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“Where to, Mr. Drakos?” Philip asked, pulling away from the curb.
“Home.”
“Very good.”
I closed the partition. Once hidden by the privacy of the tinted, bulletproof glass, I let out a long breath.Fuck!That woman would lead any man to sin. But me? Her presence promised death.
This new development had caught me off guard. I needed to understand why my enemy would ask for a portfolio of investment properties in exchange for his only daughter. It couldn’t just be for a truce. I ground my palms into my eye sockets. It just didn’t make sense—which meant I needed to start digging.
I flipped out my phone and hit a contact on speed dial. A gruff voice answered after the second ring.
“Con. What’s up, my man?” my cousin, Adrian, clipped into the phone.
“The Beech Grove development, where are we at with the construction?” I knew damn well how much progress had been made. Adrian had given me an update last week when we’d met at the offices with his maternal cousin, Dion, our business manager.
“I’m your attorney; call D.”
“I called you,” I ground out, not wanting to tell him why this had to stay between us. While I valued Dion and considered him to be my kin, he wasn’t blood. Adrian’s late father was my deceased father’s younger brother. Uncle Isaac had raised me into adulthood and was more of a sire to me then my own sperm donor, and that made Adrian more like a brother than a cousin.
Adrian coughed, papers scrambling in the background. “Uh, hang on, cuz.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger. “How valuable are they?”
Adrian let out a long, whistling breath. “Current market—five mill. Why? You wanna sell?”
Five million. For that small price, Gustave was selling his daughter. Compared to the sum of my kingdom, that seven figure amount was nothing. On paper, the Drakos family owned one of the biggest shipping companies in the Pacific, and we invested our wealth in all kinds of projects. Projects that hid our illegal gains quite nicely. Gustave’s estate was nearly the size of my own, although dispersedverydifferently, as the fucker practiced some sick shit to keep his coffers full.
“Maybe.” The word was out of my mouth before I could think. Except, I didn’t mean ‘sell’ the same my way cousin had just used the word. The memory of crimson lips, pursed in an effort to keep silent, barraged my mind. Should I really consider this? Should I marry that woman?
The animal in me crawled to the surface, begging for a feast.
“I have news,” I explained shortly. The car was pulling up to my security gate, and the guards were exchanging a few words with Philip. There wasn’t enough time to get into the minutia during this phone call. “I have a job tonight, but come over later and bring all specs on the residential development with you. And don’t tell Dion, either—not yet.”
“Sure thing, cuz.” His voice lowered. “What am I looking for in particular? If you’re calling me over for this, there must be a reason. And I need the details to know where best to look.”
My cousin was right. He knew me well enough to know that if I was digging like this, I had a purpose. That was why he was damn good at his profession—he had intelligence mixed with intuition. My villa was just coming into view as we exited the rows of great trees that lined the front drive as I said, “Beaumont Senior and family surprised me at Club Black—”
“No shit!”
“—and he proposed a truce. Immediate and complete cessation of all hostilities should I marry his daughter. Her bride price is Beech Grove.”
“Oh.” Adrian’s voice was merely a whisper. Very seldom did he drop his devil-may-care attitude. It was a veil that hid the truth of his tortured soul. “Oh boy, Conny. What the fuck?!”
“I dare you to call me that to my face,” I growled into the phone.
My cousin snorted. “Okay, chill, bro. I know you hate that endearment. But you caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
I sigh. “Yeah, me too.”
“Wait!” he suddenly shouted. “Just wait a damn minute and roll back the tape! You said you’dconsiderselling. Does ‘selling’ mean what I think it does?”
Adrian’s question lingered in the vehicle. It was at that moment the car stopped, and I knocked twice on the window, telling Philip to wait before opening the doors.
Adrian released a breath. “Holy shit, Constantine! Virgin’s nut sack, you’re considering this.”
I didn’t confirm or deny. “Come tonight. I’ll be done shortly after midnight.” Then I hung up the phone.
Adrian might be a tool, a jokester who was impossible to deal with on occasion, but he was loyal to a fault. As my cousin, I let a lot of shit he said slide. Furthermore, he’d earned my respect, as he was one of the few who could take me to the mat and mop the floor with me. I knew his outburst of incredulity was only out of concern for me. His mind couldn’t fathom me entertaining this proposal. But I could.
