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One of his men headed for the door. Raphi’s awareness had the entire restaurant and everyone in it on his radar. After hours, they’d stayed, when the last customers exited, and had yet more drinks along with a few cigars so the smoke hung in the room, that rich tang of his father’s study. The smell of it reminded him to be ruthless if he wanted to get ahead.
Kristo opened the door—likely alerted to someone outside by the man at the front. Both wore earpieces. The man who stepped in clutched a briefcase to his front. Cheeks flushed. Hair mussed. He was in his forties and wore an ill-fitting suit that hung awkwardly and a yellow tie.
“Doctor, come in.” The man was a CEO and a renowned doctor of whatever-ology—Raphi didn’t much care—and the go between for Raphi and the doctor’s board of directors. “Have a seat.”
“I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” Doctor Carlan shifted his weight from foot to foot in front of the table. “I just couldn’t sit at home without bringing you the board’s…concerns. We aren’t sure—”
“There’s no need to worry.”
“The formula isn’t finished! We can’t make it work.” Carlan flushed. “The board is unanimous in their belief that we should abandon the project if we can’t find a solution to the problem. We simply don’t have the money to—”
“Not only will you have the money,” Raphi said. “You’ll have the solution as well.”
Carlan swallowed. “How is that poss—”
“Let me worry about that. It’s why you brought me on board in the first place.” Not that his father had given them much choice in the beginning. When his uncle took over after his father died, Raphi had kept the relationship going on the side, not giving his uncle a clue as to what he was doing.
These days, he didn’t have to hide.
He also didn’t have to claw so much for every inch of his position. All he had to do was keep a hold on it.
Behind the doctor, Kristo glanced at his associate, and they both grinned. Taking pleasure in the way Raphi continually cut off whatever the doctor wanted to say. A simple power play but effective.
Raphi shifted forward in his seat to lean into the table. “Now isn’t the time for the board to become cowards. You need to stand up and lead them, Carlan. This is the way we arranged it. Unless you’d like us to find someone else to work with.”
Carlan’s mouth opened. He caught himself and said, “No. Of course not. I’ll talk to them first thing in the morning.”
“Good.” Raphi nodded. “I have a man chasing the solution right now. As soon as it’s solved, we’ll have it for you.” There was a lot riding on Morgan getting what they needed from the chemist, but everyone knew what would happen if they failed their part. “Not to worry.”
“Yes, sir.” Carlan nodded. “The board will be happy to hear that.”
As if Raphi’s answer was any different from what he’d said the last time the doctor came in here saying the board was having second thoughts.
Raphi patted Karina’s knee. “Go home with the doctor, dear. Keep him company tonight.”
She uncrossed her knees, shifting to slide out of the booth away from him. A tiny note of escape crept into her body language.
He grabbed her and pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear. She let out a tiny mew of surprise and pain. He sucked in a breath through his nose, drawing in the odor of her fear. “Be convincing.”
“Yes, Raphi.”
He let her go. Watched her compose herself as she stood, then wind her arm with the doctor’s and leave with him. Then he turned to his man. “Get word to Morgan. Tell him to light a fire under that chemist.”
“Yes, sir.” Kristo headed for the office.
Raphi lifted his glass and finished his whiskey. He needed that formula from the chemist if he was going to finish this. Otherwise, everything he’d been working on for years to build his empire would crumble to nothing, and he would be left with only rubble.
He wasn’t going to let the police take it all away from him.
He and Liam O’Connell would have a reckoning.
And soon.
TWENTY-TWO
The second that Roxie walked into the office, Peter stood up from his desk. “I didn’t think you’d be in today.”
She shrugged. “Why not?”
