Page 11 of Volatile King (The Kings of Wayward Academy #6)

N ash

Edmundo was elbow deep in folders from Collier Enterprises.

My father hadn’t bothered to remove my access even though I’d made it clear that I wouldn’t be returning.

Not exactly intelligent of him, but it worked in my favor.

I’d pulled everything from employee names to customer account info, suppliers, investors, and even sales.

My guess is that he thought I was bluffing and would come crawling back.

There wasn’t a snowballs chance in hell.

Edmundo was reading each file methodically and had gone through two packages of sticky notes. The white stack of papers looked like it was covered in confetti, and he didn’t speak until he finished.

“There are many mistakes here, Nash, not that I’m surprised.

Your father always had a way of pretending he knew more than he really did.

Honestly, it’s shocking that someone hasn’t tried a hostile takeover of some of these divisions.

They are lucrative but poorly run.” He tapped the top of the folders.

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t salvage them and turn them into something great.

I hate to say this, but you should go back and retain your seat.

I get why you left, and I applaud your resistance to what your father stands for, but you need to take control. ”

“I hate that idea. Just being under his thumb and looking like I’m crawling back…and there is no guarantee that I can get control,” I said, leaning forward in the hospital chair.

“Death is the only certainty in this life, Nash. The rest we get through as best we can.”

“You forgot about taxes.”

He chuckled. “No, not everyone pays taxes. But everyone dies at some point.”

“Not exactly uplifting.”

“Maybe not, but it is true. Knowing that works both ways. There is no guarantee that anyone will want to stay with your father if there is another option. Two sides to every coin, remember that.”

It might have seemed…childish, but I loved these chats with Edmundo and found reasons to ask him questions.

He always made time for me, when, out of everyone that I knew, he probably had the least of it to offer.

He encouraged me to feel hopeful for what I’d always seen as a dark existence.

My father didn’t know how to build someone up—he was too busy tearing them down.

“Okay, there are twelve members on the board. My father will obviously name himself, and the same goes for me, so that leaves ten people. I know for sure that Ethan, Ella, and Emmett will vote in my favor, but the rest are still a mystery.”

“Have you set up any meetings with the swing votes?”

“No. I don’t know if they will run to my father.”

Edmundo ran his hand through his hair. “Sometimes you need to get creative.”

“Such as?”

“You said that Mr. O’Shea likes boats?”

“Yeah, his son Rory is working with me. They don’t have much money, and their businesses are smaller contributors.”

“But does he have a vote,” Edmundo asked.

“Yes. We needed to fill a spot last year when my father lost his cool and killed Mr. Dunn for talking back at a meeting. My father gathered several families and threatened them before he pointed at Mr. O’Shea and told him he was on the board.”

“Hmm, probably because he thinks the family is controllable. If you say his son is with you, then that is a good place to start. Set a meeting with the family through Rory, under the guise of an introduction. Have the meeting on a yacht, you can borrow mine. Let them get comfortable and see what life on the open sea would be like in luxury.”

“And then what?”

“Feel him out. If Rory says you can trust his father, then let’s take the chance. I’ll toss in my boat for them to keep if they vote in your favor.”

“A yacht? Jesus. You really know how to go big.”

Edmundo laughed. “A little bit of lavish bling to show appreciation never hurt,” he said as Marcus opened the door.

“Heads up. Victoria is on her way, and she looks madder than a pissed-off honey badger,” Marcus said, then disappeared again.

Edmundo gathered the folders and handed them to me just as the door slammed open with the force of a small hurricane.

The pictures on the hospital room walls shook as she huffed like a fire-breathing dragon.

We looked at her and then each other. Marcus hadn’t been exaggerating.

She was fuming to the point that her face was a violent shade of red, and her eyes bordered on murderous.

“Papa, I want answers, and I want them now,” she snapped. Vicky stomped her foot, and Edmundo’s even and easy-going nature was gone in a blink.

“Chi pensi di essere per permetterti di parlarmi in questo modo?”

Fuck, I really needed to brush up on my Italian. I knew from the few words I caught that he didn’t like her tone. Not that I blamed him. Edmundo didn’t yell, and that seemed almost worse.

Vicky shrank in on herself immediately and crossed her arms over her chest. I slowly stood ready to escape whatever this was.

“Answer me,” Edmundo ordered.

Vicky bit her lip and looked to me as if asking for help with her stupidity or maybe to stick up for her. I didn’t know, but she was sadly mistaken if she thought that I was getting involved.

