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Brent

“W ho’s the girl that just left your girlfriend’s house?”

Reaper and I were posted up eating lunch and casually watching footage from the front of Fallon’s house. The security cameras I planted when she kicked me out should have been installed long before then, but they were up there now and I could see anything that happened in and around her house.

She was not doing so great this morning. Her bodyguard had to help her not have a mental breakdown again and she threw up twice after Kelly left. If she wasn’t going to be able to get a handle on things quickly, my grandfather would probably take measures of his own. Securing the company was the first on his list of priorities and she needed to be on board with everything. Despite claiming things would resume as normal, he was an impatient man and willing to remove the ban he had on her from me.

Thank fuck, because I only wanted to be around her.

“Her roommate and best friend, Kelly Wilder.”

He contemplated that while crunching down on his chips. “I think I’ve seen her a few times. The video doesn’t zoom in all the way, but that’s the troublemaker I was telling you about a few months ago. Butchered my surveillance and we lost the guy and then he wound up dead.”

When she said she had rats, I didn’t think she was living with them too. Stupid me for not thinking to install cameras two years ago when they moved in, I guess.

“If that’s the case, I need eyes on her or some form of it. Get a few of our tails to see what she’s up to and what trouble she’s been getting herself into. I’ll need to report that to the Dictator.”

Speaking of, he was waiting for us in his office.

“Boy.”

“Hello, sir.”

Reaper plopped down in the chair across the room holding a cat like a football.

“What do you make of the situation with Haines?” Lighting up the cigar, he leaned back in his chair and awaited my response.

“I think we are underutilizing Romania.” I poured a drink for him and then myself, setting myself up across from his desk. He wants to know what the future CEO thinks of business, and I planned to let him know that I’ve been paying attention all these years while he used me as an attack dog.

“What does Romania have?” A coy smile played on his mouth and dared me to speak up and play like one of the big boys.

“A willingness to cooperate for the right price. Better arms available than our current resources. The Slavic countries have been stingy lately from higher demand in the current climate, but with Romania, we’d have open air free trade with the government. A foot in the door to practice legitimate business outside of arms deals.”

We sat there staring each other down for a while and he nodded his head after he thought long enough about it. The air felt stale with sweet tobacco and the silence became uncomfortable.

“Thank you for speaking plainly. I will consider your opinions. What I want to tell you now is of great importance. With the intel we have now, and your great work putting together pieces of the puzzle for me, it’s obvious that my suspicions are correct. The Montgomery Group is in great peril from lacking leadership for the last five years.”

Not to mention his getting older, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. Any chances I had of taking over the company would be over if I mentioned how old he was. Last guy who showed concern about him being older left with a broken leg. And I was pretty sure Reaper might have been the one to carry out my beating since the old man didn’t have his cane with him.

In no way would I risk Death himself beating me to a pulp.

“Her board of directors I assume did a terrible job.” Since when did he stock his office with gin? That shit is disgusting.

“Evans is a good team player, he just fails at leadership. The entire company is going to need an overhaul.”

If I were to wager to guess, he had a plan brewing in that cold mind of his. What it was wouldn’t be revealed until it was time to take action.

If you tell those around you your plans too soon, it gives them time to make a move against you. Always operate as if nothing will change and then when it does, no one can stop you when you implement a plan that cannot be stopped. The game of chess isn’t just a game—it's your war strategy.

It worked well for him. No one was able to cross him yet, and he remained on top as his father did before him. He must have wondered if his company would die with him before I came along as a baby left on his doorstep. Some days, he acted like it even with me around. Other days, he spoke in almost code about how I needed to be prepared for certain situations.

No one ever got a real read on my grandfather. His late wife might have, but she died long ago.

“We’d need to make one quickly with the vultures circling the Montgomery girl waiting to attack at any moment.”

He waved off my comment. “Always operate...”

”...as if nothing will change.”

”Good boy.” He slapped the table and stood. Pacing around the room and contemplating.

