planning on staying under Rock’s wing for long. She hoped to one day restore the Lust name and insert herself and her family back into the Syndicate.
She put her ear to the ground and searched for answers for Rock. There had to be a way to get Jett interested in the family business, and her bright idea was to hire Ella. As soon as she went to Rock and told him her idea, to hire her beautiful best friend to be Jett’s assistant, he seemed to be on board. He told her to, “Make it happen,” and she called Ella to ask her how she felt about working for the Greed Syndicate. Her friend jumped at the idea of working for them—they were one of the most powerful families in the business world and Nix knew that her friend was desperate for work.
Her plan seemed to work too. Jett was actually showing up to work every day and Rock seemed to be a lot more relaxed, allowing Nix to concentrate on building her career—well, in this case, building Rock’s company. Rock’s company was a part of the Deadly Sins Syndicate, so it was a step in the right direction.
