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Brett looked flustered. “That’s not—I’m not trying to—” He looked over Owen’s shoulder at Nick. “Who’s your friend?”
Owen glanced back at him. “Oh, Nicky? He’s here to keep me company.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Brett scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know if I can let him in with you, Mr. Burke. I don’t think your dad would be too happy about that.”
Owen reached out and straightened Brett’s tie. “Maybe it could be our little secret.”
Brett sighed. “Don’t do anything that’s going to get me fired.”
“I wouldn’tdreamof it. Not seeing your face would be a travesty of epic proportions.”
“Uh, sure,” Brett said, visibly sweating. “Yeah. Hey, I was thinking. Maybe we could go out for—”
“Can you buzz us in?” Owen asked sweetly.
Brett nodded jerkily, but reached forward and hit a button on the desk. “Just make sure you swipe the card in case anyone asks.”
“Thanks, Brett,” Owen said. He looked back at Nick again. “Ready?”
Nick nodded, unsure of what the hell was going on. It didn’t stop him from following Owen through a metal gate next to the desk. The gate snapped closed behind them.
Nick figured they’d head toward the bank of elevators, so he was surprised when Owen veered to the left, heading down a long hallway with vaulted ceilings, and dark, wooden doors lining either side. The walls were covered with black screens, a stylized BP spinning lazily in the middle. Through floor-to-ceiling windows, Nick saw a man moving in what looked like a conference room, bopping his head as the tile buffer whirred loudly across the floor.
Now that he was here, Nick wasn’t sure this was the best idea.He thought about finding a way to get out of it, to convince Owen they needed to think this through, but every time he opened his mouth to say just that, he saw his father, unconscious in his hospital bed, the machines beeping and hissing around him, the line of his heartbeat bouncing.
“All right?” Owen asked, glancing back at him.
No. “Yeah.”
They turned left, and then right, and then right again, and Nick wasn’t sure he could find his own way out. Burke Tower was a labyrinth. He didn’t know how anyone found their way around here.
“It’s bigger than it looks,” Nick told Owen. “This whole place.”
A strange look crossed Owen’s face. “It’s all about layers, Nick. My family tends to have a certain… flair for the dramatics. My grandfather built this place from the ground up. And when he died, my father continued his work.” He chuckled bitterly. “And one day, it will all be mine, and I’ll wear the crown, heavy though it is.”
Nick shrugged awkwardly. Owen’s carefully placed mask seemed to be slipping again, and it made him uncomfortable. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“My family isn’t like yours. There are certain expectations. Any choice I would’ve had in this life was taken from me the moment I was born.”
“That… sucks.” Dumb, but he didn’t know what else to say. Vulnerable Owen wasn’t something Nick knew how to deal with.
Owen laughed. “Oh, Nicky. Such a way with words.”
“You’re making a choice here, right?”
“What do you mean?”
Nick shrugged. “Being here. Doing… what we’re doing. You chose to tell me about it. You chose to bring me here.”
Owen shook his head. “This isn’t about choice, Nick. This was inevitable.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know. There’s a lot of things you don’t understand.”
