His expression immediately flattens, and my heart kicks up as we both wait for my next words.
“Dad?” Portia bursts into the room. “Come upstairs with me. I want to show you what I made Mom for Christmas.”
Nick and I exchange a look, and Portia persists. “C’mon, Dad, I want to show you before I go to school.”
Nick leaves the kitchen, and I release a heavy sigh. The moment of truth is broken, and my mind spins with all the ways my revelation can go wrong. If Nick knew Graham threatened me or Portia in any way, he would retaliate for sure. He might even get the Serpents involved, because old habits are hard to break, and protecting what is his would be his first priority.
Nick put the violent life behind him, but it wouldn’t take much for that side of him to resurface, and that wouldn’t be good for any of us. If he took it too far, it could mean the end of everything we’ve worked for and most definitely hurt Portia, either directly or indirectly.
Plus, if Nick decides on his own to use Graham’s company, all this drama will be for nothing. By the time Nick returns to the kitchen, I’ve convinced myself to stay quiet about Graham. Christmas is in three days, and there would be hardly any business done. Maybe by the new year, I could figure out a solution.
My phone buzzes, and my finger hovers over the screen at the now familiar number. I hit the message and stare at the words.
Graham: I’ll be meeting with Nick later, and I hope you impressed on him the importance of us all working together.
Three little bubbles appear, and I wait.
Graham: It will benefit both of you.
More little bubbles.
Graham: Because it would be such a shame if things didn’t go my way right before Christmas.
“So, what did you wanna tell me?”
I startle when Nick enters the kitchen.
“Ahhh, I forgot.” I throw him a weak smile. “Couldn’t have been too important, right?”
NICK
I still can’t shake the feeling that something is off with Cheryl. Last night, she acted totally weird. Drinking two cosmos, then hardly eating her favorite dish. She thought she was fooling me, but I know her way too well. Even this morning she seemed off. Sounding serious and saying she wanted to tell me something, then when I returned to the kitchen, she claimed she forgot.
The whole thing seemed fucked-up, and as if I don’t have enough to worry about, I have to meet with that prick Pierce in an hour. I don’t care how good Jax, and now Cheryl, said this guy is, something about him seems off.
I’m beginning to see what Samson was talking about, and unless Graham Pierce has an unbelievably good deal for Wicked, I’m out. I know I won’t get any blowback from Samson. He hated the guy from the beginning.
An hour later, Jax escorts Graham into my office, and we take the same seats as our previous meeting, with Jax joining us this time.
“I thought you were going to just send over the proposal.” I believe in getting right to it. “What changed?”
“Just some stipulations I wasn’t aware of yesterday.” Graham lays a thick folder on the coffee table.
“Like?”
“Well, in a very interesting twist of events, when I returned to my office yesterday, I found out a bid I made for a building was accepted.”
“What does that have to do with us?” More random bullshit I don’t need to know.
“As I’m sure you’re aware, this building is owned by Tri-Star Reality.”
“Yeah.” This guy loves to drag out a fuckin’ story.
“Well, I’ve been in the market for more real estate in Vegas, and I put a bid on this building last week.”
“And?” Times like this, I wish I was still strapped. Then I could whip out my .45, press it against his temple, and tell him to stop the fuckin’ drama.
“My bid was accepted.”
