I leaned back in my office chair and twisted my head side to side to crack it. “No. That would defeat the purpose.”
The thing with a sub for me was that they had to learn on their own that asking nicely would lead to receiving good rewards. When I had a purely sexual relationship with a woman, I could explain that to them at the beginning of our first session, but that was a woman with whom I’d already discussed my particular kinks and had agreed to play their part. Very few, if any, women walked into my bedroom not knowing, at least on some level, what to expect. With Avion, it was different, because I was hoping to go a little tit-for-tat and have a professional relationship with her, using what she knew about her family to my advantage as well as hopefully dominate her as the perfect sub.
I didn’t think I was asking for too much.
Milli lifted an eyebrow. “What if, and call me crazy for thinking this, she believes that if she asks the man who kidnapped her for nicer shit that he just might not be accommodating?”
I sneered at the smirk on Milli’s face. “Is this fun to you?”
He chuckled a little. “It’s kinda fun.”
“Well, while you’re having so much fun, how is your surveillance on the rest of the Narzands going?”
Milli’s amused expression left his face, leaving a more irritated one in its wake. “Well, the Narzand Brothers are fully aware of their sister’s capture. From what I can tell, you were right, and they believed that you were at the Apex party to mess with them. As a result, they believe the reason Avion has been captured is due to your rivalry. It seems Curtis has not disclosed the truth to his sons about his dealings with you, but after our little chat, that doesn’t surprise me. He’s been duly warnednotto leave the country and I imagine he wouldn’t risk doing so with the thought looming over his head that he can extend his repayment period so long as he stays here. Needless to say, Vincent Narzand is less than thrilled with his father’s sudden change of heart, but they have made no public comment on how they’re dealing with that little problem.”
I folded my hands in front of my face. “Do you think they’ll make some sort of attempt to attack us? I’m a little surprised they haven’t done it already.”
“The Narzand brothers are a calculating duo. If they truly believe that your kidnapping their sister is a declaration of war against them, I imagine they aren’t planning a simple recapture. By my best estimate, they are going to strike big and hard at some point in the future. I’ve already fortified our defenses just in case, and all information around here is on a need-to-know basis.”
“From what I can tell, Avion’s relationship with her brothers is no more or less solid than that with her father. More likely than not, they’re weighing the risk of leaving her with me and not causing a commotion, against starting a fight just to get her back when they don’t really care about her for the appearances.”
At this, Milli shook his head. “I can’t imagine leaving my sister to the wolves. If someone tried to hurt a single hair on her head, I’d tear this whole city apart.”
I couldn’t relate. I’d never had any siblings, and apart from Punk and Kelly, I’d never really had any friends. Milli was the person I spent most of my time with, and I’d describe our relationship as somewhere between brotherly and best friends—cousinly? I imagined my real parents didn’t have any additional kids, since they abandoned the ones they did have, but it wasn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility that I had some blood siblings floating around in the world that I didn’t know about.
As far as Merrick and Tamryn were concerned, they never had any children simply because they couldn’t. When they found me, they took me in as their own, and I was their only child from that point on. I didn’t play well with other kids in foster care, when I was on the street, or even when Merrick and Tamryn tried to put me in public school. I ended up with a private teacher at home because I didn’t get along with anyone who tried to distract me from my goals, which was most everyone.
“I can see your gears turning,” Milli said. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t like feeling like someone has the upper hand on me. If the Narzands catch me by surprise, I’ll be a joke to both my businesses and the legacy I’ve built. I want them tailed, constantly. Tell whoever you send never to take their eyes off them for a second. I want daily reports. I won’t settle for them trying to destroy everything. Merrick is the first and last person who would ever get a jump on me.”
Milli laughed. “He said the exact same thing about you. You two were the first ones to ever be one step ahead of the other. Tamryn always said you were born to be a family, hell, maybe she was right. You’re two peas.”
“I appreciate the attempt at a compliment, but don’t compare us,” I growled. “I respect Merrick and appreciate him for taking me in and giving me the keys to the kingdom, but I want to build something much larger than what he’s built. He’d die happy right now, but he doesn’t have everything. I won’t settle for less than the world. I want to slowly swallow up New York above ground and under until it’s all mine and then I want to expand and become the most powerful man in the country.”
“You sound like a supervillain,” Milli commented even though he was wearing a wickedly exciting smile. “Let’s take over the world then.”
“It starts with my house,” I said. “It starts with Avion.”
Milli lifted an eyebrow and looked at me with a curious expression. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on taking a queen with you to the end of the world.”
“Hardly, but she’s going to play an important part in my takeover. If she’s the linchpin to the Narzand Brothers’ demise, then I don’t have much longer to wait for her to be of use to me.” I leaned back in my office chair. “You said so yourself, she doesn’t know what she needs to do.”
“Someone should tell her,” Milli said.
“I agree. Go and relieve her room guard and see if you can nudge her in the right direction.”
Milli nodded his head with that same, ominous smile. “Yes sir.”
He stood up without a moment’s more hesitation and left me behind in my office to stew. All the talks of the Narzand Brother and Merrick had my blood coursing through my veins at twice its speed. I let myself get off track for a moment, but it was time to get back on. I came from nothing and had to live a life of misery and rejection for eight long years. I was going to pay my younger self back for all the pain he endured by attaining everything this world had to offer, Avion and New York City included.
12
AVION
All things considered, I felt like I was doing a pretty good job of keeping my cool around Gio, which was saying something because he was an incredibly difficult man to get a read on. Yes, he’d pulled his gun out on me that first day I arrived, but after that, he’d been much closer to the pleasant man I met at the bar. I kept my wits about me though and didn’t give him the time of day as much as I was able. I saw him a couple of times throughout the day, usually when he came to deliver my meager provisions. I got water twice a day, once in the morning, and then once slightly after the lunch hour with a basic meal of bread and cheese.
My days were boring, given there was nothing in my room, and though I’d taken to doing yoga to try and move my body at least a little, I typically only had enough energy to do it after my one meal, so the rest of my time was spent sleeping.