The only read I was ever able to get on him was when he paced his office in deep thought. Things would get tense and he would pace—that’s how I knew things would happen shortly after. He never had a poker tell, but he never got up from the table and walked around when he played.

“We have intel on the Wilder heir.” Reaper butt in. He was impatient to share because he wanted to go home and drink himself to death with however many cats he picked up this week.

The Dictator stopped. “Do tell.”

He relayed the story of when he saw her causing a ruckus before the guy we trailed ended up dead. He didn’t mention how he said he thought that was her from security footage, but knowing him, he probably identified her properly.

Reaper wasn’t the type you doubted if you wanted to stay alive.

“So this girl has been living with the Montgomery heir and no one thought to prod into her life or background?” His anger was growing again and maybe he’d find something to beat us both with at this rate.

“You told me to stay away from her until you assigned us together.”

Yeah, that did it. He chucked his glass at me and it hit me in the face.

––––––––

I couldn’t wait to be out of this fucking school. Proudly displaying my new cut up face and developing bruised eye, I sat at the bar at the latest stupid fucking party I got dragged into. Most of the parties weren’t for fun—working for The Dictator never ended and I was on the clock twenty-four-seven.

“Hey baby, what happened to your face?” Not this girl again . She wouldn’t take the hint to leave me the fuck alone. There was an angle with her and there always would be one where she was involved. Lucky me.

Knocking the drink back, I looked over at her. No minions around meant she had something up her sleeve. “Haven’t looked in a mirror so I wouldn’t know.”

”Let me guess...you were defending my honor?” Her finger swirled around on my forearm and trailed up to my shoulder. “So sweet of you. I can give you a massage as a thank you upstairs if you’d like.”

”Nah.” I shrugged her off and signaled for another round.

She sat on the stool next to me and played with her hair. It wasn’t anything like Fallon’s hair—it was brunette that she highlighted to get as close to blonde as she could while still maintaining her brunette status. “You can’t keep telling me no, Brent. Bad things will happen if you do that.”

”Can you cut to the chase already? I’m tired of your games.”

Ever since she had a hinting suspicion that I was on my way out, she decided to get dirty and mean. The threats did nothing to me, but she decided to drag Fallon into the mix, and that’s where I drew the line. She could throw whatever she wanted at me because I knew nothing would happen outside of her temper tantrums. If it was Fallon she was after, there was a good chance she knew she could get me to bend the knee if she tried hard enough.

“You and I are meant to end up together. You know, the power couple of the century.” She fiddled with the straw in her drink, batting her eyelashes at me.

How many times would I have to tell her that wasn’t cute? It was annoying.

“If I were meant to end up with someone, it's not you.”

“I could kill her, you know.” Such a casual tone for such a serious threat.

My patience wore thin. “Pray tell, how would you do that?”

She could kill Fallon, in theory. It would be harder to pull off than just killing some random kid or someone without a high profile name or company. Fallon was a target for more than one person; adding Sloane didn’t make a huge difference. I had my suspicions she would try to take out her romantic competition, but to do it for that sole purpose? No way. There was a larger carrot dangling in front of her if she wanted to kill what’s mine.

Playing with a stemmed cherry, she let out a laugh. “She’s so fragile that the shorter list would be what wouldn’t kill her. Plus,” she brushed her hand across mine, “half the fun is watching you unable to do anything about it. You’ll come running back to me in every scenario, begging me to take you back.” That was the Sloane I knew. The evil, conniving one.

Everyone saw her as the bubbly socialite, meeting everyone and shaking hands. She got to know everyone and it was for a reason. Underneath the pink was a dark and twisted core that knew the secrets of a lot of the students around. She played the big sister role well and got people to spill their guts in the form of the biggest secrets, then turned those secrets over in exchange for something else—her place at the table.

If you wanted to remain in our world, you needed to abide by the rules and make yourself irreplaceable.

“You’re playing on thin ice right now. You think because you haven’t been touched thus far that you’re untouchable. Let’s see how far you get throwing stones in your glass house.”

Leaving the bar, I pulled out my phone and dialed everyone. We were all hands on deck if the world was coming for what was mine .