“I…I’m sorry that I spoke so harshly to you, Papa. I’m just so frustrated. I met Theo and Ren on the way in here, and they were awful to me. I shouldn’t be treated like that. I’m a princess and engaged to Nash. You’re here in the building, and they still don’t show me any respect.”

She walked toward me with her arms out as if expecting me to hug her, but I stepped around the chair to put it between us. This was one of those awkward moments you could never plan.

“Is that so? Tell me, Vicky, what did Ren say to you,” I asked, before Edmundo could.

“Well…” She stopped and looked between us.

“Okay, she didn’t say anything. But she glared at me, and I could see what she wanted to say in her eyes.

Also, Theo called me terrible things, and I’m so sick of you always taking her side.

You’re my fiancé, and yet I bet you would’ve laughed if you’d been out there. It’s not right. I deserve respect.”

“Questo mondo non ti deve niente. Il rispetto si guadagna, non si pretende.”

Edmundo glared at Vicky, and for just a second, I thought she might bolt out the door.

Once again, I only caught a little, but I was pretty sure he said something about respect being earned. This was why I loved having Blake in the room.

“This me, me, me, take, take, take attitude of yours disgusts me. It is your mother’s doing, and I have already spoken to you about how it dishonors our family name. If you keep it up, Victoria, I will find something you value and strip it from you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sì, Papà, mi dispiace.”

Edmundo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Come in and sit down, daughter, we need to speak.”

“I’ll head out,” I said, hoping to make my grand escape, but Edmundo shook his head at me.

Fuck.

Vicky sat down in the chair I’d been occupying, so I walked over and leaned against the wall by the door.

I really wished that I could just disappear.

At one point, this conversation and the pain it was going to cause would make me laugh, but I was trying to be a better version of myself.

Someone worthy to take over where my father failed, and I’d already slipped once this week with Myles.

“What is it, Papa? Are you okay? I don’t like the look on your face.”

“My daughter, why do you believe that you’re engaged to Nash?”

Vicky looked at me and then back at her father.

“Mama told me.”

Edmundo sighed and shook his head.

“Your mother spoke out of turn. I’m sorry, but you do not have a marriage contract with Nash,” Edmundo said as he leaned forward and placed his hand on her knee.

You could hear a pin drop in the room. Vicky held perfectly still as if she’d been frozen in place, but I knew what was coming.

She giggled at first, which turned into a full belly laugh with tears running down her cheeks.

Okay, maybe I didn’t know what was coming.

I glanced at Edmundo, who seemed just as confused by Vicky’s outburst.

“Wow, oh wow, you really got me. You two had me going there for a second. That’s not very nice, you guys.” She opened her purse and pulled out a tissue to dab at her eyes as she continued to laugh.

“Victoria, look at me,” Edmundo said. Her smile slowly fell as he continued. “I’m speaking the truth. There is no contract with Nash.”

“What…but…Nash said…”

I held up my hands. “Whoa, I never said we were engaged. You assumed we were, and I didn’t tell you that you were wrong. I never signed a contract to marry you, Vicky.”

“What! Are you fucking kidding me?”

Vicky burst from the chair with her hands balled into fists at her sides as her eyes shot daggers at me.

“You let me believe we were engaged? How cruel can you be? I told you I loved you!”

“And I told you, I never loved you! Oh my god, I can’t believe you even need to hear this. How many times did I say no, and to go away, that I’m not interested? I haven’t done anything to lead you on since we split. Hell, I didn’t take you to my club’s grand opening. Vicky, seriously, get a clue.”

Vicky stepped back, her hands covering her mouth as the first tears fell.

Edmundo raised his hand to stop me from spewing any more venom at his daughter.

“That is enough, Nash. I will handle it from here. We will speak about business later.”

“I hate you! I hate you so much,” Vicky screamed as I opened the door. I looked back over my shoulder. “All I ever did was love you,” she said, and I almost felt sorry for her.

“Then why did you sleep with my father?”

I casually dropped the bomb and left. The look on Edmundo’s face as his head whipped in Vicky’s direction told me he had no idea.

But the dark scowl said he was going to go fully pissed off father mode on her ass.

She would be lucky to leave the house for school, let alone for anything else, ever again until he found some chump to marry her.

Vicky’s face paled, and I smirked as the yelling started.

Relief washed over me as I walked away…she finally fucking knew.