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The buzz of my phone brought another moment of annoyance. As soon as I jerked it into my hand, I walked toward the entrance to find a more suitable location to talk. Grayson never called unless there was an issue. He knew better than to interrupt my work or my nights. They were my private time, my employees left with the understanding that unless something was burning down or an attack imminent to leave me the hell alone.
I took long strides through the bar, eyeing the jerk from before. At least I’d put the fear of God into him. After slamming my hand on one of the double doors, I moved quickly toward the hallway and down to the observation deck. “Grayson.”
“Sorry to bother you, Kendrick, but you needed to know that Steinbeck cancelled the meeting with his stockholders.”
“What the fuck? The man never varies from his business activities, which is one of the reasons I made the decision to fly to California at the last minute.”
I’d been talked down from the rafters by my second in command, my original plan to terminate every member of the family neither prudent nor in my family’s best interest. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was best, but I wanted Rutherford Warrington to pay for what he’d done.
“Well, he has a damn good reason. He was squeezing it into the middle of a packed weekend agenda.” Grayson chuckled.
I could tell there was a hidden meaning behind his jesting words, but that didn’t squelch my increasing rage.
“I don’t give a fuck. Goddamn it.” It had been a perfect scenario. I’d had plans on crashing the meeting, establishing new terms that couldn’t be denied or argued with. Of course, that was because of the information my father had collected on Rutherford over the years, keeping it in reserve in case he needed to rein the man in line. While Steinbeck had yet to take over, with a single phone call, I could crush the entire empire and that was something I’d planned on ensuring they understood before I left the building.
Now. This. Shit.
Now I’d need to find another way of playing hardball. Eliminating an enemy in any manner was truly delicious, but doing so while they watched their lucrative world dissolving before their eyes was much better. I’d had a former mentor, a man whose skill in destruction had rubbed off. The ultimate revenge was in living my best life but the second was gloating as a wealthy man’s yacht sank.
Metaphorically of course.
“Steinbeck is getting married, bossman. I checked. He has five hundred guests coming and the damn thing is like a prince is getting hitched with the number of parties and festivities. Christ. They have every magazine and newspaper worth their salt coming for a few of the events. One huge lavish affair. Not a good location for you to crash, in other words. There will be too many photographers there, members of the press. You don’t want to do anything irresponsible.”
Fuck. Fuck.
“Are you attempting to handle me, Grayson, because you know that’s not in your best interest.”
“I’m attempting to keep you from doing something you’ll regret or will get you thrown in prison.”
Sighing, I closed my eyes briefly. Why was it that the luscious girl’s face popped into the forefront of my mind every single time I did? A wedding. I took a deep breath, allowing myself to smile as I rubbed my jaw.
“I may have an idea,” I said quietly.
“Yeah? As long as it doesn’t involve me sending two cleanup crews I’m eager to hear it.”
Red flags had instantly risen. There was no such thing as coincidences in my powerful world. I’d originally wanted to provide a heavy-handed warning to Steinbeck and his father to stay out of our territory. I’d hoped that would do the trick as killing them was a risky venture. However, since establishing the meeting, they’d ignored Grayson’s phone calls and other business-related situations, preferring to act as if we weren’t more powerful in every aspect.
My father had been in the ground for less than two weeks and they’d made overtures with some of my people. Granted, they had no idea how powerful I’d become. My father had preferred keeping me in the background, using me as what he liked to call his greatest attribute. In other words, I was his personal assassin, the man who’d cleaned up countless situations, playing damage control while garnering the respect of his men.
In the end, it had seemed as if my father had predicted his own death.
My advantage was my anonymity, at least for the most part.
That’s why I’d arrived in California to handle the situation personally. Plus, suspecting the patriarch of the Warrington family had been behind my father’s murder couldn’t be taken lightly, albeit I had to react in a cautionary manner. While I had loyal members of my world in the sunny state, I wasn’t in control of any real estate. That put me at a disadvantage.
Wedding or no wedding. The fact the firstborn son and heir to the throne was getting married presented a serious problem that required a more tenacious series of actions. Perhaps they needed to be creative as well.
Time for plan B.
“What is his fiancée’s name?” I asked casually.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I asked you.”
Grayson grumbled under his breath, the sound of his fingers flying across a keyboard heard over his curse words. “Ashley. Humor me. Why?”
Well, well. It would seem luck had been in my favor after all. I shifted a lust-filled gaze toward the corridor, ensuring that the woman I’d already claimed wasn’t attempting to leave without permission. Was she looking for me? Was she wondering where I’d gone, hungry for another taste?
